Building Bridges Among Abraham’s Children

Building Bridges Among Abraham’s Children honors the extraordinary career of Professor Michael Berenbaum, a luminary in Holocaust studies, museum design, filmmaking, and interfaith dialogue. With contributions from renowned scholars and close friends, the short and highly readable essays in this collection delve into the core themes that have defined Professor Berenbaum’s work: biblical and postbiblical narratives, rabbinic thought and action, Jewish commitment to education, interreligious relations, and Holocaust remembrance. From his role in building the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to his pioneering work in preserving survivor testimonies through film, Professor Berenbaum’s influence is profound and multifaceted, and the compelling essays in this volume serve as a tribute to a scholar whose enduring legacy continues to make a global impact.

Edward McGlynn Gaffney is a frequent contributor to the ASCHC. He formed a group of experts to offer historical guidance to Federal and State courts in cases involving claims of Nazi-looted art. He is producer-director of Empty Boxcars (a documentary on the Shoah in Bulgaria and occupied territories in Greece and North Macedonia) and Holy Land: Common Ground (a documentary on Israelis and Palestinians searching for peace).

Marcia Sachs Littell is Emeritus Professor at Stockton University, where she founded America’s first master of arts degree in Holocaust and genocide studies. Littell has written and edited dozens of books and articles and organized numerous conferences, workshops, and teacher training programs on the Holocaust. Engaged in interfaith work on the Shoah for decades, she is the immediate former president of the ASCHC.

Michael Bazyler is the 1939 Law Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies at Chapman University School of Law. He has written many books relating to law and the Holocaust, including Holocaust Justice: The Battle for Restitution in America's Courts (2003) and Forgotten Trials of the Holocaust (2014).

Richard L. Rubenstein (z”l) served as president of the University of Bridgeport (1994-1999). He wrote After Auschwitz: History, Theology, and Contemporary Judaism (1st ed. 1966; 2nd ed. 1992). At Florida State University, he held the professorial chair and served as Michael Berenbaum’s Doktorvater. He co-authored (with John Roth) Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy (2nd ed. 2003).

Jeffrey Herbst is president of the American Jewish University. He served as president of the Newseum in Washington, DC. His scholarly work has focused primarily on Africa, with numerous books and articles on Ghana, Somalia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. His latest book is Democracy Works: Rewiring Politics to Africa’s Advantage (2019).

Michael Berenbaum is a rabbi who lives for the healing of the world, a participant in interreligious dialogue, a teacher who learns most from his students, a scholar who revised an entire encyclopedia, a historian of the Shoah who seeks truths embedded in other genocides, an interviewer who empowered thousands of survivors to speak of their unbearable pain, a builder of museums that are living memorials, and a filmmaker who tells stories that move our hearts and souls.

Michael Berenbaum is a rabbi who lives for the healing of the world, a participant in interreligious dialogue, a teacher who learns most from his students, a scholar who revised an entire encyclopedia, a historian of the Shoah who seeks truths embedded in other genocides, an interviewer who empowered thousands of survivors to speak of their unbearable pain, a builder of museums that are living memorials, and a filmmaker who tells stories that move our hearts and souls.

Edward McGlynn Gaffney is a frequent contributor to the ASCHC. He formed a group of experts to offer historical guidance to Federal and State courts in cases involving claims of Nazi-looted art. He is producer-director of Empty Boxcars (a documentary on the Shoah in Bulgaria and occupied territories in Greece and North Macedonia) and Holy Land: Common Ground (a documentary on Israelis and Palestinians searching for peace).

Marcia Sachs Littell is Emeritus Professor at Stockton University, where she founded America’s first master of arts degree in Holocaust and genocide studies. Littell has written and edited dozens of books and articles and organized numerous conferences, workshops, and teacher training programs on the Holocaust. Engaged in interfaith work on the Shoah for decades, she is the immediate former president of the ASCHC.

Michael Bazyler is the 1939 Law Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies at Chapman University School of Law. He has written many books relating to law and the Holocaust, including Holocaust Justice: The Battle for Restitution in America's Courts (2003) and Forgotten Trials of the Holocaust (2014).

“I welcome the publication of this collection of essays for its valuable interdisciplinary exploration of many aspects of the Shoah. The appearance of this hefty volume is a happy coincidence with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1947 Seelisberg Conference, a watershed event in Jewish-Christian dialogue and a foundational event for the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ). John Pawlikowski and Norman Tobias provide crisp accounts of the vision and courage of our predecessors to replace the 'Teaching of Contempt,' outlined carefully by the renowned French historian Jules Isaac, one of the pioneers at Seelisberg. This book also contains a rich sample of current interreligious encounters among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, showing the potential for unequalled spiritual growth that can flow from reciprocity and even complementarity, while respecting our differences and integrity.”

— Liliane Apotheker, President, International Council of Christians and Jews

“The momentous reckoning with the Holocaust that followed World War II—what is celebrated and advanced in this powerful book—might well not have happened. If, as Michael Berenbaum suggests, the final stage of every genocide is denial, the eyes and conscience of Western culture might have remained where they were fixed in the immediate aftermath of the Shoah, which was profoundly turned away. The Nazis had committed the crime, but they could not have nearly succeeded in the elimination of the Jewish people if not for the broad complicity of religious anti-Judaism, historic antisemitism, and the West’s long tradition of self-exoneration. The post-war silence of denial was broken first by Jews themselves, lifting up what had occurred. The initial demand for a moral accounting of why the catastrophe happened was met by nearly three generations of work by historians, theologians, activists, and common people. This volume—gathering the testimony of a crucial cohort of witnesses, thinkers, and reformers—honors that profound principled achievement. That this festschrift is centered on the life’s work of Michael Berenbaum makes the point that, across the critical decades, few have done more than him to enable broad publics to confront the harsh truth of the Holocaust and its meaning, which has led to deeper reckonings with history itself. Honoring Professor Berenbaum for creating intellectual, imaginative, cinematic, and physical monuments to moral memory, this book is itself a monument to his magnificent work and life.”

— James Carroll, Author of Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews, A History

“This volume is large because there is so much to learn from and about Michael Berenbaum. He is a teacher and author, a producer of historic films and the visionary genius who served as project director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and as the first director of its world-class research center. There is another reason as well: it is a big book because there are so many people eager to tell their own part of this man’s story. Berenbaum has many admirers because he is a patient and deep listener.”

— Rev. James L. Fredericks, Professor of Theology Emeritus, Loyola Marymount University

“Following the Second Vatican Council and the promulgation of Nostra Aetate in 1965, many efforts have been made to foster dialogue between Catholics and Jews, which have born great fruit over the past six decades, with many Jews and Catholics growing closer together in friendship and working together to build a better society. Rabbi Michael Berenbaum was one of the pioneers working to assist the Catholic Church in the United States in the process of implementing Nostra Aetate in this country, and his contributions towards building genuine friendship and understanding among Catholics and Jews have laid strong foundations on which our dialogues continue to grow. Building Bridges Among Abraham’s Children: A Celebration of Michael Berenbaum gives the reader a sense of the truly monumental and vast contributions that Rabbi Berenbaum has made throughout his distinguished career. The comprehensive nature of this text reflects the breadth of his dedication. May this volume help readers to appreciate Rabbi Berenbaum’s legacy and inspire many to continue his work of education and advocacy as well as mutual understanding and friendship among members of all faith traditions.”

— Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, DC

“A marvelous collection of essays paying tribute to Professor Michael Berenbaum, a scholar who has made study of the Holocaust an imperative in education at all levels from middle schools to universities, all over the United States and around the globe.”

— Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College

“Thirty-three years ago, I was privileged to be part of the small community of artists and historians, architects and engineers who worked together to create the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The project that Michael Berenbaum directed transformed what a museum could be: a place where ordinary people enter as bystanders and leave as responsible upstanders. Today Michael remains the same friendly mensch he was then. He still listens carefully to narratives of people endangered in our troubled world. And he wears the same warm and welcoming smile. This collection of essays is a worthy celebration of a giant in the field of memorial and museum building. I am very happy for knowing him so long as a wise and cherished friend.”

— Radu Ioanid, Ambassador of Romania to Israel

“Michael Berenbaum is a multi-talented and multifaceted person: a rabbi, a theologian, a scholar, a museum builder, an educator, a filmmaker, a family man. He has contributed enormously to promoting Holocaust memory not just as a sacred memory, but as a point of departure for contemplation and even more for acting to preserve the human spirit via the Jewish tradition. Central to Michael’s entire oeuvre and life is his neshome. This volume is an intellectual treasure which consists of an impressive series of chapters which cover a broad variety of issues and topics taking Berenbaum’s activities as a point of departure. Through fascinating contributions by a broad variety of scholars—more than 120!—this volume provides helpful introductions to topics which range from research on a variety of aspects of the Holocaust and its documentation to education on and thought and action in the wake of the Shoah as well as the multiple ways of its memorialization; and from the meaning of ancient Jewish texts for today to new paths in Jewish thought and to interreligious dialogues. This volume will surely become a handbook to be used in university courses as well as in batei midrash and commemoration gatherings on Holocaust Remembrance Day.”

—Dani Michman, Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem

“What better tribute could there be for the accomplished scholar, beloved teacher and rabbi, and visionary filmmaker and commemorator of the Holocaust than a collection of insightful commentaries, and written and photographic tributes? The range, depth, and humanity of this Festschrift are worthy of its subject, and worth savoring by those who know and should know Michael Berenbaum.”

— Martha Minow, Former Dean, Harvard Law School, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University

“The breadth of scope of this extraordinary Festschrift is required by the multiple talents that led Michael Berenbaum to excel in many fields of endeavor and to connect many disciplines in a truly remarkable way. His awareness of the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic thought and action, his contributions to interreligious encounters among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, his prolific scholarship and writing, and his enormous achievement in the herculean labor of revising the Encyclopaedia Judiaca mark him as a public intellectual of the highest order. His capacity to lead the project of designing and building the US Holocaust Memorial Museum changed the way we think about museums and memory in general. His deep empathy with Holocaust survivors assisted the preservation of over 52,000 interviews by the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. This collection of essays enables us to appreciate and celebrate Berenbaum’s status as an amazing national and global treasure.”

— John Sexton, President Emeritus, New York University

“The editors have brought together in one inclusive volume the collective wisdom and insight of various preeminent scholars in the fields of Jewish Studies, Jewish-Christian Relations, and of Holocaust Studies to honor Michael Berenbaum’s extraordinary life and work. The essays succinctly offer readers a fundamental and accessible introduction to the foremost issues within these fields. Reading them, one soon comprehends the obstacles that the dialogue has overcome and the challenges that it still faces. They serve as an urgent warning about the past and a beckoning light for the future.”

— Kevin P. Spicer, CSC, James J. Kenneally Distinguished Professor of History, Stonehill College, Chair, Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations