Monday, March 06, 2006
Judaism explored in scholarly work
Many educated readers of book reviews obtain their understanding of Judaism from their liberal-minded Jewish colleagues. Some of these Jews are not religious, and many of those who are have an attenuated Judaism, perhaps Reform rather than Orthodox, or at least at the liberal end of the Orthodox spectrum.
The merit of this book is that it comes from the heartland, indeed its author is none other than the Chief Rabbi of South Africa. Thus it is a book from the head of the Orthodox Jewish community, but is seriously misleading in some important respects. On the other hand, there is a great deal of scholarly work on the historical and contemporary failings of non-Jewish Western society.
The message of the book is that Judaism, with its deep concern for the weak and powerless, which the author refers to as the "vulnerability principle", has shown the way, and only now is Western society catching up with Jewish law.
Rabbi Goldstein deals with political power, oppression of women, criminal justice and finally, poverty and the law.
The section on political power emphasises the importance of the rule of law in Judaism's long history and rightly condemns the appalling abuses of power by absolute rulers in Europe. The centrality in Judaism of the religious framework has often tempered kingly power. Rabbi Goldstein is on good ground here and also in praising the growth of respect for the rule of law in secular Western democracies such as post-apartheid South Africa.
However, not a word is spoken of the cruelty inflicted on Jewish "sinners" despite or within the law, through the exercise of rabbinical power in Jewish communities in, for example, 17th and 18th century Europe.
http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=473&fArticleId=3142956
Many educated readers of book reviews obtain their understanding of Judaism from their liberal-minded Jewish colleagues. Some of these Jews are not religious, and many of those who are have an attenuated Judaism, perhaps Reform rather than Orthodox, or at least at the liberal end of the Orthodox spectrum.
The merit of this book is that it comes from the heartland, indeed its author is none other than the Chief Rabbi of South Africa. Thus it is a book from the head of the Orthodox Jewish community, but is seriously misleading in some important respects. On the other hand, there is a great deal of scholarly work on the historical and contemporary failings of non-Jewish Western society.
The message of the book is that Judaism, with its deep concern for the weak and powerless, which the author refers to as the "vulnerability principle", has shown the way, and only now is Western society catching up with Jewish law.
Rabbi Goldstein deals with political power, oppression of women, criminal justice and finally, poverty and the law.
The section on political power emphasises the importance of the rule of law in Judaism's long history and rightly condemns the appalling abuses of power by absolute rulers in Europe. The centrality in Judaism of the religious framework has often tempered kingly power. Rabbi Goldstein is on good ground here and also in praising the growth of respect for the rule of law in secular Western democracies such as post-apartheid South Africa.
However, not a word is spoken of the cruelty inflicted on Jewish "sinners" despite or within the law, through the exercise of rabbinical power in Jewish communities in, for example, 17th and 18th century Europe.
http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=473&fArticleId=3142956
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