Rabbi Eugene Bernard Borowitz

EUGENE B. BOROWITZ, RABBI, D.H.L., ED.D

Eugene B. Borowitz (February 20, 1924 – January 22, 2016) was an American leader and philosopher in Reform Judaism, known largely for his work on Jewish theology and Jewish ethics. He also edited a Jewish journal, Sh'ma, and taught at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

He was awarded the Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award by the Union for Reform Judaism (2005), selected as a Scholar of Distinction for a retrospective on his work by the Jewish Publication Society (2002) and given the Jewish Cultural Achievement medal for scholarship by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. He received the National Jewish Book Award (1974) for The Mask Jews Wear. As is apparent from a bibliography of his works, Borowitz was a prolific author.

During the Korean War, he served as a chaplain for the U.S. Navy. Borowitz held degrees from Ohio State University, Columbia University and HUC-JIR. . . . ‘’continue

Rabbi Borowitz was a prolific author, having written numerous articles and seventeen books. The book that stands as the central statement of his theology is Renewing the Covenant: A Theology for the Postmodern Jew. Renewing the Covenant, in which he identified the dialectical themes of Covenant and self, God and community that he emphasized throughout his theoretical writings. This volume was the first systematic Jewish theology since Abraham Joshua Heschel's seminal publications in the 1950s.

His books were directed at a broad range of readers, from Explaining Reform Judaism, written with Naomi Patz, (a book for confirmation class students on religious belief) to Jewish Moral Virtues, co-authored with Frances Weinman Schwartz, addressed to lay learners. His other works include A New Jewish Theology in the Making, How Can a Jew Speak of Faith Today?, Choosing a Sex Ethic, The Masks Jews Wear, Contemporary Christologies: A Jewish Response, Choices in Modern Jewish Thought, Liberal Judaism, Reform Judaism Today, Studies in the Meaning of Judaism, Judaism After Modernity, and Exploring Jewish Ethics: Papers on Covenant Responsibility.

An academic of the highest caliber, Dr. Borowitz was the only Jewish individual to serve as President of the American Theological Society. In 1982 Harvard University Divinity School invited him to inaugurate its newly established List Professorship of Jewish Studies. He wrote the featured, comprehensive article on Judaism in the 16-volume Encyclopedia of Religion. His 1974 work, The Mask Jews Wear, received the National Jewish Book Award in the field of Jewish thought.

Rabbi Borowitz was widely known in the Jewish community as the Founder and former Editor of Sh'ma, a journal of Jewish responsibility, a magazine of Jewish social responsibility he founded in 1970 and edited for 23 years. He was active in Jewish publishing as Vice-President of the Jewish Publication Society. He served as visiting professor of religion at Columbia University, Princeton University, State University of New York at Stony Brook, City College of the City University of New York, Drew University, Temple University, Teachers College of Columbia University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Woodstock College (the Jesuit graduate school of theology). Source

Selected publications

• • 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.
• • 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.
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