 |
| Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz 1937-2020 |
Introduction
This article traces the thought of four rabbinic figures—spanning from the sixteenth century to the modern writings of R. Adin Steinsaltz—who identify and exemplify a strikingly universalist approach within Jewish tradition. It highlights how these thinkers engaged with non-Jewish doctrines, religions, and ideologies not with hostility or indifference, but with a rare openness that challenges conventional boundaries of theological discourse.
1) R. Natan Nata Shapira (1585-1633)
R. Natan Shapira of Kraków, also known as the Megaleh Amukot (Revealer of Secrets), was a student of Lurianic Kabbalah from the school of R. Yisrael Sarug and was responsible for the dissemination of the teaching of the Ari Zal. He saw the need to extract good from the non-Jewish world as a necessary precursor to the messianic age.
“[R. Natan Nata Shapira]
clarified the mission of Judaism, in light of kabbalistic historiography, as
one that aims to gather up the holy sparks scattered among gentiles in order to
bring redemption nearer” (Rachel Elior in Yivo Encyclopedia).
