A Biographical Sketch

Will Herberg’s odyssey reflects the great traumatic events of our time. His movement from Communism to Jewish faith, from radicalism to conservatism, mirrors the struggles and agonies of many who have tried to make sense of the events of our tragic century.

Herberg grew up in a home devoid of formal religion, his parents being part of the Russian-Jewish intelligentsia who had abandoned the beliefs of their childhood; but the atmosphere was permeated by the peculiar Jewish sensitivity to the unredeemed quality of present existence. To Herberg, Marxism came to seem the best way to bring about the hoped-for salvation. At an early age he put his remarkable ability to master complicated ideas at the service of the Communists. He edited their journals, explained obscure passages in the Marxist scriptures, and dedicated his life to bringing others under the radical dispensation. He and his devoted wife, Anna, decided to live in the slums and ghettos of New York in order to attract the disaffected to the true gospel of Marxism.

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About the Author

Seymour Siegel

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Will Herberg’s odyssey reflects the great traumatic events of our time. His movement from Communism to Jewish faith, from radicalism to conservatism, mirrors the struggles and agonies of many who have tried to make sense of the events of our tragic century.

Herberg grew up in a home devoid of formal religion, his parents being part of the Russian-Jewish intelligentsia who had abandoned the beliefs of their childhood; but the atmosphere was permeated by the peculiar Jewish sensitivity to the unredeemed quality of present existence. To Herberg, Marxism came to seem the best way to bring about the hoped-for salvation. At an early age he put his remarkable ability to master complicated ideas at the service of the Communists. He edited their journals, explained obscure passages in the Marxist scriptures, and dedicated his life to bringing others under the radical dispensation. He and his devoted wife, Anna, decided to live in the slums and ghettos of New York in order to attract the disaffected to the true gospel of Marxism.