New Conservatism Stresses Man, Not God, Rabbi Says

A prominent Jewish leader says a tide of neo-conservative thought in the country is blurring genuine religious concern by extolling the pursuit of wealth, “happiness and immediate ease of the individual.”

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, professor of religion at Dartmouth College and vice president of the World Jewish Congress, told its national convention that an “essentially materialist notion” has taken hold in American life.

He added, “Even Judaism in America has been bent, by some, away from transcendence and towards centering on man’s well-being. . . . Even in religion, man, not God, has become the measure of all things.”