These are the Words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life
by Arthur Green, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont) 1999

Reviewed by Rabbi Loevinger

Rabbi Arthur Green, the former President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and now Professor of Modern Jewish Thought at Brandeis University, has written an elegant yet entirely accessible lexicon of Jewish spiritual concepts for our day. Rabbi Green presents short (1-3 pages) essays which teach both the literal meaning and spiritual significance of 149 Hebrew terms, such as halakhah, kabbalah, sephirot, and mikveh. It's not a lexicon, precisely, but more like a collection of discourses which attempt to show how these words form and inform Jewish life- each entry represents not merely a word, but a religious concept.

For example, under minhag [usually translated as "custom" to differentiate it from "law"] Rabbi Green shows how local customs can vary widely in the celebration of holidays and life cycle events; he briefly discusses the interplay between custom and law in traditional communities; and offers examples of new minhagim that have arisen in contemporary liberal Jewish communities. He does all this in about a one and a half pages; this is not a book which goes deep into any one topic, but serves as an introduction and reference for a broad variety of topics. After reading his entry, one might then progress to the Encyclopaedia Judaica or other more specialized books for more details and depth.

Thus in my estimation this book is perfect for beginners in Judaism or those with involvement in the Jewish community but who lack systematic knowledge of Jewish words and ideas; advanced students may wish to investigate a bit before investing in a book which may not meet their needs. Someone who has been learning for a while probably knows much of what the book presents but will doubtless find a new way of looking at some familiar terms. Green's great strength as a scholar is his way of explaining and rethinking traditional Jewish ideas, and I find it admirable that someone of his great learning wrote a book for a general audience, and not only the academic elite. Many will find These are the Words to be a steady stepping-stone into contemporary Judaism.

Suddenly Jewish: Jews Raised As Gentiles Discover Their Jewish Roots
by Barbara Kessel (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life)

Reviewed by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein

Imagine waking up one morning to find out that everything you thought you were, you aren't: white, or female, or American; imagine your mother telling you on her deathbed that, actually, you were adopted. Now imagine the tremendous identity anxiety that would provoke.

The stories in Suddenly Jewish are just that: people who found out that they were Jewish, either by accident or after serious investigation. People who had been raised as good Christians, or as some secular version of that, suddenly understanding why their grandmother always ate matzah in the spring or why a certain uncle was "different."

The book has fascinating stories from children of Holocaust survivors who hid their Jewish identities after the war, as well as Jewish children who were hidden and raised by Christians during the Holocaust but didn't know their birth parents; from people who traced their Jewish ancestry back to the Spanish Inquisition, and from adopted children in non-Jewish homes who found out their birth parents had been Jewish. The stories are told in first person, making the reader have a real sense of intimacy with the expereince.

The author found these stories through web sites dedicated to conversion and through ads in various papers. Not all the "sudden Jews" she found were happy with their discovery. Some converted back to Judaism at great personal cost, including alienation from their non-Jewish families. Others just live with this new knowledge and try and understand it. Many were angry at the silence and deception of the hiding, while some clearly understood and empathized with their parents or grandparents decision.

Suddenly Jewish is a worthwhile read, easy and accessible. It doesn't try and preach any definition of what being Jewish means to the reader, but it does raise serious questions as to the nature of Jewish identity. Is being Jewish something you get at birth, even if you didn't know it then, or is it something you get through exposure, education, and experience? Is "being" Jewish an existential reality, or is it only real when lived? The stories in Suddenly Jewish are great discussion starters for such questions.

Stalking Elijah: Adventures with Today's Jewish Mystical Masters
by Rodger Kamenetz, HarperCollins.

Reviewed by Rabbi Goldstein

Jewish spirituality is "in", no doubt about that. Local bookstores are filled with quick-and-easy spirituality guides as well as serious explorations of Jewish spirituality. Stalking Elijah is Rodger Kamentez's attempt to synthesize his own spiritual journey since his fateful trip to see the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. That trip resulted in his book The Jew in the Lotus in which he presented -- for many for the first time -- the spiritual wanderings of Jewish Buddhists, and what being among them taught him as a Jew struggling to reconnect with his Judaism.

In Stalking Elijah he is already a more comfortable Jew. Rather than trying to find his way in, he seems to be trying to find a deeper way in, and he does so by interviewing what he calls "Today's Jewish mystical masters." Some of the names were familiar to me, like Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, and Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb. But he has left many "masters" out: Rabbi Lawrence Kushner and Yitzchak Buxbaum, for example, and one wonders why. Perhaps they are too associated with "mainstream" movements and Kamenetz seems almost driven in this book to publicize and glorify the Jewish Renewal Movement and its rabbis. At some points he seems to aggrandize these local rabbis whom he finds enlightening as well as his own spiritual insights gleaned from them, and offers only Jewish Renewal as the great hope of the Jewish future. At other times he is fair and points out their humanity and humility as well, and the down sides of Renewal events he attends.

Kamentez's personal spiritual angst will move many readers to reconsider their own, and find their spiritual voices. To others, it may just seem whiny and self-centred. Either way, the book is well worth reading, and offers a glimpse into the new and unique, and ever expanding world of Diaspora Jewish mystical yearnings.

The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels
by Thomas Cahill, HarperCollins.

Reviewed by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein

"The Jews gave us a whole new vocaubulary...an inner landscape of ideas and feelings that had never been known before...Because of their unique belief-monotheism-the Jews were able to give us the Great Whole, a unified universe that makes sense..." (pg. 239-240)

In my sixteen years as a Rabbi, I have found it to be true that it sometimes takes an outsider- a non-Jew, a Jew new to Judaism, a Jew just "returning" to the fold- to show us insiders the beauty, meaning and spirituality of our own Judaism. We take it for granted. But Cahill's book, which was an instant international best-seller, gives us a grandiose sweep of our own Biblical history that challenges the jaded, faded, I remember-it-as-a-kid kind of Jewish ennui so many Jews today feel.

Cahill traces the origins of Biblical notions which changed the world from a potpourri of capricious acts of the gods and goddesses to a reasoned, ordered world of justice, free will, personal responsibility, and a God who cares. Freedom, progress, spirit, faith are all "the gifts of the Jews" and Cahill gives Biblical references and ancient history to prove this thesis.

Some have argued that the book does not take rabbinic Judaism into account, and as such, is only a Christian- i.e."Old Testament"- view of the ancient Jews, with no respect paid to the modern Judaism of today. It might have been more accurate to call the book "The Gifts of the Ancient Hebrews and Their Religion" but this may be quibbling over details. The book is a fine read and makes today's Jew much more aware of the incredible scope of what the Bible- way beyond little Noah's ark trinkets- has to offer a sophisticated, spiritual adult.

From Jerusalem to the Edge of Heaven: Meditations on the Soul of Israel by Ari Elon.

Reviewed by Rabbi Loevinger

This is not an easy book, but it is a deeply rewarding book. Ari Elon, a Talmud scholar of great learning, grew up on an Orthodox household, served in the Israeli Army, gave up his Orthodoxy, rediscovered Jewish learning, and now calls himself a religious secularist. He has taught Talmud on kibbutzim, in universities, and at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where I had the pleasure of studying with him. This book, which is comprised of four distinct sections, each with its own themes and subjects, is unlike any book I've ever read- not fiction, not theology, not history, not criticism, not social theory, not textual commentary, not poetry, not journalism- but somehow all of these, and more.

Elon wants most of all to reclaim a deeply, playfully creative mode of Jewish learning and culture, free from pre-modern theological boundaries but imbued with a traditional kind of spiritual seriousness and attention to text and story. The four sections of his book deal with his own life journey, his thoughts on the spiritual psychology of the rabbis of the Talmud, his view of the current state of religious affairs in Israel, and his experiences as a soldier in the Israeli army. Each section is also structured around part of a painting of children at play- the painting, reproduced on the cover, serves as kind of a midrash on the book itself.

None of these subjects are treated as a dry essay, but in a poetic, learned, almost free-associative style. His writing is rich with allusion to Jewish texts and traditions, and is not always easy to follow without the footnotes and glossary. Yet it is precisely this richness that proves the viability of his vision- an imaginative Judaism, thoroughly contemporary, yet deeply rooted in classic texts.

Entering the High Holy Days: A Complete Guide to the History, Prayers, and Themes, by R. Reuven Hammer

Reviewed by Rabbi Loevinger

Entering the High Holy Days is really, really good at what it does, which is to provide a broad overview of the history, themes, theology, poetics, structure, flow, and customs of the traditional High Holidays liturgies. Rabbi Hammer begins with the month of Elul and goes right through to the end of Yom Kippur, explaining both the well-known and the more obscure readings along the way. Although one could say that a book about a prayerbook is by definition a rather specialized volume, Entering the High Holy Days feels more like a survey, summarizing long prayers and giving us mere glimpses into complex poems with long and interesting histories.

I started the preceding paragraph by telling you that Entering the High Holy Days is good at what it does; there are things one might want to read about that are not in this excellent book. R. Hammer concerns himself with the High Holiday liturgy of traditional Ashkenazi synagogues; although this version of the machzor does form the basis of Reform and Reconstructionist services, it would have been interesting to read about the changes different communities are making, and why. Although I realize such a project would have made the book unwieldy, I also might have like to see just a bit of comparison between the machzorim of the Ashkenazim and the Sefardim and other distinct Jewish communities. Finally, it must be noted that R. Hammer concerns himself with elucidating the theology of the texts in a relatively straightforward way; it is not his goal to explore the wide range of theological stances that can be found in contemporary Judaism.

Entering the High Holidays is, as its very title implies, a great place to start one’s learning about the intense liturgical and ritual event called the Yamim Noraim, the “Days of Awe.” Some people will be satisfied with its historical and thematic discussions, while others may want to continue their studies by looking more deeply at the liturgy of their particular community. In either case, R. Hammer has done us all a service by clearly explaining the “services.”

Dream of Zion

Dream of Zion
by Jeffrey Salkin
Jewish Lights Publishing

reviewed by Allan Gould

Jewish Lights Publishing is one of the more interesting “ethnic” firms in the world today: in the past few years, they have published dozens of high quality books on everything from the scholarly (Bible Study and Midrash) to children’s books; ecology to grief and healing; meditation to Kabbalah. A few years ago, JL put out a remarkable, deeply moving collection of short essays called I am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl, the journalist who was savagely murdered in Pakistan for exactly that reason. A powerful concept, and it worked very well (and now a major motion picture: A Mighty Heart).

I wish I could say the same for Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s A Dream of Zion, sub-titled “American Jews Reflect on Why Israel Matters to Them.” True, the Jewish State is undergoing hard times today—when has it not?—and the ugly boycotting of Israel’s scholars, and the way so many major politicians and actual countries treat the Jewish homeland condescendingly, compared with the vicious abuse which women, gays, and their own citizens are treated by so many other lands, may seem like a good reason to produce a book like this one.

But it doesn’t work, and not only because of the half-dozen rather mediocre essays by American Jewish university students, talking about how exciting their first visit to the State of Israel was (!) When one interviews many intelligent rabbis and teachers on such subjects as “Identity and Heritage,” “Refuge,” “Faith and Covenant” and “Tikkun Olam,” you are surely going to get the occasional glimmer of insight, even the memorable statement of fact and opinion, and there are, undeniably, a few. For instance, Rabbi David Wolpe, a superb author, writes beautifully that “We who live outside the land have to be sufficiently imaginative to understand all we do not know. In Europe, a bloody battlefield for centuries, there is a monument for every 10,000 fallen soldiers. In Israel, there is a monument for every sixteen. . . . it is a society that lives under a pressure so far unimaginable in this spacious and generous land [of the U.S.]” And who could not be moved by the poetic declaration of the admired American author Thane Rosenbaum, who writes, “Israel is not just a nation. It is, even more so, a state of mind. That’s the bedrock of its geography, the map that it monopolizes, the mental space and energy it consumes like a burning bush. You don’t have to ever board El Al to be obsessed with Israel’s existence, to love it or hate it, to feel its gravitational weight as a magnet for both revulsion and romance, to know that without it, the world would be a very different place, a planet even more tilted and adrift than it is right now.” Exquisite—and his words move me to want to read his prize-winning novels, several of Jewish content and focus.

I had hoped to find Giants with Great Words to say about the State of Israel and its importance today, and I was taken aback to discover just how few real gems can be found in this anthology’s 250 pages. In fact, I find it sadly telling, that it is in Part V—An American Historical Perspective: The Words of the Fathers and Mothers—where the best comments are found: long-dead American-Jewish leaders and rabbis such as Louis D. Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter, Abba Hillel Silver, Stephen S. Wise, and, naturally, the glorious Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose words and insights put nearly all else in this flimsy gathering of writing to shame: “What would be the face of Western history today if the end of twentieth-century Jewish life would have been Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Auschwitz? The State of Israel is not an atonement. It would be blasphemy to regard it as a compensation. However, the existence of Israel reborn makes life less unendurable. It is a slight hinderer of hindrances to believing in God.”

Would that even one in ten essays in this under-whelming anthology had such power and majesty. Check out I am Jewish (a national Jewish book award winner) and other fine books from this important Judaica house (located in Woodstock, Vermont of all places!); Jewish Lights is almost always worthy of your support. Just not this particular book, alas.