Eugene B. Borowitz (February 20, 1924 – January 22, 2016) was an American leader and philosopher in

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

, known largely for his work on Jewish

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

Jewish ethics Jewish ethics is the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western philosoph ...

. He also edited a Jewish journal, ''Sh'ma'', and taught at the

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. He was awarded the Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award by the

Union for Reform Judaism The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established ...

(2005), selected as a Scholar of Distinction for a retrospective on his work by the

Jewish Publication Society The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskop ...

(2002) and given the Jewish Cultural Achievement medal for scholarship by the

National Foundation for Jewish Culture The Foundation for Jewish Culture (formerly the National Foundation for Jewish Culture) was an advocacy group for Jewish cultural life and creativity in the United States. Founded in 1960, it supported writers, filmmakers, artists, composers, cho ...

. He received the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, he served as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

for the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

. Borowitz held degrees from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and HUC-JIR.

Early life

Borowitz grew up in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, and attended

. After graduation, he went to

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, where he was ordained as a Rabbi in 1948 and received his D.H.L. in 1950.

Career

Borowitz became the founding rabbi of the Community Synagogue in

Port Washington, New York Port Washington is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the Cow Neck Peninsula in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), No ...

, while at the same time pursuing a PhD. in religion from the joint program sponsored by

and Union Theological Seminary. In 1957, he was appointed as director of the Religious Education Department of the

Union of American Hebrew Congregations The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established ...

. Because of this, he switched to Columbia's doctoral program in education and received the Ed.D. in 1958. From 1962 until his death, he was a faculty member at the New York campus of

, where he became the Sigmund L. Falk Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Education and Jewish Religious Thought. He was elected as the first Jewish president of the

American Theological Society The American Theological Society, founded in 1912, is the oldest professional theological society in North America. It has met at least once each year in various locations on the East Coast of the United States, lately at Princeton Theological Semin ...

in 1981 and served until 1982 American Theological Society List of Presidents
''American Theological Society List of Presidents'' American Theological Society Retrieved 2016-09-20.Eugene B. Borowitz, Rabbi, D.H.L., Ed.D.
''Directory'', Hebrew Union College. Retrieved 2016-01-23. He celebrated his hundredth semester with the college in 2012. Borowitz is best known for his development of "covenant theology," a term he first introduced in a 1961 article in ''Commentary''.Borowitz, Eugene B. (July 1961).
Crisis Theology and the Jewish Community
" ''Commentary'', 32(1), p. 36-42. Online version retrieved 2016-01-31. His work concerned itself with the dilemma of the postmodern Jew: committed to individual autonomy, but nevertheless involved with God, Torah and Israel. His interest in redefining covenant led him to significant work in normative ethics, some of which was collected in his book ''Exploring Jewish Ethics'' (264), and his teaching on the subject led to the volume, ''Reform Jewish Ethics and the Halakhah'' (298). Borowitz's work in covenant theology found its mature expression in his 1991 book, ''Renewing the Covenant'' (273). One of Borowitz's most significant accomplishments was his founding of
Sh'ma, a Journal of Jewish Responsibility
' in 1970. He was its publisher and editor for twenty-three years, and he served as Senior Editor from 1993 to 1997. ''Sh'ma'' provided a forum where voices from all segments of the Jewish community could be heard on a wide range of controversial topics. Borowitz wrote numerous short book reviews for ''Sh'ma''.

Personal life

Borowitz died on January 22, 2016, at the age of 91 at his home in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

Selected publications and edited works

* Eugene B. Borowitz: ''Rethinking God and Ethics'', Eds. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and Aaron w. Hughes, Boston, MA: BRILL, 2014. * ''Renewing the Covenant'', translation by Menashe Arbel and Ilon Shamir, Eds. Ilon Shamir and Yehoyadah Amir, Tel Aviv: HaKibbutz HaMeuchad, 2014. * ''A Touch of the Sacred: A Theologian's Informal Guide to Jewish Belief'' (with Frances W. Schwartz), Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2007. * ''A Life in Covenant: the Complete Works of Eugene B. Borowitz, 1944-2007'', by Amy W. Helfman, updated by Sarah Wolf, 2007. * ''The Talmud's Theological Language-Game, a Philosophical Discourse Analysis''. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2006. * ''Studies in the Meaning of Judaism''. Philadelphia: the Jewish Publication Society. 2002. * ''Reviewing the Covenant: Eugene B. Borowitz and the Postmodern Renewal of Jewish Theology'', Peter Ochs with Eugene B. Borowitz. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000. * ''Judaism After Modernity, Papers from a Decade of Fruition''. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999. * ''The Jewish Moral Virtues'' (with Frances W. Schwartz). Philadelphia: the Jewish Publication Society, 1999. * ''Choices in Modern Jewish Thought'' (2nd ed.). W. Orange, NJ: Behrman House, 1995. * ''Renewing the Covenant''. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991. * ''Exploring Jewish Ethics'' Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990. * ''Explaining Reform Judaism'' (With Naomi Patz) New York: Behrman House, 1985. Liberal Judaism New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1984.

Selected works

''Bibliography, 1944-1999''
* ''Contemporary Christologies: A Jewish Response''. US: Paulist Press International, 1980. * ''Exploring Jewish Ethics: Papers on Covenant Responsibility''. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990. * ''Liberal Judaism''. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1984. * ''Reform Jewish Ethics and the Halakhah: An Experiment in Decision Making'' (Editor). Behrman House Publishing, 1995. * ''Renewing the Covenant: A Theology for the Postmodern Jew''. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991. * ''The Talmud's Theological Language-Game, a Philosophical Discourse Analysis''. Albany: State University of New York, 2006.

Religion Lectures Given at the Chautauqua Institution

The Jewish Moral Virtues Today
Daily lectures given at th
Chautauqua Institution
by Rabbi Eugene B Borowitz in the summer of 2000. Topics Include: ** Wisdom ** Trustworthiness ** Wealth ** Repentance ** Loving God
National Affairs: Ethics and Public Life
Daily lectures given at th
Chautauqua Institution
by Rabbi Eugene B Borowitz and Fr. Stanley Harakas in the summer of 1993.
The Moods of the Psalms
Daily lectures given at th
Chautauqua Institution
by Rabbi Eugene B Borowitz in the summer of 1990. Topics Include: ** Awe ** Understanding ** Ambivalence ** Anguish ** Confidence

The Temple Sinai Ark Tapestry: A Masterwork of American Jewish Folk Art

A book describing the creation of the Temple Sinai Ark Tapestry can be rea
here

References

Sources

* Batnitzky, Leora. "

Postmodernity Postmodernity (post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist ''after'' modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in the ...

and historicity : reflections on Eugene Borowitz’s postmodern turn" in ''Religious Studies Review'', 27,4 (2001): 363-369. * Borowitz, Eugene B., Yudit Kornberg Greenberg, Susan Handelman,

David Novak David Novak, (born August 19, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro Ea ...

, Peter Ochs, Thomas Ogletree, Norbert Samuelson,

Edith Wyschogrod Edith Wyschogrod (June 8, 1930"Edith Wyschogrod." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Accessed via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2016-10-04. – July 16, 2009) was an American philosopher. She received her A.B. from Hunter Co ...

. ''Reviewing the Covenant: Eugene B. Borowitz and the Postmodern Renewal of Jewish Theology''. Edited by Peter Ochs. Albany: SUNY Press, 2000. * Breslauer, S. Daniel. "Building a postmodern Reform Judaism : the example of Eugene B. Borowitz" in ''Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism''. Edited by Dana Evan Kaplan, 247-260. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002. * Breslauer, S. Daniel. " nEugene B. Borowitz, 'Reform Judaism Today: Book Two: What We Believe' (1977)" in ''Judaism'' 28,3 (1979): 382-384. * Daum, Robert A. "Two views on authority - Bleich and Borowitz" in ''Journal of Reform Judaism'' 33,1 (1986): 55-64. * Dorff, Elliot. "Autonomy vs. community: the ongoing Reform/

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

difference" in ''Conservative Judaism'' 48,2 (1996): 64-68. * Duff, Nancy J. " nEugene B. Borowitz, "Contemporary Christologies: a Jewish Response" in ''

Union Seminary Quarterly Review The ''Union Seminary Quarterly Review'' was a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering theology. The Union Seminary Quarterly Review published its first issue in 1945. The masthead page of the first issue announced the journal as a replac ...

'' 38, 2 (1983): 231-235. * Ellison, David Harry. "Eugene B. Borowitz" in ''Interpreters of Judaism in the Late Twentieth Century'', 17-39. Edited by Stephen T. Katz. B'nai B'rith Book Service 1993. * Ellison, David Harry. "Eugene B. Borowitz: a tribute" in ''Jewish Book Annual'' 51 (1993): 125-236. * Helfman, Amy W. . "Bibliography of the writings of Eugene B. Borowitz" in ''Eugene B. Borowitz: Studies in the Meaning of Judaism (JPS Scholar of Distinction Series)'', 443-465. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2002. * Kolodny, Ralph L. . "Catholics and

Father Coughlin Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic priest based in the United States near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the ...

: Misremembering the past" in ''Patterns of Prejudice'' 19, 4 (1985): 156-25. * Kraut, Benny. "A liberal Jew looks at Christianity" in ''Tradition'' 21, 4 (1985) 80-86. * Levitt, Laura S. . "Covenant or contract? Marriage as theology" in ''Cross Currents'' 48,2 (1998): 169-184. * Melamed, Abraham. " nEugene B. Borowitz, 'Renewing the Covenant : a Theology for the Postmodern Jew' (1991)" in ''Jewish Political Studies Review'' 6,1-2 (1994): 179-186. * Mittleman, Alan Lee. " nEugene B. Borowitz, 'Renewing the Covenant: a Theology for the Postmodern Jew' (1991)" in ''Jewish Political Studies Review'' 6,1-2 (1994): 173-179. * Ochs, Peter W. . "Borowitz and the postmodern renewal of theology" in ''Cross Currents'' 43,2 (1993): 164-183. * Samuelson, Norbert Max. "A critique of Borowitz’s postmodern Jewish theology" in ''Zygon'' 28,2 (1993): 267-282. * Talmage, Frank Ephraim. " nEugene B. Borowitz, "Contemporary Christologies : a Jewish Response" in ''Journal of Reform Judaism'' 30, 3 (1983): 72-75. * Weiss, Andrea L. "Creative readings of the covenant: a Jewish-Christian approach" in ''Journal of

Ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

Studies'' 30,3-4 (1993): 389-402 * Yuter, Alan J. "A theology for liberal Jews : is it possible? A reflection on Eugene Borowitz’s 'Renewing the Covenant; a Theology for the Postmodern Jew' (1991)" in ''Le’ela'', 35 (1993) 29-32.

links

* NL
HUC-JIR biography
* NL

o
HUC-JIR

Eugene Borowitz collection
on th
Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner

Sh'ma, A Journal of Jewish Responsibility
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borowitz, Eugene 1924 births 2016 deaths Hebrew Union College alumni Ohio State University alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni Jewish ethicists American Reform rabbis Hebrew Union College faculty Philosophers of Judaism American Jewish theologians United States Navy chaplains Rabbis in the military Korean War chaplains Writers from Columbus, Ohio People from Port Washington, New York Writers from New York (state) 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis