Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World

Written by Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World asks the questions: Why are Jews so often involved in causes central to justice, equality, human rights, and peace? Are they influenced by religion, history, sociology, or some other factor? Judaism and Justice examines the relationship between Judaism, social justice, and the Jewish identity of American Jews. From core values of the Rabbinic tradition, to the long history of Jewish struggles for civil rights, to the core and sometimes conflicting impulses to both survive (Exodus) and help the world become in accordance with a higher moral standard (Sinai), Judaism and Justice examines history with a keen account of missteps and falterings among Jews as well as their positive contributions to world history. Of especial interest is the chapter concerning Israel, and how the relationship of identification between American Jews and Israel has had to change in recent years, and is almost certainly not done changing. Highly recommended.

I am giving this book five stars because I think it terribly important that Jews be reminded of their moral bearings and because we desperately need people like Rabbi Schwarz, rather than the usual mean, narcissistic lineup, to be speaking for the American Jewish community. Peace in the Middle East, and peace between the West and Arab and Islamic worlds, require it. This book cleared up two big mysteries for me. Most people raised in a Christian tradition, as I was, wonder how Jews can see themselves as a light unto nations, as having a superior sense of right and wrong, as having a calling to raise the morality of the world. We look at the Old Testament and see behavior that is barbaric by the standards of today, and we remember that Jesus had powerful objections against Judaism. I saw an answer in this book: Judaism kept developing and it is the writings in the Talmud, the rabbinic wisdom that poured forth for hundreds of years after the time of Christ, that lifted and defined the Judaistic concept of morality. In chapter 8 where Schwarz articulates several of the core values of Judaism, he relies principally on the Talmud, not the Torah. The second mystery for me was the drive that the Jews have to preserve their religion and culture and not be swallowed up in the world, to not assimilate, to not disappear as a distinct people. Rabbi Schwarz points out that Jews hear a calling to be "a nation apart". I was especially interested in his discussion of Jews in America, how they can be a part but also apart... that America is a cultural mosaic rather than a melting pot. That is an extraordinarily important observation as it points to how the Israelis might be able to make peace with the Palestinians - by sharing the land while maintaining social and family separation. I think the only chance now of peace between Israelis and Palestinians is a unitary binational state in which Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza are combined into one new state with equal rights for all. Rabbi Schwarz's observation shows that the "nation apart" calling need not be a show stopper. I was distressed by several aspects of this book and will mention the most important one. Rabbi Schwarz ignores the elephant in the room, the behavior of Israel. The world sees how Israel oppresses the Palestinians, takes their land... and this behavior screams injustice and immorality. How can a book on Judaism and justice virtually ignore the very behavior that largely defines Jewish morality in the eyes of the world (and unfavorably)? Worse, how can this book ignore the very behavior that is driving the world towards a war between the West and the Arab and Islamic worlds? Perhaps Rabbi Schwarz has not set foot, in recent times, in the West Bank or Gaza and is ignorant of the behavior of Israel? Please Rabbi Schwarz, focus like a laser on Israel's shockingly bad behavior and demand that it change. Jews talk of being a light unto nations... they talk the talk, now walk t