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Cohen on Atonement, Purification and Repentance

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Hermann Cohen’s Critical Idealism

Part of the book series: Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Thought ((ASJT,volume 10))

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References

  1. I have not attempted in this essay to distinguish between’ ethics’ and’ morality’.

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  2. See Irene Kajon’s article in the present volume.

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  3. S. S. Schwarzschild, ‘Introduction’, in: Cohen, Ethik, xxii.

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  4. Ethik, 453.

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  5. Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, Akademie Ausgabe, vol. 4, 402.

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  6. Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, Akademie Ausgabe, vol. 4, 414, 421.

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  7. Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, Akademie Ausgabe, vol. 4, 422.

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  8. Cohen wrestles with the relationship between Revelation and rational ethics in Chapters 4 t (Offenbarung, 82f.) and chapter 16 (Das Gesetz, 398f.) of the Religion der Vernunf. Of course, at no time does he understand Revelation in the conventional, historical sense.

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  9. Jüdische Schriften I, 125–139.

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  10. Jüdische Schriften I, 140–144.

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  11. Jüdische Schriften III, 98–168.

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  12. Jüdische Schriften I, 2.

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  13. The Hebrew nefesh here carries no metaphysical connotation;’ soul’ is a misleading translation.

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  14. Exodus 20:5,6.

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  15. Jüdische Schriften I, 128.

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  16. Exodus 19:6.

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  17. Jüdische Schriften I, 130.

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  18. Babylonian Talmud, Succah 55b.

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  19. Rashi on Numbers 29:18.

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  20. Rashi on Numbers 29:18.

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  21. ‘die Vereinigung der Menschen über Stände und Völke zur Einheit des Gewissens, zur Einheit der sittlichen Menschheit’, Jüdische Schriften I, 130.

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  22. This is reminiscent of the statement attributed to Resh Laqish (Babylonian Talmud, Sota 3a) ‘no-one commits a trespass unless the spirit of foolishness has first entered him’.

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  23. Jüdische Schriften I, 131.

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  24. Jüdische Schriften I, 132. It is difficult to reproduce in English the play on the words Vergehen and Versehen.

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  25. Jüdische Schriften I, 131.

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  26. Plato, Phaedrus, 246.

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  27. Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 5a.

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  28. Jüdische Schriften I, 135.

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  29. Jüdische Schriften I, 135.

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  30. Religion der Vernunft, 38f.

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  31. See N. Rotenstreich, ‘Hermann Cohen’, in Essays in Jewish Philosophy in the Modern Era, ed. R. Munk, (Amsterdam, 1996), especially 94–101. See especially Der Begriff der Religion im System der Philosophie referred to above. The close connection of religion with the concerns of the individual was of course stated already in ‘Die Versöhnung’, as we have indicated.

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  32. Jüdische Schriften III, 176–196. Compare Religion der Vernunft, chapter 7.

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  33. Alexander Altmann analysed Cohen’s concept of Korrelation in ‘Hermann Cohen’s Begriff der Korrelation’, in: In Zwei Welten. Siegfried Moses zum fünfundsiebzigsten Geburtstag ed. H. Tramer (Tel Aviv, 1962), 377–399. I have not examined his analysis.

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  34. Jüdische Schriften III, 191, 23, 24. In Religion der Vernunft, 122 Cohen reveals his apologetic intent of defending Judaism against the Christian and pantheist accusation that it allows no room for connection between the human and the divine.

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  35. Jüdische Schriften III, 189, 18.

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  36. Jüdische Schriften III, 190–91, 19–22.

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  37. Jüdische Schriften I, 136.

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  38. Religion der Vernunft, 236.

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  39. Jüdische Schriften I, 136.

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  40. Jüdische Schriften I, 136.

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  41. Mishna Yoma 8:9, inaccurately cited, as we shall see. Cohen develops this thought more powerfully in the conclusion of his essay on the Day of Atonement.

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  42. Religion der Vernunft 244, 53.

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  43. R. Munk, ‘Who is the Other? Alterity in Cohen’s “Religion der Vernunft”’, in H. Holzhey et. al. (eds.), “Religion der Vernunft aus den Quellen des Judentums”. Tradition und Ursprungsdenken in Hermann Cohens Spätwerk (Hildesheim, 2000), 275–286, esp. 284–285.

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  44. ’Diese Steigerung der Reinigung des Priesters zu der Reinheit vor Gott ist der eigenen sittlichen Arbeit des Menschen zustatten gekommen. Nicht schon durch das Opfer des Priesters wird der Mensch rein, sondern erst vor Gott, d.h. durch sein eigenes heiliges Streben, die Reinheit zu erringen. In diesem Streben vollzieht er das Verhältnis zu Gott, wird Gott sein Ideal. Die Mischna hat das Bewußtsein des Judentums von seiner weltgeschichtlichen Wahrheit in dem Satz formuliert: “Heil euch, Israel, wer reinigt euch und vor wem reinigt ihr selbst euch?: es ist euer Vater im Himmel.” Der Nachsatz ist die Korrektur des Vordersatzes. Nur durch Selbstreinigung kann die Reinheit vor Gott zustande kommen.’, Jüdische Schriften I, 137.

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  45. That this is no accidental slip is evident when Cohen repeats the error in Religion der Vernunft, 263.

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  46. ‘Nur durch Selbstreinigung kann die Reinheit vor Gott zustande kommen.’, Jüdische Schriften I, 138.

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  47. Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed 3:32. Maimonides’ point is that prayer is a superior form of worship to sacrifice; the sacrificial code was instituted at a stage of human development when such things were needed to wean people from idolatry. It is not clear that he denies the restoration of sacrifices in the coming messianic period. His statement in the Guide was often misinterpreted and almost as often subjected to attack; one of the classical attacks is Nahmanides’, in his commentary on Leviticus 1.

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  48. J. B. Agus, Modern Philosophies of Judaism (New York 1941), 69–70. See the sections on ‘die Methode der Reinheit’ in Ethik, 94f.

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  49. ‘Als höchster Punkt im Begriffe Gottes galt uns bisher seiner Heiligkeit. Aber diese in aller Fülle and Tiefe ihrer Bedeutung bezieht sich eigentlich doch nur auf den Inbegriff der sozialen Sittlichkeit’, Religion der Vernunft, 243.

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  50. Luzzatto’s Mesilat Yesharim (Path of the Upright) was first published in 1740. It was translated into English by Shraga Silverstein, New York and Jerusalem, 1966. Chapter 16 deals with purity.

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  51. This was translated into English by Charles B. Chavel under the title Encyclopedia of Torah Thoughts. (New York, 1980), see 271–278.

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  52. Mesilat Yesharim, 204.

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  53. Babylonian Talmud, Avoda Zara 20b. There are many textual variants and alternative ways to translate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oxford, UK

    Norman Solomon

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  1. Norman Solomon
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leiden, The Netherlands

    Reinier Munk

  2. Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Reinier Munk

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Solomon, N. (2005). Cohen on Atonement, Purification and Repentance. In: Munk, R. (eds) Hermann Cohen’s Critical Idealism. Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Thought, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4047-4_15

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