Geoffrey D. Claussen, “Two Orthodox Approaches to Vulnerability and the Exodus Narrative: The Stranger in the Writings of Irving Greenberg and Meir Kahane,” Studies in Judaism, Humanities, and the Social Sciences, vol. 2, no. 1 (2018): 46–60.
This article, available online
here, explores the depiction of the vulnerable “stranger” in
the writings of two Orthodox rabbis, Irving Greenberg and Meir
Kahane, in light of how they understand biblical discourse about the people of
Israel’s experience as “strangers in the land of Egypt” and their liberation
from slavery. Greenberg, developing his theologically
liberal Orthodoxy, emphasizes universal human dignity and the Jewish obligation
to provide refuge, support, and empowerment for oppressed others. Kahane, developing his
supremacist and militant form of Orthodoxy, emphasizes how Jews are uniquely
oppressed and vulnerable, as strangers, such that they need to be separated
from non-Jews who threaten them by denying Jewish superiority. The article analyzes how these two thinkers
proceed from common assumptions, develop their arguments with reference to the
biblical Exodus narrative, and dispute what it means to be a vulnerable
stranger.
