Radical Then, Radical Now: Exploring the Legacy of the World’s Oldest Religion (also published as A Letter in the Scroll)

Overview

Originally written as a wedding gift for the author’s son, Radical Then, Radical Now is a powerful testimony to the amazing resilience of the Jewish people who have, through their endurance of four thousand years of persecution and exile, earned a unique place in history. Without land or power, they created an identity for themselves through their shared dreams of freedom, justice, dignity and human rights.

Yet far more than Jewish history is contained within the pages of this book. Jonathan Sacks reminds us all of the legacy of those dreams and of our responsibility to our fellow man. He challenges us to build a better world.

Index

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A

• Aaron 145, 161
• Abaye 159
• Abel 78, 90, 179-80
• Abimelekh 78
• Abrabanel, Don Isaac 16, 18, 20-21
• Abraham 11, 17, 23, 24, 40, 49-52, 53-8, 60, 62, 71, 73, 78, 87, 88, 89-92, 95-102, 106-112, 123, 124, 129,137,140, 146, 172, 178, 180, 183, 190, 198, 208, 217
• Abu Simbel 29
• Adam 66, 73, 78-9, 84, 121, 139, 180
• Adams, John 3
• Adiabene, kingdom of 143
• Aelia Capitolina 137
• agriculture, birth of 66
• Ahab, King 121
• Akiva, Rabbi 141-3, 157
• Alexandria, synagogue in 153
• Alfonso V, King of Portugal 17
• alphabet, invention of 126-9
• Alshekh, Rabbi Moses 7
• Amalek 188
• Amiel, Rabbi Moshe Avigdor 149
• Amos 146, 160, 188
• Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) 35
• Ansky, Sh. 144
• anti-Semitism 14-17, 18, 21, 186-92,194, 199, 204-5, 212, 215, 217
• Arama, Rabbi Isaac ben Moses 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20-21, 23-4, 29, 37
• Arnold, Matthew 171
• Asch, Sholom 97
• Assyrians 22, 135, 148, 150
• atonement 64, 137-44
• Auerbach, Erich 72
• Auschwitz  177-80
• autonomy, concept of 41
• Avot, Ethics of the Fathers 157
• Ayer, A. J. 25

B

• Baal Shem Tov 38, 39
• Baal worship 84, 85
• Babylonian conquest 18, 135, 148
• Babylonian exile 128, 137, 156, 191
• Bacon, Francis 125
• Balaam 193
• Bar Kochba (Simeon Bar Kochba) 136, 141, 153
• Baron, Salo 151
• Benjamin of Tudela 1, 58
• Bentham, Jeremy 170
• Berdyayev, Nicolay 35
• Berlin, Sir Isaiah 89, 115, 214
• bet knesset. See synagogues
• bet midrash (house of study) 157
• British Jewish community 191

C

• Cahill, Thomas 40, 62
• Cain 78, 90, 179-80
• Calatayud, Spain 11
• Canaan 49, 64, 106, 126
• capitalism 121
• Carlebach, Shlomo 185
• Chesterton, G. K.  216
• Chinese inventions 60
• Chosen people, idea of 89-102
• Christianity 4, 15, 21, 62, 82, 83, 87, 97, 113, 138, 140, 144, 146-7, 150, 181, 191, 192, 193, 209, 216
• Churchill, Winston 207
• circumcision 79, 139, 143
• Common Era 138
• Communism 121
• concentration camps 176-81
• conflicted identity 184-95
• conscience 4, 182
• Constantine, Emperor 144
• constitutional government 122, 149
• conversions, forced (conversos) 15-19, 22
• covenantal morality 75-88
• covenantal society 117-36, 148, 167
• covenant (brit) 81
• Covenant of Sinai 11-13, 14, 18, 20, 23, 29, 38, 39, 45, 58, 83, 90, 94, 111-14, 127, 128, 144, 145, 156
• Creation, account of 70-71, 75-6, 154
• Cretans 126
• Cromwell, Oliver 105
• Crusades 89, 147, 185
• Cuddihy, John Murray 199-200
• cuneiform 126

D

• David, King 93, 121, 158, 161
• Day of Atonement 64, 137, 141, 142,144
• Dead Sea 136
• Deborah 71
• Declaration of Independence 72
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 185
• democracy 60, 114, 121, 149, 183
• derashoh (homily) 152
• determinism 162
• Deuteronomy 11, 117, 152
• Diaspora 19, 149, 167, 189, 190, 211
• dietary laws 61, 81, 164
• Dina 78
• Dio 137
• Dreyfus Affair 22, 187, 192
• Durkheim, Emile 101
• Dybbuk, The (Ansky) 144

E

• edot (testimonies) 164
• education 32, 81, 123-5, 128-9, 152, 157-62, 210, 211, 218
• Egypt 29, 30-31, 32, 44, 49, 64, 73, 75, 78, 90, 91, 92, 106, 109, 110-12, 114, 122, 131, 164, 170, 199
• Einstein, Albert 207
• Elazar, Daniel 112, 152
• Elijah 84-5, 121
• Eliot, T. S. 187
• emunah (faithfulness) 39, 81, 82
• enlightenment 40, 45, 51, 97, 185, 199
• Epistle to Yemen, The (Maimonides) 16
• equality 161-2
• Esau 90, 190, 196-9
• Essenes 121
• Eve 66, 73, 78-9, 84, 180
• evil, reality of 54-6
• Ewer, W. N. 123
• Exodus 29, 30, 77, 102, 105-16, 124, 156, 161, 163
• Ezekiel 17, 20, 21, 22, 150, 156, 195
• Ezra 128, 152, 190

F

• family 42, 60, 63, 75, 78, 81, 86-8, 102,122, 129, 156, 165, 169, 193, 210, 212-13
• fate (moira) 99
• Ferdinand, King of Spain 17
• festivals 61, 106, 123, 137-8, 165, 167
• Fleg, Edmond 5, 6, 192
• Flood, story of 89, 98, 163
• Franklin, Benjamin 105
• fraternity, concept of 122, 162
• freedom 23, 31-2, 57, 59, 63, 71, 74, 105-6, 109-10, 115-16, 119, 131, 161-2, 195
• free market 121
• French Revolution 97, 122, 161,185, 215
• Freud, Sigmund 199-200, 215
• Frost, Robert 194

G

• Genesis 70-71, 72-3, 75, 76, 77, 78,102,113,160,164,198
• Gideon 127
• Gifts of the Jews, The (Cahill) 40
• Glasnost 205
• gods 64-6, 68, 71, 75, 77, 105, 107, 114, 143
• Greece 34, 60, 64, 68, 75, 96, 99,100, 102, 119, 126, 130, 136, 143, 157, 163, 169, 170, 171, 177, 186, 199, 209, 210, 216, 217

H

• Hadrian 137
• Hagar 107-8
• Haggadah 17, 175, 188
• hakhamim (rabbis) 157
• halakhah (the way) 160, 219
• Haman 188
• Hanina, Rabbi 149
• Hannah 71
• Hanukkah 148
• Hassidism 38, 175
• Hayyim of Brisk, Rabbi 208
• hedonism 69
• Heine, Heinrich 22, 38, 192
• Herod 136
• Herzl, Theodore 167
• Hess, Moses 21, 167
• hessed (covenantal love) 120, 122, 142, 153, 165
• hevrutah (fellowship of study) 162
• Hezekiah 145
• hieroglyphics 126, 127
• High Priest, office of 137-8, 140
• Hillel 120, 157, 159, 210
• Himmelfarb, Milton 5, 61
• History of the Jews, A (Johnson) 210
• Hitler, Adolf 182, 217
• Hittites 92, 190, 197
• Hobbes , Thomas 118-19, 122
• hofesh (individual freedom) 115
• Holocaust 18, 19, 26, 89, 91, 94, 98, 137, 177-8, 183, 184, 187,189, 190, 194, 195, 204, 207, 212, 213, 215
• Homer 72
• Hosea 82, 84, 160
• Houses of Hillel and Shammai 157
• hukkim (statutes) 164
• Hume, David 40, 213

I

• idolatry, rejection of 72, 83
• imagination 32, 60, 62, 66, 67, 70, 125, 158, 162, 210
• imperialism 89
• individual, birth of 67, 72, 73, 75, 77, 80, 113, 114, 115, 127, 149
• Industrial Revolution 125
• inquisitions 21, 89, 147
• intermarriage 190, 191, 192, 194
• Isaac 11, 50, 78, 90, 107, 108,
• 109, 140, 190, 197
• Isabella, Queen of Spain 17
• Isaiah 40, 146, 160, 195
• Ishmael 90, 108, 109
• Islam 16, 62, 82, 87, 97,113, 150, 193, 216
• Israel
  • creation of State of 166, 167, 183, 190, 194, 207, 211, 215
  • Six Day War (1967) 26-7

J

• Jacob 11, 78, 90, 196-9, 215, 217
• Jefferson, Thomas 105
• Jeremiah 17, 40, 98, 195
• Jerusalem 133, 135, 137, 140, 144, 148, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 157, 183, 184, 219
  • See also Temple in Jerusalem
• Jethro 115
• Jethro's daughters 44
• Jewish ideas, history of 59-74
• jihads 89
• Job 98, 178-9, 180, 214
• Johanan ben Zakkai 156
• Johnson, Paul 4, 52, 157, 209-10
• Joseph 78, 112, 114
• Josephus 129, 143, 148
• Joshua 71
• Joshua ben Gamla 128, 157
• Josiah 145
• Judah, kingdom of 135
• Judah Halevi 15, 132, 134, 188
• Judea 157
• Judges 118, 127

K

• Kant, Immanuel 41, 213
• Kaplan, Mordecai 187
• Karnak 29
• Kellner, Menachem 166
• kibbutz 121
• Kishinev pogroms 187
• knowledge , hierarchy of 125
• Kovno ghetto 166
• Kuzari (Judah Halevi) 15

L

• labour, division of 59, 66
• language 25, 28, 40, 57, 70, 72, 80, 94, 96, 122, 125, 151, 183, 211
• Language, Truth and Logic (Ayer) 25
• law 115-16, 149, 161-2
• Leach, Sir Edmund 26
• Leibowitz, Yeshayahu 160
• letter to the Romans 138
• Leviticus 121
• Lewis, C. S. 102
• liberal revolution 26
• liberty 161, 162, 216
• limpieza de sangre (purity of blood) 21
• Livy 170
• Locke , John 121, 122
• Long Walk to Freedom, The (Mandela) 106
• Lost Ten Tribes 150, 191
• Lot 78
• Luther, Martin 67, 127, 193
• Luxor 29

M

• Maccabees 148, 157
• MacIntyre, Alasdair 215
• Maimonides 15, 16, 159-60, 164, 165
• Mandela, Nelson 106
• Marcion 146
• marriage 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86
• Marx, Groucho 185
• Marx, Karl 100, 131, 215
• Marxism 35, 95, 162
• Masada 136
• Mason, Jackie 185
• materialism 35, 36
• McCartney, Paul 26
• Meaning of History, The (Berdyayev) 36
• Melchizedek 114
• Mendel of Kotsk, Rabbi
• Menahem 154
• Merneptah stele 31
• Mesopotamia 49, 59, 64, 73, 75, 143, 169
• Micah 93, 120, 142, 160
• midrash 52, 55, 56, 98, 180
• Mill, John Stuart 114
• mishkan (tabernacle in wilderness) 153
• mishpat (justice-as-reciprocity) 120
• mishpatim (judgements) 164
• monarchy 118, 145
• monotheism 52, 61, 66, 68, 70, 75, 83, 87, 97, 101, 143, 216
• morality 23, 56-8, 77, 81, 91-3
• covenantal 75-88
• Morganbesser, Sidney 203
• Moses 6-7, 11-13, 16, 17, 23, 24, 31-2, 40, 43-5, 46, 71, 73, 90, 92, 98, 105, 110, 113, 115, 117, 124, 129, 135, 146, 148, 156, 162, 183, 190, 200, 208, 217
• Moses and Monotheism (Freud) 200
• Mount Carmel 84
• Mount Horeb 85
• Mount Sinai 12, 13, 14, 16, 22, 29, 83, 111, 112, 113, 114, 119, 216, 218
• mysticism 14, 101, 194
• myth 51, 65, 66, 68, 69, 71, 75, 101, 125, 214

N

• Nahmanides 15, 159
• Nash, John 132
• Nathan 121
• natural law 56
• Nebuchadnezzar 188
• Nehemiah 190
• neo-Darwinism 100, 162
• New Age mysticisms 101
• Nietzsche, Friedrich 139, 181, 182, 213
• Ninth of Av 184
• Nitzavim 11
• Noah 78, 96-8, 120
• Nuremberg trials 178

O

• Odysseus' Scar (Auerbach) 72
• oracles 100
• Ordeal of Civility, The: Freud, Marx, Levi-Strauss and the Jewish Struggle with Modernity (Cuddihy) 199
• Outline of History (Wells) 128

P

• Pascal, Blaise 33-4
• Passover (Pesach) 106, 110, 130,164, 167
• Paul, Saint 138-44
• peace, value of 93
• Pentecost (Shavuot) 164
• Persia 170, 183, 199
• philosophy 96, 97, 163
• Phoenicians 126
• pictographic script 126
• Pinsker, Judah Leib 189
• Plutarch 130
• pogroms 89, 147, 187
• polis 102
• Pompey 154
• printing, invention of 59, 60, 67, 126-7
• private property 119
• probability, theory of 34
• prophets 17, 40, 51, 58, 73, 82, 84, 93, 100, 128, 129, 133, 135, 142, 145, 147, 156, 160, 170, 183, 195, 217
• Proverbs 139
• Psalms 146, 149, 161
• Puritanism 67

Q

• Qumran 136

R

• Rameses II 29-30
• Rashi 12, 159
• rationalism 97
• Rav 159
• Rava 159
• Rebecca 78, 190
• Rees-Mogg, William 4
• Reformation 67, 68, 126
• relationship, search for 75-88
• Renaissance 68, 169
• Romans 18, 130, 135, 136-7, 141, 144, 149, 154, 156, 186
• Rome and Jerusalem (Hess) 21
• Rosenzweig, Franz 165
• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 118
• Rowse, A. L. 46
• Rubin, Rabbi Yitzhak 232
• Russell, Bertrand 169
• Russian Revolution 35, 97

S

• Sabbath (Shabbat) 61, 81, 101, 116, 130-35, I58, 165, 184, 194, 213, 218
• Safire, William 214
• Salanter, Rabbi Israel 95
• Samuel 117-19, 145
• Sarah 49, 52, 55, 60, 71, 78, 95, 96, 107, 108, 109, 124, 146, 178
• Sartre, Jean-Paul 41
• Saul, King 118, 148
• Saul of Tarsus. See Paul, Saint
• Schneersohn, Rabbi Menachem Mendel 201, 237
• science 68-71, 160, 168
• secular humanism 82
• seder 106 , 110, 167, 175-6
• Sefer Torah 38
• self-consciousness 57, 70, 76, 162
• Seneca 130
• sexual relationships 78-80
• Shammai 157, 159
• Shapiro, Rabbi Kalonymous 178
• Shavuot 164
• Shechem 78
• Shekhinah (God's indwelling presence) 160, 213
• Shema 124
• Shi'ite Muslims 16
• Shmuel 159
• Simeon bar Yochai, Rabbi 28
• Simeon ben Zemah Duran, Rabbi 165
• Simon ben Shetach 128
• Six Day War (1967) 26-7
• social breakdown 169-70
• social contract 118, 119, 120, 148
• socialism 121
• societies, emergence of 66
• society, covenantal 117-35
• Sodom 78, 98
• Solomon, King 154
• Soloveitchik, Rabbi Joseph 208
• Song of Songs 182
• Soviet Union 101, 169, 183
• Spanish Inquisition 21
• Spanish Jewry 14-19, 21-2, 51, 158, 185, 191, 193
• Spinoza, Baruch 215
• state, theory of the 117-20, 122
• Stern, M. 150-51
• stoicism 69
• Succoth (Sukkot) 127, 128, 164
• Sumerians 65-6, 126
• survival instinct 20
• synagogues 50, 129, 145
  • establishment of 150-55, 157

T

• Tabernacles (Sukkot) 164
• Tacitus 130
• Talmud 17, 22, 91, 137, 153, 158, 168
• Tel Lakhish 128
• Temple in Jerusalem
  • destruction of first 17, 150
  • destruction of second 17, 135, 136, 137, 141, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 153
• Ten Commandments 110, 113, 164
• teshuvah (return of "sinner" to God) 142
• Third Reich 101, 169, 183
• Thirteen Principles of Faith 165
• Tigris-Euphrates valley 65
• Titus 136
• Tocqueville, Alexis de 114
• Tolstoy, Leo 3, 34-5
• Torah 14, 18, 22, 23, 38-9, 50-51, 83, 86, 92, 10 112, 116, 123, 128-30, 133, 139, 152-4, 156, 157-62, 163, 165, 212, 216
• Tosafists 159
• Tower of Babel 65, 89
• Treblinka 176
• tribalism 91, 94
• Trilling, Lionel 67
• trust 80, 81, 83, 86, 102
• Twerski, Rabbi Abraham 208
• tzedek (social or redistributive justice ) 120-21, 153, 212
• tzidduk ha-din (coming to terms with suffering and loss) 99

U

• universalism 91, 94
• universal literacy 127, 128

V

• Valladolid Synod 158
• Vespasian, Emperor 136, 156
• Volozhyn yeshivah 208
• Voltaire 187

W

• Walzer, Michael 116, 133
• War and Peace (Tolstoy) 34
• Warsaw ghetto 177, 178
• Weber, Max 70
• welfare state 120, 149
• Wells, H. G. 128 wheel, invention of 59
• Why I Am a Jew (Fleg) 5, 192
• Wiesel, Elie 18, 177
• Wordsworth, William 7
• writing, invention of 126
• Wycliffe, John 126

Y

• Yavneh, academy at 156, 157
• Yemen 15
• yeshivah (academy) 157
• yetser hara (evil inclination) 138
• Yitzhak of Berditchev, Rabbi Levi 134
• Yom ha-Shoah 184
• Yom Kippur 137

Z

• ziggurats 65, 97