Review by Booklist Review
Jewish history has been shaped, Rabbi Schwartz says, by controversies that are never decisively resolved, though God has sometimes declared one side or the other the winner at a particular time. Thus Moses won the most famous round of the second great debate Schwartz presents over holiness and authority when God made the earth swallow Moses' opponents. At issue were the questions of whether one is or becomes holy and whether holiness confers the right to rule, the answers to which have implications for politics (egalitarianism, democracy) as well as religion. Schwartz presents the nine other great debates he extracts from the Bible, rabbinical Judaism, and modern times similarly, characterizing each in a phrase, recapping the most famous contention over it in a dialogue incorporating quotations from the historic contestants, abstracting the most famous scholarly analyses of it, and showing how it manifests itself today in religious and secular disputes. Every one of those tasks he accomplishes with wonderful conciseness and clarity. You don't have to be Jewish to consider this slim volume heaven-sent.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Schwartz, a congregational rabbi, author (Jewish Heroes, Jewish Values), and director of the Jewish Publication Society, describes 10 instances of sharp differences of opinion to support his contention that disputation is an integral aspect of Jewish history. He considers controversies drawn from biblical Judaism, rabbinic Judaism, and modern Judaism. A brief analysis of each includes the actual words of the debaters, with his own amendments when necessary to ensure clarity. He begins with Abraham's debate with God about the number of innocent people needed to avert the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Schwartz calls this "Judaism's first great debate," arguing that it has relevance for continuing arguments about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From Rabbinic Judaism he draws the debates between Ben Zakkai and the Zealots; Hillel and Shammai; the Vilna Gaon and the Baal Shem Tov. He concludes with three illustrations from modern Judaism: Spinoza and the Amsterdam rabbis; religious evolution; Herzl and Wise. While Schwartz ably defends his thesis about the significance of Jewish debates, he notably fails to consider any of today's vigorous arguments that stir contemporary Jews. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
