The ICJS Honors the Late Dr. Michael Signer
Posted January 17, 2009
On Saturday, January 10, 2009, Dr. Michael Signer crossed the great divide. Many knew Michael as a brilliant professor who could bring the wisdom and beauty of the Jewish and Christian traditions into an invigorating conversation. As the Abrams Professor of Jewish Thought and Culture in the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame, he had a very rare ability to retrieve the riches of our medieval ancestors and to illuminate the complexities of the Jewish-Christian encounter in our own day. He insisted that the interplay of Christians and Jews, even in strained circumstances, could yield promising insights for our children and ourselves. Michael always found grounds for hope. In his living and in his dying, despair was an option that he resolutely refused to entertain.
Michael played a vital role in almost every organization that concerned itself with Jewish-Christian relations, and his imprint on the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies is etched into the heart of this enterprise. Michael worked tirelessly in assembing a remarkable group of Jewish scholars to examine the theme Accommodation and Resistance: Jewish Identity and Christian Culture. From this bold initiative emerged the project that led to the publication of Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity and the companion collection of essays, Christianity in Jewish Terms.
These scholarly contributions echo a lifetime of exceptional academic achievement. He expanded our horizons, taught us to step outside our familiar enclaves, and demonstrated the possibilities of seeing ourselves and our world through a different set of spectacles. His accomplishments reflected an irrepressible curiosity and wondrous talent to forge close connections with others. Michael seemed to know everyone, and he took great delight in friendships that spanned the globe.
My colleagues Rosann Catalano, Rabbi Joel Zaiman and I will remember Michael in rollicking debates with Peter Ochs, David Novak, the late Tikva Frymer-Kensky, and David Sandmel as they struggled to capture a complex idea within an accessible phrase. To break the impasse of an irreconcilable argument, someone would erupt in a spontaneous song. An ancient Jewish melody grabbed hold; Peter danced around the table; Michael's exuberant laughter filled the room and lifted us all to unexpected heights. The horizons opened out unexpectedly and a new possibility burst into view.
Seldom do we encounter people whose hearts and minds are so well balanced and finely tuned. Michael will continue to inspire all of us at the ICJS, and we remain grateful for the many blessings that he lavished on us.
Dr. Christopher M. Leighton
Executive Director, ICJS
