Never Fully Realized

 

Becoming Diaspora Jews: Behind the Story of Elephantine by Karel van der Toorn is journey to the ever-fascinating Jewish community of Elephantine Island, on the Upper Nile.  The community of soldiers (mercenaries) and their families lived on the island for a span of 100 years, during the 5th to 4th centuries BCE.  They left behind papyri and ostraca, most of which were excavated in the early twentieth century. Studying this group of Jews is essential for any investigation of First Temple Judaism.

One of the most interesting things about the community is their multiple identities; they self label themselves both Arameans and Jews in documents.  They seem to have a dual ethnic identity.  Van Der Toorn explores this dynamic, and its possible origins, in detail.

What is really important to understand about the Elephantine Jews is their unapologetic polytheism. They worshiped the Jewish deity, but other deities as well.  Their practice was not monotheism, but monolatry – the belief in one chief god and other deities.  The Elephantine Jews were in communication with official in the Holy Land.  They never try to hide or apologize their situation.  I suggest that at this time, this was the situation with  Judaism everywhere.  Strict  monotheism, and even the Torah, would come later. This book is an excellent window on a world hinted at in the Tanakh, but never fully realized. 

Sinks the Novel

 

Nick, by Michael Farris Smith, is the back story of Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby.  Of course, with such a book, there is the question if this book rises to the Gatsby level – but that is not the best question for this novel.  I judge this work by one rubric: is it a good depiction of Nick?  The author chose not to have Nick deliver his story in the first person. In Gatsby, we receive the events through Nick’s narration.  For Nick, the novel, this does not matter so much in the first part of this story, where the narration is 'close' to Nick the character.  We only see the world through Nick (even though he is not the narrator).  But the author changes the view of the novel; after France, we are in the heads of other characters, not introduced yet.  It is confusing and bewildering, and sinks the novel.

The Case of Looting

 

If you have read any of the post-Zionist “revisionist” historians, then Loot: How Israel Stole Palestinian Property, by Adam Raz, will not be overly shocking.   Like every conflict, civilians on the losing side, in this case Palestinians, suffered special depravations.  Like all armed forces, the pre-state Jewish militias and then the IDF engaged in looting Palestinian property.  Also, scores of Israeli civilians engaged in widespread theft.  This is well known at this point.  Why it happened is the rub.  Was it inevitable?

Raz’s thrust is that Ben-Gurion knew of the looting, but did not move to address it because these thefts fit with his strategic and ethnic goals.  With their property and possession gone, Palestinians would have nothing to return to at the conclusion of the war.  Raz’s proof is when Ben-Gurion ‘saved’ Nazareth from looting and ethnic cleansing – so as not to inflame Christian anger toward the new Jewish state.   When he wanted to preserve a Palestinian population, and stop looting – he was able to do so. 

How to Deal with the World

 

If you want to get an excellent introduction to Stoicism with a modern lens, then you can’t go wrong with Stoicism for Inner Peace Paperback by Einzelgänger.   How do we train ourselves to handle the shocks of life?  How do we get to the point where we expect our lives, at certain points, to be bad?  In this confusing world that wants to take everything from you, how can you find peace?  Open this book. It may help you in your quest.

Revolutionary Retellings

 

Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the Rabbi's Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud does just this – and to great effect.  Fine takes some very famous Talmud stories which feature woman, pouring them into novel molds.   

Take the story of Yalta and the wine.  This tale has often been cast as the classic “shrew,” narrative, or the story of a disagreeable woman.  Shrew stories are designed to display unflattering features of women's dispositions.  However, Fine contextualizes the literary trope of the shrew, and in the process, shows us how Yalta is fighting for her treatment at the hand of callous and unthinking men.  Fine does this again and again with familiar Talmud stories.  The new spin she gives to these stories is nothing short of revolutionary.

Pragmatic Judaism

 

Yochanan's Gamble: Judaism's Pragmatic Approach to Life by Rabbi Marc Katz take us on a journey through the evolving landscape of Rabbinical Judaism.   Once the temple was destroyed, and the sectarian violence of the Jewish Rebellion abated, certain Jews had to pick up the pieces of Judaism if it was to survive. 

The Rabbinical tradition grew up without political power, territory, a cultic center – so under these circumstances, the Rabbi’s developed a flexible approach to governance that was guided by the a majority rules pragmatism that would become its hallmark until the modern period. 

A Judaism stripped of territory, political power, and a cultic center, had no other option but to hit what was pitched.  Rabbi Katz’s book explores the many ways that pragmatism forged a new form of Judaism.

Getting a Handle on Essentials

 

The Beginner's Guide to Stoicism: Tools for Emotional Resilience and Positivity, by Matthew Van Natta is an excellent introduction to thinking and acting like a Stoic.  I have been exposed to Stoic philosophy since my early twenties, but I find handbooks like this extremely helpful.  Stoic philosophy is easy to learn, and hard to practice.  A book like Van Natta’s helps the beginner, or even more advanced practitioner, get a handle on the essentials. 

An Admirable Effort!

 

Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish by Joshua Leifer is an earnest effort by this (relatively) young author to get at the heart of the issues that American Jewish communities currently face.  This is a big project, and Leifer does an admirable job.  I do, however, see two major flaws in this work.

The first is that the author appears to have written this work (mostly) before the October 7th attacks.  He mentions the attacks briefly, but his conclusion is that Israel no longer requires the United States for approval or support (or the American Jewish community).  Then he mentions the attacks, and explains this assumption is wrong.  But the book is largely written with his assumption.  He probably wrote most of the book before the attacks and then had to make changes.  So, there is a strange disconnect on this topic. 

The second is a fundamental premise about the nature of Judaism.  Liefer sees Judaism as hierarchical.  The Jews of his wife’s Yeshivish New Jersey community are rigorous Jews, and the rest of us struggle with identity.  Yes, he criticizes all varieties of Judaism, but you can sense the longing he has for more “traditional” forms of Jewish expression (like studying the Talmud all day) where communities do not struggle for identity.  Progressive Jews, however, do. I am a progressive Jew, and belong to a progressive shul.  We are not in danger of losing our Jewish identity.   We struggle with identity issues, as all Jews do, but we are firmly Jews, with or without daily Talmud study.

Despite its flaws, it is wonderful to see this author sort through such difficult issues.  It is a thankless task!

God's Body

 

Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy, by Marla Segol, is an academic treatment of the creative role God has in the kabbalah, especially related to characterizations that can be called sexual.  The author writes an academic work here, although the interested amateur with some background in this area does well in this text.  If we allow our academic study of God to fulfil the literal sense of a divine body, instead of the spiritualizing elements found in Jewish philosophy, and in modern academic studies, we open new pathways.  This book explores those new avenues of approach.

An Ideal Never Reached

 

American Phoenix: John Quincy and Louisa Adams, the War of 1812, and the Exile that Saved American Independence, by Jane Hampton Cook, examines a fascinating couple, who in most ways defied the expectations of early Americans.  Both John Quincy and Louise Adams were well traveled, well read, and spoke fluent French, the language of culture and diplomacy in the early nineteenth century.  Urbane and cosmopolitan – they were true people of the world, but they held American interests as their moral compass.  At this point in the American experience, one can’t help but be nostalgic for this pair.  Public service has decline to bald fascistic bizarre self-interests.  We are far from our ideals.

Those Who Would Not Fight

 

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, by Adam Hochschild, is a well researched and entertaining work about the political and civil unrest created by the First World War.  

This is a book less about the battles, although they are here, and more of how people were impacted by four years of carnage.  A special emphasis is placed upon Conscientious Objectors, or COs, who were often religious or socialist in orientation.  They were often imprisoned, and in some cases, drafted into the army so they could be executed for failure to obey orders at the front.  

Far and away, this is the most interesting part of this book, as the story of COs are not told in most histories of World War I.  In this sense, Hochschild’s book is vital.

Let's All Hate Chinese Communism!

 

Beware: The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957, by Frank Dikötter.  I read his book on the cultural revolution and was horrified by the scale of the violence. As I read this book, I began to realize that I was being told a great deal about the destruction wrought by the Chinese revolution.  Large parts of this book are just stories atrocities. After some time, you wonder why you need to read this.  The author barely touches on the equally disastrous reign of the Chinese nationalists. He says one or two things about them and it’s wholly positive. 

I will not read another one of his books. I think China deserves a better government than one run by the communist Chinese party.  I think Communism in China has been a disaster and tragedy.  But if this book is supposed to be history that strives for some sort of objectivity, it fails miserably. This scholar just hates Chinese communism, and page after page is going to impart that to you.

Late Capitalist Zombies

 

In an interview, Ling Ma, the author of the novel Severance, expressed frustration that the Cornell MFA program wanted her to write an “immigrant” novel.  So, she decided to write about the theme of immigration, among other topics, in the context of a Zombie apocalypse.  And why not?  The genre has always been about the Uncanny Other, close to us, but not quite us, and couched in fear of our assimilation into them (and their mindless drive to assimilate us).  This is that here – but Ma’s zombies are like us – stuck in routine, unable to crawl out of the task we must perform to make a paycheck and forced to repeat and repeat actions that take us further away from our desires and dreams.  We are not so different from our shadow sides.

America's Park

 

Before Central Park, by Sara Cedar Miller answers, in great detail, what many people visiting Central Park will ask: what was here before the park?  This book is an impeccably researched work that answers this question in abundance. New York’s natural treasure was by no means destined to be created – and it came with a great cost to those already living in the confines of the park.  This worthy book tells that story.

Why Not Think About Torah??

Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible by Kenneth Seeskin is an interesting excursion into reading Torah Jewishly and philosophically.  Seeskin wants us to think deeply about the issue the Torah and he kindly helps us by enlisting some of the great thinkers in the Jewish tradition: Maimonides, Buber, and Levinas, to name a few.  Thinking through Torah has its limitations, and you will see this if you read this book.  But it is a very fruitful limitation: knowing what we can know and what we can’t is a gift few people accept. 

 

Good Writing Carries the Day

 

I actually put down The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and Five Lives of a Lost War by Paul Hendrickson, wondering if it was worth devoting so much time to McNamara and the damage he did to both America and Vietnam.  I left the book, thinking it was too much, but returned, as something about this work called to me. I’m glad I did; Hendrickson’s book is long, and not for everyone, but how it is written and what it accomplishes is hard to deny.  This is an excellent book because of how it is written, not necessarily what it is about.  This is a testimony to the author’s skill!