Robinson - Essential Judaism : a complete guide to beliefs, customs, and rituals

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Critical acclaim for

George Robinson

and

Essential Judaism

I expected ESSENTIAL JUDAISM to be a dry encyclopedia of beliefs and writings. But no, its a lively, fascinating overview of Jewish life and practice. For a Catholic like me, its a valuable means for becoming a little less ignorant of a religion and a spiritual way of life that I treasure and often envy.

Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and Original Self

An authorial feat thats a readers feast.... Even readers who think their library of Judaica is complete may be surprised and enlightened.

Kirkus Reviews

Comprehensive and informative.... Almost 3,000 years of Jewish history, thought, and culture are brought to life in this extraordinary work.

George Cohen, Booklist

For Jew and non-Jew alike, an encyclopedic source of information.

The Dallas Morning News

George Robinson speaks to many like-minded souls who... yearn for a stronger sense of Jewish identity and community.

Diane Cole, The New York Times Book Review

Excellent.... A valuable, sensitive one-volume guide to Jewish practice.

Publishers Weekly

Outstanding... every Jewish family needs one for their home library.

Sybil Kaplan, The National Jewish Post & Opinion

A Book-of-the-Month Club Selection

POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
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Copyright 2000 by George Robinson

Originally published in hardcover in 2000 by Pocket Books

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

Robinson, George, 1953

Essential Judaism: a complete guide to beliefs, customs and rituals/George Robinson.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-1-439-11752-1 (eBook)

ISBN-13: 978-0-671-03481-8 (print)

ISBN-10: 0-671-03481-2

1. Judaism. I. Title.

BM561.R58 2000

296dc21

99-055288

First Pocket Books trade paperback printing September 2001

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Cover design by Brigid Pearson

To Margalit Fox,

Marsha Melnick,

Margaret Moers Wenig

women of valor.

And for Joel David Robinson and Lenora Miller Robinsonmay their memory be a blessing.

For me, it all began with Paul Cowan. I never knew him, but when I picked up a copy of his wonderful memoir An Orphan in History, a book about his return to Judaism as an adult, it set me off on my own journey. On one level, this book is the culmination of that trip, and I have Cowan to thank. Otherwise I never would have come to be here.

Here, for me, is Beth Am, The Peoples Temple, a small, sometimes struggling, Reform congregation in Washington Heights. Upper Manhattan was once the home of many thousands of Jewish refugees from the Nazis, elegant and cultivated Austrians, Germans, and Hungarians who had been forced to flee for their lives. But by the time I moved to the Heights, nearly twenty years ago, they were moving out or dying out, and it was hard for a Reform congregation to survive, let alone grow.

But Beth Am has survived and, in the decade I have been a member, grown (albeit slowly). Had I read Cowan but not discovered Beth Am, I might have taken another path to Judaism or even a path away. I was lucky enough to find Beth Am shortly after reading the book and that, as they say, has made all the difference.

Many of the ideas in this volume were first broached at Beth Am. The section on Zionist thought had its genesis in a class I taught in 19971998 with Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig. My thanks go to the four students in that classNeta Bolzman, David Brent, Joseph Herson, and Benjamin Stixwho helped keep my thinking clear and honest. Likewise, the eight studentsAllison Ancowitz, Abraham Ace Bouchard, Michael Herson, Elana Leopold, Tina Ritter, Joshua Rotbert, Daniel Saez, and Gabriel Salzmanin the class on Torah that I co-taught with Rabbi Wenig, Gerson Goodman, and Edith Rubino the following year were helpful in ways which they are too young to be aware of yet. The sidebar on Torah cantillation was helped immeasurably by the contributions of Margot Fein. The sections on the divergences among the four streams of American Judaism and the divisions within the Jewish people that emerged with Emancipation were road-tested in an adult education class that Ernest Rubinstein and I taught in January 1999. The chapter on Jewish Philosophy had its beginnings in an excellent class that Ernie taught a few years earlier, and his gracious assistance in reviewing that chapter was an absolutely essential part of its completion. Many of my own ideas on prayer, the Festivals and the Sabbath were first aired from Beth Ams pulpit or in the spirited discussions that invariably follow Friday night services. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the entire congregation deserves thanks for letting me bend their ears from time to time.

One member of the congregation must get special thanks. When someone asks me, Who did you write this book for? I will always think of Connie Heymann. Connie was my naive informant, a person who isnt an expert in the field but whose intelligence and interest (not to mention patience) made her the perfect reader. She vetted the entire manuscript and made thorough and helpful suggestions and comments throughout. For her many hours of help, I thank her (and her husband John Muller and their charming daughter Katherine Muller) profusely.

I have also been fortunate in having the aid of several expert readers who helped me refine the ideas found here: Michael Michlin, for his work on in staggering detail. Needless to say, they are not responsible for any mistakes found in these pages.

I must express special gratitude to Beth Ams extraordinary rabbi. I grew up in the labor movement and Democratic party politics and when my father used the word rabbi he sometimes meant a Jewish member of the clergy but equally often was referring to a mentor or protector or just a good friend. Margaret Moers Wenig has been all of those things to me and to the rest of her congregants. Rabbi literally means teacher or master, and she has been that as well. Her input in was invaluable, but she has left her stamp on the author of this book even more than on the book itself. My thanks also to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, one of the people who suggested me as a possible author, and who was an excellent guide to the burgeoning world of gay and lesbian synagogue life.