SU Press book wins National Jewish Book Award

SU Press book wins National Jewish Book AwardFebruary 11, 2009Mona Hamlinmhamlin@syr.edu

“Emil L. Fackenheim: A Jewish Philosopher’s Response to the Holocaust” by David Patterson, published by Syracuse University Press, is winner of the Modern Jewish Thought and Experience prize in the 2008 National Jewish Book Awards competition.

The winners of the 2008 National Jewish Book Awards will be honored on March 5 at a gala award ceremony at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St. in Manhattan. Recipients in 16 award categories will be recognized. The awards ceremony, which begins at 7:30 p.m., is free and open to the public.

Emil Fackenheim was the last in a long line of Jewish philosophers to emerge from Germany, the modern center of Western philosophy, following Moses Mendelssohn, Leo Baeck and Martin Buber.

In his revealing book, Patterson explores Fackenheim’s rigorous pursuit of a philosophical response to the tragedy of the Holocaust. Fackenheim’s writing sheds light on the tensions between Jewish thinking and German philosophy, illustrating how elements of the latter were used by the Nazis to justify Jewish annihilation. In addition, he emphasizes the important implications of defining Jewish philosophy as its own entity, separate from the tenets of the Jewish cultural tradition.

Patterson is the Bornblum Chair of Judaic Studies at the University of Memphis. He has published numerous books and articles on Jewish culture and religion, including “Sun Turned to Darkness: Memory and Recovery in the Holocaust Memoir” (1998), also published by Syracuse University Press.

For more information and to purchase “Emil L. Fackenheim: A Jewish Philosopher’s Response to the Holocaust,” visit http://www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu.