The Bookshelf
by Rabbi Neil Gillman
Leora Batnitzky, How Judaism Became a
Religion. Princeton University Press, 2011. This slim volume is a systematic overview
of the various responses to the central issue
facing the Jewish people since the dawn
of modernity, conventionally dated from
the end of the 18th century. Until that time,
when our ancestors might have been asked
“What are you?” the sophisticated answer
would have been “We are a religion and a
people, indissolubly bound together.”
Modernity, in the shape of the emancipation
and the enlightenment, severed that
nexus, and Jews were determined to adopt
one definition in place of the other. Either
we are a nation like France and the other
emerging nations in the new Europe, or
we are a religion, much like Christianity.
How and why that choice was made by Jewish
thinkers from the late 18th century to
our own day is the subject of Professor
Batnitzky’s illuminating study. The issue
is not simply a historical one; it very much
remains on the agenda of most thinking Jews
today. This book, whose author is chair of
Princeton University’s religion department,
is an indispensable introduction to any
enlightened conversation about that problem.
Joan Burstyn and Gershon Vincow, Searching
for God: Study Partners Explore Contemporary
Jewish Texts. iUniverse. At various points in the history of these book
reviews, I have chosen to highlight publications
by laypeople who have devoted years
of study and serious thinking to Jewish theological
issues. The partners in this striking
exchange are Joan Burstyn, professor emerita
of education and history, and Gershon Vincow,
emeritus professor of chemistry and
formerly vice chancellor for academic affairs,
both at Syracuse University. What we have
here is an extended exchange of letters
between the two, essentially capturing a
form of chevruta study, on topics such as
mystical and rational approaches to God,
revelation and command, and the interchange
between physics and theology in
forming metaphors for God. (Full disclosure:
my own writing is one of the books
studied by the authors.) The closest parallel
to these exchanges is the celebrated early
20th century correspondence between Martin
Buber and Franz Rosenzweig on revelation
and law published in “On Jewish
Learning.” Both authors are academicians,
both are serious, committed, worshipping
Conservative Jews, and both are accessible
writers. If the exchanges that form this
book are indicative of the kind of studying
taking place among lay Jews in our
day, then the future of Jewish theology is
in excellent hands. Thank you for that.
Eliezer Schweid, The Philosophy of the Bible
as Foundation of Jewish Culture, translated
from the Hebrew by Leonard Levin. Academic
Studies Press, 2008. The name Eliezer Schweid is hardly familiar
to American Jewish readers. In Israel, on
the other hand, he is respected as a scholar,
an intellectual, and a national treasure, a
recipient of the Israel Prize. A former professor
of Jewish thought at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem, he is an astoundingly
prolific author of a wide range of scholarly
and popular books on issues of Jewish
thought and Jewish and Israeli identity.
Fortunately, Professor Leonard Levin has
undertaken to translate a number of
Schweid’s Hebrew writings into English.This
two-volume study is a detailed review of
how the Bible has fared in the modern age.
Beginning with Spinoza and Moses
Mendelssohn, conventionally assumed to
be the founding ideologues of Jewish modernity,
it extends to the various approaches to
Bible study and the various secular and religious
approaches to teaching the Bible in
contemporary Israel. Volume one is from
creation to the Exodus, volume two takes
us from the Exodus to the prophetic period.
Schweid is fully aware of the conflicts that
rage within Israeli culture today, but he works
assiduously at proposing a mediating
approach that sees traditional Judaism as a complex, evolving entity that must enter
into dialogue with other surrounding cultures
if it is to survive. This is but a tip of
the iceberg of Schweid’s writings but it is
a valuable introduction to his work.
Amos Oz, Scenes from Village Life, translated
from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. This novel, actually a weaving together of
eight tales, all taking place in an Israeli village,
may well be the most telling portrait
of Israeli life today. It is hardly uplifting, but
we have learned not to expect uplifting portraits
of contemporary Israel from Amos Oz.
We read these stories with a sense of irresolution,
desolation, and disquiet. They exude
uncertainty as to what lies ahead, along with
a pervasive but always understated sense
of tension stemming not from any specific incident but rather from the overall cultural
condition of Israel today. The author may
also be telling us something about our lives
as well, about what it means to live a human
life today. If so, be prepared for an upsetting
experience, but this remains must reading
for any thoughtful student.
Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, Simple Actions for
Jews to Help Green the Planet, 2011. There are many theoretical studies of
Judaism’s approach to the issues raised by
contemporary environmentalists, but relatively
few that can serve as practical guides
to the committed environmentalist, detailing
what we should and should not do to
further the cause. This is such a book. Theoretical
discussions are curtailed in favor
of do’s and don’ts for individuals and communities
– a veritable Shulchan Aruch (Code
of Law) answering the questions How? Why?
and When? for the committed environmentalist.
Rabbi Gillman is the Aaron Rabinowitz and
Simon H. Rifkind emeritus professor of
Jewish philosophy at the Jewish Theological
Seminary.