Guest Article by Rabbi Boruch Clinton.
INTRODUCTION:
(By Gavin Michal)
A wonderful benefit - from the treasury of unearned gifts - is that by
writing KOTZKBLOG, I get to meet some of the most wonderful writers and
thinkers from all around the Jewish academic and Torah world.
One such individual is Rabbi Baruch Clinton, an author, educator and
scholar who has the rare attribute of being able to think for himself and speak
his mind honestly while remaining steadfastly true to Torah Judaism. He
introduced himself to me as a Hirschian (a student of R. Shimshon Refael
Hirsch) but he is so much more.
What follows is one of his articles which I share (with permission):
It deals with the important idea of Jewish mysticism which has today become
the mainstream. Mysticism, of one sort or another, is now the default setting
of probably most religious Jews, even those from non-Chassidic camps. Clinton’s
article questions whether popularity alone is sufficient to override the small
still voice of spiritual rationalism which may claim even deeper and more
authentic roots.
Between Frankfurt and Tzfas touches on the theological
tension between 19th- century Hirschian thought and 16th-century
Kabbalistic theurgy and theosophy. Frankfurt was the centre for the rational
thinking of R. Hirsch, and Tzfas (Safed, a town in northern Israel) became the
new home of mysticism after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492.
