Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law by Chaim N. Saiman is a throughgoing study of what halakhah, often translated as (Jewish) Law, actually means different things in a variety of contexts. Is the Torah law like secular law? Yes and no. Saiman will walk you through this. Are the rules, guidelines, and pathways the Talmud lays out meant to be applied? Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. Read this very informative book to examine these wonderful subtleties.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
