Religion: Existentialism & the Jews

Existentialism, one of the century's most important philosophical movements, has had little influence on Jewish intellectual life in the U.S. The reason, according to Orthodox Rabbi Shubert Spero of the

Young Israel Synagogue in Cleveland, is that it threatens the philosophical underpinnings of liberal Judaism, which was founded largely on the ethical rationalism of 19th century German thought. Liberal Jews set small store by the Law; some Reform congregations have little to distinguish them from Unitarians. Existentialism, with its distrust of reason and its emphasis on the irrational and emotional nature of man's fear-filled, striving experience of life, points Jews as well...