News Highlights Celebrating Rabbi Yitz Greenberg’s Triumph of Life

Last weekend, Jewish scholar and theologian Rabbi Yitz Greenberg visited campus to celebrate his recently published book,The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, a “narrative of the relationship between God and humanity as expressed in the Jewish journey through modernity, the Holocaust, the creation of Israel, and the birth of Judaism’s next era”:

“Greenberg describes Judaism’s utopian vision of a world created by a God who loves life, who invites humans to live on the side of life, and who enables the forces of life to triumph over death. The Bible proclaims our mission of tikkun olam, repairing the world, such that every human image of God is sustained in the fullness of our dignity. To achieve this ideal, Judaism offers the method of covenant—a realistic, personal, incremental partnership between God and humanity across generations in which human beings grow ever more responsible for world repair.”

Rabbi Greenberg was joined in conversation by President Rabbi Cohen Anisfeld, explore the ways in which this ethic of powerful and triumphant life can be directed towards the challenges of our times, and the role of mindful Jewish living in this mission.

The book, published by University of Nebraska Press, is the 2024 winner of the Natan Prize, from the Jewish Book Council in partnership with the Natan Fund.