I am first of all grateful to Eliezer Schweid, master teacher, philosopher and scholar of his generation, for his warm encouragement and sage advice throughout this ongoing project, and to his wife Sabina for her kindness and hospitality. Eli’s passing in January, 2022 cast a pall on the completion phase of the project, but his pioneering scholarship of modern Jewish thought, his synthetic view of the whole sweep of modern Jewish history, and his passionate commitment for the continuing contribution of Jewish philosophy to Jewish life will live on through these pages.
I am extremely grateful to my research assistant Yuval Lieblich, who was able to research in Israeli libraries for the primary works of the ultra-Orthodox thinkers discussed in Part One of this volume, and to draft the footnotes for several chapters of the English edition of this work.
I am especially grateful to my editors, Dobrochna Fire and Dora J. Friedman, who copy-edited the main text and prepared the index. I express my thanks also to Erika Mandarino and Helena Schöb, my editors at Brill, who guided me through the final publication process.
I am grateful to my colleagues and students at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, New York and fellow-congregants at Congregation Kol Rina in South Orange, New Jersey for exchanges that have helped me visualize the live audience whom this work is intended to reach. I am most of all grateful to my family and my wife Margie Freeman, for giving me the emotional and personal support that has helped me to see this project through to completion.
Leonard Levin
South Orange, New Jersey September, 2023