Ed Codish
Ed Codish is a poet who made his name in English-language circles in Israel by writing an epic poem about sailing up a wadi from Beersheba to Gaza. He now teaches Jewish history and English at Akiva Hebrew Day
School in Lathruop Village, Michigan. He has lead internet
readings and discussions of Emmanuel Levinas' essays Prayer
Without Demand, and God and Philosophy. He has taught courses in
Levinas and Rosenzweig at the local Midrasha, and lectured on the
Musar movement at the Midrasha in Berkely, California.
He has a Masters degree in poetry from the University of
Iowa's Writers Workshop, and has published poems in journals in
Israel, the USA and Great Britain. He has taught at a number of
American and Israeli universities. His major concerns at the moment are theological, and he
is writing a series of essays on postmodern concepts of Judaism.
You can write to him directly at Ed Codish -- ecodish@ic.net
On Jewish Identity
To the First Essay on Emmanuel Levinas:
"I am going to try to define Judaism. The current divisions in
Judaism, the existence of Judaisms, have made the word almost
useless in any but a residual social sense, one more convenient
for antisemites than for Jews, or as referring to a particular
folklore. In defining Judaism, I have no intent to unite, or
present a plan for uniting, the present trends in Judaism. Each,
Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and others, has too great an
institutional stake in its own perpetuation."
To the Second Essay
"About a month ago, a group of Jews, Orthodox and
Conservative in roughly equal numbers, met at my house to discuss
Jewish concerns. In particular, we were concerned at the absence
of intellectual content in our synagogues, at the triumph of
religiosity over religion, at the formalism of our
traditionalism, and at the failure of our synagogues to excite
either our minds or our souls. We are a group of liberal Jews,
observant Jews, who see no contradiction in being liberal and
observant. We are determined to find out what Judaism is, with
minimal preconceptions. We think that the great search of Judaism
through time has been a search for Judaism itself. In a symbol I
have been developing, we want to compare the tablets of law Moses
shattered with those he wrote himself."
To The Shattered Tablets of the Law The Third Essay:
"This is the third in a a series of essays written for a prayer group trying to link the Conservative, Orthodox and
reform Jewish communities in southeastern Michigan. This essay,
more technical perhaps than the first two, offers a way to read
Jewish texts which may make them available to far more Jews than
is now the case. Certainly, that is the intention, and judging by
the response so far, it may be working."
To Judaism and Commandment The Fourth Essay:
" Religious action is commanded action. In this, it
differs from moral
action, immoral action, or any action chosen by the
person acting. Above all, commandment differs from law.
This is why Orthodox Judaism, in its admirable adherence
to Jewish religious law, does not define Judaism."
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