ABSTRACT
In his path-breaking study, Symbolism of Evil (1969), the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur suggests that symbols are not mere ornamentations to thought, but that they are primal engines for thinking about complex existential issues. At the end of his book, Ricoeur coined the now famous phrase, “symbol gives rise to thought” (Ricoeur 1969:347). In this essay, I make a similar argument in regard to Jewish rituals. Ritual, especially in the form of synagogue liturgy, plays a crucial function in the expression of Jewish philosophy. Basing myself on modern German Jewish philosophy, I attempt to show how Jewish rituals can give rise to the representation and contemplation of eternal truths, ethical ideals, dimensions of time, and the nature of God. And in addition to modes of representation and contemplation, I argue that ritual plays a uniquely important role in connecting thought to the body, to human action, and to community. In its role of linking thought and action, ritual offers resources to address some of the perennial and contemporary issues of philosophy.
