Mr. Michael Kleinman was born in Augusta, Georgia and is a native of Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta. In high school he was a captain of the football team and the editor‐in‐chief of the school paper. At Penn he pursued a degree in philosophy, as well as opportunities to reengage with his Jewish heritage. After college he plans on studying at in an institution of Jewish learning in Israel, with the hopes of furthering my ability to contribute to the American Jewish community.
Michael’s Paper, "We will do and we will hear": Levinas and the Postmodern Jew: In this paper, I explore the intersection between Torah Judaism and universal rationality through the lens of a recent Jewish philosopher. In his writings, Levinas is concerned with re-engaging the Western Jewish community that is rising from the ashes of the Holocaust and battling with the temptations of full assimilation. The question that I explore is in what ways does Levinas give Jews the tools to enter into dialogue with the wider world of Western discourse, not as apologists but as rational and ethical clarifiers? At the same time, how do we understand the limits of how far a rational interpretation of Judaism should take us?
This presentation was delivered at the Sinai Scholars Academic Symposium 2010. The Sinai Scholars Symposium is a yearly conference for university students, hosted by the Sinai Scholars Society. Students from around the world gather with an esteemed panel of Ivy League professors, world-class Torah scholars and experts in their field to study, discuss and present their thoughts on various subjects that deal with Judaism and the modern world. Each student prepares an academic paper which they present to their colleagues and a panel of judges.
Paper: “We Will Do and We Will Hear”
