So the Rabbi said to his driver...

kw: book reviews, nonfiction, religion, philosophy, talmud, kabbalah

The book is On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz: 25 Years of Pre-Dawn Car Trips, Mind-Blowing Encounters, and Inspiring Conversations with a Man of Wisdom by Arthur Kurzweil.

My conclusion: I knew I don't know much about Judaism; I just didn't realize how deep my ignorance is. Christians who know "judaism" primarily from reading the New Testament get a fragmentary, mainly unflattering, view of first-Century Judaism. Only three groups are presented in more than a cameo appearance: the Pharisees, the Saducees, and "Jews from Asia". Here is what I thought I knew:

Pharisees were conservative "fundamentalists". At least, they believed the Torah literally, believed in miracles, angels, demons, and a caring God. Sadducees were liberal "modernists". They were pragmatic, politically motivated, believing themselves too sophisticated to take the Torah literally, using religion for their ambitious purposes. The "Jews from Asia", Paul's persecutors, were conservative, defensive, hair-trigger activists, a small number from those who had heard Paul and his fellow workers preach; they considered Paul's preaching a threat to Judaism, just as Paul, when he was Saul, had considered the followers of Jesus a threat.

I also recall being told that today's Hasidim, the most visible group of conservative and ultra-conservative Jews, were the Pharisees. I've had a sympathetic view of the Pharisees. Among their number was the wise Gamaliel, who was inclined to trust God rather than fight against the "Jesus people." The convert Nicodemus was a Pharisee. They sympathized with Paul, a former Pharisee. They seemed to me suspicious but not overtly oppositional to Christian faith.

Now I find, that though some early Medieval, conservative Jews have been called Hasidim, today's Hasidic Judaism dates from the 1700s. Though the theology is primary very conservative, it is also very experiential and mystical. To Christians looking for a familiar analogy: the Pharisees were a lot like today's "free baptists", very literalistic, and often a bit cold; the Kabbalistic mystics prior to the mid-1700s were a lot like today's "charismatics", very experiential, but playing a bit fast and loose with scripture; the Hasidim are a melding of the two, and Christianity has yet to produce a large group of similar balance (though a few smaller groups of "mystical evangelicals" exist, and I number myself among them).

There are a hundred or so dynasties of Hasidic Jews, usually named for the locality of their founding. Each is led today by the fifth or sixth generation of lineal sons of their founding Rabbi. Possibly the largest is the Lubavitcher dynasty. Many believe the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, who died without issue in 1994, is the Messiah, mystically still living and preparing to lead his people in the final struggle.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz is probably the Lubavitcher Rebbe's most prominent friend, and perhaps disciple. He is certainly the most prominent Rabbi promoting Talmud and Kabbalah studies today. He is in the process of translating the Babylonian Talmud into English. So far as I know, 38 volumes (of 46 expected) are finished and in print. The Rabbi is now 69 and kept busy with speaking engagements. May God grant him the strength, longevity, and grace to finish the work.

So who is Arthur Kurzweil? He is a publisher of Jewish literature, a writer and speaker...and a performer of a magic show called "Searching for God in a Magic Shop." In 1985, he did "something smart," calling the Aleph Society (managers of Rabbi Steinsaltz's travels and publishing) and offered to help, even as a volunteer. At one point, he said, "I'd even pick him up at the airport at 5 AM." The staffer said, "You would?" and a beautiful relationship soon began.

Throughout the following 25 years or so, Kurzweil was the Rabbi's usual driver whenever he visited New York City, about three times yearly, for a few weeks at a time. Sometimes, they had little chance to talk, but when the plane arrives at 5 AM, baggage and customs go quickly, and the first appointment is at 9 AM, you can usually count on an hour or so of "downtime," a perfect opportunity for the driver to probe the Rabbi's mind.

The book is a narrative of many of their conversations, and is also sprinkled with nuggets from the Rabbi's writings. For example, from "Opening the Tanya": "What is Hasidism? What is its innovation? Hasidism strives for consciousness of one's inner essence and simplicity—in relation to Torah, man, and divinity—and for this there are no adequate words or direct definitions. Because it deals with man's inner essence, Hasidism defies easy definition or description." Though it takes time and thought to understand this quote, it is the best explanation of Hasidism that can be made.

Now it is time for me to make enemies. What connection do today's Jews have with the nation of Israel as described in the Old Testament, particularly at its founding at Sinai? By the time the people of Israel crossed into Canaan, the Pentateuch (the Christian term) was finished. This is commonly called the Torah, the five books of Moses. However, Torah has a couple of other uses. It is also used somewhat loosely for the Tanakh, AKA the Old Testament, in recognition of the authority of the other nineteen (to a Jew; re-cast as another 34 in Christian Bibles) books. Finally, it is used to include both the written law and the oral law; the latter was written out as the first part of the Talmud, which also includes huge volumes of interpretation.

On at least a couple of occasions, Jesus said, "You have nullified the word of God by your tradition." He was referring to the oral law as it existed in 30 AD. What would he say of the Talmud? When you get right down to it, we have a situation here similar to Martin Luther protesting against the Patristic Writings, the Catholic tradition of the "church fathers." Just as Jewish tradition was 1400 years old by Jesus's time, Catholic tradition was 1400 years old in Luther's time. Now Jewish tradition is 3400 years old and in two supplementary written forms (the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds), Catholic tradition is 1900 years old, and both guide the majority of members of two world religions.

Neither tradition has much to do with the written Scriptures. Catholicism has nearly no trace of scriptural Christian faith in it, and Talmudic Judaism has nearly no trace of the Mosaic. This was made abundantly clear by my reading of Kurzweil's book. The religion of most people is almost pure sentimentality. The religion of some has bits of wisdom buried in sentimentality. The Judaism of Kurzweil and Steinsaltz has more wisdom than most, but its deeply scholarly tradition is firmly rooted in the sentimentalism of rabbis from many centuries ago, who didn't explain the Law, but explained it away.