Jacob Neusner’s Judaism: The Basics is anything but basic. It is not an introductory work about Judaism, nor will someone without more than passing familiarity with Judaism and its sources fully appreciate what he is attempting. Professor Neusner is best known for his studies in rabbinic Judaism and the Talmudic period. He has contributed a vast library of critical studies in this field both as an historian and as a literary analyst. In this volume he seeks to articulate the theology of some of Judaism’s most cherished beliefs and practices. His approach is interesting and makes a great deal of sense as far as rabbinic Judaism is concerned. When he ventures far afield into the medieval and modern period, he falters. As a very basic introduction to thinking within a theological framework it works for about two thirds of the way.
Neusner describes Jews as a community of fate. Some are ethnic, nationalistic, or secular, they share a common history and culture, they form a social entity, but that is not a religious community. They are still Jews, but they are denied the authority to define Judaism the religion. Judaism according to Neusner is not what Jews believe. It is not public opinion, but religious doctrine. “Religious tradition is not something made up as you go along.” He therefore divides the Jewish community into Jews and Judaists, i.e. those who practice the religion.
Religion according to Neusner is defined by the narratives that touch the heart, which then have an impact on the faithful. Judaism, he writes, is acting out the behaviors and beliefs of the key stories in the Torah. It is how the living embody the past. “Judaism through its narrative transforms difference into destiny.” He chooses five powerful Jewish practices to illustrate his take on Jewish theology: the Passover seder, the Days of Awe, marriage, circumcision, and eating a meal. His interpretations are interesting, well informed and well thought out. For someone with basic knowledge of Judaism, this volume is a good introduction to Jewish theology, or at least one person’s understanding of that theology.
The entire Biblical period is summarized in three pages, and Neusner jumps erratically from the medieval period to the 18th century. He never explains how Kabbalah reached Poland from Spain and he errs when he says that Hasidism took place within normative Rabbinic Judaism. His treatment of Reform Judaism is also flawed. Reform did not/does not necessarily regard as sacrosanct laws that go “way back,” and resurrection is not really in the Reform and Conservative prayer books. In Reform prayer books, passages referring to the resurrection have either been deleted or interpreted as referring to immortality of the soul. The Hebrew text may be there, but in translation as “Master of life and death” the meaning is clearly not what was originally intended.
Professor Neusner likes to use his own translations of traditional texts, but they are often incorrect. His critique of the Mishna as “a document of imagination and fantasy, small-minded, picayune, dull and routine” is bizarre. The explanation given for the problem of evil is simplistic and overly pious, ignoring Maimonides, Cresques, Gersonides and others, and ethical monotheism describes Abraham perhaps but not God.
There are moments when great ideas are left stillborn. Israel’s power to repent, which conciliates God to restore Eden on the Sabbath, is an idea worthy of expansion. He also misses the opportunity to explain that Sabbath “work” has nothing to do with servile labor. Christianity and Islam will be the world empires at the end of days, but they are referred to awkwardly as Rome and Iran.
There are flashes of brilliance and felicitous usage of language to convey a lesson. “So eating a meal invokes the narrative of corporate Israel.” “…the entire repertoire of stories is rehearsed on the humble and private occasion of eating lunch.” Judaism: The Basics is worth a read.
