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1995 Menorah Review (No. 35, Fall, 1995)

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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 35 • CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY' FALL 1995

For the Enrichment of Jewish Thought

ders, spirits, children, neighbors and more. address mainstreamJudaism and include lay Lay Buddhists try to fulfill their familyre­ Buddhism. I should like to see a Jewish sponsibilities in as peaceful, responsible and dialogue with Buddhistsproceeding not only moral a manner as is possible ina life lived from the mystics in our midst but also from outside the monastery. religious thinkers in the center of our com­ The fo llowing article is excerpted fr om the What kind of Judaism are we compar­ munal life, who will respond to what they lecture presented by Dr. Richard G. Marks ing? Frequently these days it is Kabbalah learnof Buddhism fromtheir understanding for the Selma andJacobBrownLecture held that is compared with monks' Buddhism. of central doctrines and symbols from the last March. The annual lecture is sponsored Rodger Karnenetz in his book, The Jew in rabbinic traditionand its modem offshoots. by the Center fo r Judaic Studies and the the Lotus (1994), recounts his discovery of a I find precedence for this enterprise in the Friendsof the Libraryof Virginia Common­ significant commonality in the spirituality way Christian theologians have been ap­ wealth University. Dr. Marks is associate of contemporary followers of Kabbalah and proaching dialogue with Buddhists for the professor of religion at Washington and Lee that of the Tibetan Buddhistmonks he met in last 15 years, most of them from the non­ University in Lexington, Virginia. India, and he calls for the revival and dis­ mystical core of Christian traditions. semination of the Kabbalistic streams of Leonard Swidler, for example, in A A journey I made in Burma in 1993 Judaism. American Judaism, he argues, Jerusalem-Tokyo Bridge (1990), addresses raised anew questions I have asked myself needs a healthy dose of spirituality; it's the apparently opposing views that Chris­ about Buddhism. The monks I met there, losing some of its more thoughtful children tians and Buddhists hold toward the reality especially those of the highest rank, called to Buddhism. and role of God. On the Christian side, we "sayatow," like many of the older monks I A paragraph in the autobiographical find a person-like God who wills things to have met in Thailand, were some of the ...let book by Rabbi David Cooper,Entering the happen, shows love, saves people from suf­ me use the word "spiritual" ...people I know: Sacred Mountain (1994), illustratesthis way fering and sin; on the Buddhist side, we find gentle, compassionate, sensitive, self-effac­ of connecting Judaism and Buddhism: "The an assertion of the irrelevance of gods be­ ing, generous and also enchanting, power­ 10-day retreathas just ended. Once again I cause human beings must workout for them­ ful, charismatic. What I find in Theravada feel revitalized on my spiritual path-the selves their own wisdom and peace, and Buddhism, which attractsand troubles meas Vipassana technique [of Buddhist medita­ another assertion that final,ultimate reality a Jew, is a deep spirituality without God, a tion] opens increasingly higher levels of is one of ceaseless flow, becomingand rela­ powerful ethics and compassion without awareness in my Jewish practice. Indeed, tionship. What does Swidler do with these God. What are Jews to make of this? '" the intense meditation I did during this contradictions? Comparison of the Jewish and Buddhist retreat inspired more clarity into a mystical He reinterprets symbols and concepts. traditions is complex and tricky, perhaps world that transcends religious distinctions" The Buddhist concept of reality as ceaseless impossible. They speak different religious (132). Cooper asserts that the Buddhist and flow and change, called "Co-Dependent languages, arise out of very different cul­ Jewish paths meet through mysticism, an Origination," can have a positive meaning tures and their histories have never met in experience of transcending the self or ego. as Ultimate Source: all things and peopleof significant ways. I recounted in an earlier I believe, however, that the question of this world issue out of this creative flow of article how Thai language and culture resists relationship betweenthe two traditions, the energies. On the Christian side, Swidler all efforts to translate into itor even correlate two paths, must go beyond Kabbalistic Ju­ points to Western philosophy, God is not a the Hebrew word kadosh, holy, and con­ daism and monks' Buddhism. Itshould also substance, an independent personality, but a cepts related to it ("Teaching Judaism in dynamic process in relationship with all that Thailand," Approaches to Modern Judaism, exists. Modem Western philosophers and Vol. 2, 1984). There is the further question physicists are increasingly attracted to rela­ of what kind of Buddhism we are compar­ tional theories of reali ty. ing. Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan? (I am S widleralso seeks variations within each able to discuss only Theravada Buddhism, tradition that point toward the other tradi­ which is centered in Southeast Asia.) Also, tion, and he asks whether elements dividing do we comparethe Buddhism of the monks the two traditions are of an essential or or of the laity? Lay Buddhists, who are the accidental nature. The general strategyis to vast majority of Theravada Buddhists, do readjusl lhe relationship from conflict into a not seek Nirvana or practice the Eightfold conversation betweentwo sides, a con versa­ Path including meditation; their Buddhism tion seen now as emphasizing different as­ is aimed at producing good karma for pros­ peets of an issue, in the same realm of perity in this life and a better rebirth. It possibilities. focuses on a great web or cycle of acts of One can raise serious objections to this generosity-giving to monks, parents, el- approach, from various considerations, but I 2 Menorah Review, Fall 1995 think that we Jews can learn from thinkers as opportunities for acquiring merit. Mo­ (3) One more aspect of Halakhah as Path like Swidler (and a few articles by Rabbi tives, merit and karma are considered in both deserves attention. The highest motive for David Hartman in Conflicting Visions have traditions to be lower levels of motivation observing the mitzvot in rabbinic discus­ echoed them) the courage and humility of than that of purification. sions is the motive of doing so "for its own going out to meet strangers at our door. If (But is Halakhah a path in a Buddhist sake,"li-shmah, without ulterior motive, out these strangers are like the sayatows of sense? After all, hasn't it been understood of a pure response to God; and many praises Burma, we can only be enriched. primarily as a path ordained by God, re­ are found in rabbinic writings for what the But why should we, especially with all sponding to God's words, rather than a hu­ rabbis call "the joy of the precept," which the other problems and issues at hand? I man search for wisdom? But, at this point,I means the joy and gratification that comes hope I have conveyed my own motivation am speaking ofa Buddhistvision ofJudaism; from doing a mitzvah for i ts own sake. These for such a dialogue. It is an intellectual much discussion must follow.) two ideas suggest to me a sense of absorp­ question: Can we envision a Judaism that (2) A Buddhist midrash on classical Judaism tion in the mitzvot themselves. We fo llow can speak about common issues with Bud­ might also emphasize the behaviorof H asidim this path not for its rewardand not as a heavy dhists? It is, more importantly, a religious and Talmidei Hakhamim. The Hasidim (in burden but for the sake of the path itselfand question: How do I, as a Jew, respond to the rabbinic thought) follow a path of piety that of God who ordained it, losing ourselves in powerful logic of Buddhist philosophy and moves beyond the strictrequirements of the the process of walking the path. In this the attraction of Buddhist spirituality? Can law. A famous passage in Avot definesH asid way,m Halakhah becomes a means of help­ I find teachings in my own tradition that as one who says, "What is mine is yours and ing us transcend our selfish motives, of rais­ address the claims of the Buddhist Path? what is yours is yours," in contrast to average ing our consciousness beyond the normal What would I learn about Judaism by taking people who say, "What is yours is yours and grasping self. And that is the goal of all a new look at it through the eyes of Buddhist what is mine is mine" (5: 13). This, and Buddhist disciplines? Walpola Rahula, in philosophy and discipline? various anecdotes aboutHasidim in the Tal­ What the Buddha Taught (72),uses the term I want to conclude by illustrating one mud, reverberate with the Buddhist goals of "mindfulness" (a primary goal of the Eight­ strategy for aJewish meeting with Theravada compassion and non-attachment. As to the fold Path) in association with such absorp­ Buddhism. In contrast to Swidler, what I Talmidei Hakhamim of rabbinic times, we tion of self in the present moment. Simi­ suggest seeks contact while putting on hold notice that,like Buddhistmonks, they formed larlY, lay Buddhists are taught that the high­ the question of "commensurability"­ a society, in the academies, set apart from the est form of generosity (called thanamai in whether Buddhist experiences and language general society, and they held themselves to Thai) is giving without expecting benefits can be translated meaningfully into Jewish higher standards of asceticism, community from doing so, even good karma. ones. I appeal rather to the metaphor of service, study and morality (in the sense of (4) A Buddhist midrash might also explore "midrash," which I take to be (in this con­ acting beyond the letter of the law). Two parallels between the Jewish concept of text) a means of discovering unnoticed af­ descriptions of the Talmid Hakham would Covenant and the Buddhist concept called finities and parallels through re-visioning particularlyecho in Buddhist ears. InDerekh "Co-DependentOrigination." TheCovenant and re-emphasis. What, then, would a "Bud­ Eretz Zutta, we read that "he is humble and implies that our independent selves are in­ dhist midrash" on Judaism "see"? How lowly of spirit, alert and world-wise, beloved complete and attain to the core of existence might we look anew at our own Judaism by thepeople and not domineering ...He says, only in relationship to entities outside our­ through a [Theravada] Buddhist mind? To all the things of this world I do not really care selves. Reality, then, becomes relational, what elements would we be drawn? for. He willingly covers himself with dust by not absolute; and God, too, is known and (1) Let's begin with the image of Path. sitting at the feet of the wise.. ..Let all your affects the world only through relationship, Monks' Buddhism has its Eightfold Path ways befor the sake ofHeaven." In the sixth mutuality, interdependence. Martin Buber's disciplining the mind through morality,wis­ chapter of Avot we find a list of some of the philosophy could be of some help here. dom and meditation; and lay Buddhism has same virtues, and these are woven together its cycles of celebration, its moral precepts under the metaphor of a ladder that the Talmid and its constant rounds of giving, which can Hakham climbs in his study of Torah: "To­ be seen as a training in generosity, of letting rah is acquired by 48 rungs," and these in­ go. Can we find in rabbinic literature a clude disciplining one's lips; awe and rever­ concept ofHalakhah as a path of discipline? ence; humility, joy and purity; serving the This question leads to the traditional topic of wise; lessening one's preoccupations with the reasons for the commandments, Taamei business, the ways of the world, pleasure, HaMitzvot, which is given a variety of an­ sleep, conversation and laughter; patience, a swers. However, according to Ephraim good heart; accepting anguish cheerfully; Urbach (The Sages), the most frequent an­ rejoicing in one's lot; avoiding self-righ­ swer to the question of the purpose of the teousness; loving people, and loving justice, laws appears to be, first, the refining of good deeds and rebuke. Louis Jacobs de­ human beings (represented by a statement votes a book,JewishSaintlinessThrough the Like other expressions of the mystical attributed to Rav in Gen. Rab. 44,1) and, Ages (1990), to the topic of hasidut in the spirit, Hasidism emphasizes the student­ second, granting Israel reward in the World history ofJewish thought, with headings like teacher relationship. The Hindu term to Come for performingmitzvot. Rav's ideal "the saintly path," "the saintly ideal of equa­ "Upanishads" literally means "to sit down of refining means the gradual purification of nimity" and "saintly raptures," as well as close to," as when students gather at the feet our desires as we learn to refrain from sin by examples of saintly rules from various Jew­ of the master; similarly, Hasidim are to be following the mitzvot. ish writings-all of which resonate with both found sitting at the rebbe 's table. Beginning So it seems possible within rabbinic monks' Buddhism and the teaching of self­ with the founderofHasidut, Baal Shem Tov, tradition to interpret Halakhah as purifica­ less generosity in lay Buddhism. Professor Avraham Yaakov Finkel's rich compendi urn tion, like the Buddhist monks' Eightfold or Harold Kasimow has asserted that, of all the puts the reader at the feet of more than four the training in generosity followed by Bud­ streams ofJewish tradition,the Musar move­ dozen eminent Hasidic teachers. Their in­ dhist laypeople. And the lay Buddhist mo­ ment, with its stresson "ethical perfection," struction consistently emphasizes deveikut tivation of producing good karma resembles has the greatest affinity with Buddhism (Jour­ (i.e., attachment to God, sincerity and pas­ the other rabbinic explanation of the mitzvot, nal ofEcumenical Studies,23.2 [1986]: 291). sionate prayer over scholarship). On prayer, Menorah Review, Fall 1995 3 the Baal Shem Tov advised: "If you see a existence of evil since it is premature to cisms and the theory of evolution have fur­ person, who is in turbulent prayer-gestur­ judge an unfinished universe. Similarly, ther undermined the argument, lending force ing wildly and moving his body, do not scoff Hinduism identifies Vishnu as the sustainer to the Hasidic tendency to emphasize the at him, for he just does not want to drown in of God, and Descrates argues that one must experimentialover the intellectual, piety over the sea of distractionswhich threaten prayer­ posit the existenceof God to account for the reason, faith and feeling over philosophy. ful concentration." When asked what he did perpetuation of the universe from one mo­ The Baal Shem Tov emphasized fer­ before praying, Sanzer Rav replied, "I pray ment to the next. Afterall, Descartes finds vent and joyful service toward the divine, that I may be able to pray properly." Rather nothing within himself to guarantee his con­ "Serve Godwith gladness" (psalm 100:2). that introduceradical concepts, Hasidut re­ tinued existence. Through Torah study, Serving God with zeal, rather than asceti­ vitalized traditional ideas. Yearningfor the scholars are continuously creating the non­ cism, was recommended on the grounds goodold days, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of physical world, a realm populated by in­ that, unless one eats, drinks and enjoys life, Rymanov lamented the appearanceof high­ sights, new questions and aspirations. While he will be unable to cling to God. To ways because, before they existed, travelers God created matter from nothingness, the celebrate the spiritual power of aesthetic spent their nights at an inn, reciting psalms tzaddik creates nothingness out of matter activities, joyful prayer, dance and song and discussing "Torah thoughts" but now (i.e., by his good deeds, he transforms the wereespoused over austerities such as fast­ people speed on the highways day and night, physical world into a domain of spirituality). ing. Rabbi Bunam turned to the paradigm of with no time for reflection. When asked, Child-like faithprevai lsoverphilosophi­ the child on the grounds that a child is always "Why has Mashiach not yet come?" Rabbi cal speculation. Following Socrates, Christ moving, ever happy, and constantly ready to Menachem Mendel of Kossov cried for re­ and the Buddha, the Hasidic rebbes devel­ cry for what it wants. Applied to the service form, "Because we aretoday ju st as we were oped an oral tradition, with only a minority of God, adults should be zealous about per­ yesterday." expressing themselves in writing. Their forming the mitzvot, constantly joyful and Agreeing withSocrates,Rabbi Yehudah argument for favoring fear of Godover any forever ready to tearfully implore God's Aryeh Leib Alter proclaimed that the high­ rational path to thedivine is that an intellec­ assistance. A God-infatuated rabbi once est knowledge one can achieve is to know tual approach would disadvantage most hu­ prOClaimed, "Dear God, I don't want your that he does not know anything. It was in this mans because they are not possessed of paradise, I don't want your World-to-Come, condition that " ...the children ofIsrael wan­ superior intellects. On similar grounds, Leo I just want You." Augustine would agree dered through the wilderness." Of course, Tolstoy argues that genuine art communi­ and add that God is the only object of desire any such denials of knowledge were hardly cates emotions, not ideas, because all hu­ such that when one truly wants Him, he or unqualified. Intellectual activity flourished mans have an emotional life, whatever their she immediately possesses Him. The all­ as numerous theological and philosophical intellectual limitations might be. Cultivat­ consuming nature of the spiritual enterprise problems engaged the Hasidic mind. For ing speculativereason sometimes proved to is evident in that, even when sleeping one is example, Rabbi Alter himself observed that be problematic; during the expulsion of Jews gaining strength to serve God. Ifto approach the command to love God is perplexing from Spain in 1492, under pressure from the God is to be happy, it is not surprising that because love is an emotion thatlies beyond Church, those who were philosophically in­ Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov declared: "A one's control. If feelings cannot bedictated, clined converted to Christianity,but simple, Jew must always be happy." then why is "Love the Lord your God" a pious Jews chose martyrdominstead of con­ Naturally, as monotheists, the Hasidic Torah precept? The Rabbi concluded that version. According to Rebbe Reb Bunam, masters had to come to terms with the prob­ the imperative was intelligible only if one "theexistence of God can be fathomed only lem of evil. Since God is everywhere, there assumes that humans have an innate love of by the heart." There is no empirical proof for is a concealed spark of goodness even in God, one that is dormant at the core of the the existence of God because faith should be evil; and, performing one's mitzvot releases soul. Thus, the task is to arouseand realize an act of one's free will and any such dem­ it. Everything contains a hidden divine core; what is incipient. According to Rabbi onstration would compromise one's free­ for instance, within lust, there is passion for A vraham Borenstein, " ...hidden deep in each dom of doubt. Torah study. Even jealousy toward a better person's heartand mind is the knowledge of Occasionally, however, Hasidic think­ scholar inspires one to enhance his or her God." Hasidism may be understoodas the ers have offered rational demonstrations for own scholarship. One can love a wicked way to release this suppressed knowledge. the existence of God. The argument from person by realizing that within each is a On the meaning of life, Rabbi Moshe design, for example, has been employed. spark ofGod, pityingthe spark that is trapped Chaim Efraim of Saddilkov stated that ev­ This is the proof that Immanuel Kant called withinthe evil person and loving this divine eryone can attain the holiness of God him­ the oldest, the clearest and the most deserv­ spark. On dietary laws Rabbi Yehudah self, since the soul is divine; indeed, the ing ofrespect. Even Voltaire, who is highly Aryeh Leib Alter states that although holi­ ultimate purpose of creation is to become critical of religion in Candide, once asked: ness is present in the species that Jews are God-like. Also, addressing the purpose of "Nobody can doubt that a painted landscape forbidden to eat, it cannot be released from creation, Rabbi Dov Ber moves from the or drawn animals areworks of skilled artists. its physical casing when eaten by a God­ premise " ...that the purpose of all things Could copies possibly spring from an intel­ fearing Jew. The Baal Shem Tov explained becomes evident in theend," to the conclu­ ligence and the originals not?" As in the case how there could be a holy spark in a sin: "It sion that God created the whole cosmos for of William Paley who compared the intrica­ is the holy spark of repentance. When a the sakeofIsrael. To the question, "Why did cies of the world to those of a watch and person repents of a sin, he raises the holy God create non-Jews? some responded that argued that the former required an intelli­ spark that was trapped in that sin ..." Rabi it was to show the greater virtue ofJews. For gent mind as much as the latter, Rabbi Tzadok Yaakov Yosef addressed the problem of evil another view of creation , Rabbi Bunam of of Lublin emphasized that the construction by interpreting "It is not goodfor man to be Pshis'cha held that "In the beginning God of theworld was like an exquisite timepiece alone" (Genesis 2: 18) to mean: "the yetzer created heaven and earth" should be trans­ fashioned by a skillful artist. Sometimes ra or evil impulse is necessary for human lated as "When God began to create heaven called the teleological argument, this proof development." Again,Rabbi YitzchakEizik and earth" since creation is an ongoing pro­ has great aesthetic appeal but is subject to Taub of Kalev believed that suffering puri­ cess without any break. Were the activity to the criticism that it proves, at best, an archi­ fies one's soul, thereby cultivating it. But, cease for even an instant, the universe would tect who fashions from preexistent materi­ this leads some to ask, "Why do animals revert to nothingness. That the world is "in als, not a God who creates from nothing. suffer?" In the teaChings of Rabi Yaakov progress" leaves some justification for the David Hume's catalog of additional criti- Yosef, bad things happen to good people and 4 Menorah Review, Fall 1995 good things to bad people because of their fact, humility has been carried too far if one of Mize, Skowron, Coleman, Rizzuto, deeds in a previous existence. Of course, the concludes that a human's deeds could not be Brown, Woodling, Mantle, Berra, Bauer, doctrine of reincarnation encourages one to of significance to an almighty God. Ford, Rashi and Lopat. Or, Sharman and put a premium on future existence. That it is It is difficult to overestimate the impor­ Cousy for the Celtics. Although I knew it held to be of paramount importance is evi­ tance offaithin Hasidic thought for, accord­ would not be easy to reach either of those dent, for example, in the thought of Rabbi ing to Rabbi Mordichai of Neshchiz, with goals, I did not read the all too clear signals. Yechezkel of Shiniava for whom this world faith one can revive the dead. But Rabbi Talent aside, it seemed Jewish boys did not is merely a bridge to the World-to-Come. Menachem Mendel adds that without hard play baseball. Our reputation, as Levine According to Be'er Mayim Chayim, Abel work faith is helpless. Rabbi Avraham puts it in this fascinating book,was as "people became a shepherd to restore souls who had Yehoshua Heshel of Apta states that al­ of the book, rather than people of the jump been reincarnated as sheep. But reincarna­ though Noah trusted fully in God, he was shot, right cross or home run" (p. 4). tion generally is not embraced by Jews and reluctant to believeunconditionally that the Still, my father encouraged me: "Look there are two further objections to the doc­ floodwould occur. Believing that "faith can at Hank Greenberg," he would say, and we trine. First, it would undermine compassion move mountains,"Noah feared that ifhe had would go to Yankee Stadium, the Polo for the deformed, handicapped and diseased complete faith in the coming of the flood, Grounds and even to Ebbets Field, home of since their behavior in previous lives is re­ then he would be responsible for making it the then hated Dodgers. I remember it viv­ sponsible for their present condition. Sec­ happen. Of course, one could chide Noah idly; I saw them all including Musial, the ond, using reincarnationto justify theexist­ for failing to distinguish between believing Duke, Pee Wee, Scooter and so on. My ence of evil leads to an infinite regression: thatan event will occur and causing it. While particularly favorite place to go was the Polo "Why was he bornblind?" "Because he was his faith disposed him toward the former, he Grounds because somehow you seemed a thief in a previous life." "But why was he should have realized that only God can ef­ closer to the game and the Giants were not as a thief in the previous life?" "Because he fect the latter. hated as the Dodgers. Even as I watched, was a chronic liar in the life before that." Because Hasidim hallow the ordinary, and especially as I grew older and listened to Obviously, the questions can continue with­ they hold a poetic conception of miracles Mel Allen and Red Barber broadcast the out end; therefore, reincarnationcan give no that does not restrictthem to violations of the games on the radio while dreaming the ultimate explanation for an individual's laws of nature. Instead, miracles are found dreams of American boys, I instinctively present state. to be all pervasive, nature itself being a knew I "would not make it." Of course, joy is compatible with pov­ miracle. As Walt Whitman expressed it: Instead, like so many before me, I could eny. When he was asked how such an "To me every hour of the dark and light is a not hit a curve, and I am now writing reviews impoverished man could nonetheless thank miracle, Every cubic inch of space is a of booksthat evoke marvelous memories of Godfor his blessings, theZlotchover Maggid miracle, Every square yard of surface of the long ago summers. That, after all, is what replied, "Evidently poverty is what I need earth is spread with the same ..." If the one­ this book is about-memory, identity and and I am well provided with that." In a like day supply of oil burnedfor seven days, why the "melting pot." spirit Francis of Assisi welcomed "Lady celebrate for eight? Because the eighth Sports in the United States, it seems, Poverty" as a spiritual blessing. As wealth miracle is that God sustains the world; were have been an integral part of the quest for the enlarges and distorts the individual's sense his suppon withdrawn for an instant, the American dream and assimilation. To dis­ of importance, poverty contributes to a world would return to darkness. pel the stereotypic and often racist as well as humble assessment of one's self. Indeed, ethnocentric images of the most recent im· humility becomes a cardinal Hasidic virtue Earle 1. Coleman is professor ofphilosophy migrant group, that group tries to become because, if people have lofty opinions of at Virginia Commonwealth University and a morc American than the last. Sports, as themselves, they are not apt to view others as contributing editor. Levine notes, were a "metaphor of Ameri­ their equals. But if they attaincomplete self­ can democratic ideals and a pathway to nullification, they will be able to rank others assimilation" (p. 3). Participationin Ameri­ as true equals. Moreover, if one is extremely can sports became one measure of success humble, he or she can learnfrom everyone. and "Americanization" at the same time that Before God, the humble person considers is dispelled some of the myths about Jews' himself as nothingness, for he has engaged lack of physical strength and courage. It in self-annulment (Le., renouncing any and became, in some communities, a point of all of his capacities in the face of the majesty pride. Jewish athletes were considered mod­ of the Holy One). If, in the vernacular, els of the "new American Jew." someone is "full of himself," he leaves no Before the great immigration (that is room for Godliness to dwell within him. before 1881), 250,000 Jewish-Americans, Thus, Rabbi Yisrael Yitzchak of Alexander mostly of German descent, lived in the United insists, " ...only the humble can trulyunder­ States and were scattered around the coun­ stand the Torah." But how could a suppos­ try. Between that time and 1920,millions of edly humble man like Hillel the Elder say, Jews came to the United States with about "If I am here, everyone is here?" His utter­ one-half living in New York City. They ance has been taken to mean that if God began, as they experienced the American nourished the spiritual attainment of such a "melting pot," to participate in American low being as Hillel, then everyone else is sports. In settlement houses, school yards, capable of the same accomplishment. Natu­ colleges, in leagues that were not tightly rally, misguided humility can cause prob­ When I was ten years old my goal in life organized, they started playing what is stilla lems. IntheZohar,Noah's professed humil­ was to play shortstop for the New York "city game"-basketball. It is a little re­ ity-he failed to pray for his people because Yankees. Moreremote, butsometimescreep­ called fact that between I 900 and 1950Jew­ he did not think his worth was sufficient to ing into my fantasy world, was the alterna­ ish involvement in basketball was greater guard them from approaching disaster-is tive of playing guard for, even though living than in any other sport. Basketball formed a judged to be a flaw because humility should in and near New York, the Boston Celtics. part of the community life in many cities not prevent one from doing a good act. In When I surveyed the lineup I saw the names and, as Levine notes, by 1930 a sports writer Menorah Review, Fall 1995 5

for the New York Daily News identified World Series four times. In 1935, he was the tions. There is something to be said for basketball as the "Jewish" game and tried to league's most valuable player; in 1938, he appreciating, even savoring, the past as a explain the connection between Jews and hit 58 home runs in one season and, in 1956, means of reminding ourselves that we are all basketball in the following fashion: he was elected to the Baseball Hallof Fame. partof a larger history" (p. 274). Curiously ...above all others the game Greenberg also became a hero during World So, what of sports today? Does it offer appeaI[s] to the temperament of the War II as well as an adviser and confidantof false promises or does it provide the only Jews ...Jews flock to basketballby the Jackie Robinson when he entered baseball. avenue to the Americ:m dream in a society thousands [because it placed] a pre­ Greenberg's experiences with anti-Semitism replete with racism, violence and an uncar­ mium on an alert, scheming prepared him for the encouragement and ing, distant government and culture? If mind ...flashy trickiness, artful dodg­ support he needed to give Robinson in his society does not open other avenues of ing and general smart aleckness," very difficult struggle against racism. achievement, the dream cannot be fulfilled traits, he went on to explain, that are natu­ Greenberg was not the only greatJew­ by all who visualize it. Levine recognizes rally appealing to "the Hebrew with his ish baseball player-Sandy Koufax also that, while sports offered limitedopportuni­ oriental background." This unflatteringpor­ comes to mind. He was a primary and ties for both African-Americans and Jews, traitaside, Jews played and dominated bas­ important source of identification. "for Jews, however, accomplishment in ketball. Basketball leagues and teams gen­ J ewish-Americans also were prominent sports paralleled and ultimately was replaced erated great community enthusiasms and in two other sports: in particular, boxing and by increased economic and social mobil­ rivalry. Celebrated coaches and players track and field. Jewish boxers, such as ity-hardly the case for the majority of black emerged; the names are legendary: Nat Barney Ross, Benny Leonard, Max Baer, Americans since World War II despite the Holman; Jammy Moskowitz; Sammy Abe Atell and Jackie Fields, were important very real gains made by the civil rights Kaplan; Red Sarachek; Red Auerbach; Moe as was the track experience of Marty movement. Racism, the dynamics of capi­ Goldman, the first Jewish All-American at Glickman. These stories are told in this talism and historical context explain why" CCNY; Red Holzman and Dolph Schayes. interesting book, but they cannot berecounted (p. 283). He goes on to elaborate: While basketball provided this avenue to in the space provided for this review. They "Certainly second-generation Ameri­ assimilation, the firstgeneration immigrants are worth reading. For Jewish participation can Jews, both as children and as adults, did not always agree with their children's in American sports "had an important im­ faced anti-Semitism, street violence interest in sports. As Levine recounts, andas pact on the shaping of an American Jewish and discrimination in their struggle to I can remember, when my grandmother got consciousness that combines American pride succeed. Without minimizing what angry she would often sputter and speak in with a fierce,even physical, commitment to they confronted first-hand or the pain Hungarian and would say what to her was the survival of all Jewish people" (p. 234). and horror they felt over the loss of the ultimate reprimand when she referred to But what happened to that participation? family and friends in the Holocaust, me as "you, you, you basketball player, As Jews left the city for the suburb, as nevertheless their collective personal you"-implying, quite correctly at the time, they were more and more assimilated, they experiences did not approach the vio­ that sports wa' the main activity in which I built their own visions of the American lence, death and discrimination faced was interested. However, with the passage dream and sports were not a central pan of by American blacks during the same of time, thegenerations became reconciled that dream. Sure, Mark Spitz won six Olym­ period of time. Moreover, racism in a and as Levine concludes: pic swimming medals in 1972 but he was variety of forms clearly inhibited op­ " ...stories of second-generation chil­ never identified as a Jewish hero. Of course, portunity for blacks more so than anti­ dren and their immigrant parents are Steve Stone has a 52-7 record for the Balti­ Semitism did for American Jews, de­ richly repetitious about the place of more Orioles in 1980 and won theCy Young nying them access to education and sports in their upbringing. Memories award as the league's best pitcher but who vocational training that might have of childhoods in Jewish settings; of knew he was a Jew? Jews have become facilitated their full integration into parents both disapproving and occa­ Americans and their heroes have changed. American society" (p. 283). sionally supportive but generally too As Levine notes, as great a pitcher as Sandy Yet, while all too true,sports are a small part busy to demand obedience to their Koufax might have been, "he clearly was no of the story and the experienceof participa­ views; of the ability of sports as a match for Moishe Dayan and his legions of tion in sportsis part of the formative social­ bridge betweengenerations; and, most commandos when it came time to search for ization experiences of large numbers of important, of a sense of empowerment, heroes and deeds symbolic of the contempo­ American youth. For that reason alone, it is independence and drive to determine rary Jewish experiences" (p. 247). important what form that experience takes. their own destiny that involvement in And, so the world has changed. The Does it occur in highly organized settings basketball imparted ..." (p. 46). long-gone ethnic communities of America's run by adultswho treatchildren like Marine What was true for basketball also held for cities were, as Levine notes, "way-stations. drill instructorsand who other sports but Jewish participants never places where American agencies, be they "encourage a win-at-all costs mental­ dominated as they didin basketball. Base­ the American capitalist workplace or the ity replete with racism, sexism and a ball was a more difficultgame to crack open. admonitions of settlement-house workers, disregard for others that may be used to Statistics indicate that between 1871 and encouraged them to pick up the skills and legitimate the continual repression of 1980, 115 Jewish individuals played major values necessary to move upward and on­ opportunity and hope for those less league baseball. This represented I percent ward as Americans" (p. 271). Sports was an fortunately situated because of class of theplayers who made it tothe big leagues. areawhere second-generation Jews learned and race? Or do they serve as positive However, baseball did provide the avenue aboutAmerican values, an area that encour­ role models in helping to reshape for one of thegreatest Jewish sports heroes aged assimilation and allowed them to feel American priorities and values? Too of all time, Hank Greenberg, the great De­ some sense of controlover their lives. It was often in recent years, the evidence sug­ troit slugger. a transition and it provokes important memo­ gests domination by the former" (p. Greenberg's story is inspiring. Born in ries. As Levine states: "The pace and push 285). New York's Lower East Side and raised in of contemporary American life encourages Or, finally, is it all for naught? In the long the Bronx, he became one of the truly great actions and thoughts tied only to the mo­ run do sports not reflect the culture, the players. His lifetime batting average was ment, with too little regard for the conse­ dominant attitudes of a society? And, if they .313 and he led the Detroit Tigers in the quences of such behaviorfor future genera- do and if American society has become 6 Menorah Review, Fall 1995 over-organized, overly bureaucratic, racist with. It is, of course, true that Mussar was standing of Mussar for Salanter and the way and uncaring, can sports be any different? influenced heavily by developments inter­ this concept was shapedin its variousphrases This bookdescribes a different time and nal to traditional Judaism. As Etkes makes from Vilna, to Kovna to Germany, are not place, a different America. It was a place clear in this study, however, the movement substantively different as presented here from where a young Jewish boy in New York was shaped as much, or even more, by the what others have said. In this regard the could go to the park by himself to play social and historical situation of Eastern study before us has little new to offer. Where basketball, play stickballon the street, skate Jewry. Salanter and his teachers (and dis­ Etkes does break new ground is in asking around the block or, in the ruralAmerica of ciples) struggledwith the question of how to how these changes can be correlated with the that time, ride his bike to the park for a pick­ maintain and even strengthen traditional larger social and religious context of Eastern up game of football-not always touch and Judaism in light of the challenges presented European Jewry. From his pen we get a without pads. It wasn't always organized by Haskalah, Hasidism and Russian secular­ sense of the internal dynamics of Russian and itwasn'talwaysrun by adults, and while ism on the one hand and a traditionalist as Jewry under the 19th-century czars as Jews there was an occasional fistfight, no one got well as a conservative rabbinate on the other. bound to the tradition struggled first with shot Even if all the sports dreams did not However, to leave matters here would Hasidism and then with the Haskalab. As come true, others did. The dreaming of be tounderstate Mussar's interest. The point Etkes carefully isolates, dissects and inter­ them, the idea that in America even a Jew was not simply to put a modem spin on prets the data, we begin to see Mussar as a could aspire to play shortstop for the quint­ traditional Judaism; that is, to articulate tra­ movement teased out at a time of conflict essential Anglo team, the Yankees, inspired ditional Judaism in modemlanguage. Rather, and change to counter these other move­ other dreams and aspirations. If you could Etkes shows us, as we shall see shortly, that ments, only itselfto fall under suspicion. In do that, you could do anything-become a behind the Mussar movement was a convic­ this process, Mussar takeson the character lawyer, an engineer, a doctor, even a college tion that traditional Judaism, meaning the notof astatic theory but more of a movement professor. The dream, the sense of possibil­ way oflife for traditionalJews, itself needed that is a product of its changing time and ity, of a "good" future, of a future at all, is to be revitalized and re-articulated. Salanter place. It is unfortunate, I think, that Etkes what propels young people forward to and his movement proposed to do nothing feels he must constantly remind us that his achievement. When that dies, when itdisap­ less than redirect traditional Judaism away intent is not to diminish the originality of pears and is replaced by hopelessness and from its focus on, and even obsession with, Salanter's thought. Salanter's own contri­ frustration and alienation, that is when am­ theory as well as "theology" and toward bution comes out strongly in the work, buthe bition will travel other paths to its fulfill­ concernfor individual human psychological also is more firmly than before placed in a ment. If there are no legitimate roads to development and character-building. concrete historical setting. travel,then you grab success in theentrepre­ The Mussar movement, then, attempted Etkes' study moves through three broad neurial spirit of your society by selling and to restatetraditional Judaism in modem terms phases. In the first part of the study, Etkes taking whatever you can, for, after all, that is and in light of its modem situation. It is wants to establish the extent to which what is encouraged in a win at any costs, precisely this interest that makes the Mussar Salanter's teaching is linked to previous highly individualistic, uncaring society. movement so compelling to us. It is re­ authorities. In some sense, it feels like there Ultimately, whether one talks about sports sponding, albeit in a foreign and datedidiom, is an apology here, an apology aimed at or politics, one cannot escape these ques­ to questions and issues that very much ani­ convincing us that despite the apparentnew­ tions concerning what kind of society in mate our own contemporary discourse. Its ness of Salanter's thought, it has deep and which we wish to live. issues are still in many ways our issues. honorable roots in early modern orthodoxy. For me, there are three ways of ap­ Etkes begins by tracing Salanter's intellec­ Herbert Hirsch is professor of political sci­ proaching the Mussar movement. One is to tual genealogy back to Rabbi Elijah of Vi Ina ence at Virginia ComrrwnwealthUniversity concentrate on the internal content and dy­ (the Vilna Gaon). The Vilna Gaon taught and editorial adviser of Menorah Review. namic of the movement: What was it saying not only the importance ofTorab study but and how did it change or develop over time? also the importance of personal purity and This is the kind of study Hillel Goldberg even asceticism. "Yir' ab," the fear of heaven, accomplished, for example. A second ap­ had to be combined with Torah study to proach is to look at the larger social and restrain the Evil Impulse. This teaching was intellectual contextof the time and place the carried forward by one of the Vilna Gaon's movement into its broader historical and greatest disciples, Rabbi Hayyim of literary context. The book before us does Volozhin. Hayyim ofVolozhin agreed with this and, in doing so, opens a new stage in Elijah that the Hasidic movement, with its Mussar study. The third approach is to see deemphasis on Torah study, was misguided. the movement as partof the whole modern­ But unlike his teacher, he thought that ization process; that is, as a movement that Hasidism did indeed have something impor­ shares concerns, initiatives and even vo­ tant to say. In his own teaching, such as in cabulary (despite disclaimers to the con­ the Yeshiva at Volozhin, he continued to trary) with Hasidism, Reform, Haskalab, stress the importance of Torah study, contra Zionism and others. This approach, which the Hasidim, but in contrast to his teacher he has yet to be written, would see Mussar as included in his program a more practical part of a multifaceted rediscursivization of orientation. In his way he hoped to train As a brief look at Etkes' bibliography Judaism from a medieval to a modern reli­ students who were less caught up in theory will indicate, theMussarmovementofRabbi gion. Although this level of generalization and more aware of the practical effects of Israel Salanter has remained of enduring is beyond the task Etkes sets for himself, his their learning and eventual teaching. His interest. In light of the sectarian nature of its study, which asks new and interesting ques­ goal was to develop a set of character traits doctrine and the technical difficulty of its tions of Mussar, hopefully will encourage in his students that went beyond the purely texts, this continuing influence comes as more research into that area. intellectual realm. something of a surprise. What makes this In many ways, this study ofSalanter and One ofthe star products of the Volozhin movementcompelling today,some ISO years the beginnings of the Mussar movement Yeshiva was the next link in the chain, Rabbi after its founding, is the question it grapples cover familiar ground. The basic under- Zundel Salant. Zundel absorbed his teacher's Menorah Review, Fall 1995 7 values but placed even greater stress on the Etkes helps us see how Salanter's experi­ part of the 19th century. This is so because importance of acknowledging the depravity ence in the Nevyozer Kloiz, for example, in his attempt to wrestle with the problemof of the human soul and the consequent impor­ was important in shaping the future develop­ how to conceptualize and teach traditional tance of cultivating yir'ah. Rabbi Zundel, ment of the movement. Or, to take another Judaism in a period of such widespread with his increased concern for the psycho­ example, Etkes examines how in Berlin, change, Salanter forced others to articulate logical education of his students, was one of Salanter changed certain aspects of his lec­ what it meant in the modem period to be a the most influentialteachers of Israel Lipkin tures so as to address himself more directly God-fearing Jew. That struggle toarticulate Salanter. Thus Salanter was the heir of an to the needs and backgrounds of students the importanceof religion has much to teach impressive intellectual tradition, the pedi­ with fairly extensive secular educations but us even today in our post-modem situation. gree of which one can trace back to the most little familiarity with Talmud and traditional honored spokesmen of traditionJudaism. Judaism. In this constant reference back to Peter 1. Haas is professor of religious stud­ Beyond any doubt, one of the great the realities of Salanter's life, this study is ies at Vanderbilt Universityand a contribut­ strengths of Etkes' book is his analysis of different from any of its predecessors. ing editor. this intellectual tradition from the late 18th The third phase of this book is tolook at to the early 19th century. Here we see the the effect Salanter and the Mussar move­ interplay of such central concepts as Talmud ment had on the Jews of Russia in the years Torah, yir'ah, devekut and halachah as when Salanter himself was physically mov­ Mitnaggedic thought took shape. But Etkes ing West. Once again, the strength of the provides us with even more. He shows how book lies in its description of the changes the development of Mitnaggedic thought in occurring in Judaism. In this case, Etkes this regard can be related to the rise and focuses our attention on developments in establishmentofHasidism. We see in Elijah Russia. The oppression of Nicholas I gave a staunch emphasis on Torah study in clear way in the late 1850s to the more progressive contrast to the teachings of the newly emerg­ policies of Alexander II. Under Alexander, ing Hasidic masters. In the next generation, a small class of assimilated Jewish artisans thatofHayyim ofVolozhin, weseea warmer and in tellectuals developed, and the Maskilim attitude toward Hasidism, which was now were given new optimism that their brand of widely established, an attitude that held that modem Judaism might definethe Judaism Hasidism did indeed have importantthings of the future. As tensions increased between During the past few years,a new disci­ to say to Jews, although it had distorted the government and the Maskilim, on the pline has emerged, in many ways led and them. Later on, in Zundel's teachings, we one hand, and traditionalist Jews on the inspired by Dan Elazar. Focused on devel­ see the growing despair of Orthodox think­ other, the Mussar movement found its own oping theoretical materials on the idea of ers as non-Orthodox movements rapidly niche, as it had earlierin Vilna, Kovna and Jewish politics, this enterprise has begun to gained adherents: reform in the West, Gennany. It offered a way of countering attract a wider array of creative thinking. Hasidism among the rural masses and espe­ Enlightenment thought within the frame­ Ezra Mendelsohn, a member of the cially Haskalah among the emerging politi­ work of traditional Rabbinic Judaism. By Hebrew University faculty, now has con­ cal elite. By the time we come to Israel directing our attention to socialrealities and tributed to this discourse. Dividing Jewish Salanter, in fact, Hasidism had been re­ policies, Etkes makes clear the social and political thought and behavior into a series placed as the main enemy by Haskalah. The intellectual location of Mussar on the Rus­ of different groupings, Mendelsohn seeks to concern now is not so much to counter sian scene in the 1870s and 80s. analyze the competitionamong these schools. Hasidic emotionalism; it is to counter the At the conclusion of the book, Etkes Using the American and Polish-Jewish ex­ secularism of Haskalah by stressing the im­ allows himself to ruminate a bit about the periences as the basis for his research during portance of Torah, Avodah and religious life and accomplishments of Israel Salanter. the period 1918-1933, he has attempted to devotion. For this reason, Etkes argues, During his life, Salanter felt he had largely define the primary political forces that did Salanter directed the early Mussar move­ failed in his efforts to fortify traditional impact Jewish life in this period, namely, ment at the sector of the population that was Judaism against the attacks of Hasidism, nationalism and the politics of the left. seen to be the most susceptible to Haskalah Haskalah and secularization. Despite his Of particular value to scholars in this teachings, the common householders (ba'alei own personal acclaim and recognition, the field are the series of seven questions batim). In this part of the study, then, Etkes number of Mussar yeshivot remained mod­ Mendelsohn raises with us, against which sketches, in a compelling and insightful way, est. Even some of Salanter's own children we can examine the behavior of diaspora the intellectual framework within which and grandchildren seemed to have drifted Jewry during this fractious inter-war period. Mussar took shape. away from traditional Judaism. The prob­ I would reference several of the questions The second stage of the study traces the lem, Etkes opines, is that the Mussar regi­ that I found particularly useful. For ex­ development of the Mussar approach in men put too many demands on people. Yet, ample, he raises the issue of what he defines Salanter's mind. As far as Mussar itself is as we know, the Mussar movement did not as "usable Jewish pasts," as a means by concerned,Etkes has little to say here that is fade away after Salanter's death. His psy­ which we ought to study how contemporary new. He accepts, and repeats in large part, chological approach did seem to address the Jewish organizations might use previous the general development of Salanter's interests of younger scholars, giving them a historic models. thought and ofthe Mussar movement as we way of expressing their religious radicalism. A second inquiry that also seems most know it from elsewhere. What is different is It was this younger generation that carried relevant here focused on: "Which political Etkes' interest in again tying changes in the Mussar into the 20th century. forces in the non-Jewish world would these movement notjustto the internal logic of the Etkes ends the study with what, in many Jewish organizations identify and seek out idea but to the social circumstances within ways, has been a recurring subtheme in the asallies?" Anotherkeyquestion Mendelsohn which Salanter findshimself. That is, Etkes text. Citing Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, one of posted involved, "What sort of political con­ triesto see how changes in Salanter' s thought Salanter's pupils, Etkes notes that Salanter tact would these various organizations fa­ and in the Mussar movement are related to was not only important for the Mussar move­ vor?" Both of these issues would allow the the type of students Salanter finds and the ment, modest though it was, but also for reader to assess the forms of political behav­ kinds of opposition his teaching provokes. traditional "Orthodox" thinkers in the latter ior and conduct that different social entities 8 Menorah Review, Fall 1995 adopted to advance their interests. the Jewish world. Correspondingly, the book's author Mendelsohn places special emphasis Arguing that the greatest single achieve­ concludes that the successful conquest of on the question of Jewish participation in ment of modern Jewish politics was the 20th century Jewish nationalism serves as leftist political movements. If this book has establishment of the State Israel, Mendelsohn the affirmationand confirmation of Zionism a particularly skewed dimension to it, it is documents the special emphasis on the "cru­ as the core value of political integration. based on his hostility and discomfort with cial alliances between Zionists and integra­ Mendelsohn's view of Zionist triumphalism the politics of the Jewish left. In contrast, tionists in the West." The special impor­ is probably in order, but his limited prejudi­ Mendelsohn endorses the triumph of the tance placed on democracy in the American cial outlook on leftistJewish elements skews Jewish centrist as well as the rightist per­ Jewish community contributed greatly to the overall relevancy of his findings and this spectives and the emergence of Zionism as the ability of this community to effectively book's usefulness. the ultimate proofof the failure of the Jewish aid and assist in Zionist causes. Of special left. As a result, he gives little recognition to interest, he notes some of the briefexperi­ Sleven F. Windmueller is director of the ideas or contributionsof those forces within ments developedin EasternEurope by Jew­ Hebrew Union College's Irwin Daniel socialism, Zionism or even certain compo­ ish communities drawing on the principles School of Communal Service in Los Angeles nents of Yiddish thought, whose ideas were of democratic politics, which he believes and a contributing editor. framed and influenced by the politics of had direct payoffs for Jews who were later to internationalism and labor. settle in Israel and where the values associ­ Among Mendelsohn's findings is the ated with politicalpluralism were reaffirmed. LITIGATION Mendelsohn, in his conclusion, sug­ notion of "integrationism," namely the idea First 01 all, as you might have suspected that, during the inter-war period, the Ameri­ gests the "collapse of the Jewish left" has we only took the story 01 Moses afldthe can Jewish community established its iden­ now been completed. He devotes little at­ Bum/fig Bush because 01 the initial wording 01 tity and polity. He distinguishes the success tention to defending this conclusion, how­ the contract concerning lhe manilestalion of the American model of integration with ever. He goes on to note that the "basic what he defines as the value of Russian and division between Jews who see themselves 01 miracles in which the Jews threatened to sue chiefly as a religious or ethnic group and Polish experiences,resting in parton the fact the Lord if He would have deemed it necessary that the American Jewish community found Jews who regard themselves as members of the Jewish political nation still very much support and assistance through its alliance to part the sea and leave His people with liberal institutions, while the Polish and exists." He points out, I think correctly, that stranded in a desert lor more Ihan 40 years Russian cases reflected alliances in the one the evolving dichotomy between the "na­ case with right-wing regimes and the other tional community" in "Palestine" and the and with nothing to eat but manna with Communist institutions. Both, he con­ religious, ethnic subculture in America de­ -Carol Adler cludes, were problematic relationships for fines these two centers of Jewish life.

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Editor: Jack D. Spiro Editorial Consultant: Herbert Hirsch Production Manager: Kay W. Brill Contributing Editors: Earle J. Coleman Fnmk E. Eakin Jr. Cliff Edwards David Ellenson Peter 1. Haas Herbert Hirsch James E. Lindsey Rafael Medoff Robert Michael Rochelle L Millen Louis E. Newman Matthew B. Schwartz Richard E. Sherwin Melvin 1. Urofsky Sarah B. Watstein Leon J. Weinberger Linda W. Williams Steven F. Windmueller Editor'sNo te: IncllJsion of a book in "Briefings " does not precllJde its being reviewed in a flJtlJre iss lJe ofMenor ah Review.

Surviving Salvation: The EthiopianJewish Family in Transition. The Joys oj Hebrew. By Lewis GlineT/. New York: Oxford By Ruth Westheimer and Steven Kaplan. New York: New York University Press. This book is a celebration of Hebrew in the University Press. In the last 12 years, 40,000 Ethiopian Jews have Diaspora today. It is the first practical guide to the hundreds of emigrated to Israel. This book is a chronicle of their experiences Hebrew words and expressions actively used among English-speak­ once they reached their destination. They are becoming rapidly ing Jews, all illustrated with examples from 3,000years of sources, assimilated; they have seen their family relationships radically ranging from Psalms to Israeli pop songs. The reader learns that transformed. Gender roles are being continually redefined, often Hebrew is a mirror of the Jewish story-misty origins; ancient resulting in marital crisis; parents watch with a growing sense of splendor; and a sudden eclipse followed by centuries of alien alienation as their children become "Westernized;" women, tradi­ domination, culminating in a dramatic paradox of ruin and rebirth. tionally confined to the domestic realm, are now moving into the This is not a dictionary. Through language, Glinert's book is a rich labor force-these are but a few of the whirlwind of wholesale tapestry of Jewish life and culture, sounding every note from the changes confronting the Ethiopian Jews. This book is a tale of their lighthearted to the sublime. struggle and the emotional saga of their experiences in Israel. Personal Witness: Israel Through My Eyes. By Abba Eban. New Biblical Names: A Literary Study ojMidr ashic Derivations and York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. This book is an eloquent, passionate Puns. By Moshe Garsiel. Ramat Gan. Israel: Bar-llan University observation of more than five decades in the story of Israel. Eban, Press. In this fascinating study, hundreds of puns on names in the no longer under the restraints that go with being a member of the Bible are examined. The Biblical authors made play with names of government, offers insightful, often startling, opinions of Zionism, people and places, working them into a significant aspect of Biblical the Third World, the relationship between Arabs and Israel, the state poetics. Post-Biblical literature continues this process. New solu­ of Jerusalem, the role of American Jews, the Palestinian Intifada, tions are offered by the author to many problems relating to Biblical and a host of other topic subjects. In addition, his work contains names, and there are numerous specific discussions of the ways in frank descriptions and assessments of the many world figures that which the implications and associations of given names are ex­ Eban has met and with whom he has worked. The book contains ploited to form part of the meaning of different literary units. Much excerpts from some of Eban' s more importantspeeches, including is in this volume to interest all scholars and students of the Bible. his memorable oration to the Security Council during the Six Day War, cited as "one of the greatest speeches of modem times." The Luckiest Orphans: A History oJ the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Throughout the book,Eban's eye is clear, his perspective humane, oj New York. By Hyman Bogen. Champaign: The University oj his voice rich and dramatic, and his vision sweeping. Illinois Press. Founded in 1860, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York was the oldest, largest and best-known Jewish orphanage Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins oj the Armenian in the United States until its closing in 1941. This book, the first Genocide and the Holocaust. By Robert F. Melson. Chicago: The history of an orphanage ever published, tells the story of the HOA's University of Chicago Press. Armenians and Jews survived as development from a 19th-century institution into a model 20th­ ethnic and religious minorities until they suffered mass destruction century child care facility. Bogen brings a unique perspective to when the two old regimes were engulfed by revolution and war. Was child-saving efforts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His there a connection between revolution and genocide in these two compelling tale portrays daily life for those who lived and worked instances, and between the two in general? Melson elaborates a in such institutions. He illustrates how an enlightened orphanage distinctive conceptual framework that links genocide to revolution can help children gain self-esteem and become secure adults rather and war. He discusses the destruction of Kulaks in the Soviet Union than crush the spirit of its young residents. This book will interest and the "autogenocide" in Cambodia as comparable situations anyone concerned with the growing crisis in child care options. where total domestic genocide followed on the heels of the Russian and Cambodian revolutions. Moreover, he warns that sweeping The Paradoxical Ascent to God: The Kabbalistic Theosophy oj changes such as those in the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Habad Hasidism. By Rachel Elior. Albany: State University oj Europe can be precursors to massive violence, including genocide. New York Press. Becauseofits spiritual vitality, creative continuity, social variety and scope, the Hasidic movement is a prominent The JewishPeople oj America (Five Volumes). HenryL. Feingold, spiritual phenomenon and a worthy successor to the mystical tradi­ General Editor. Baltimore: The fohns Hopkins UniversityPress. tion of Kabbalah. Established in the 18th century, the Habad This magnificent and rich series of five volumes provides Jewish movement set forth a doctrine that �xpounded mystical ideas sup­ readers with the opportunity to enrich their self-understanding. It porting the quest for God. This bookis a study of this Hasidic Habad also reminds the general reading public that the American Jewish doctrine-a doctrine that concentrated on perceiving divinity: its experience is evidence that the promise of America can still be essence; its nature; the stages of its manifestation; its characteristics, realized. Drawing on the talents of five historians-Eli Faber, Hasia perfection, differing wills and processes; and the significance of its R. Diner, Gerald Sorin, Henry Feingold and Edward Shapiro-this revelation. This conception generated a profound transformation in series offers a historical synthesis at once comprehensible to the religious worship and a great controversy in the Jewish world. continued, next page 2 Menorah Review Supplement, Fall 1995

intelligent lay reader and useful to the professional historian. Each in the Jewish tradition. Addressing themselves to the relationship of volume integrates common themes: the origins of Jewish immi­ the individual Jew, to the Jewish community and to the world at grants, their experience of settling in America, their economic and large, some selections are systematic in scope while other are more social life, their religious and educational efforts, their political historically focused. The authors explore issues ranging from the involvement, and the change the American Jewish community earliest expressions of the individual human fulfillment in the Bible experienced over time. and medieval Jewish discussions of the human good to modern discussions of the necessity for the Jew to maintain both a Jewish With Friends Like You: What Israelis Really Think About sensibility as well as an active engagement in the modernpluralistic AmericanJews. By Matti Golan. New York: The Free Press. Golan state. gives vent to grievances beneath the surface of cordial relations between Israelis and American Jews. Written in the form of a The Jews of Germany: A HistoricalPortrait. By Ruth Gay. New dialogue between an Israeli and and American Jew, the book is an Haven, CT: Yale UniversityPress. This unique book provides a imaginative extension of a talk the author had with Elie Wiesel, panoramic overview of the 1,500-year history of the Jews in Ger­ whom Golan views as a symbol of everything that is wrong in many. Through tests, pictures and contemporary accounts, it American Jewry's attitude toward Israel. Golan asserts that Ameri­ follows the German Jews from their first settlements on the Rhine in can Jews have no right to advise or to criticize Israel because they do the 4th century to the destructionofthe community in World War II. not bear the cost of the results of their advice. Boldly opening the Using both voices and images of the past, the book reveals how the one "forbidden" topic in Israel-Diaspora relations, Golan declares German Jews looked, how they lived, what they thought about and that the only safe futurefor both Israelis and American Jews lies in what others thought of them. The book tells a story-moving, the immigration of a significant number of the latter to Israel. terrifying and exhilarating-that must be remembered.

The Hidden and Manifest God: Some Major Themes in Early The Ritual of Creation: Jewish Tradition and Contemporary Jewish Mysticism. By Peter Schafer. Albany: State University of Literature. By Norman Finkelstein. Albany: State University of New York Press. This book represents the first wide-scale presen­ New York Press. Finkelstein examines a wide range of recentJewish tation and interpretation ofpre-kabbalistic, Jewish mysticism. This writings, including poetry, fiction and literary criticism, to deter­ is the "Hekhalot" or "Merkavah" mysticism. The emphasis is on the mine the changes such writing has undergone in its exposure to conceptions of God, the angels and man that the texts provide and modern and post-modern conditions of culture. Featuring discus­ that are the framework of the Judaic world view in late antiquity and sions of such figures as Gershom Scholem, Harold Bloom, George the early Middle Ages. The literature of this mystical traditionwas Steiner, Cynthia Ozick and John Hollander, the book explores concerned with nothing less than a radical transformation of the certain themes that recur in modernJewish literature: the relation of world ofnormativeJudaism that for centuries was determined by the the sacred to the secular in Jewish writings, the role ofloss and exile, Rabbis. "wandering meaning," and textual transformation. This is a book for all readers interested in modem Jewish literature, but especially Jewish Musical Traditions. By Amnon Shiloah. Detroit: Wayne for readers concerned with literary theory, the relations of text and State University Press. This is the firstEnglish- language volume to commentary, and the fate of literary traditions in the contemporary consider oral music of Jewish communities in a socio-cultural and post-modern culture milieu. context. The world's leading authority on the Arab and Jewish musical traditions tells a musical story voiced throughout the world A Heart of Wisdom: Religion and Human Wholeness. By Maurice by men and women in synagogues and homes, mirroring the life of Friedman. Albany: State University ofNew York Press. Drawing an ancient people exiled from its land. The story began in Biblical on almost half a century of immersion in the world's greatreligions, times and encompasses 2,000years, when a widely dispersed people coupled with an ever-deepening understanding of the philosophy have tried to preserve their cultural values. The author considers the and phenomenology of religion, the author takes a dialogical ap­ musical heritage as only one element in the value system informing proach through which religious reality is not seen as external creed an individual's world outlook and perception of the destiny of the and form or as subjective inspiration but as the meeting in openness, Jewish people. He discusses the manner in which this heritage presentness, immediacy and mutuality with ultimate reality. Reli­ meshes with the complex web of Jewish history by way of central gion has to do with the wholeness of human life. The absolute is themes. found, not just in the universal but in the particular and the unique. When it promotes a dualism in which the spirit has no binding claim Hasidic People: A Placein the New World. By Jerome R. Mintz. on life and life falls apart into unhallowed fragments, religion Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. This is an engrossing becomes the great enemy of humankind. social history of the New York community based on extensive interviews, observation, newspaper files and court records. The Writing Their Nations: The Tradition of Nineteenth-Century author provides a vivid account of social and religious dynamics. He American Jewish Women Writers. By Diane Lichtenstein. allows events to unfold through the reports and commentaries ofthe Bloomington: Indiana University Press. In this critical study, the Hasidim. Their voices fill the book with vibrant life and meaning. author shows how Jews, women and other "outsiders" have simul­ Mintz's work offers new insights into family life; succession in taneously struggled to maintain their "other" identity and to be seen Hasidic dynasties; social change; and conflictsconcerning prosely­ as authentically American. These women strove to sustain alliances tizing, the State of Israel and Messianic expectations. With engag­ with both their American and their Jewish identities, and they used ing style, rich in personal insight, the book invites us into this old their writings to affirm multiple loyalties. By molding two stereo­ world within the new, a way of life at once foreign, yet intrinsic to types-the American "True Women" and the Jewish "Mother in the American experience. Israel"-these authors attempted to follow the prescriptions for middle-class American and Jewish womanly behavior in their lives Autonomy and Judaism: The Individual and the Community in and in their writing. Thus, they reassured their Jewish families and Jewish Philosophical Thought. Edited by Daniel H. Frank. Al­ their American readers that they were "good citizens." Wrestling bany: State University of New York Press. This volume brings with issues of assimilation as well as gender, these women wrote together leading philosophers of Judaism on the issue of autonomy from a unique vantage point.