A Passion for Truth

It is comparatively easy to preach joy and fervor, but to demand Truth is like shaping marble without tools. And so the Kotzker] went looking for a few surging people and called loudly upon their souls to bend their conceit and see the Truth beneath the soil....

This was not a philosophical inquiry into the nature of Truth but a scrutiny of men s lives in relation to Truth. Religion, the Kotzker maintained, was not simply an act of adopting a system of beliefs and certain modes of conduct; test and trial were needed, and one had to ascertain through introspection whether one s beliefs were genuine or not, and whether one acted out Truth or lived a life of pretense....

Kierkegaard made it his task to reintroduce Christianity into Christendom. The Kotzker sought to reintroduce authenticity to Jewish life. Kierkegaard s posthumous impact has been powerful. But has the Kotzker affected Jewish self-understanding? from "A Passion for Truth"