Abraham Joshua Heschel

Our school's namesake, Abraham Joshua Heschel, was a renowned scholar, philosopher, theologian and Jewish mysticist who left an indelible impression on Jewish life, on theology and on American and world history.

Rabbi Heschel was born in 1907 in Germany where he received a classical Jewish education and went on to teach Talmud in Berlin and to become Martin Buber's successor at Judisches Lehrhaus in Frankfurt.

With the rise of the Nazis, Heschel was deported to Poland and in 1940 immigrated to the United States via England to begin teaching at Hebrew Union College. He joined the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1945, teaching Jewish ethics, philosophy and mysticism.

Rabbi Heschel looked to traditional sources to address the challenges of the modern Jew and brought his philosophy to life with his extensive involvement in the American civil rights movement. He declared that man's greatest sin was that of indifference, asserting at the National Conference of Religion and Race in 1963, "One hundred years ago, the emancipation was proclaimed. It is time for the white man to strive for self-emancipation, to set himself free of bigotry." His comments sparked participation on the part of clergymen in the great march on Washington later that year.

It has been said that while so many people are commas in the text of Jewish life, Rabbi Heschel was, in fact, an exclamation point. Our goal at Heschel West is to instill in each of our students a desire to be an exclamation point - to punctuate their presence with knowledge, respect, and contributions to our community.