Return to main site

THE JEWISH WAY OF LIFE A couple months ago, as I drove to Katy's house, I stopped by a local scout hall to check out a book stall. $2 per book, 50c per record. These days, old records don't interest me, but I spent a good hour perusing each and every table for books of interest. One of those books was a treatise on the Jewish lifestyle, written by novelist and screenwriter Herman Wouk: This Is My God (The Jewish Way of Life) . I expected the book to be in a similar vein to a McDowell, Lewis or Strobel publication, addressing the Jewish beliefs like an apologetic work. Rather, the emphasis here was on the religious laws and rituals. Wouk is a practising Jew, and quite a devout, conservative one. Yet strangely, to him Judaism seems to have little to do with the worship of God as the average orthodox Christian knows it. This took me by surprise. Myself being Christian – a belief which grew directly from Judaism – I expected to read about the Old Testament's revelation of God and His plan for a Messiah. But there was no mention of anything that I considered basic Judaism. The entire study was focused on Jewish law and customs. Previously I had discovered what is called Jewish Mysticism. This is the source of the character Lilltih, whom I researched after hearing she was supposedly Adam's first wife before Eve. As it turns out, she is not of the Torah, but an invention of Rabbinic midrashim, which is folk lore, developed through the stories of Rabbis for expounding the matters of the Torah. Judaism, as described by Wouk, seems to be something similar. Their religion is based on the Torah (our Old Testament) foremost, and largely also the Talmud, being a compendium of civil and ceremonial law and legend written by Jewish teachers; a text far greater than anybody could study, let alone comply with, in a lifetime. I am yet to research what differences there are between the midrashim and the Talmud. Yet ultimately, the Torah is the Jews' word of God, and the Talmud is the work of men, yet forms a substantial amount of their religious practise. Wouk describes his religion in the most beautiful terms. He details the ceremonies of the Bar Mitzvah, Yom Kippur, and their many feasts and religious observances with great reverence for their meaning and power. In particular he describes the magic of the festivals as experienced by a child. He also speaks of visiting the Holy Land. One image I have of the Jewish people is of a pilgrimage to Israel. I've seen footage of Jews in their suit, beard and caps, praying at the Jerusalem Wall, rocking toward and kissing the stone, as if having some spiritual experience. Although I am not of the Pentecostal persuasion, or any similar parallel, I can understand the image, though it may seem strange. Yet Wouk speaks not of spiritual experience or enlightenment. Nor in his book does he speak of salvation. Or much of the afterlife. Surely these issues are of great importance to God's chosen people! Or is it a given, that identifying yourself as Jewish is all that is required by God? Wouk's overall stance on the truest form of Judaism is mixed. Although he understands the importance of following his laws closely as possible for an American Jew in the 1950's, he sees no harm in rejecting many Jewish customs. The exception to this though, he made strongly, is that children should be brought up in a strongly Jewish environment. Should a child grow up as a Jew, experiencing only Yom Kippur and certain festivals and without studying Hebrew or the Talmud, he would reach his Bar Mitzvah believing it to be a farce. Ultimately it is easiest for him at this stage to reject the religion, not knowing what it is, though may will retain the Jewish tag. Sounds like Western Christianity. The non-conformist children of more religious parents may take their own children to church on Easter and Christmas, but when the child comes of age, he knows nothing of Christianity and his grandparents' religion is lost. This is why we call ourselves a Christian nation, when no more than 10% of us are practising believers. Wouk argues that their Jewish customs should be practised strongly among children so they later can make an informed decision to keep on with it. Arithmetic and science are taught at an age when children will scarcely use them. But when the time comes when they need to, they have those skills at hand. Religion also. It is better to know what you're rejecting than to never understand it. Especially so when a Jew is always labelled a Jew and so certain things are expected of him. Regardless of not being what I'd expected, this book is full of gems. It was written just shy of fifty years ago, yet the language might suggest it was penned by a scholarly man of today. And although Wouk went into great detail over the laws and ceremonies of the Jewish faith, it proves worth trudging through each page at a comfortable pace. Every few pages lies a tiny piece of great wisdom which I have not found in much of my prior reading. This man is a Jew like we should be as Christians. He makes no claim to be a theologian, yet he understands his religion and follows it sincerely. A rare occurrence, I would have shown up at Katy's house earlier than I was expected. But after seeing that sign "$2 books", I was once again rather late on arrival. I expect many of those books I picked up will go unread or will not actually interest me. This one took my interest because it was a change from my usual Christian apologetics, yet closely related. Well, maybe not as closely as I had expected. Surely Judaism BC was more of the God-centered belief that one would expect Christianity to spring from. There have been many changes in Jewry over its three millennia; this book examines Judaism in its modern form (the past 1000 years until today). The study of pre-Christian Judaism comes next. Lindsey Joel 23 July 2006 If you read this, please leave me your thoughts: