America's Real War (Paperback)

Christianity, he maintains, provides a proper basis for human liberty, a solid foundation for the free market, and (importantly) a place for Torah-true Judaism in American society. A secular culture can do none of these things.

Rabbi Lapin is under no illusion that there are no important theological differences between Judaism and Christianity; on the contrary, he knows full well that agreement on such matters is not strictly possible for those who remain faithful to their own traditions. However, as he is also at pains to show, Christianity incorporates enough principles of Mosaic law that Torah-observant Jews can feel safe in a Christian culture.

Not so a secular culture, he warns. Secularism is at present cruising on fuel it borrowed from Western religious tradition; once that fuel is exhausted, anything goes.

Many theologically liberal Jews have therefore, in Rabbi Lapin's view, been fighting the wrong enemy. The real foe is not "anti-Semitism"; it is irreligion. Whatever their theological differences, Christianity and Judaism should be brothers in arms in the fight for America's culture.

Agree or disagree, Rabbi Lapin's case is solidly mounted and strikingly put. His book should be read by anyone interested in the preservation of liberty.

The central metaphor in this book is a tug-of-war between Godliness on one side and godlessness on the other. This metaphor rests on two fundamental assumptions: that faith in God is central to the American experiment, and that the political divide between Right and Left hinges on acceptance or rejection of traditional Judeo-Christian values.

Rabbi Lapin establishes these assumptions convincingly. He turns to America's roots, from the original nature of the Colonies to the views of the Founding Fathers, to show that the very idea of the American nation arose from Judeo-Christian faith. Indeed, he shows how many of the central ideas of Colonial and Revolutionary America came directly from the Hebrew bible. He traces the supremacy of God in American political life through the mid-20th century, showing how judges and political figures continued into the 1960s to appeal to the Judeo-Christian God and His values in support of their positions.

Since that time, Rabbi Lapin argues, traditional religion has clearly delineated the sides in the culture war. Rabbi Lapin shows how, despite the presence of many clergymen in the ranks of the American Left, traditional Judeo-Christian belief and practice stand in direct opposition to many positions of the Left.

A central irony of this divide is that the political values of most American Jews are antithetical to the traditional Jewish values expressed in the Torah and Talmud. For example, as Rabbi Lapin points out, mainstream Jewish organizations denounce as "homophobia" any criticism of homosexuality, yet the Western proscription against homosexuality originates in the Hebrew Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament).

The source of this contradiction, Rabbi Lapin maintains, is the tension between the liberalizing tendency in non-Orthodox Judaism and the stubborn desire of Jews to cling to their Jewish identity. Rather than simply renounce Judaism once they have abandoned its tenets, many Jews stridently argue that the religion has changed to match their views - even to the point of no longer requiring a belief in God.

This is why, Rabbi Lapin argues, traditional Judaism has more in common politically with the Christian Coalition than with many Jewish political organizations. Both traditional Jews and Christian conservatives share a belief in a God-fearing society as the ideal plan for mankind.

Indeed, the removal of God from this central role in American society has, in Rabbi Lapin's view, led to the decline in our society's morals, culture, and educational attainment, and will ultimately lead to the downfall of our economic and political systems. Rabbi Lapin reminds us that illegitimacy, abortion, welfare dependency, crime, and other societal evils have all soared in the decades since God lost his place in American public life.

Thus, though he faces criticism from many Jews (who view the Religious Right as the enemy) and distrust from some Christians (who identify Judaism with liberalism), Rabbi Lapin places himself squarely on the side of religious faith and traditional values in the tug-of-war against ungodly liberalism for America's future. He invites all Americans of faith and good will to join him.

The message of Real War consists of three parts. First, Rabbi Lapin develops the evidence that America was expressly founded as a Christian nation. This will not surprise readers familiar with the writings of the Founding Fathers or those who understand how liberty blossomed as Biblical ideas made their way into European political and economic thought in the centuries from the signing of the Magna Carta to the writings of Blackstone. But Lapin approaches the subject from a fresh perspective, demonstrating how America's Founders appreciated uniquely Jewish customs and ideas at a time when "Hebrew was an accomplishment of gentlemen."

Second, Rabbi Lapin demonstrates how moral ideas that can only be completely found in the Jewish and Christian scriptures work to produce wealth, liberty, and fulfilling lives. Lapin leads the reader to see how ideas like personal accountability and private property create incentives for people to use their God-given talents to get ahead by serving the needs of others. At the same time, Lapin shows that the causes of the political left - like abortion and opposition to capital punishment - are logically inconsistent, and that the sole idea uniting today's jackboot liberals is opposition to God's ideas revealed in the Torah and Bible.

Woven throughout Real War is Rabbi Lapin's third theme, a call to American Jews to return to the principles of Torah. In fact, with a chutzpah only a Rabbi could muster, Lapin unabashedly bases all of his social, economic, and political arguments solely on the Old Testament, as explained in the 2500 year old oral tradition of the Rabbis, the Talmud.

But it is this very approach that will make the book especially endearing to Christian readers. Christians know that Jesus came not to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill them. (Mt. 5:17) On page after page as I read, I found myself coming to a fresh and deeper appreciation of the Bible thanks to Talmud's ancient insight.

There can be no doubt that the real challenge facing America today is a war of ideas. In showing that this war is really the timeless battle between good and evil, between ideas born of God and ideas born of rebellion against Him, Rabbi Lapin has crafted a work that will be relevant for years to come.