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2003 Menorah Review (No. 59, Fall, 2003)

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NUMBER 59. CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY • FALL 2003

For the Enrichment of Jewish Thought

who functioned as sovereign gods, war dei­ were called to rediscover and celebrate the One Deity, Three Gifts ties and divine providers of wealth. elementary matters of fertility and flocks, as Applying this structure to Hebrew reli­ in the conclusion of the Book of Job. gion, Lang discovers in the Hebrew God a The Lord of the individual, focused on The Hebrew God: Portrait of Lord of Wisdom, a Lord of War and a Lord personal piety and a nurturing deity, is traced an Ancient Deity of Life-the Lord of Life functioning as from Egypt to the prophets (especially by Bernhard Lang Lord of animals, of individuals and of the Jeremiah), to Psalms, to Jesus, and is viewed New Haven, CT: Yale harvest. This structure borrowed from as a response to experienced insecurity. University Press Dumezil may seem like a rather heavy bur­ God as Lord of the harvest completes den to be carried by a book of some 240 the structure, focusing on the relationship of A Review Essay pages but it provides a fresh perspective God and his people to water, land and fertil­ by Cliff Edwards with interesting interpretive results as Lang ity. The Hebrew dislike for cultivating grain, moves through a wide variety of biblical revealed in the curse of Adam and refusal of texts. As Lord of the three gifts-wisdom, Cain's offering, is contrasted with the asso­ Bernhard Lang is professor of Old Tes­ victory and life-the Hebrew God's debts to ciation of arboriculture and viticulture with tament and religious studies at the Univer­ the ancient Near East and functions within peace, happiness and blessing. The Hebrew sity of St. Andrews, Scotland, and Paderborn, Hebrew society reveal unexpected interpre­ experience of the Babylonian Exile is de­ Germany. Many will be acquainted with his tive treasures. The relationship of Wisdom scribed as engendering the utopian image of earlier works-Sacred Games: A Historyof literature to pragmatic social management, a transformed Palestine in the minds of He­ Christian Worship and Heaven: A History the scribal culture of Mesopotamia and the brews who had viewed the canals of Babylon. (with Colleen McDannell). development of "book religion" appear in And there is much more. Lang findsthe Lang's current work demonstrates the new and suggestive contexts. God as war­ origin of the Hebrew God in an Edomite Hebrew God's indebtedness to ancient Near rior and the change from human war-making deity, associates Moses with God's firstfunc­ Eastern civilizations, especially those of to apocalyptic victory through a permanent tion, Joshua with the second function and Mesopotamia and Egypt. Weaving together overthrow of evil enacted by God's "quieter old as well as new sources and insights, Lang judicial role" is located in selected texts of sometimes shocks, often illuminates, and Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Daniel. FROM THE CLASSICS always stimulates the reader to rethink ac­ The third function of the divine, under cepted modes of interpretation that have the images of Lord of animals, Lord of the A debate between the Schoolsof Shammai focused on the "originality" of Israel's reli­ individual and Lord of the harvest, receives and Hillel lasted for three years. These gion and God to the detriment of attending to the larger part of Lang's attention. As Fa­ insisted that the law be dedded according to the common religious themes and shared therlMother of wildlife, the divine blesses their opinion, and those insisted that the law be symbols of religion in the ancient Near East. and bestows the power to reproduce, exem­ decided according to their opinion. Final� a The very richness of Lang's insights fos­ plified in fresh readings of the God speeches heaven� voice was heaId: '1heopinion of tered by his attention to the wider cultural of Job, Psalm 104, Matthew 6:26 and more. these and theopinion of those are boththe context may well convince readers that a God is revealed as gamekeeper, peacemaker wordsof the IMng God! But the law should be return to a broader study of Near Eastern among the animals, a deus ludens-an ideal civilizations is essential for creative bibli­ for humans created in this divine image. deckledaccording to the opinion of the SchOO cal-theological interpretation. Disillusioned with the God of war, humans of Hillel." But how could that have been? But we have yet to describe a basic Sirce both opinions werethe wordsof the structuring element Lang applies to his en­ IMng God, wnat gave the SchOO of Hillel the tire volume. Convinced that anthropologi­ IN THIS ISSUE right to decide the law on� in accordarce with cal theory will aid in our interpretation of their opinion? � happened because the sages Hebrew religion and its God, Lang univer­ • OneDeity, ThreeGifts of theSchOO of Hillel were friend� and salizes and simplifies the "three functions" • Non-CanonicaJLiterature Remembered modest. They studied not on� their 0v.11 of society and its sacred figures as put for­ • ZIonAmerica and tradmons, but alsoof those the Schoolof ward by Georges Dumezil. Dumezil (1898- Shammai. Indeed, they transm�ed the 1986) was the specialist in Indo-European • Weighing theProspects for Dialogue teachings of the SchOO of Shammai even religion and folklore who found Indo-Euro­ • Renewingthe Faith of a before they transm�ed their own teachings. pean culture to be based on a tripartition of Diminishing Minority society into priests, warriors and food pro­ -TalmudEruvin 13b • NoteworthyBooks ducers, mirrored in its array of divinities 2 Menorah Review, Fall 2003

Abraham with the third. Lang even ventures small decisions lead here and not there until What was Mary like as a child? How did into an examination of "Christ as a Second the sum of all realized possibilities (and Joseph and Asenath negotiate an interracial, God," describing Jesus as a shaman engaged absence of those not realized) is something interfaith marriage? Many of the non-ca­ in a "mystical ascent," practitioner of no one might have anticipated. You take this nonical texts Porter reviews are concerned "theurgical rituals," initiating disciples into step here and not there and so on until you with just such things. Sometimes, too, they the "secrets of his heavenly ascent." may find that you are a folk musician in tell pedagogical stories about biblical he­ It would be fair to assert that Lang Missouri who fishes with her crazy brother­ roes, such as Abraham's condemnation of attempts too much for a single volume, but it in-law on weekends rather than a pastry chef idols and John's episode with the bedbugs. is a rich experience that is bound to catch the in Manhattan who discusses psychotherapy And sometimes they tell things that believ­ imagination of most readers and, certainly, with similarly chic, single friends. ers would rather not hear, like Jesus' feisty to challenge what many consider a develop­ In his brief (4-page) introduction, Por­ temper and violent outbursts as a child or the ing consensus view of Hebrew religion and ter notes that the books composing the He­ silence of God in the face of Ezra's accusa­ its God. brew Bible and New Testament were se­ tion that God is to blame for Adam's fall. lected during a period of time from a larger Complementing the imaginative and CliffEdwards is professor of religious stud­ body of literature that also was considered colorful texts Porter describes and excerpts ies at Virginia Commonwealth University authoritative by many people. It is with this are stunning pictures of art and photographs and editorial consultant. latter, the books that were not finallycanon­ illustrating the texts and their themes. The ized, that Porter is concerned, particularly artwork itself spans centuries and continents with those that have been especially "lost," that comes from manuscripts, mosaics, fres­ not Old Testament Apocrypha or Dead Sea coes, carvings and paintings. They include Non-Canonical Literature Scrolls. The book is arranged in two main a papyrus manuscript depicting judgment Remembered parts-titled "The 'Lost' Hebrew Scriptures" after death (p. 41); a highly detailed, medi­ and "The 'Lost' New Testament." Indi­ eval painting depicting "The Testament and The Lost Bible: Forgotten vidual texts are sampled and reviewed under Death of Moses" by Luca Signorelli (p. 66); subheadings: "In the Beginning," "Words a drawing of Baruch in the first printed Bible Scriptures Revealed of the Patriarchs," "Lost Writings of the produced by Gutenberg in the mid-15th cen­ by J.R. Porter Prophets," "Psalms, Songs and Odes," and tury (p. 88); and, a 14th-century mosaic in University of Chicago Press "Wisdom and Philosophy" for Part I; "The what is now a mosque in Istanbul depicting Missing Years of Jesus," "Gospels of the scenes from Mary's life (pp. 132-133). The A ReviewEssay Passion," "Gnostic Mysteries," "Legends of reader meets such images with every turned by Kristin Swenson the Apostles," "Visions of the End of Time" page, making the book suitable for "coffee­ and "Lost Letters to the Faithful" for Part II. table" browsing. From our early 21st-century vantage That the headings within each of these sub­ The Lost Bible is not a substitute for a point. when the lines betweenJudaism. Chris­ sections are sometimes the names of indi­ study of non-canonical ancient scriptures tianity and Islam seem strikingly clear, it is vidual books and sometimes the subject of and some readers may be frustrated, on one easy to forget that such has not always been individual books can be confusing. hand, by the small size of the excerpts and, the case. Indeed, Christianity emerged mess­ However, Porter provides aids to help on the other, by the lack of a synthesizing ily in widely diverse groups from Judaism, readers keep the literature straight. They discussion introducing or concluding the which itself was far from tidy and mono­ include a timechart on pages 8-9 that extends anthology. Nevertheless, the dazzlingly lithic; and common traditions, legends, even from the period of the Babylonian exile in numerous and diverse books from which theology were adopted and sustained in Is­ the early Sixth century BCE to the mid Sixth Porter draws create a valuable collection for lam, the youngest of the three religions. The century CE, when the Babylonian Talmud people interested in ancient literature related Lost Bible: Forgotten Scriptures Revealed was compiled. Colored lines distinguish the to the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. by J.R. Porter is not a history book, chroni­ different collections of sacred text, with rela­ Furthermore, Porter's brief commentary on cling the development of these religions. tivedatingofindividual books. Readers will each one gives readers a sense of the greater Rather, it is a pleasing collection of text findthe chart especially helpful as they work books from which the excerpts come and excerpts, brief commentary on the ancient their way through the many and various may compel readers to study particular books books from which the excerpts come and texts that Porter excerpts and discusses. and/or themes in greater detail on their own. reproductions of fascinating artwork illus­ Unfortunately, the line distinguishing New Although Porter's bibliography provides trating aspects of the texts. As Porter notes Testament books does not appear, although minimal direction for such interested read­ in the firstsentence of his introduction, "The bubbles identifying the dates of Paul's let­ ers, they may tum, for a start, to the collec­ Lost Bible is an anthology of ancient scrip­ ters, the gospels and Revelation do. Further­ tions that Porter cites at the end of his intro­ tures which did not become part of the Jew­ more, with each entry, Porter provides a duction as the sources for his excerpts-"the ish or Christian Bibles" (p. 6). That's all. small data box that includes information standard scholarly collections of the Nevertheless, in its pages, representing many about the book's original date of composi­ Pseudepigrapha by J.H. Charlesworth and different extrabiblical texts, The Lost Bible tion, original language, provenance and ear­ of the New Testament Apocrypha by W. demonstrates how permeable the membranes liest extant manuscript. Readers also may Schneemelcher" (p. 9). between religious traditions have been. find helpful the brief (single page) glossary While The Lost Bible successfully in­ Indeed, its sampling of diverse and co­ and index at the end of the book. troduces readers to the fascinating world of pious literature related in time, style, subject Text excerpts and Porter's commentary ancient literature related to the Hebrew Bible and theology to canonical texts suggests that reveal an intriguing world of religious de­ and New Testament, it also demonstrates some of what distinguishes the three "Reli­ velopment during the last centuries before elements common especially to Judaism and gions of the Book" is the product of small the common era as well as early centuries of Christianity. As Porter notes of those books changes, even chance, here and over the the common era. They appeal to that part of that he calls the "Lost Hebrew Scriptures": centuries rather than of grand, once-and-for­ us wanting to know what cannot be proved, "These writings are now recognized as all decisions made by a founder or handful of such as the following: Where do angels essential for understanding the forma­ leaders. Like an individual's life, seemingly come from? What happens after we die? tive period of both Judaism and Chris- Menorah Review, Fall 2003 3

tianity. They show the Judaism of this their Jewish nationalism to fit the require­ gious-nationalist themes that were alien to epoch to have been lively, diverse and ments of American patriotism ... American­ many in the Diaspora. And, when his poli­ speculative, open to a range of influ­ ized Zionism was entirely compatible with cies aroused the wrath of official Washing­ ences from the surrounding world yet the main currents of liberalism that trans­ ton and the media. some Jews became un­ concerned to preserve and reinterpret formed American political culture in the nerved at the prospect of being identified its traditions in the face of outside 20th century. American Jews could become with an unpopular Israel. threats. The adoption of these works Zionists yet remain assured of their place in In the second half of Are We One?, by the Church reveals how deeply the the American 1iberal mainstream." Auerbach turns to more recent trends in the new religion remained rooted in the This observation, one of the major relationship between American Jewry and soil of Judaism" (p. 8). themes of Are We One?, echoes a remark by Israel. He contrasts the old Israel, both as it And it seems that dependence went in the Abba Eban in his autobiography, describing was and as it existed in the American Jewish other direction, too. Porter explains that his years as Israeli ambassador to the United imagination, with Israel as it is today. texts such as "The Gospel of the Hebrews" States: "In the American Jewish community Auerbach is critical of efforts by some Is­ attest to the existence of "Jewish Christians" I always found a warm welcome but I often raeli intellectuals to radically redefine their who believed that Jesus was the Messiah but felt that while they listened to me, American nation's identity and culture. He cites nu­ continued to observe Jewish practice. Fur­ Jews had one eye directed to the gentile merous examples of Israeli historians who thermore, texts such as the Jewish "Sibylline audience whom I wa trying to convince. have rewritten Zionist history to blame Is­ Oracles" suggest less a problem with Gen­ Their pride was often a function of Israel's rael for the Arab-Israeli wars; polemicists tiles, who are portrayed in a positive light, capacity to impress non-Jewish Americans." who heap scorn and ridicule on traditional than with Greece and Rome. Finally, al­ "We Are One!" may have been "a com­ Judaism; and playwrights, artists and enter­ though the texts reviewed are related par­ pelling fund-raising slogan for American tainers who champion the idea of a state ticularly to the Jewish and Christian Bibles, Jews [but it] nonetheless obscures an ex­ "depleted of Jewish content." Will Ameri­ some of the traditions they describe also are tremely unstable relationship between the can Jews who are at home in a secularized represented in Islamic texts and images. Far American Diaspora and the Jewish home­ America likewise prefer an increasingly de­ example, Porter includes a 17th-century land," Auerbach writes. "Historical reality Judaized Israel? Or, will they consider the Persian miniature, "The Angels Adoring is more complex than the comforting myth process of "self-laceration," as Auerbach Adam" (p. 23), depicting a belligerent Iblis of unity suggests. American Jews, to be calls it, to have taken Israel too far astray (Islam's Satan) and a 16th-century Turkish sure, have taken Israel to their hearts. But from the vision of the Zionist founding fa­ miniature of Enoch, known as Idris in Islam, not always, or unconditionally." He recalls, thers? talking with angels (p. 31). Both of these for example. the outrage among American It seems that Israel's contemporary do­ attest to extrabiblical traditions about Enoch Jewish leaders when Prime Minister David mestic controversies have focused a spot­ that were common in Judaism, Christianity Ben-Gurion made statements encouraging light on something that Israelis and Ameri­ and Islam. The Lost Bible is a beautiful book Diaspara Jews to immigrate to Israel and the can Jews continue to share: the enduring proffering thought-provoking glimpses into tension after the 1956 war, when some Jew­ dilemma of Jewish self-identification. As the multi-faceted past that we share. ish leaders pressed Israel to accede to the Auerbach puts it: "For [Israeli] Zionists, no Eisenhower administration's demand for a less than for Diaspora Jews, emancipation Kristin Swenson is a member of the religious unilateral surrrender of the Sinai to Nasser. continues to pose a stark choice: integration studies faculty at Virginia Commonwealth After Israel's victory in the 1967 Six or isolation; normalization or distinctive­ University and a contributing editor. Day War, "American Jews basked in the ness. All modern Jews, wherever they may glow of their new identification with a dar­ Iive, confront the identical dilemma: whether ing, courageous, triumphant Israel," to assert their Jewish distinctiveness and Auerbach notes. But that sentiment was remain a people apart or relinquish it and Zion and America short-lived because Israel now found itself submerge themselves in the dominant cul­ accused of "conquest. domination and ulti­ ture." Are We One? Jewish Identity in mately-and most preposterously-'rac­ Are We One? will be seen by some as the United States and Israel ism'." Such attacks often emanated from the American Jewish counterpart to Dr. by Jerold S. Auerbach sources on the political left and in the Afri­ Yoram Hazony's The Iewish State: The can-American community with which many Struggle for Israel's Soul, which analyzed New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers American Jews had allied themselves. "For the impact of "post-Zionist" intellectuals on University Press Jewish radicals, who were disproportion­ Israeli culture and politics. Hazony's study ately represented in New Left politics, the triggered the liveliest Israeli public debate A Review Essay choice was easy: Israel, after South Africa, (on a non-security related issue) in recent by Rafael Medoff their favorite pariah state, was dispensable. memory and has already led to changes in For mainstream Jews, who dispropotionately the Israeli Ministry of Education's high Jerold Auerbach has turned the tradi­ flockedto liberal causes, the discomfort was school cirriculum. Perhaps most important, tional slogan of international Jewish solidar­ acute. What if they must choose between it has prodded many Israelis-among the ity, "We are one," into a thought-provoking their liberalism and Judaism?" intellectual elite and beyond-to take a seri­ question that frames his intriguing new study That discomfort accelerated during the ous look at the future of Israel's national of the relationship between American Jewry election in 1977 of Menachem Begin, "the identity and the meaning of Jewishness in and the State of Israel. The American­ first prime minister of Israel to conspicu­ the modern Jewish state. Jewish relationship with Zionism and, later, ously identify himself as aJew rather than an Jerold Auerbach's thoughful and well­ with the State oflsrael, was always shaped to Israeli.. He had a disconcerting way of written volume aims to ignite a comparable a significant extent by American Jews' con­ reminding [American Jews] of their Old debate about the meaning of American Jew­ cerns about non-Jewish opinion, Auerbach World relatives, whom they preferred to ish identity and Zionism in the 21st century. maintains. To pre-empt accusations that forget." Auerbach describes how Israeli He may succeed for Are We One? is one of Jews were more loyal to Zion than to the policies in the years to follow irritated lib­ the most provocative books on Israel­ United States, "American-Zionists molded eral American Jews. Begin invoked reli- Diaspora relations since HiLlel Halkin' s land- 4 Menorah Review, Fall 2003 mark Leuers to an American Jewish Friend Pharisees conveyed a false impression of when the cleric James Cardinal Gibbons stirred the U.S. Jewish community 25 years Judaism in the time of Jesus. But much spoke on behalf of the Jewish tradition and a ago. The critic Robert Alter described worse for the Jewish tradition, Catholics French priest, Father Henry De1assus, ac­ Halkin's book as "an intellectual event." have long held, and some still maintain, that cused Gibbons of working with the Jews to The same may be said of Jerold Auerbach's the arrival of Jesus superseded all of Juda­ effect the triumph of the anti-Christ. In Are We One? ism. Traditionally, Catholic theologians have 1934, after reciting a list of stereotypes con­ believed that eventually all Jews would con­ cerning Jews, the priest John F.X. Murphy Rafael Medoff is Visiting Scholar in the vert to Christianity. Presumably, the pur­ made the chilling declaration that Hitler Jewish Studies Program at Purchase Col­ pose of missionaries is to effect or expedite might be right in his persecution of them. lege, State University of New York. Hismost this inevitable process. Feldman observes One distinguished Jesuit priest and pro­ recent book is A Race Against Death: Peter that many Jews regarded conversion as a fessor of law, Robert F. Drinan, has charac­ Bergson, America and the Holocaust, co­ kind of spiritual death. Nonetheless, Pope terized the Christian response to the Holo­ authored with David Wyman (New Press). Pius X (1903-1914) declared, "The Jewish caust as tepid, nebulous and overdue. Con­ religion was the foundation of our own, but cerning Pope Pius XII, whom many Jews it was superseded by the teachings of Christ, accuse of inaction during the Holocaust, and we cannot concede it any further valid­ Feldman notes that many Catholics and even Weighing the Prospects ity." In 1942, David Goldstein, a convert to some Jews credit this pope with saving hun­ for Dialogue Catholicism, warned that as long as Jews dreds of thousands of Jews. But most Jews, refused to accept Jesus, anti-Semitism would as well as some Catholics, condemn his Catholics and Jews in Twentieth· flourish. In 1954, Father Edward Flannery, silence during the extermination of innocent at the Second Assembly of the World Coun­ men, women and children. Also, it is frus­ CenturyAmerica cil of Churches, stated that "the doctrine of trating to learn that John Paul II failed to find by Egal Feldman Israel's finalreturn to the Christ is theologi­ fault with Pope Pius XII's silence. Feldman Urbana and Chicago: University cally certain, for it is most firmlyanchored in states that many Jews, as well as some Catho­ of Illinois Press the sources of the Catholic faith." But in the lics, are still waiting for a more complete last quarter of the 20th century, Pope John statement on the role of the church during A ReviewEssay Paul II repudiated the idea that one testament the Shoak. When the Israeli court imposed by Earle J. Coleman supersedes the other. Some Catholics had the death penalty on Adolf Eichmann, the already drawn the inference that converting Catholic press passionately condemned the Asked about interreligious dialogue be­ Jews would be improper. Feldman cites the sentence and, as Feldman expresses it, "The tween Jews and Catholics, Rabbi Lawrence priest and theologian Michael B. McGarry, state of Israel, according to the Christian Kushner replied, "The most optimistic sign "After what some Christians did (and did not press, should have risen to a higher level of is that Jews and Catholics are just beginning do) during the Holocaust, Catholics should behavior, one befitting the ideals of the post­ to talk about the Holocaust seriously." That have the courtesy to leave the Jews alone." war era." An eminent rabbi and scholar, this exchange appeared in a recent issue of a Catholic supersessionism was extended ArthurGilbert, wisely questioned the timing Jesuit magazine, America, would further to Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and all other of the Catholic criticism of the death pen­ suggest that now is the time for a sustained religions. ironically, and perhaps predict­ alty. conversation between Catholics and Jews. ably, Catholics esteem their faith above all When the state of Israel was born in In the main, Egal Feldman's book looks others, even when Catholics are not well 1948, Catholics tended to be indifferent or cautiously but sanguinely on such a possibil­ informed concerning other traditions. John opposed to the event, with the Vatican going ity because events in the 20th century ap­ Paul II, in Crossing the Threshold of Hope, so far as to declare that "modernZionism is peared to be uniquely promising to promote mistakenly declares that the Buddha's en­ not the true heir of Biblical Israel, but a enhanced relations between Jews and Catho­ lightenment reduces to the idea that the secular state ...therefore, the Holy Land and lics, and between Jews and other Christians. world is bad. To the contrary, Buddhism its sacred sites belong to Christianity, the In the above-mentioned periodical, a book does not teach that the world is bad but that True Israel!" Some Catholics questioned review discusses David I. Kertzer's work, clinging to it yields suffering. And it should Zionism because they interpreted the The Pope Against the Jews: The Vatican's not be overlooked that many Buddhists main­ Diaspora as divine punishment and inferred Role in the Rise of Modern Antisemitism, tain that samsara is nirvana, refusing to dis­ that until Jews embraced Jesus and con­ which explores the involvement of the pa­ tinguish between this world and the ideal verted to Christianity, they would not be pacy in the growth of anti-Semitism from condition. It is no wonder that, after the eligible for the land of promise. 1814 to 1939 and the accession of Pope Pius appearace of the above book, a number of PopeJohn XXIII, who lived through the XII. Just a half century ago, such a study, Buddhists canceled their plans to meet with opening years of the Second Vatican Coun­ referring as it does to "a pervasive culture of John Paul II when he visited Sri Lanka. cil or Vatican II (1962- 1965), worked hero­ Vatican antisemitism," could scarcely have After all, he asserted the following in his ically to save Jews from being sent to death been discussed in a Catholic publication. book: "Carmelite mysticism begins at the camps. He also insisted that the expression Early in the 20th century, there were, of point where the reflections of Buddha end." "unbelievingJews"beexcisedfromtheGood course, various grounds of a1ienation be­ Of course, a turn to history also reveals Friday service. Thus John XXIII become tween Catholics and Jews. Clearly, divi­ manifold Catholic offenses against Jews, known as the pope who threw open the siveness between the two is as old as the including massacres, forced baptisms and windows of the church to admit fresh air and Catholic conviction that Jews were prima­ the burningof Talmudic writings. Feldman many Catholics believed these windows rily responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus deserves credit for noting exceptional Catho­ could never be shut completely again. As for Christ. Indeed, embittered Catholics have lics such as Pope InnocentlV, who renounced Vatican II itself, Arthur Gilbert was among long described their Jewish neighbors as the claim that Jews were responsible for many Jews and Christians alike who main­ "Christ killers." And from the Jewish per­ such offenses as ritual murder (i.e., using tained that it created a more open atmo­ spective, deicide was not the only charge blood of murdered Christian children in their sphere for Jewish-Christian dialogue. Its that called for refutation because, for ex­ religious practices). Typically, a defender "Declaration on the Jews" (Nostra Aetate, ample, the Christian characterization of the of Judaism received scathing criticism, as No. 4) categorically denied that Jews were Menorah Review, Fall 2003 5 responsible for the death of Christ. A more scholar of rabbinic Judaism, also questioned faith. In the words of Father John recent and popular statement appeared in the usefulness of dialogue between Chris­ Pawlikowski, who was struggling with the Time magazine, April 4, 1994. As early as tians and Jews. One answer to such ques­ propriety of conversion, "I still believe that 1964, Cardinal Albert Meyer of Chicago tioning might come from other religions that Christians have a responsibility to present issued a sweeping call for the church to have enjoyed highly successful conversa­ the meaning of the Christ event to the world, specifically acknowledge the great harms tions for decades. The Buddhist-Christian including Jewish people." Of course, overt that it had done to Jewish people throughout Society has been meeting long enough that conversion efforts are one thing and the most the centuries. On the Jewish side of dia­ participants from both faiths know the basic interior act of praying is another; human logue, the American Jewish Committee ad­ tenets, sub-tenets and philosophical under­ beings determine the success of the former vised participants to receive Catholics "in pinnings of the other tradition. Each party but only the divine determines the success of the fullness of their differences." Openness knows a great deal about the religious life the latter. was in, proselytizing was out. There was a and thought of the other. While they con­ special interest in the potential of dialogue tinue to meet for cognitive reasons, fellow­ Earle J. Coleman is professor of philosophy for eliminating fallacious ideas about Jews ship is sometimes, at least, as important to at Virginia Commonwealth University and a from Christian doctrine. Accordingly, them. In short, they meet for the joy of contributing editor. Feldman states "that thoughtful Catholic encountering each other and for the joy of thinkers have agreed to examine their sacred establishing and sustaining [-Thou relations. scriptures as an inspiration for crimes against Some readers of the periodical Christian the Jewish people is evidence of the distance Jewish Relations would surely affirm such Renewing the Faith of a traveled since the 1965 Vatican council." possibilities. The Jewish theologian Rich­ From 1969 to 1971, various documents, ard L. Rubenstein expresses a related idea, Diminishing Minority which were intended to foster better rela­ "If we concentrate less on what our religious tions between Jews and Christians, were inheritances promise and [focus] on the hu­ Judaism Within Modernity: developed by the archdioceses of New York, man existence which we share through the Essays on Jewish History Cincinnati and Galveston-Houston. The lat­ traditions, we will achieve the superlative and Religion ter guidelines warned, for example, that Ju­ yet simple knowledge of who we truly by Michael A. Meyer daism should not be characterized as a legal­ are ...the community of men is possible only istic religion that lacks the caJ! for love of through the encounter of persons rather than Detroit: Wayne State University God and neighbor. Among the most prom­ of myths and abstractions." Press ising of post-Vatican II events was the sign­ As Catholics and Jews come to know ing of a "Fundamental Agreement" by the more and more about each other's traditions, A ReviewEssay Holy See and the state of Israel (1993) in their dialogue may extend beyond the cogni­ by Peler J. Haas " which both parties pledged to fight anti­ tive to the existential meeting in which each Semitism and to protect Catholic shrines. come to know and care about the other; and This book brings together some 22 es­ Mark L. Winer, a Jewish speaker at the both participate in a fellowship that is mutu­ says from one of the deans of the history of Jerusalem symposium, attributed great his­ ally enriching. Improved relations between Jews in modernity. The single subject of torical and theological import to the docu­ Catholics and Jews have not, of course, these essays, addressed from a variety of ment, called it the fulfillment of the prom­ prevented subsequent controversies between angles, is how Judaism struggled to trans­ ises of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, and he them. For example, in 1984, when Carmelite verse the parlous terrain the modern world further affirmed that "it acknowledges the nuns elected to erect a convent on the edge of laid before it. With one exception, these eternal nature of the Jewish people's cov­ the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Jews essays, written between 1975 and 1998, have enant with God." demonstrated and John Paul's intervention all appeared elsewhere, so there is nothing Feldman devotes a chapter to the pit­ effected a resolution but only after five years particularly new in this volume as far as falls of dialogue, for like anything promis­ had past. The annoucement of the proposed content. But there is something to gain from ing interfaith conversation is not free of canonization of Pope Pius XII, who reigned reading all these essays together in a sort of risks. Abraham Joshua Heschel, for in­ during the Holocaust and was accused of logical order. What emerges is not only a stance, asks how one can balance loyalty to ignoring it, was stronly contested by Jews series of connected probes into the Jewish his own religion with reverence toward dif­ and some Catholics. encounter with modernity (and to a lesser ferent traditions. Other thinkers are con­ Catholics, who consider Feldman's ac­ extent modernity's encounter with Judaism) cerned that dialogue can culminate in rela­ count, will hardly be in a position to defend but insight into the very writing of that tivism, a view that flourishes in secular Catholicism against his numerous and far­ history. This is not an introductory collec­ thought. Feldman observes that the rapid reaching charges. Rather they should feel tion aimed at those unfamiliar with the names growth of secularism, a threat to Judaism great remorse for the many inhumane acts and events of that encounter: Moses and Catholicism, convinced some members performed by Catholics, and especially mem­ Mendelssohn, the French Revolution, die of both traditions of the need for interreli­ bers of the hierarchy, against the Jewish Wissenschaft des Judenthums, Heinrich gious dialogue. While allowing that Catho­ people. Still, the Catholic reader may wish Graetz and so on. Rather, it is a collection for lics and Jews were on parallel paths, Joseph to advance one critical point, which is no those who know details but are interested in B. Soloveitchik, an esteemed rabbi and head mere cavil, by challenging Arthur Gilbert's reflecting on our, and our predecessors', of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological request that Catholics stop praying for the understanding of these events and people as Seminary of Yeshiva University, expressed conversion and salvation of all Jews. For if they in turn worked to construct the modern reservations about dialogue and insisted that Catholics (or Jews, Buddhists, Muslims or J udaisms we now so much take for granted. one must remember that the two faiths are Hindus) sincerely believe their path is best The early essays deal, logically enough, unique (i.e., fundamentally opposed). He and if they want the best for their non­ with the basic questions. It is clear that even concluded that inter-faith discussion should Catholic brothers and sisters, why wouldn't from the vantage point of the late J 8th cen­ focus on common social-political issues and Catholics pray that others would join their tury there was a sense that Jews had entered exclude the distinctive theological beliefs of religion? Indeed, the Catholic may think he a new era, one that was already being labeled the participants. Jacob Neusner, a prominant has a moral obligation to win others to his by those going through it as "modern." But 6 Menorah Review, Fall 2003 what exactly marked that era as new? For lated; precisely the people Graetz treats as an German-speaking lands as these were strug­ some it was emancipation, the ability of example of what can go wrong with gling to coalesce into the nation-state of Jews finally to become part of the surround­ emanicipation. What is important is not so Germany. ing society. The flagship example here, of much the disagreement but rather the insight The third section explores the implica­ course, is Moses Mendelssohn. For others, that the new Jewish historians were caught tions that these historical and political con­ the Rubicon was religious, the opportunity in a terrible dilemma. They wanted both to troversies had on the conceptualization of to move beyond the medieval matrix of promote Enlightenment and the accompa­ Jewish religion. What emerges in this sec­ halachah and to allow Judaism to grow into nying emancipation while yet documenting tion is thatlewish intellectuals were fighting its true spiritual destiny, the perspective of and even promoting some level of particu­ not a one-or two-front war but a five- or six­ Reform. For a third group, exemplified by laristic Jewish cultural identity. The notion front war. Liberal Jews (the focus of the historians like Ben Zion Dinur, it was an of the "German Jew" was a hybrid concept, book) had to fight, for instance, not only event in the national life of the Jewish people, shaped by the very oddness of its structure. their non-Jewish colleagues (like von namely, the beginning of serious return to The second section of the book looks at Treitschke) and the Orthodox establishment the Land. Whateverthe orientation,it was in the larger political and social context in but also the government, the Zionist move­ all events this shared sense of coming to the which this academic jousting was taking ment and a Jewish popUlation that was in­ end of one era and setting foot into another place. In one way, the six essays in this creasingly indifferent to, and even alienated that provoked, Meyer suggests, not only a section can be seen as vertical bores. exam­ from, all things Jewish (Chapters 13 to 15). sense of "modernity" but the whole enter­ ining the layers of some one aspect of the For the government, especially in the prise of writing Jewish history in the first German Jewish community as it struggled to Vormarz period, any attempt at religious place. But,just as there were disagreements come to terms with modern discourse: the reform emanating from the Jews was seen as as to what marked modernity from what traditions of Judaism to modern Biblical part of the radical enlightenment whose icon went before,so there were disagreements as criticism (Chapter Eight), for example, or was the French Revolution. In this,of course, to what function the writing of that history the response to German politics in general the reactionary political forces in Germany would perform. Some held that the purpose (Chapters Nine and 10), or to the Prussian were right. The Jews themselves under­ was to instill pride in the Jewish people and government's policies in particular (Chap­ stood religious reform to be part and parcel so stem, or at least channel, assimjlation, ter II),or even toJewish political leadership of the whole process of Enlightenment and others thought the primary object was to under the Nazis (Chapter 12). In another Emancipation. But,to maketheircase against answer the anti-Semites, still others wanted way, this group of essays is an important the suspicious bureaucracy, Jewish leaders to create a scientific basis for religious re­ complement to the first section, functioning had to redouble their claims to be nonethe­ form, and some even hoped that, by shed­ as a series of studies in the sociology of less extraordinarily German. But even after ding light on the Jewish experience, they knowledge. We come to see that the aca­ the political implications of the enlighten­ could add to the knowledge of the history of demic arguments cited in the first sect jon ment were accepted,the job was hardly over. Germany and the West more generally. So were not merely polem.ics or case studies in A good proportion of the non-Jewish Ger­ what emerged in the history of Jewish histo­ logic and method but were shaped (at times man intellectual and political elite continued riography by the middle of the 19th century profoundly) by the political and social buf­ to oppose reform of Judaism because, for was neither necessary nor neutral. Jewish feting to which the Jewish community was them, Judaism (if not religion more gener­ historiography, for Meyer, was itself an ar­ subject. The results ofGerrnan-Jewish schol­ ally) was a thing of the past, superseded tifact of the history it was itself creating. arship in the 19th century emerge in their respectively by Christianity or the secular One theme that surfaces in a number of distinctiveness as genuine creations of the Enlightenment. Reforming Judaism so as to essays in the first part of the book is the very odd configuration of Jewish life in the make it more compatible with contemporary interrelationship between what Jewish his­ sensibilities was, from their point of view, torians were writing about the Jews and not only inauthentic but would prolong arti­ what non-Jewish historians were writing FROM THE CLASSICS ficially the Jews' stubborn attachment to about these same people. In other words, their heritage and religion. In short, every one subtext of these new Jewish histories It is prohibited to kill an animal with itsyoung possible gesture made in one direction only was shaped not by dynamics internal to the provoked negative reaction somewhere else. on the same day so thai people should be Jewish community but by pressures from the The dilemma of the German Jewish histori­ restrainedand prevented from killing the two outside. The paradigmatic comparison, de­ ans was deliciously complex. tailed in Chapter 4,is the intellectual conver­ together in sl.d1a manner that the young is Thus,for example,Meyer shows us that sation between two Heinrichs,namely Graetz slain in thesight of the mothe" for the pajn of in making the arguments necessary to con­ and von Treitschke. Although when it comes the animals under sl.d1 circumstarresis very vince the government that Liberal Judaism to modern times both are looking at the same great. There is no difference in this case was both German and worthwhiIe, the lead­ data,they systematically draw opposite con­ between the pajn of man and the pain of other ers of religious reform alienated not only the clusions about what lessons should be living beings, since the klve and tendernessof Orthodox but also the Zionists. For the learned. What is important for the one is the mother for her young ones is not produced Orthodox, of course, the point of being Ger­ precisely what is anathema to the other. by reasoning but by imagination, and this man was, at best. irrelevant and, at worse, a Graetz celebrates, particularly, Jewish con­ betrayal of Sinai. For the Zionists, each facu� exists not on� in man but in mostliving tributions to German culture, for instance. claim that emancipated Jews were as Ger­ things.... The same reason applies to thelaw For him, this is an argument for allowing man as their non-Jewish neighbors was an greater cultural interaction between the two that enjoins us to let the mother fly away when act of national suicide. Yet in trying not to communities. Von Treitschke sees such we take the young.. .. � the law provides that alienate the Orthodox and Zionist entirely, interaction, of course, as exactly the prob­ such grief shoukJ not be caused to cattle or the religious reformers only distanced them­ lem and uses his historical studies to argue birds, how ml.d1 more careful must we be not selves further from the Jewish masses, for that such cultural cross-contamination should to cause grief to our felklw humans. whom being German was a dominant desire. be limited. Along these lines,von Treitschke -Maimonides, As the intellectuals were gettig themselves delivers as positive examples those German MorehNevuchim 3.48 more and more entangled in this web of Jews who have most thoroughly assimi- mutual incompatibilities, the Jewish popu- Menorah Review, Fall 2003 7 NOTEWORTHY BOOKS

Editor's Note: The following is a list of books received from publishers but, as of this printing, have not been reviewed for Menorah Review.

A Short Story AboutMr. Silberstein. (A novel) by ErlandJosephson. An Ethnic at Large: A Memoirof America in the Thirties and Evanston, IL: Nonhwestern University Press. Forties. By Jerre Mangione. Syracuse University Press.

His Majesty's Enemies: GreatBriioin 's War AgainstHolocanst SpinoYl and the 1rreIRvance of BiblicalAuthority. By 1. Samuel Preus. Victimsand Survivors. By [tamar Levin. Westport, Cf: Praeger New York: Cambridge University Press. Publishers. Judaism and EnvironmentalEthics: A Reader. Edited by MartinD. One Step Ahead: A Jewish Fugitive inHiiIRr's Europe. By AJfred Yafee. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Feldman. Carbondale: Southern Dlinois University Press. By a Twistof History: The Three lives of a Polish Jew. By Mietek YentJ's Revenge: TheNext Waveof Jewish Feminism Edited by Sieradzki. London: VallentineMitchell. DanyaRuttenberg. Seattle, WA: Seal Press. Christian Attitudes Towardthe Slate of Israel By Paul Charles New York Jewsand the Decli1U! of Urban Ethnicity, 1950-1970. By Merkley. Toronto: McGill-Queen's University Press. Eli Lederhendler. Syracuse University Press. TheExpulsion of the Jews From Sp ain. By Haim Beinart. Portland, Boundto Sin: Abuse, Holocaustand the ChristianDoctrine of Sin. OR: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. By Alistair McFadyen. New Yorlc CambridgeUniversity Press. AbraluunMiguel Cardow: SeIRcted Writings. Translated and Henry Fordand the Jews: TheMass Productionof Hate. By Neil introduced by David 1. Halperin. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. Baldwin. New York: Public Affairs. JewishMarringe andDivorce inIm perialRussia. By ChaeRan Yiddish Fiction and the Crisis of Modernity, 1905-1914. By Mikhail Freeze. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. Krutikov. StanfordUniversity Press. Crossingthe Green line: Between the West Bank andIsrael By TheJews of New Jersey: A PictorialHistory. By Patricial M. Ard and Avrarn S. Bomstein. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Michael Aaron Rockland. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univer­ Press. sity Press. PrincipIRs ofSpiriiualActivism By Avi Weiss. Hoboken, NJ: Ktav TheLost BibIR: Forgotten Scriptures Reveakd. By 1.R. Porter. Publishing House lnc. University of Chicago Press. Haskalahand History: TheEmergence of a Modem Jewish Histori­ Hebrew Scholanihip and the Medieval World. Edited by Nicholas de cal Consciousness. By Shmuel Feiner. Portland, OR: The Lange. New York: Cambridge University Press. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.

TheHaunted Smile: TheStory of Jewish Comedians inAmerica. By Understanding Fundamentalism: Christian, Islamic and Jewish Lawrence J. Epstein. New York: Public Affairs. Movements. By Richard T. Antoun. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group lnc. GreekJewry in the Twentieth Century, 1913-1983: Patterns of Jewish Survivalin the GreekProviuces Bef ore andAfter theHolocaust Jews andMed icine: An Epic Saga. By Frank Heynick. Hoboken, NJ: By Joshua Eli Plaut. Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Ktav Publishing House lnc. Press. Heidegger's Children: HannahArendt, Karl Lowith,Hans Jonas and Autonomy inJewish Philosophy. By Kenneth Seeskin. New York: HerbertMa rcuse. By Richard Wolin. PrincetonUniversity Press. CambridgeUniversity Press. TheCase for Auschwitz: Evidencefrom theIrving Trial By Robert PracticingExile: TheReligious Ody ssey of an AmericanJew. By Jan van Pelt. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Marc H. Ellis. Minneapolis, MN: FortressPress. Politics andthe limits of Low: Secularizingthe Political inMedieval Strangers in theHouse: Comingof Age in OccupiedPakstine. By Jewish Thought By Menachem LorlJerbaum. Stanford Univer­ Raja Shehadeh. South Royalton, VT: Steerfonh Press. sity Press.

Closs, Networks andIdentity: Replanting lives From NaziGe mw.ny TheInvention and Declineof Israeliness: Slate, Societyand the toRural New York. By Rhonda F. Levine. Lanham, MD: Military. By Baruch Kimmerling. Berkeley: University of Rowrnan& Littlefield Publishers lnc. CaliforniaPress .

Justification andVariegnted Nomism: A Fresh Appraisal of Panl and PassoverRevisited: PhiJodelphia'sEffo rts Aidto Soviet Jews, 1963- Second TempIRJudaism. Edited by c.A. Carson et aI. New York: 1998. By Andrew Harrison. Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson Baker BookHouse. University Press. 8 Menorah Review, Fall 2003

lation itself was growing increasingly dis­ different paths each chartered as compared clear center of attention that emerges on a tant from the officialGemeinde synagogue to their German compatriots. These com­ full reading-that is the formation of Re­ services that were aesthetically pleasing but parisons not only let us see that these areas form Iudaism. The collection ends up leav­ spiritually empty. This led, by the turn of the had their own contributions to make in the ing the reader with a sense of the struggle century, to the creation of alternative prayer formation of modern Judaisms but help us to among various Jewish reformers to negoti­ meetings that stressed gemeinschaft over put the German initiatives in perspective. ate the various and usually contradictory gesellschaJt, arguing that the real function of The last group of essays (Chapters 19 themes that were buffeting the Jewish world, the synagogue should be to serve as a place through 22) address the American scene. and especially the world of German-speak­ for spiritual community rather than as a The first two essays here cover ground that ing Jewry, during the last two centuries. locus for institutional association (Chapter one rarely sees discussed. The first(Chapter What is amazing is how successful the move­ 16). So yet another node of contention was 19) examines the emotional and intellectual ment was in addressing and encompassing emerging. On the other hand, however, this break with the German mother-country that these diverse themes and the needs inform­ essay shows that a kind of consensus was occurred in American Iudaism in the 1970s. ing them. But, it is also clear how amor­ actually beginning to emerge during the The second looks at the initiative of Hebrew phous the result was. The journey of Juda­ Weimar period and into the early 1930s. Union College in the 1930s to bring Ger­ ism through the waters of modernity has Seen from this perspective, the coming to man-Jewish intellectuals as faculty mem­ hardly been a tranquil sail and it is clear from power of the Nazis only hastened the move bers so as to rescue them from Germany reading these essays that many of the shoals to communal unity, already hesitantly un­ outside the visa quotas. This is a detailed and straits encountered along the way have derway. and fascinating look at the 10men who were not yet been successfully negotiated. How­ The lasttwoessays in this section (num­ on the list and gives some insight into the ever, at least we have what the subjects of bers 17 and 18) introduce an important cor­ kinds of baITiersthe State Department could this book did not have-some account of rective. For a variety of reasons, we con­ throw up toward the rescue of Jews during what the traveling has been like during the ceive of the formation of modern Iudaisms the Holocaust. The final essays deal with the past 200 years. We are left with a sense of as taking place entirely within the German­ assimilation of Zionism into the American, the intellectual achievement of these think­ speaking lands. But, other reform and/or specifically Reform, Iewish community in ers in trying to tease out what a modern liberal Judaisms were developing elsewhere the first half of the 20th century. The final Iudaism could possibly be. as well-for example, in Russia, to the east, chapter looks in detail at the position of and, in Britian, to the west. These two essays Abba Hillel Silver as Reform rabbi and Peter 1. Haas holds the Abba Hillel Silver deal respectively with each of these con­ Zionist. Chair of Jewish Studies at Case Western texts, showing the influence of German In the end, of course, a book like this Reserve University and is a contributing thought on these communities as well as the cannot talk about everything. There is a editor.

Nonprofit organization U.S. Postage PAID Richmond, Virginia Ivcu ME�QRAH,* I Permit No. 869 NUMBER 59 • CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY · FALL 2003

Menorah Review is published by the Center for Judaic Studies of Virginia Commonwealth University and distributed worldwide. Comments and manuscripts are welcome. Address all correspondence (0 Center for Judaic Studies, P.O. Box 842025, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284-2025, [email protected]. Web Site: www.vcu.edu/judaicstudies.

Editor: Jack D. Spiro Editorial Consultant: Cliff Edwards Production Editor: Kay W. Graves Contributing Editors: Paul R. Bartrop Earle J. Coleman Frank E. Eakin Jr. Cliff Edwards Esther Fuchs Daniel Grossberg Peter J. Haas Herbert Hirsch Brian Horowitz Rafael Medoff Robert Michael Rochelle L. Millen Matthew B. Schwartz Richard E. Sherwin Jonathan T. Silverman Kristin M. Swenson Melvin I. Urofsky Sarah B. Watstein Leon J. Weinberger