We are grateful to Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg for sharing his wisdom with us. Please enjoy the conversation recording below.
Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg is one of the most influential Jewish thinkers and institution-builders of our time. Currently president of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life (JJGI) and Senior Scholar in Residence at Hadar, Rabbi Greenberg’s distinguished career includes service as the founding director of CLAL: the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, founding president of Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University and City University of New York, and director of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, and Chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum.
Over his long career, Rabbi Greenberg has taught tens of thousands of Jewish leaders in hundreds of communities across North America and around the world. He has written extensively on post-Holocaust Jewish religious thought, Jewish-Christian relations, pluralism, and the ethics of Jewish power. He was a member of the delegation of Jewish leaders who traveled to Dharamshala, India for an historic encounter with the Dalai Lama, which was later discussed in Rodger Kamenetz’s book The Jew in the Lotus.
In addition to his role as Executive Director at IJS, Rabbi Josh Feigelson is a leading scholar of Rabbi Greenberg’s thought. In this conversation, Rabbi Feigelson and Rabbi Greenberg will reflect on Rabbi Greenberg’s own training in and practice of Musar and experiencing Jewish life as a form of spiritual practice. Rabbi Greenberg will also discuss themes from his forthcoming book, The Triumph of Life.