Judaism and the Meaning of Life

Emil Fackenheim (1916-2003), one of the great Jewish thinkers of the latter half of the 20th century, is in some danger of being remembered too much in conjunction with a number: 614. This is the number he famously ascribed to the commandment that the experience of the Holocaust had added, he maintained, to the original 613: “Thou shalt not hand Hitler posthumous victories. To despair of the God of Israel is to continue Hitler’s work for him.” This 1965 essay cogently reminds us of some of the other ramifications of Fackenheim’s understanding of the covenantal relationship between God and man. We republish the essay by permission of Commentary, where it first appeared.

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/6053/features/judaism-and-the-meaning-of-life/