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Menorah Review VCU University Archives Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Menorah Review VCU University Archives 2002 Menorah Review (No. 55, Spring/Summer, 2002) Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/menorah Part of the History of Religion Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons © The Author(s) Recommended Citation https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/menorah/54 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the VCU University Archives at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Menorah Review by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NUMBER 55. CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY. SPRING/SUMMER 2002 For the Enrichment of Jewish Thought Judaism was not a forbidden religion in the early Christians symbolically enacting "fe­ 'TWo Judalsme, Rabbinic Roman Empire, certain practices, as the maleness" as resistance to the stereotype of and Christian, Invent Their teaching of Torah in public. were forbidden. Roman power seen as a "highly sexualized A figuresuch as Rabbi Akiva could become male." So Jews and Christians honored Martyrdom DIscourses part of the rabbinic martyrdom discourse as feminine postures of asceticism. submis­ late texts looked back on the second century siveness. devotion to study and retirement to Dyingfor God: MaJtyrdomand rabbi as a kind of "Jewish Polycarp." But private spaces. For Jews. the danger of their the Makingof Christianity Christianity was an illicit faith and devel­ own maleness was viewed as vulnerability andJudaism oped a more radical rejection of Rome and a to seduction by the prostitute of sectarian­ by Daniel Boyarin more univocal approach to martyrdom. ism. namely Christianity. while for Chris­ StanfordUniversity P ress While Judaism through the very style of its tians the Roman and Jewish ideal of the Talmud maintained the "heteroglossia of procreative family itself was problematic as dialogue." a tolerance of dispute. Christian­ Christians gave marriage a negative valua­ A ReviewEssa y ity moved from early diversities toward a tion in relationship to the ideal of ascetic by ClIffEdwards more dogmatic and hierarchical structure renunciation. Martyrdom was a discourse, a that tended to spawn excluded "sectarian way of telling the story of a death. that went Daniel Boyarin. Taubman Professor of movements." On the issue of martyrdom. well beyond simply reference to dying in Talmudic Culture at Berkeley. investigates one might cite Novatianism and Donatism violent circumstances. For Judaism. it bor­ the relationship between rabbinic Jews and as examples of such excluded sects. While rowed from but went beyond the death­ Christians in late antiquity. focusing on the Judaism allowed the options of deception scenes of the Maccabees. for it could involve history of martyrdom discourses as a "shared (trickster postures). flight and "dying for the image of the binding of Isaac. the Pass­ historical invention" of the two sometimes God" as proper responses to Roman perse­ over and erotic elements in the Song of indistinguishable movements. Abandoning cution. Christianity more and more empha­ Songs. Finally. it focused on the "Unifica­ the "family-tree model" in which Christian­ sized the single way of acceptance of a tion of the Name." the recitation of the ity is viewed as daughter to mother Judaism. violent death as the only proper "imitation" Shema. For Christians. in the context of Boyarin prefers a "wave theory" (I'd prefer of Christ and the surest way to salvation. Roman persecution, martyrdom came to to call it a "ripple" theory) where religious Related to Boyarin's analysis of martyr­ borrow from these same Jewish texts but innovations spread like ripples when a stone dom discourses are his hypotheses regard­ also came to focus on the confession .. is thrown into a pond. admitting of both ing the role of gender. sexuality and virgin­ "Christianus sum.. and could be described convergences and divergences. mutual ity in the development of rabbinic and Chris­ as an ecstatic and erotic experience one sharings and complex tensions. In Boyarin's tian ideals and metaphors. For Boyarin. "In entered into willingly as a route to beatific view. until a "parting of the ways" in the both late ancient Christianity and Judaism. vision and assured salvation in imitation of fourth century. "one could travel metaphori­ ideal male identity was secured in part via the patternestablished by Christon the cross. cally. from rabbinic Judaism to Christianity cross-gender identification with female vir­ Even the complexities hinted above are along a continuum where one hardly would gins." Referencing the work of Virginia far from exhausting the many texts and sub­ know where one stopped and the other be­ Burrus. Boyarin views rabbinic Jews and texts. hypotheses and suggested readings gan." included in Boyarin's volume. Some 544 Within this proposed model of rabbinic end-notes, several quite extensive, continue Judaism and Christianity "inextricably in­ IN THIS ISSUE the arguments debated in the body of the tertwined" during the first three centuries. essay. Appendices and reference matter. in Boyarin pursues a comparative study of rab­ • TItO Judaisms, Christian. Rabbinicand fact. account for 120 pages of the 247-page binic and patristic literature on the develop­ Invent'Their Discourses MaI1yTdom book. Reading this work by Boyarin is no ing theme of martyrdom. Similarities and • PoIhoIesin the LandscapeJewish simple matter but the rewards in terms of differences in the "discourses" on martyr­ creative directions for thought regarding rab­ • Remembranceof Things Past dom developed by the two movements are binic Judaism and early Christianity make viewed as complex but. by the fourth and • The EndlessDiversity Interpretation of the effort well worthwhile. fifth centuries. these discourses are seen as • TheResponse to Uniq ueness revelatory of differences that became one • TheReference Shelf Cliff Edwards is director of the Religious mark of the separation of rabbinic Judaism Studies Division, Virginia Commonwealth • Noteworthy Books from its "chief heresy." Christianity. While University. and an editorial consultanl. 2 Menorah Review, Spring/Summer 2002 chapter, she hits all her targets: the relation­ still feels like the dissertation it was; there is Potholes in the Jewish ship between institutions and individuallews some repetitiveness as well as the annoying Landscape as well as the relationship of the institution habit of not always introducing quotes from to other institutions and to America itself. historical sources. No one is happier to She does a good job describing the Jewish scurry to the footnotes than I am but often New YOrkJews and the Great economic condition during this period: more these quotes seem geared toward proving to Depression: Uncertain Promise secure than most because of a perponderance the readerthe validity of the argument rather by Beth Wenger of Jews in white-collar professions but still than enlightening the reader, a classic pitfall 'New Haven: Yale UniversityPress insecure because of their Jewishness. How­ of the dissertation. Finally, I also would ever, it's hard to know from New York Jews have liked to see something on Jewish artis­ and the Great Depression how much the rise tic production in 1930s New York, given the A Review Essay of anti-Semitism in the decade was related to importance both Jews and non-Jews placed by Jonathan Silverman the relative Jewish security or because of the in it. However, it's understandable that insecurity of other Americans. Wenger stopped where she did and it's un­ The Great Depression looms large in Other chapters detail family lives, the fair to chide an author for her omissions the American historical consciousness, gi ven experience of youth, the geographic distri­ given the ambitious scope of this book. its devastating economic consequences and bution of Jews in New York and the eco­ Overall, the book will be of great use to the resulting political, economic, social and nomic status of these areas, Jewish political future scholars who seek to get a better view cultural fallout. The Great Depression treated life, Jewish philanthropy and Jewish reli­ of the Jewish landscape in New York during Jews relatively kinder in economic terms gious life. In all her chapters, Wenger does the Great Depression, a period in which both than their American brothers and sisters, but a thoroughjob of addressing previous schol­ Jews and non-Jews suffered, but perhaps the 1930s also marked the high (low?) point arship and balancing personal anecdotes with Jews felt more insecure. Non-scholars may of anti-Semitism with national figures like statistics. She also leaves an excellent trail findthe boook a little rougher going but will Father Coughlin and the relatively high num­ for future scholars to follow; her notes are still find the work worth reading. bers of Nazi sympathizers. In New York extensive. Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain There are a few difficulties with the Jonathan Silverman is a professor of En­ Promise, Beth Wenger contextualizes the work. Because ofthe necessity of separating glish, Virginia Commonwealth University, Jewish experience in the Great Depression. topics from one another by chapter, there and a contributing editor. Scholars interested in either the Depression tends to be some overlap. For example, the or Jewish history will find the work useful idea of Jewish radicalness is discussed in for its perspectives on both the experiences almost every chapter. In addition, some of of Jews and the institutions that represented New York Jews and the Great Depression them. The book was a long time due. As Wenger points out, the Jewish experience in HolocaustRepresentation: Art the Depression has been neglected for the GOD WRESTLING Within the Limits ofHistory and chronicles of the Jewish response to the Mother played piano and sang sweetly Ethics coming Holocaust, the Jewish involvement Then she stopped :., by Serel Lang,::::... in literary and political radicalness, and an Her rrothe�spolio Balt1mGJ'e: The JohnHopkins...
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