ABSTRACT
Rabbi Greenberg, with great sophistication, turns to the interpretation of history, to history itself, to substantiate and verify his covenantal vision of the evolution of the Jewish spirit through time. He moves seamlessly from the biblical, through the rabbinic and medieval eras, and then on to the modern period and the Shoah and its implications. The long historical narrative climaxes in the two monumental and revolutionary events of the twentieth century: the Shoah and the recreation of a Jewish commonwealth in the Land of Israel. The deep structure of Jewish messianism is meant to guarantee that in the end good triumphs and evil is defeated, and that there is a moral balance in creation. Greenberg’s refashioning and explanation of the movement of Jewish history are, as must be the case for all authentic Jewish thought, explicit recommendations as to how his views should be understood to impact the meaning and authority of the Halakha.
