![Mordechai RotenbergS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Mordechai_RotenbergS.jpg)
Mordechai Rotenberg (born 1932) ( he, מרדכי רוטנברג) is an Israeli professor of social work at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
.
Biography
Mordechai Rotenberg was born in
Breslau,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(today
Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
). His father was from
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, descended from
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
Yitzchak Meir Alter
Yitzchak Meir Rotenberg-Alter ( yi, יצחק מאיר אלטער, pl, Icchak Meir Rothenberg Alter, he, יצחק מאיר אלתר) (1799 – 10 March 1866), was the first Rebbe of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, which he founded in the town of G ...
, the founder of the Gur
Hasidic sect. His father owned a publishing house in
Breslau. In 1939, on the eve of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the family immigrated to
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. Rotenberg's father opened a small printing press in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Rotenberg grew up in a
Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
household, with three brothers and a sister.
[Talking to the spirits](_blank)
/ref>
In 1960, he graduated from the Hebrew University with a BA in education and sociology from the School of Social Work. In 1962, he received his MSW from New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
. In 1969, he was awarded a Ph.D. in social welfare and social psychology at University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.[Rotenberg Center for Jewish Psychology](_blank)
/ref>
In 1970, Rotenberg joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, becoming a full professor in 1980. He founded a new sub-discipline in psychology and religion. He is the author of ten books, which have been translated into English, French, Portuguese and Japanese. Rotenberg has taught at University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, University of California, Berkeley, the Jewish Theological Seminary, City University of New York
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
and Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universit ...
.
Clinical approach
Rotenberg has developed innovative theories based on psychological interpretations of Hasidic and Midrashic concepts. He describes his approach as "re-biography", i.e., "rereading one's biography so it becomes possible to live with the text." In an interview with Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
newspaper he said: "All of life is a text, and I am proposing a new term - recomposition, rewriting the melody of life. You do not have to erase the past, but it can be re-composed, and to that end I cite examples from the Gemara."
Tzimtzum paradigm
Rotenberg has adopted the Kabbalistic
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
-Hasidic
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
tzimtzum
The ''tzimtzum'' or ''tsimtsum'' (Hebrew ' "contraction/constriction/condensation") is a term used in the Lurianic Kabbalah to explain Isaac Luria's doctrine that God began the process of creation by "contracting" his ''Ohr Ein Sof'' (infinite ...
paradigm, which he believes has significant implications for clinical therapy. According to this paradigm, God's "self-contraction" to vacate space for the world serves as a model for human behavior and interaction. The tzimtzum model promotes a unique community-centric approach which contrasts starkly with the language of Western psychology.
Awards
In 2009, Rotenberg was awarded the Israel Prize
The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.
History
The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
for social work, in connection with his research in social welfare.
Published works
*Damnation and Deviance: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Failure
*Rewriting the Self: Psychotherapy and Midrash
*The Yetzer: A Kabbalistic Psychology of Eroticism and Human Sexuality
*Hasidic Psychology: Making Space for Others
*Creativity and Sexuality: A Kabbalistic Experience
*Between Rationality and Irrationality: The Jewish Psychotherapeutic System
*Dialogue With Deviance
*The Trance of Terror, Psycho-Religious FundaMentalism: Roots and Remedies
*Dia-logo Therapy: Psychonarration and PaRDeS
*Re-Biographing and Deviance: Psychotherapeutic Narrativism and the Midrash
See also
*List of Israel Prize recipients
This is a complete list of recipients of the Israel Prize from the inception of the Prize in 1953 through to 2022.
List
For each year, the recipients are, in most instances, listed in the order in which they appear on the official Israel Prize ...
References
External links
Mordechai Rotenberg's Dia-logo Therapy: A New Approach to Dialogical Psychotherapy
Books by Mordechai Rotenberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotenberg, Mordechai
1932 births
Living people
Israel Prize in social work recipients
Israeli social workers
German social workers
Israeli psychologists
Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare alumni
Academic staff of Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare
New York University School of Social Work alumni
UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare alumni
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine
People from the Province of Lower Silesia