Review: A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion

A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion by Jonathan Sacks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rabbi Sacks is someone that I have for many years wanted to read. He’s written dozens of books about Judaism and religion, so it was always hard to know where to jump in. A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest ReligionA Letter in the Scroll seemed to fit the bill. It is more personal and direct, not a weighty tome. Intended at first as a gift for his son on his wedding day, it is an attempt by Rabbi Sacks to answer central questions about Jewish identity. What does it mean to be Jewish? Why continue to be Jewish? Sacks' reply is both deeply personal and theological. To answer the question, Sacks retells the story of Judaism, its origins and developments through the millennia.

Sacks' discussion of faith and the nature of Judaism as a religion is, to me at least, novel. As Sacks argues, the faith of Judaism is not one of miracles and believing the irrational: it is as he puts it, more a call or a summons. It is a call to see the world as it is and to do something about it. He situates Jewish faith between a nihilism or cynicism that sees the world as it is but without a need to make it better and a utopian/mystical vision that rejects the world as it is for some other world. Judaism is of this world, this life: each of us must live in this world. For the believer, God created humans as the ones able to see the world as it is and how it ought to be, and that we are responsible for bridging the gap. This a compelling vision (and one that I think can secularized as well).

Sacks' discussion of the problem of evil or theodicy is quite interesting as well. In the face of the Holocaust, he says, we might reject the reality of God or the reality of evil. But if we reject the existence of evil, then Auschwitz is justified – at least from some unfathomable vantage point of God. On the other hand, Sacks argues, if we reject God for a blind, material universe then “there is no reason not to expect an Auschwitz” (180). Sacks says Jewish faith is the refusal take either horn of this dilemma: “each would allow us to live at peace with the world, and it is morally impossible to live at peace with a world that contains an Auschwitz” (180). Furthermore, Sacks argues, this world really is the only possible world or rather a world in which Auschwitz is a possibility is the inevitable result of God creating man. In many ways this is not a satisfying answer to the problem of evil (there are many ‘moves’ one could make here). But there is also something compelling about it: This is the world. It has tragedy and devastation. But it also has love, beauty and hope. We cannot ignore the former or let it overwhelm us; and we cannot forget the latter: we must live in the reality of both. Judaism, as Sacks casts is, is a way of doing just that.

The covenantal aspects of Judaism, as well as Sacks discussion of the dichotomies of the individual and the collective, the particular and the universal, were also very interesting. Though I am not capable of believing as Sacks does, I find much of what he says thought-provoking. It makes a kind of sense to me.

Sacks doesn’t see much future for Jewish life without the Jewish religion: I am more hopeful on that front. In part, I think a secular philosophy can provide justifications for the equal dignity and respect of all humans; the made in the image of the God is not the only way to get there. I do have some minor quibbles about Sacks comments about philosophy, and Spinoza in particular, but these don’t play major roles in the discussion and so do not ultimately detract from the book.

The central point of the book was an attempt to answer questions about Jewish Identity. Sacks gives his answer and there is much to commend in that: but I am not sure it fits with my view: both in the general answers one might give to these questions, but also with my own answers. I think Sacks would be okay with that. This is his answer and his answer made me think more about my own answer. I think that was, at least in part, one of his goals for the book.

For this interested in learning more about the uniqueness of Jewish theology, without having to wade into waters too deep, this is a good starting point.


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Review: The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World

The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World by Daisy Dunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think the promise of this book is interesting: telling the history of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds with women at the center. I was hoping to learn about forgetten figures and thinkers; to find out about women that have been downplayed or ignored in the history. There is some of that, but this is more or less a retelling of ancient history. In that, it is compelling and Dunn tells the history well. But often the focus, particularly in the Roman period, is on the men and their wives or mistresses of these men. From there, we have speculation and extrapolation about their roles in history. There is also not a lot of focus on what life might have been like for woman more generally in these societies. In earlier periods, there is, unsurprisingly, a potentially confusing mix of stories, myths, and history. It is not always clear or obvious (at least immediately) what the sources are and how reliable or representative they are. There is a lot of speculation and extrapolation from thin data. While Dunn often does note this, it could be clearer.

The book is interesting and I enjoyed listening to it but it just doesn't deliver on the promise.

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