Now that Dershowitz, the noted Harvard Law School professor and celebrity defense attorney, has told American Jews what wusses they are (Chutzpah, 1991), he sets out to tell them how to ensure their community's survival into the 21st century. In the past, he claims, Jewish cohesion and continuity were based on negative qualities: fear of anti-Semitism and a tribal mentality. The younger generation today, however, feels physically secure from persecution and is culturally assimilated—to the point where the survival of American Jewry is threatened more by this internal danger than external ones. Hardly original and a bit superficial as analysis, but the real devil is in the details of his case. One could point to Dershowitz's self-aggrandizing inaccuracies, such as his pretension of putting in the open a topic (assimilation) that has been only ``whispered'' about, while in fact it has been a primary concern of the Jewish community since the release of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey. Dershowitz relies on its statistics to project a dismal future if American Jews don't follow his proposals. The study's statistics, however, are hotly debated by scholars. Dershowitz's solution? Let a thousand Judaisms bloom: ``There is no one substantive essence to Judaism,'' he argues dubiously. Thus, young people need not be turned off by any one view of Judaism; they're all equally valid. He begs the question, of course, of what Judaism becomes when it is so broadly defined as ``a Judaism of ideas, of attitudes, of skepticism, of justice, of compassion, of argumentation, and of inclusiveness'' rather than as a set of specific beliefs and a code of action. Dershowitz is right to emphasize the need for good, intensive Jewish education, and he is convincing in his description of the importance Judaism plays in his own life. But he's not convincing in the idea that a Judaism in which everyone can have it any which way they want is a Judaism that will have lasting power in the century to come. (Author tour; TV/radio satellite tour)
Pub Date: March 19, 1997
ISBN: 0-316-18133-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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