Day Two of HUC’s Mid-year Colloquium:

The title sums it up.  We spent the hours between 8:30 AM this morning until 3:30 PM this afternoon being immersed in Heschel’s life and works.  Instead of delving into his plethora of written works we’ll just give you some tasty tidbits about his life.

Top Five Fun Facts About Abraham Joshua Heschel (courtesy of Michael Marmur)

1. He lived in five different cities in his lifetime: Warsaw, Vilna, Berlin, Cincinnati, and New York (He was brought to the US in 1937 by our very own institution of high learning - The Hebrew Union College)

2. He wrote in five different languages: Yiddish, Hebrew, German, English and Heschelish

3. He was raised in a prominent Hasidic family and despite pursuing a secular education he managed to achieve the unachievable by not being ostracized from his Hasidic community.

4. When asked how he identified himself Jewishly he replied, “I do not regard myself as a noun in search of an adjective”. ZING!

5. His American street cred was increased because of his close friendship with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (King is rumored to have carried Heschel’s The Prophets with him.  Further, they both referred to the other as a modern day prophet - BFFLs!)