the purpose of its election is the salvation of all defensive posture. This enmity is, I believe, humanity. based on a two thousand year old memory of The Jew Must Love The Gentile Christian persecution of Jews, a thirty year old conviction that Christians have not been suffici- Without in the slightest loosening the tie of love ently supportive of Israel and a contemporary that binds the people of Israel together in its perception that particularly Protestant fringe election, the Jew must also love the gentile to types have Jewish conversion as one of their goal whom he is tied by the strongest possible bond, ends. Witness the "Jews for Jesus," "Hineni," the image of God in which gentiles and Jews are "Beth Saar Shalom," etc. created. Since we are commanded to love God, we are also commanded to love the creature who These perceptions of the Christian world engen- carries God's image. Perhaps here, as a people, der a highly negative attitude toward interre- we have sinned. The deep fear of the Jew is that ligious contacts. "What do we need them for?" I by drawing too close to the gentile, his identity hear that sotto voce question constantly asked. It and mission as Jew will be weakened. And there- makes very little difference to many Jews that fore the rabbis erected all kinds of barriers to increasingly the enlightened element of Ameri- intimacy between Jews and gentiles. Such can Christian scholarship seems to feel that they barriers must remain because the mission of Israel need to understand Judaism more deeply in is at stake. But across the barriers, we must also order to understand their own faith, or that they love the gentile. Their non-election is not neces- see the continuation of the Jewish people as part sarily finaL "The stone which the builders of God's plan. As one Catholic scholar put it to rejected has become the chief corner-stone." me recendy; "The Jewish people witnesses to me that God, our gracious father, calls His people as (Psalms 118:22). God has a way of electing the a people and never reneges on that calling." rejected and we therefore do not know what he Do we Love only Those who do what we Want' has in store for the gentiles. Jews feel that Christianity is not necessary to The love of gentiles of which I speak has their being Jewish. Most Jews seem to agree that nothing to do with missionizing them or in any we would have survived better without Christi- other way erasing the barrier between Jew and anity. Perhaps that is so, but the supposition fails gentile. Pre-messianically (and perhaps even to acknowledge some very real and powerful post-messianically) we have different missions. changes now going on in American Christendom. But we must be humble in our undeserved Clearly the Roman Catholic Church of 1979 is election. Otherwise we turn the blessing into a not the same in its attitude toward Jews as was its curse. predecessor from earlier ages. Jesuit scholar Father Raymond E. Brown, author of the remarkable book The Birth of the Messiah, is as Silent hate is also a sin different from John Chrysostrum (344-407 C.E.) as I am from a Sadducean priest Yet, Jews seem Balfour Brickner either unable or unwilling to recognize the changes. One might even think we enjoy the It is unquestionably true that a strong, frequently luxury of our prejudices. "Don't confuse me with not too thinly veiled disdain for Christians and the facts, my mind is made up." Christianity survives in the psyche of American When we do approach Christians, the contact is Jewry. Solomon Mowshowitz's impressionistic frequendy asymmetrical- We have a tendency to piece revealed all too clearly the pathos of that treat the non-Jewish world as if its existence sickness. One can only hope that his description ought to be to promote issues and causes of is accurate when he says that "the feelings we're concern to Jews. When it doesn't respond in ways talking about I don't believe in at alL" However, which we think it should, we use that "failure" to he does describe the sentiments of many Jews, justify our pre-existing dislike. It strengthens our not only those of the older community with unwillingness to be responsive to issues and personal negative memories. Anti-Christian big- problems that are high on their agenda, though otry infects every one of our age groupings. not on ours. The concern highest on our agenda Paradoxically, it stems from their conviction that is, of course, Israel. Christianity, particularly "goyim are nothing but anti-Semites." mainstream American Protestantism, has not Response in kind has always been a predictable responded to what we consider the moral right of 115 Israel to survive as strongly as we have wanted it Island Episcopal Church's Commission on to. Yet, while increasingly many Christians are Christian-Jewish Relations put it: Christians are coming to understand the central role Israel realizing that Judaism has its own integrity and needs no plays in Jewish self identity, the result, to be sure, Christian corrective. Together we are beginning to see of some intensive Christian-Jewish consultations that we can behave as equals, that we do not need to make — the very kinds of contacts so many of those each other's belief systems "wrong." We are siblings, each who are contemptuous of Christians tend to possessing his own validity, vitality and wholeness. discredit — we still remain unsatisfied. We Christians no longer pray for the conversion of Jews. The measure the positive or negative dimensions of current rise of "Jewish-Christian" missionary activity is our relationship to them in terms of support for distressing to both Jews and Christians. It is upsetting to that state. Israel is the litmus paper of our Jews because it impugns the integrity of Jewish belief. It affection or rejection of Christians. is alarming to Christians because it misrepresents Christianity. Not every Ally is a true Friend This explains our uncritical and, I believe, mis- Given the above, and this is only the thinnest guided embrace of the Evangelical and Funda- smattering of evidence of the new positive mentalist Protestant community. But in truth, situation that obtains between Judaism and their love of Zion is not predicated on our Christianity, one wonders on what basis we understanding of Zionism — the fulfilled con- continue to retain our historic prejudices? How tinuation of the Jewish people as a distinct long can we shape our future relationships on the people in Israel. Their desire to see all Jews basis of past experiences that came from a pre- return to Israel derives from their own eschato- modern, pre-enlightened world? To be sure there logical hope in the ultimate triumph of Christi- are still anti-Semites, but anti-Semitism is not anity. Their theology ultimately suggests that the increasing in this country. Jewish religion is incomplete. They envision the Shall we continue to ignore each other, subtly end of the Jewish people. I see no reason to teach hatred about one another to our offspring? embrace those whose ultimate hopes are for my Is that in our best interests? I think not Instead, I demise. Moreover, in all other areas, they are am convinced that we need one another if the ecumenically stand-offish and socially conserva- voice and power of organized religion is to be tive. They do not share many of our views brought to bear on the social ills of our society. regarding America's domestic social program. These ills will destroy us if we do not act together. There is, to be sure, an element within the Christian Evangelical community that is not so Sh'ma is looking for fellows conservative. The New or Young Evangelicals, as they are sometimes called, represent a small, Sh'ma fellows are responsible for completing highly literate elite, most.of whom were active in book reviews for our Book issues, participating civil rights struggles. They see their role as in editorial discussions, and planning their own restoring Christ to this world and have all but issues. They meet on Thursday afternoons from abandoned the other-worldly posture of salva- 4:00 to 5:30 in New York City with the Editor tion. Unfortunately, they are also somewhat and Assistant to the Editor. Salary for the year is more critical of present Israeli politics than their $250. Application deadline is JUNE 15 th. If you mainstream contemporaries, sometimes taking a will be away for the summer, please include a pro-Palestinian line. Perhaps it is for this reason summer address. Send applications to Sh'ma, Box that so far the Jewish community has not sought 567, Port Washington, N.Y. 11050. them out, avoiding the creation of coalitions with this element of the Evangelical world. It is time we did so. Sh'ma Book Service You may order through us any book listed in this Old Prejudices do not fit New Times issue. Please list individually the books you wish It is time too, that we learned to recognize some and their cost, adding $1 for handling and the important differences within Christianity. Just as appropriate tax if in New York. Since we cannot not all Christians are Evangelicals or Funda- bill, please send your check, made out to Sh'ma, mentalists, so too not all Christians believe in Inc., with your order to Box 567, Port Washington, converting Jews to Christianity. As Father N.Y. 11050. Allow four weeks for delivery through Lawrence McCoombe, member of the Long the good offices of Behrman House Publishers. 116 A GUIDE TO JEWISH RELIGIOUS PRACTICE K'ra Isaac Klein. Ktav. $12.50 art of the Morasha series of the P Jewish Theological Seminary, this work by Rabbi Isaac Klein, z'l, is primarily for The Sh'ma Book Review Conservative Jews with a foundation of Judaism who need further guidance in procedural matters. Chapters include prayer, Shabbat, kashrut, festi- vals, marriage, divorce, and others. Written CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST. Helen originally in English for an American audience, its Epstein. Putnam. $10.95 scope is limited to a compendium of traditional s. Epstein brings the message that halacha which incorporates the legal decisions of M those who survived the Holocaust the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Law, have passed on their fears, anxieties and guilts to with explanations of what issues are involved in their children. Through personal interviews, a making certain halachic decisions. The bibliogra- recounting of recent scholarship, and the phy and citations are excellent springboards for example of her own life, the author moves us further readings. It is tempting to call this work from tears to self-reflection. The scars run deep, an updated Shulchan Aruch for the Conservative even hidden, in these fellow Jews who range from movement although this is denied in the preface. a beauty queen to a Vietnam War veteran. They It may mislead one into thinking it is a handbook are the young men and women who have the from which to make one's own religious decisions Holocaust always on their minds; who have to but this is clearly not the case. The former term live their lives to make up for those who died; better describes this excellent reference volume who feel they must play down their own suffering which is recommended for observant non-Ortho- because their parents felt the ultimate pain. dox Jews. (Anne Mintz) Though not to be taken as the story of every child of survivors, a psychological picture is BEN-GURION: A BIOGRAPHY. Michael Bar- painted of a special group who carries a special Zohar. Delacorte Press. $12.95 burden. The rest of us should read this book in order to be sensitive to that burden. Since talk- n preparing this new study, Bar- ing about it openly causes pain, Ms. Epstein has I Zohar had complete, and unprec- taken a courageous step by baring her soul in edented, access to Ben-Gurion's extensive diaries, order to teach us a stark truth. (Debra R. Hachen) letters and other personal files, as well as interview- ing the "Old Man" in Tel Aviv and Sde Boker. The JEWISH RESPONSES TO NAZI PERSECUTION result is a unique insight into, and analysis of, the Isaiah Trunk. Stein and Day. $15.95. personality and statesmanship of Ben-Gurion as well as much heretofore undocumented material r. Trunk has intentionally tided on the political history of modern Israel. D his book Jewish Responses to Nazi Persecution, for it is his purpose to concentrate on Bar-Zohar's study, for example, sheds much "the day-to-day life and struggle of the Jewish victims" new light on the longtime feud between Ben- (Preface, p. ix), in order to illustrate the variety Gurion and Chaim Weizmann, thought by many of ways in which Jews reacted while under Nazi to be only political, yet, it was also personal. Bar- rule. This represents, in his eyes, a new direction Zohar documents for the first time the many in Holocaust historiography. Part I is a short, details of Ben-Gurion's personal life, including generalized overview of the patterns Trunk the story of his longtime relationship with Doris discerns in the Jewish reactions to the Nazis; Part May, once Chaim Weizmann's secretary in the II documents those patterns by presenting 62 London Zionist office and for more than two personal memoirs, most transcribed shordy after decades the "other woman" in Ben-Gurion's life. the war's end. Bar-Zohar's candid study is not only the defin- This work's lasting value undoubtedly lies in itive biography of Israel's first Prime Minister but its searing collection of personal testimonies. In also, perhaps, the best political biography yet this alone Dr. Trunk does honor to the victims, published of any Israeli public figure. both living and dead, and provides a great service (David G. Dalin) for the present and future generations. His focus NACHMAN OF BRATSLAV: The Tales. Arnold on "response" is a necessary corrective. J. Band. Paulist Press. $6.95. J^J (Joan Friedman) A collection of tales by the great Hasidic master. SHELANU: An Israel Journal. Maggie Rennert. WHITE NIGHTS. Menachem Begin. Harper and Prentice-Hall, $12.95. Row. $8.95. aggie Rennert was hardly the ardent ecent events have forced many to M Zionist. But as a widow of 50 with RM. painfully reassess their evaluations i one Jewish grandmother in the family tree, a heavy of Menachem Begin, turning to his writings as a J medical dossier, and a few novels under her belt, starting point. she decided to shed the "ideological coziness" of In his cool, yet powerful prose, Begin describes Cambridge, and settle in Beer-Sheva to write a his incarceration in Soviet prisons and its impact book about becoming Israeli. The "book" turns on the formation of his inner character and his out to be a lengthy, shapeless journal: chatty dis- everpresent sense of mission. People eager to course on domestic comedies in the desert and a understand Menachem Begin should not miss loving portrait and defense of the Israelis who gleaning the valuable insights he offers about made her shelanu (ours). himself in White Nights. (Mory Korenblit) Her descriptions of war-weary fellow townsmen are among the most moving in the book. She ABRAHAM ISAAC KOOK. Tr. Ben-Zion Bokser. describes a heavy man finding room for himself Paulist Press. $6.95. and his groceries — with Yiddish and a smile — on a bus already bursting with passengers; or the uch has been written about Rav washing down every day of the stone floors of M Kook, the famous mystic and Beer-Sheva against the encroachment of desert Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Palestine from 1921-35 winds. but here, for the first time, we have a rich harvest Maggie herself is cheering company — much of his major works, his essays, letters and even his more appealing than this somewhat overstuffed poetry. The selection seems commendable and journal. (Michelle Mentzer) the translation remarkably fluent considering the notorious difficulties of mystic Hebrew. BEHOLD A GREAT IMAGE. Sharon Strassfeldand Again and again the reader is impressed by Rav Arthur Kurzweil, editors. Jewish Publication Society. Kook's comprehensive vision of the organic unity $17.50. of the cosmos. He is dedicated to the Torah, the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, but his sense hassidim predominate this large of truth encompasses all humankind and all of C album of black and white photo- history, indeed of everything ever created. He graphs and one cannot help wondering what became does not exclude from this divine, creative energy, of die rest of the Jewish population. Indeed, photos the power to sin, thereby causing problems for that do not depict skullcaps, traditional garb, the post-Holocaust reader. And one wonders how tombstones or synagogues often need the identify- he reconciled objective discipline with subjective, ing captions to dub them "Jewish." Reserve a space encompassing truth. on your coffee table for this interesting photo- Why did it take a Catholic publisher, concerned graphic commentary of contemporary Jewish life. to include the Jewish witness in a series on western (Mory Korenblit) spirituality, to make Rav Kook's writings available in English? (Eugene B. Borowitz) DEFENDING MY ENEMY: American Nazis, the Skokie Case, and the Risks of Freedom. BEING JEWISH IN AMERICA. Arthur Hertzberg. Aryeh Neier. Dutton. $9.95. Schocken. $16.95. he Jewish former head of the ACLU T refutes arguments that the Nazis his collection of Arthur Hertzberg's in Skokie were an exception to freedom of speech. T essays is somewhat of a disappoint- Neier asks his readers to appreciate the irony of ment. He frequendy writes extremely well, espe- protecting freedom by extending it to those who cially on Zionism and the problems of modernity, would take it away. (Michelle Mentzer) but much of his other work is surprisingly unen- lightening. He has included several essays that are from fifteen to twenty-five years old, and their A STRANGE COURAGE. RichardE. Sherwin. Bar relevance has faded with the years. Despite some Ilan University. valuable material, for the exorbitant price the Poetry on general Jewish and Biblical themes, both reader deserves more from such an important in Hebrew and English. Jewish figure. (Jeffrey K. Salkin) 118 td THE DOOMSDAY SCROLL. Barbara Rogers. and occasionally put off, as I savored these ex- to | Dodd, Mead. $8.95. THE JERUSALEM cerpts. The editors and publisher have done us all Hi ' DIAMOND. Noah Gordon. Random House. $9.95. a great service. (Eugene B. Borowitz) s, THE MURDER OF LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Matthew Eden. Crowell. $9.95. PORTRAIT OF THREE WEEKS IN OCTOBER. Yael Dayan. les ALICE. Evelyn Cowan. Taplinger. $8.95. Delacorte Press. $8.95. lct Novels; suspense; historical fantasy; revisionist ^ biography; comic middle-aged/Scottish-Jewish house- oing beyond sweeping historical wifery. At the beach, any might do. G generalizations concerning the tc mood and feelings of the Israeli population during iss the Yom Kippur War, Yael Dayan creates people with whom we can identify and with whom we ! FROM THE BROKEN TREE. Lee Langley. E.P. 1 can share sorrows and actions and failures and Dutton. $10.95. hopes. In this easy reading and sometimes touch- Novel ofthree generations of a PolishJewish family ing novel she portrays men, women and children from 1900 to modern life in America written through who live through the three emotionally dark weeks the eyes of the family matriarch. in October. The well written story line and the clearly identifiable characters enhanced my Jl SHAY AGNON'S WORLD OF MYSTERY appreciation of the book. (Mory Korenblit) )5! AND ALLEGORY. Israel Rosenberg. Dorrance j,; and Co. $5.95. FAITH WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Eugene Fisher. Detailed analysis of Agnon 's vision of Zionism and Paulist Press. $2.45. j Israel as seen in the symbolism of "Iddo and Ay nam", he author makes a well-intentioned an Agnon novella. T but faulty attempt at strengthening Jewish-Christian relations by positing that the B PERSPECTIVES ON JEWS AND JUDAISM Ed. teachings of Jesus are synonymous with rabbinic ^ Arthur A Chiel. Rabbinical Assembly. $25.00. Judaism. With references to Jesus as "our Lord," IA the book is written primariily for a Christian These thirty seven essays in honor of audience. It draws an intimate theological relation- I Wolfe Kelman have something ship between Christianity and Judaism by reducing for every reader. I was stimulated by Schulweis the latter to a philosophy of love. (Steve Bauman) on God as person, Teshima comparing "strange '' thoughts" in Hasidism and Zen, Wechsler on the THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MENAHEM BEGIN. 111 self and its body and Wolf on Zionism among Frank Gervasi. Putnam. $12.95. I I others. (Eugene B. Borowitz) journalist in the Middle East since A 1940, Gervasi, through interviews 9 with relatives and close friends and extensive research, has given us a sharply focused, excellent i portrait of Begin the lawyer, scholar, rebel, organ- ,: CONFRONTING THE HOLOCAUST: THE izer and family man — Prime Minister and now fc! IMPACT OF ELIE WIESEL. ed. Alvin Rosenfeld Nobel Peace Price winner. A history book that j and Irving Greenberg. Indiana Univ. Press. $ 12.95. reads like an adventure story. (Alicia Seeger) his is a collection of extremely lit- T erate essays by such contributors PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA. Samuel Sandmel as Terrence Des Pres, Emil Fackenheim, and A. Oxford. $12.95. Roy Eckardt Its chief merit is that it moves beyond si analysis of Wiesel's work and into such issues as tudents of first century Judaism are Holocaust literature in general, the scope of S once again in Samuel Sandmel's response to the tragedy, theology, and history. debt for defdy summarizing the state of knowledge (Jeffrey K. Salkin) and research on an important topic. For all that YOUR WORD IS FIRE. Eds. Green and Holtz. the rabbinic tradition ignored him, Philo was as I Paulist Press. $ 1.95. Greek as we are American and interpreted his his delightful anthology of mystic Judaism accordingly. "Everything you always T Hasidic texts opens up some of the wanted to know..." in only 163 pages. more accessible realms of the Jewish inner life. I (Eugene B Borowitz) II was touched, moved, surprised and even elevated 119 WITH EYES TOWARD ZION: Scholars Collo- Sh'ma's List of Jewish Bestsellers qium on America-Holy Land Studies, ed. Moshe Davis. Arno Press. $18.00. A GUIDE TO JEWISH PRACTICE. Isaac Klein. Examines the relationship between America and Ktav. $12.50. the Holy Land from Colonial times to thefounding WANDERINGS. Chaim Potok. Random House. of the State of Israel, with specialfocus on Christian, $17.95. Jewish, and Afro-American attitudes. A JEW TODAY. Elie Wiesel. Random House. $10.00. WITHOUT SURRENDER: ART OF THE HOLOCAUST. Nelly Toll. Running Press. $6.95. Thanks to our sources: Behrman House Inc. in New York; Hamakor Judaica in Chicago; Harelick and Art uncovered in ghettos, concentra- Roth, Booksellers in Los Angeles; Abe's Jewish Book- JL jL tion camps and other hiding places store in Wheaton, Md.; Negev Importing Company in depict the grim tale of the Holocaust. A series of Toronto; Israel Book Shop in Brookline, Mass.; accompanying essays outlines the environment Spitzer's Hebrew Book and Gift Center in Southfield, in which the drawings were produced. Mich.; and Skybook Associates, Inc. in Maplewood, (Mory Korenblit) N.J. ISRAELIS, JEWS AND JESUS. Pinchas Lapide. Editors' Choices: Nora Levin — THE WARSAW Doubleday. $7.95. DIARY OF ADAM CZERNIAKOW: Prelude to A believingjew open toJesus' place among his people, Doom. Ed. Hilberg, Staron and Karmisz. Stein and here states his case. Day. $16.95; LEST INNOCENT BLOOD BE SHED. Philip Halle. Harper and Row. $12.95; Harold Schulweis — CONTEMPORARY JEWISH LEGENDS OF GALILEE, JORDAN AND SINAI. ETHICS. M.M. Kelner. Sanhedrin Jewish Studies. Zev Vilnay. J.P.S. $10.95. $7.95; THE BULGARIAN JEWS AND THE Third volume anthologizing the marvelous imagin- FINAL SOLUTION. Fredrick Chary. University of ings of Jews and some others about The Land. Pittsburgh. $11.95; SERVING THE JEWISH FAMILY. Gerald Bubis. Ktav. $15.00; Arnold Jacob THE HOLOCAUST. Martin Gilbert. Hill and Wolf — THE HIDDEN REVOLUTION. Ellis Wang. $3.45. Rivkin. Abingdon. $12.95. Again Gilbert's fine sense for maps illuminesJewish history. The pictures are less helpful. ... but others say about tzedakah.., In Response to Our Appeal LOOKING AT HENRY MOORE'S . . . Shirley I wish with all my heart that I could help with the Kaufman. Unicorn. $5 pb. effort to defray Sh'ma's expenses. However, at this The poetess, in Jerusalem during the '73 war, goes time I am in the Prison, and don't have any to an exhibit and 16 lyrics result. money. What makes me want to give some tzedakah, is that I do not want a fine publication like yours to NO TIME TO MOURN. Leon Kahn. Laurelton be in need. Your journal has brought me an untold Press. n.p. number of enjoyable hours of reading. A Jew who fought as a partisan during the Holocaust tells his remarkable story. Name withheld

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