Edward Feinstein

This book was part of an adult education course at my synagogue, but the level of the material is not appropriate for adults. It is also more simplistic than the level I normally teach to junior high or high school students.

I really disliked chapter 6. The point of the chapter was presumably to explain that there are many Jews who are atheists, which is a worthwhile concept to discuss. But I have heard much better explanations from atheist Jews at my synagogue. This chapter implied that all Jews must be atheist, and it incorrectly identified the concept that "God is everything" as athiesm when it it actually called pantheism. This chapter's insistence that God is just our name for an impersonal force, or a verb rather than a being, disagrees with what is said in the rest of the book, where God is spoken of as a person (although not as a human being). Also, as my Rabbi has argued, although individual Jews can survive and thrive without God, Judaism cannot survive without God. How can Judaism be a covenantal faith if God is not a personal being? We cannot have a relationship with an impersonal force.

I liked the last chapter, which agreed with other discussions I have had about the value of observing mitzvot: "if you don't make a choice to shape your life, there are forces around you that will do it for you. If you don't live life on purpose, you'll live by accident."

Some of the concepts in the book were interesting and worthwhile to consider, but they are presented in a more compelling and age-appropriate way in other texts.… (mais)