עברית
Head of department; Editor of Daat Journal

Prof. Hanoch Ben Pazi

Telephone
+972544758296
Email
benpazi.hanoch@gmail.com
Office
Jacobovitz Building (1002), Floor 3, Room no: 308
Fields of Interest

Research Interests

Philosophy and Jewish thought in the 20th century in the fields of ethics, hermeneutics, and testimony, with particular emphasis on the thought of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Emmanuel Lévinas.

Personal Website
https://biu.academia.edu/HanochBenPazi
CV

Education

Ph.D. - 2003, Bar Ilan University, Dept. of Philosophy, Unit of Jewish Philosophy

Dissertation: "Reading as a Call to Responsibility: A Philosophical Investigation of Levinas’s Talmudic Readings".

Advisor: Prof. Ephraim Meir

M.A. - 1996, Tel Aviv University, Dept. of Jewish Philosophy (with distinction)

Thesis: "Avraham Ibn Migash – Philosophical Interpretation of the Kabbalah".

Advisor: Prof. Sara Klein-Breslavy

B.A. - 1991, The Open University of Israel, Philosophy & History

Awards and Scholaships

2010 – 2011         Mofet – Grant for research and publishing book, "Towards
                              Responsibility: The Educational Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas"

2005 – 2006         Mofet – Grant for research, "The Influence of Freud’s Anthropology
                              on Religion to the Development of Jewish Thought: The Paradygm of                       R. Soloveitchik"

2003                     Excellent Article – Center of Research in Education, Jerusalem,
                             “Establishing the Future: Educational Meanings of Revelation and
                             the Messianic Idea according to Levinas"

2001 – 2003         Rotenstreich Fellowship for doctoral students

2001 – 2002         Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture

2001                     The French Institute, Scholarship for doctoral students

2000                     AGID – Research in France, Scholarship for doctoral students

1994                     Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv University,
                             Scholarship for Graduate Students

1993                     Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv University,
                             Scholarship for Graduate Students

Additional Work Experience

Midrash and Psychoanalysis – Lecturer and Facilitator with Prof. Yolanda Gampel of Reading Group Jewish Thought and Rabbinical Litterature                                                                                                                            1996 – 2005

Member of the Board of “Agudat Shay” – a voluntary association for the rehabilitation of young people with disabilities                                                                                                                                                                                                                               1992 – 2001

Van Leer Institute                   
             - “Kehilla Lomedet” (Learning Community), Lecturer and Facilitator                                                                                                                                 1997 – 2000

             - Young Jewish Leadership, Lecturer and Facilitator                        2002 – 2003

“Agudat Shay” – Facilitator of support group for young people with disabilities                                                                                                                             1986 – 1991

Research

Fields of Research

  1. The philosophy of Emmanuel Lévinas, with reference to the totality of his writings, both Jewish and philosophical. Because of the great worldwide interest in Lévinas’ philosophy and ethics, my research, which includes philosophical inquiry into both his Jewish writings and his phenomenological writings, has been shown to be an important contribution in the philosophical study of Lévinas at large. In this context, I have been offered many invitations to give lectures and take part in academic forums on “religion and ethics,” phenomenology, and modern Jewish thought.
  2. “Jewish hermeneutics” – the philosophical significance of hermeneutics in modern Jewish thought. This path of inquiry, which is related to the philosophical study of Emmanuel Lévinas, deals with the ethical meaning of the act of interpretation and the moral responsibility placed upon the interpreter of a text. My book Interpretation as an Ethical Act, which will be published in English translation, is one of the fruits of this endeavor. That study has great importance for the study of religions and for philosophical inquiry into Scriptures. In this context, I am a participant in the “Scriptural Reasoning” forum at Cambridge University and in interreligious forums.
  3. “Testimony and Responsibility” ­– a phenomenological study of the witnessing, which contributes to the development a philosophy of “testimony.” This inquiry into testimony opens up into a number of philosophical and ethical deliberations on the meaning of “tradition” and “religious tradition,” the ethical responsibility placed upon the subject in the communication age, the importance of testimony in shaping memory, and the definition of identity after the Holocaust. In this context, I was invited to be a guest lecturer at a plenary session of the American Academy of Religion in 2014.

Secondary Fields of Research

            As a spinoff from the main fields of research listed above, I have undertaken research and teaching in two additional fields:

  1. The close congruence between psychological thought and psychoanalytic research on one hand and the thought world of Jewish philosophy on the other. My aim is to integrate new research methods into the study of Jewish philosophy using the analytical tools of psychoanalysis and to open up new vistas for philosophical writing itself.
  2. Philosophy of education.  I am engaged in philosophical inquiry into the fields of educational thought and an effort to derive theories of education from modern and contemporary philosophical discourse. Those fields include discourse theory in the post-modern age, the teaching of Jewish thought and culture, the teaching of the Holocaust, and the challenges of Jewish identity in this era.
Publications

Book

  1. Zionism According to Levinas, (in Hebrew) Ha-Kibbutz ha-Meuchad : Hillel ben-Chaim series.
  2. Emmanuel Levinas: Educational Contract: Responsibility, Hopefulness, Alliance, (in Hebrew) Ha-Kibbutz ha-Meuchad (with Mofet ).

Articles and Chapters in Books

  1. "Bearing Witness and Responsibility in Education", Politics Now, Esther Yogev (ed.), New York: Nova Science Publishers 2014, pp. 49 – 66
  1. "The Voice from the Coffin", Levinas Faces Biblical Figures, Yael Lin (ed.), Lanham: Lexington Books 2014, pp. 173 - 188
  1. “‘Tumat Yesharim Tanchem’: Talmudic Casuist Laws as Alternative to Halakha in Levinas’s Thought”, The Halakhah: Open and Hidden Ideational and ideological Contexts, Avinoam Rosenak (ed.), Jerusalem: Magnes Press and Van Leer Institution, 2012, pp. 247 – 265
  1. "Poverty in Rabbinic Midrash", A Poor People of God for the Poor in the World?, Achim Buckenmaier and Ludwig Weimer (eds.), Rome: Latern University Press 2014, pp. 33 - 58
  1. “Love Discourse: Rosenzweig vs. Plato”, Faith, Truth and Reason - The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig, Y. Turner & Y. Amir, Martin Brasser (eds.), Freiburg i. Br.: K. Alber, 2012, pp, 105 - 124
  1. “On Mourning and Hope of Halakhism: Psychological Aspects of  Halakha”, Halakhah, Meta-Halakhah and Philosophy: Philosophy of Halakhah: A Multi Disciplinary Perspective, A. Rosenak (ed.), Jerusalem: Magnes - The Hebrew University 2011, pp. 370 – 392 [Heb.]
  1. “Alma de-Itgalya and Alma de-Itkasya – Psychoanalsis Aspects of Soloveitchik’s Thought”, 'Rav BeOlam Hadash' - Studies Exploring Rabbi J. D. Soloveitchik's Influence on Culture, Education and Jewish Thought, N. Rothenberg and A. Rosenak (eds.), Jerusalem: Magnes - Van Leer Institute 2011, pp. 97 – 117 [Heb.]

Articles in Periodicals

  1.    "Halacha as a Social - Ethical Responsibility: A Philosophical Study in A. J. Heschel’s Theology", Judaica - Beiträge zum Verstehen des Judentums (2015), pp. 57 – 75                                                                                                         A
  1. "Emmanuel Levinas: Hermeneutics, Ethics, and Art", Journal of Literature and Art Studies 5 (2015), pp. 588 – 600                                                                                                                 B
  1.   "Jewish Identity Beyond Halakhah — Levinas in Light of Buber: From Spiritual Renewal to a Just and Moral Society", Iyyunim - Tekumat Israel: Beyond the Halakha 7 (2104), pp. 214 - 241 [Heb.]                                                      B
  1.   "Philosophers Read the Talmud: The Reinterpretive Exegesis of  Lévinas, R. Soloveitchik and R. Kook - a Comparative Analysis", Judaica; Beiträge zum Verstehen des Judentums 67,1. (2011), pp. 3–40                                          A
  1.  “Holiness Streams Towards the Future: Sexuality in Rav Kook’s Thought”, Nashim 21 (2011), pp. 160 – 178                                                                    A

Reviews of Books in periodicals

  1.    Review: "The Future of Jewish Theology" by Steven Kepnes, Modern Theology Journal 30 (2014), pp. 628 – 631                                                                    A
  1.    Review: "Leora Batnitzky, How Judaism Became a Religion", Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXVII (2104), pp. 324 – 325.                                      A
  1.    Review: "Shmuel Trigano - Democratic Ideal and the Holocaust", Iyun 64 (2015), pp. 225 – 230                                                                                                    A 

Articles

  1.  "Tradition - The Unwritten Letter", Education and Context 36 (2014), pp. 299 - 318 [Heb.]                                                                                                    
  1. "On the Cusp of the Shadow: Emmanuel Levinas on Hermeneutics, Ethics and Art", Marhe 9 (2014), pp. 47 – 58. [Heb.]   
  1.   "Rav Shagar and the Ethical Challenge of Postmodernism",  Akdamot 29 (2014), pp. 199 - 208                                                                                                                            

Papers Presented At Scientific Conferences

  1. "Mystics between East and West: according to The Ecstatic Confessions of Martin Buber", The Israel Society of the Studies of Religions – Foundation Conference, Oct. 2015
  1. "Dynamic and Paradoxical Aspects of Ethics in Jankelevitch's Thought
  1. The Natural, the Un-natural and the Super-natural", Temporality, Morality, and Nostalgia - in the Thought of Vladimir Jankélévitch, Hebrew University, September 2015
  1. "Living in the City of Refuge: The Responsibility of Witnesses According to E. Levinas", North American Levinas Society – Annual Conference, University of Purdue, Indianpolis, July 2015
  1. "Emmanuel Levinas: Witnessing, Reconciliation and Responsibility", Annual International Conference on Philosophy, Athens, May 2015
  1. "Climate Change - Religion: Between Denial and Responsibility", American Academy of Religion – Annual Meeting: San Diego, Nov. 2014 – (Plenary Session).
  1. "On the Journey toward Revelation There is a Stop at the Station of Atheism: Reading Rosenzweig with Margarete Susman and Emmanuel Levinas", Nach dem „Stern der Erlösung“ Franz Rosenzweig in Frankfurt: Bildung – Sprachdenken – Übersetzung, IRG Goethe University Frankfurt, Oct. 2014
  1. "Emmanuel Levinas: Ethics, Religion and Politics", Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion and Philosophy, Osaka, Mar. 2014 
  1. "Theological and Halakhic Thought in the Postmodern Age (after Levinas and Derrida)", Association for Jewish Studies, 45th Annual Conference, Boston, Dec. 2013
 

 
  1. "Scriptural Reasoning in University", American Academy of Religion – Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Nov. 2013
  1. "Covenant and Election in the Light of the Holocaust", The Sixteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University, July 2013
  1. "Levinas: Hermeneutics, Ethics and Art", Hermeneutics and Art, Bezalel – Hebreew University, May 2013
  1. "Ethical Hermeneutics of Radical Theology", Israel Philosophy Association 16th Annual Conference, Bar Ilan University, Feb. 2013
  1. "Peace and War in Levinas Thought", Hebrew Language and Culture: Reception, Self-Conception and Intercultural Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Jan. 2013
  1. "Prayer as Poetry or Dramatic Text: Dialogical Thought", Franz Rosenzweig Congress: Gebot, Gesetz, Gebet Love, Law, Life, IRG, University of Toronto Sep. 2012
  1. "Responsibility beyond Heidegger: Ethical Dwelling and Testimony", North American Levinas Society – Annual Conference, University of Alaska, Anchorage, May 2012
  1. "Leibowitch and Levinas – Ethical Requirements of Atheism". Critical Theology: Foundation Conference, Tel Aviv University, May 2012
  1. "Glory of Testimony", Les Juifs en Provence, Université Aix-Marseille, Feb. 2012
  1. "Peace and War – The Religious Question of Totality and Infinity: E. Levinas vs. F. Rosenzweig and R. Kook", Celebrating Totality and Infinity at 50, Texas A&M University, May 2011
  1. "Religion within Boundaries of Mere Ethics", Israel Philosophy Association 14th Annual Conference, Tel Aviv University, Feb. 2011
Media

youtube (Hebrew)

 
 
 
 
 

Articles (Hebrew)

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Last Updated Date : 03/10/2023