Although clearly dated, this 1984 Jewish classic written by Ahroni Dov Fisch is must-read. It gives a very broad overview of the problem of Jewish alienation, where it had led to up to its publication date, and some suggestions about how to deal with it. For those unfamiliar with what Judaism teaches, it serves as a great introduction. Even for someone like me who has read similar material, the first section on cults was a whole new world and I gained tremendously.
The book is divided in half, and perhaps the halves were reversed but who am I to question. The basic premise of the book is that Jewish ignorance about Judaism is causing major damage to both the Jewish identity and moral backbone of Jews and Judaism. It starts with an introduction to a number of different cults that were prevalent back in the ’60’s and ’70’s, though I here they haven’t gone away, just that they get less press now than they did then. After a thorough explanation, you really don’t understand the draw of these groups other than what Rabbi Fisch says that the modern Jewish establishment wasn’t offering anything better. The second half of the book details, sometimes excruciatingly, what exactly it is that is happening in the Jewish community that’s causing Jews to become alienated from Judaism. He builds the case well.
Ironically I guess, part of it already has become current with the passing of Sun Myun Moon, one of the “great” cult leaders of the 20th century. Understanding what he did to get started can certainly help to stop others from causing similar damage in the future. It should be interesting to see what the Unification Church will do now that their deity has passed on (yes “Moonies” worship him). My guess is that an event that should cause everyone to walk away from it will ultimately strengthen it since it’s getting a lot of press. Also, the media seems to be very afraid to slam it for the damage that it’s done, most likely because of his extensive financial holdings. It really doesn’t help that he started the Washington Times.
There were two weaknesses and they did take away from the book at some level. The first is that the book reads like he’s angry and exasperated. It can even be preachy. It’s very clear that the audience isn’t people that don’t know anything about Judaism but it is rather a polemic against the Jewish establishment and it is meant for them to read as a wake-up call. Your average college student isn’t going to feel like he’s talking to them, and he’s really not. The second issue is he decides to touch the religion vs. science issue. He shouldn’t have because in a debate he’d get smacked down. He doesn’t seem to be aware of all of the science issues or all of the different ways that the rabbis over the generations have handled it. Gerald Schroeder’s books are much better at dealing with those issues. Not perfect but much better. It doesn’t ultimately take away from the message though and any Jew could really ultimately benefit from reading it.
Aug 28 2012: Peter, if I can try to put it more succinctly (and fail I guess)… If Buddhist scriptures said a miraculous event happened, and that there were 10,000 eye witnesses, and even listed their names, was recorded at the time, and this was an instrumental event in the development of the religion, perhaps even resulting in their persecution, I suspect you would be sceptical. Especially if it were not mentioned in any other historical records or there was no way to verify it. I vaguely recall at some point god’s voice is supposed to have been been heard by the whole nation. That’s a lot of ear witnesses. And yet we have no way of verifying it happened. I suggest if you really unpack your arguments about the resurrection miracle they are not so different to other biblical miracles or the miracles in other religions. I also remember arguing the same points you do and wanting to believe the resurrection was slam dunk incontestable evidence. But when I looked at it with an open mind I saw it could have happened, but it is far from conclusive, unless you make all sorts of assumptions that you wouldn’t with some other belief system. For starters you don’t know what is made up and what people honestly believed occurred and there is no way to reasonably verify it. Rationally it almost beggars belief that the creator of the universe relies on the Koran and Bible to get an important message across that may result in eternal damnation. If you make an extraordinary claim you need extraordinary evidence, and a holy book saying it happened and was witnesses by lots of people doesn’t come close. There are living people who believe they have been abducted by aliens. I guess many are sincere. However, we don’t just take their word for it. You can believe something extraordinary happened if you want, but you are perhaps being deceived if you believe it is incontestable and verified beyond reasonable doubt. Same with the miracles of any belief system I have come across.
I’m convinced this is spam but I’ll address it anyway. If it isn’t I apologize to the author.
The author of this post is addressing a fundamental issue in relative proofs of religion. Every religion makes claims to its authenticity in two ways: offering an explanation of the world and some kind of historical reason for accepting the messenger, usually something that can be described as a miracle. The logic system has to be assessed individually by every person while the miracle claim has to stand up to the standard by which we accept things as being historical. The most accepted standard is Hume’s criteria: for something to be accepted as historical (I believe he refers specifically to miracles) the historical event has to be something by which faking it would be a less plausible explanation. For example, it would be less plausible to say that someone dug two holes one night in the middle of NY’s financial district and faked a whole bunch of photos and videos than to say the Twin Towers were taken down by planes. We say the events during the Exodus and the Revelation at Mt. Sinai fit Hume’s test, so no actually we are different from other religions.