Yeshayahu Leibowitz Quotes
Yeshayahu Leibowitz was a Latvian-Israeli philosopher, scientist, and Orthodox Jewish religious thinker, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in biochemistry, neurology, and philosophy, and one of the most distinctive and uncompromising voices of late twentieth-century Israeli thought. Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State and his many published lectures argued that Jewish religion is constituted by the practice of the commandments alone and not by belief in any historical or metaphysical proposition, and mounted a sustained critique of the political theology of the State of Israel and of the conflation of religion with nationalism. The quotes below are attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz, organized by topic.
Yeshayahu Leibowitz on God
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“Judaism is constituted by the commandments, not by beliefs about history or metaphysics.”
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“Faith is the recognition of the obligation to serve God for no reward.”
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“As for the " religious " arguments for the annexation of the territories—these are only an expression, subconsciously or perhaps even overtly hypocritical , of the transformation of the Jewish religion into a camouflage for Israeli nationalism . Counterfeit religion identifies national interests with the service of God and imputes to the state—which is only an instrument serving human needs—supreme value from a religious standpoint.”
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“Only a religion addressed to life's prose, a religion of the dull routine of daily activity, is worthy of the name.”
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“The religion of halakhic practice is the religion of life itself.”
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“From a religious point of view the triadic classification of being as nature, spirit, and God has no validity. There is only the dyad: nature, which includes the human spirit, and God. The only way man can break the bonds of nature is by cleaving to God; by acting in compliance with the divine will rather than in accordance with the human will.”
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Yeshayahu Leibowitz on Knowledge
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“Not every "return to Zion" is a religiously significant achievement: one sort of return which may be described in the words of the prophet: "When you returned you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination" (Jeremiah 2:7).”
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“Most characteristic of the Halakhah is its lack of pathos.”
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Yeshayahu Leibowitz on Life
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“Our real problem is not the territory but rather the population of about a million and a half Arabs who live in it and over whom we will need to impose our rule. Inclusion of these Arabs (in addition to the half a million who are citizens of the state) in the area under our rule will effect the liquidation of the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people and bring about catastrophe for the Jewish people as a whole; it will undermine the social structure that we have created in the state and cause the corruption of individuals, both Jew and Arab .”
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Yeshayahu Leibowitz on Politics
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“The state is not a religious value; it is a political instrument that may be used well or ill.”
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“To attribute holiness to the state is to commit idolatry.”
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Attributed to Yeshayahu Leibowitz:
“Israel must choose between the integrity of its democracy and the project of long-term occupation; it cannot have both.”
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“[W]ithout an agreement imposed from the outside, our situation will deteriorate to that of a second Vietnam , to a war in constant escalation without the prospect of ultimate resolution.”
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“Security " is a reality only where there is true peace between neighbors , as in the case of Holland / Belgium , Sweden / Norway , the United States / Canada . In the absence of peace there is no security, and no geographic-strategic settlement on the land can change this. There is no direct link between security and the territories.”
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“Our security has been diminished rather than enhanced as a result of the conquests in this war.”
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