The power of covenant and courage

Irving Greenberg, an acclaimed writer and Orthodox rabbi, has influenced practically every facet of American Jewish life. He is a congregational rabbi, a scholar, an activist, an interfaith leader, president of the J. J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life, senior scholar in residence at New York’s Hadar Institute, and more. The Triumph of Life is Greenberg’s own triumphant accomplishment, an encompassing work of theological art that is both scholarly and accessible. The book’s aim is to reassure Jews and non-Jews alike that the covenantal life of the spirit is worth laboring and fighting for. In this postmodern age—an era of both 
revolutionary promise and colossal threats to human life, 
our painstakingly garnered civilization, and the very survival of all life on planet Earth—Greenberg’s uplifting and instructive guidance will persist as a beacon of learning and enlightenment.

Greenberg openly and lovingly embraces all humans, stating that all people are created in God’s sacred image and represent the Divine in a rich and full rainbow. This vision is reinforced by his courageous call for his readers, particularly those in the traditional Jewish camp, to overcome centuries-­old biases that historically have fenced in Judaism and its threatened adherents. These biases arose in an environment of paganism, followed by a nascent Christianity that gradually sought to impose its deviations from the mother religion in a violent manner when facing Jewish resistance and opposition. While the author unequivocally calls for Jews to respect and appreciate Christianity and other religions, he also directly confronts the antisemitism that made the devastation of the Holocaust possible.

In fact, Greenberg attributes the impetus for writing The Triumph of Life to a 1961 experience that shook him. While teaching at Tel Aviv University as a Fulbright lecturer he encountered the enormity of the Holocaust for the first time. That year, the trial of notorious SS officer Adolf Eichmann took place in Jerusalem, and it had a profound impact on a mesmerized nation. I vividly recall living in Israel as a teenager that year and being shocked, as the son of Polish Holocaust survivors, by the horrific events described by shaken witnesses during the Eichmann trial.