One of the most illustrious and influential rabbis in the world confronts a crucial issue of the philosophy and religion of our time: the nature and role of man. In these three readings, which he originally taught at the "Raymond Fred West Memorial Lectures" at Stanford University, in May 1963, Dr. Heschel inquires into the logic of being human: what does it mean to be human? What arguments justify the claim that a human being is human?
"It has never left us speechless or made us inquire, or has left us stunned or ashamed of our ignorance of man. We know what he does but we do not know what to expect from him. Is it perhaps inconceivable that our entire civilization has been built? about a misunderstanding of man? Or that the tragedy of man is due to the fact that it is a being who has forgotten the question: who is man? The failure to identify himself, of knowing what authenti...read more
