Customer Reviews

One People?: Tradition, Modernity, and Jewish Unity (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

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In this book, Sacks (the Chief Rabbi of Great Britian] focuses on how Orthodox Jews should relate to Reform Judaism (and to a lesser extent, other liberal Jewish movements; Sacks focuses on Reform because it is the oldest non-Orthodox denomination, and because it differs more sharply from Orthodoxy than does Conservative or Reconstructionist Judaism).

Sacks sketches out three options: exclusivism (that is, treating non-Orthodox Jews as if they were Christians), pluralism (treating other Jewish movements as equally valid), and what he calls "inclusivism"- treating rival Jewish movements as partially but not completely valid.

Sacks endorses the latter, middle, course, asserting that pluralism is impractical because Reform (and to a lesser extent, other Jewish denominations) reject the binding character of traditional Jewish law, and thus create unbridgeable gaps between Orthodoxy and its rivals.

Sacks also explains the differences among Orthodox Jews, focusing on the concept of "aggadic pluralism." Sacks explains that even though Orthodox Jews may abide by the same day-to-day religious law (or halacha) there is no uniform Orthodox position on matters outside halacha - for example, what the stories in Genesis mean, or the theological implications (if any) of the Holocaust. I thought his discussion of this issue was valuable for both non-Orthodox and Orthodox Jews (both of whom occasionally mistake the position of one or two rabbis or intellectuals with the "Orthodox position").

I think this book is an excellent guide to the differences among Jews, and would recommend it to anyone mystified by 20th-century Judaism.

I liked this book. It addresses in a thoughtful manner many of the problems which we see in our people.