Letters as Temporal Windows: Shalom Rosenberg's Philosophical Exploration of Rosh Milin

• In Event: Mysticism and Politics

Abstract

The issue of language lies at the base of the ability for philosophical thought, as a tool in the pursuit of truth, and at the base of religious thought, in the possibility of encountering the infinite. These two approaches to language converge in Professor Shalom Rosenberg's interpretation of Rabbi Kook's book Reish Milin, a philosophical interpretation of a mystical book on the letters. I wish to present this interpretation, which in my understanding offers a new understanding of the meaning of language, pointing to the letters and seeing language as carrying hope within it.

Professor Shalom Rosenberg gave philosophical interpretations in his lectures on Reish Milin, addressing each letter and its meaning. Rosenberg's engagement with Reish Milin is the quintessence of his conception of language and its significance, and an opening to his new philosophical perspective. Rosenberg's reading of Reish Milin is in dialogue with thinkers from the philosophy of language, from modernism to postmodernism. Listening closely to his lectures identifies within his reading the letters, a conception of time that relates to the letters as windows to the infinite and as stages in the development of time. In my talk, I will compare Rosenberg's conception of time and language with Bergson's conception and its significance when juxtaposed with postmodern thinkers. I will present how Rosenzweig's understanding of Bergson enables him to expand the interpretation of the letters in Reish Milin, and to see language as capable of elevating us above external time and opening gateways to the real for us. This reading allows Rosenzweig to see hope in language, and to see its revival as heralding hope for the renewal of the Jewish people.

Rosenberg's reading of Reish Milin gives meaning to Rabbi Kook's enigmatic book on the letters, situating it as part of the attempt to return to the foundations of reality and revive the world anew from within them. Connecting the letters to Bergson's ideas about time reveals the power of language's renewal as a driving, foundational force in constituting the identity of the Jewish people.

Author

• Hodaya Shefi, Bar Ilan Univercity