Neil Gillman (September 11, 1933 – November 24, 2017) was a Canadian-American

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 ...

and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

affiliated with

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...

Biography

Gillman was born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, Canada. He graduated from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in 1954. He was ordained as a rabbi at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...

in 1960. He received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1975.

In Conservative Judaism

Gilman was a member of the Conservative movement's rabbinical body, the

Rabbinical Assembly The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...

, and was a professor of

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile ...

at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, in Manhattan, New York City, USA. Gillman was one of the members of the Conservative movement's commission which produced ''Emet Ve-Emunah'' ("Truth and Faith"), the first official statement of beliefs of Conservative Judaism.

Books

*''Believing and Its Tensions: A Personal Conversation about God, Torah, Suffering and Death in Jewish Thought'', Jewish Lights, 2013. *''Doing Jewish Theology: God, Torah and Israel in Modern Judaism'', Jewish Lights, 2008. *''Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History and Everyday Life'', Jewish Lights, 2006. *''The Jewish Approach to God: A Brief Introduction for Christians'', Jewish Lights, 2003. *''The Way into Encountering God in Judaism'', Jewish Lights, 2000. *
The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought
', Jewish Lights, 1997. *''Conservative Judaism: The New Century'', Behrman House, 1993. *''Sacred Fragments: Recovering Theology for the Modern Jew'', Jewish Publication Society, 1992. *''Gabriel Marcel on Religious Knowledge'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1980.

Awards

* 1991:

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.American philosophy American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevert ...

List of American philosophers This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States. {, border="0" style="margin:auto;" class="toccolours" , - ! {{MediaWiki:Toc , - , style="text-ali ...

References

External links

The Problematics of Myth

Torah From Terror
(Edited with Rabbi Jason Miller)
Neil Gillman
at the Jewish Theological Seminary. 1933 births 2017 deaths American philosophers Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients Philosophers of Judaism American Conservative rabbis American Jewish theologians 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis {{judaism-philo-bio-stub