Why Should Jews Survive?: Looking Past the Holocaust Toward a Jewish Future

204 Pages·1995·9.3 MB·English

by  Michael Goldberg

Why Should Jews Survive?
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Why
Should
Jews
Survive?
Looking Past the Holocaust
toward a Jewish Future
MICHAEL GOLDBERG
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay
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and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1995 by Michael Goldberg
First published in 1995 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1996
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goldberg, Michael, 1950-
Why should Jews survive? / by Michael Goldberg.
p. cm. Includes index.
ISBN 0-19-509109-4
ISBN 0-19-511126-5 (Pbk.)
1. Jews—Identity.
2. Judaism—20th century.
3. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)—Influence.
4. Holocaust (Jewish theology)
5. Exodus, The—History of doctrines.
!. Title. DS143.G573 1995 296.3'11—dc20 94-36969
10 9876543 21
Printed in the United States of America
To my father,
in memory,
To my sons,
in hope,
To my God,
in thanks.
I shall not die, but live to tell
the story of the Lord's deeds.
Psalm 118:17
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Preface
This book will provoke many people. It is meant to.
But the provocation is not for provocation's sake. It is for God's
sake and for the sake of the Jewish People, his people. This book
means to provoke, to spark passionate discussion among that people
about what it means to be God's people. For part of what this book
claims is that unless we are such a people, there is in the end pre-
cious little to talk about—and even less worth listening to. Instead,
the air will be filled with chatter about "Jewish identity," "Jewish
values," and that old chestnut, "Jewish survival."
Clearly, such topics are important to most Jews, especially post-
Holocaust. But why they should be important to anybody else is far
from clear. And yet we Jews have generally never been content to
have our conversation stop at the borders of our own community.
Something about us, we have been wont to say, is not merely signifi-
cant, but vital for the rest of the world to hear. Once, it was word of
our God, who was not our God only, but the world's own true Lord.
Now, following the Holocaust, many Jews would change that word
to warning, not from God's chosen people, but from history's pre-
ferred victim: "This could happen to you! We will let it happen to us
never again!" That word, however, seems to be reaching an ever-
shrinking audience, even among Jews—witness the ever-soaring in-
termarriage rate. Ironically, word of the Holocaust absent word of
God may subvert Jewish survival instead of sustain it.
Provocative books sometimes provoke readers to read them care-
lessly and thus attribute to them positions they do not hold. Here are
some positions not taken by this book:
viii Preface
First, the book most definitely does not take the position that
the Holocaust never happened. In all its awful brutality, it surely
did happen. This book does not dispute the fact of the Holocaust—
only its significance for the Jewish People.
Furthermore, the book's position is not "anti-Israel." It is, how-
ever, anti any position that would have us view the State of Israel
like any other nation-state and that would fail to see its establish-
ment as both a God-given opportunity and trust with wider implica-
tions for the rest of the nation-states on earth.
Moreover, the book does not take any position that could or
should be labeled "Orthodox," "Conservative," or "Reform." In the
1990s, the world witnessed the collapse of the greatest ideology it has
ever known. Hence, it hardly seems worth the effort as we approach
the twenty-first century to champion ideologies from the nineteenth
that are little more than Jewish versions of German philosophical
mistakes.
Finally, the book's position is not liberal, nor is it conservative;
these stances, too, represent contemporary holdovers from another
century's flawed philosophical ideals. The editors of the liberal
Tikkun and the conservative Commentary have more in common,
respectively, with Jesse Jackson and Ronald Reagan than either of
them has with Maimonides—or with me. If one party says that two
plus two equals six, and another party replies that two plus two
equals eight, the correct response is not that two plus two equals
seven. In the language of this book, today's Jewish liberals and con-
servatives are inhabitants of the same "master story." This book asks
them to enter a different story.
So if all these are positions the book does not take, what posi-
tions does it finally espouse? If that question were answered in the
Preface, what need would there be to read—or to have written—the
rest of the book?
This book could not possibly have been written or brought to
publication without the help of many other people: Louis Bernstein,
Barry Cytron, David DeCosse, Lilian Furst, Peter Hellman, Martin
Kahn, Wendy Lipkind, James McClendon, Julie Magilen, Nancey
Murphy, Margie Rashti, Hal Rast, Barbara and Dan Shellist,
Theophus Smith, Dick Snider, Susan Stern, and Marc Wilson. I par-
ticularly want to thank both Cynthia Read of Oxford University
Press for her exceptionally insightful editorial suggestions and Rose-
mary Wellner for her first-rate copyediting. The counsel of all these
people proved not simply beneficial, but crucial. If this book does
indeed provoke controversy, let it be said that while the views ex-
Preface ix
pressed are mine, the courage and commitment reflected are theirs.
It has been and remains a blessing to know them, and I thank God
for them.
Finally, I thank God for God: Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheynu
Melech HaOlam, sheasah li nes bamakom hazeh. "You are to be
praised, Adonai, our God, King of the World, for having performed a
miracle for me in this place."
Erev Yom Kippur, 5755 M.G.
September 14, 1994