Does the World Need the Jews? Rethinking Chosenness and American Jewish Identity

A rabbi argues that Jewish assimilation in America has undermined Jewish identity and urges Jews to return to the substance and wealth of Jewish tradition

A leading rabbi argues that only a proud American Jewry, knowledgeable about its faith and history, can offer a corrective, even subversive force to American culture. Gordis, vice president of the University of Judaism and dean of its rabbinic school, continues in the ``Why Be Jewish?'' theme of his God Was Not in the Fire (1995), with emphasis this time on cultural insights gained from Jewish holidays. Hanukkah is rescued from being the Jewish Christmas and reinstated as the holiday commemorating the miraculous survival of a weak minority. Quoting both Alan Dershowitz and Allan Bloom along the way, the author contends that classical Jewish chosenness favors a core curriculum of timeless values over American individualism and the multicultural agenda. Unorthodox enough to sound politically conservative, Gordis champions the American flag and attacks the notion that we have a right to view pornography. He eloquently defends Judaism's demands that Jews bear children, give charity, study Torah, and repair the world, fearing that American Jews are going the way of the Little Mermaid (the self-destructive, non-Disney version). Only an educated American Jewry can add Judaism's voice of moderation to polarized topics like abortion and capital punishment. But there are problems here. For instance, why wouldn't the tiny American Jewish community be more valuable working to make the State of Israel a light unto the nations, rather than in laboring, as he suggests, to transmit its unique insights to American culture? And he falls into his own ``trap of the Judeo-Christian tradition'' by comparing Sabbath wine and bread to the wine and wafer of the Christian sacriment. If the transubstantiated blood and flesh represents our shared ``monotheistic tradition,'' then the Jewish faith has little to offer Jew or Gentile. This ``call to arms'' is rather too philosophical and dispassionate (and occasionally contradictory) to light any fires. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Rabbi Gordis makes a vigorous attempt to reconnect U.S. Jews to their religious heritage. He argues that as they became assimilated into the mainstream, Jews gradually lost their central Jewish identity. For example, they stopped learning Hebrew and drifted away from the Torah's teachings. They also left behind the fundamental belief in being a chosen people, because, Gordis contends, they didn't want to be seen as different by U.S. society. He calls for Jews to no longer shy away from their chosenness and to embrace it as the only way to reclaim their "authentic voice." It's only in being different, he stresses, that Jews can offer something to the larger world. And this difference will be found with a return to Jewish teachings, laws, and culture. Provocative, forceful, and exquisitely reasoned, the book should spark much debate in the Jewish community. Brian McCombie

Rabbi Gordis (Univ. of Judaism, Los Angeles; God Was Not in the Fire, LJ 7/95) addresses here the assimilated Jew who feels indifferent toward Jewish identity and tradition. Gordis's intention is not to win over this individual by theological argument but by a gentle though sustained argument on the importance of Jewish identity in American culture. The result can be compared to works by Alan Dershowitz (The Vanishing American Jew, LJ 3/1/97) and Elliot Abrams (Faith or Fear, LJ 5/1/97) in that all three authors are distressed by the growing trends of Jewish intermarriage and alienation from traditional identity. Gordis maintains that Jews serve humanity best by asserting their unique outlook and tradition. To illustrate this point he tells of how even the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama sought out noted Jewish figures to find instruction on how a people and religion can survive and thrive in exile. A persuasive volume?easy to read and discuss?that libraries serving Jewish patrons should consider.?Paul M. Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., Ill.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.