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Summary: The reasoning is solid. A book of faith for generations.
Review: One of my alltime favorites. Such a faith building book.
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Summary: Enlightening
Review: One of the most though-provoking books I have ever read, As a Driven Leaf not only brings to life the days of our sages, but it also illuminates the philosophical challenges Jews - and really anyone in search of "the truth" - face even today. Everyone - Jewish and not - should read and re-read this book.
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Summary: Downgrading the Sages of Israel!
Review: Out of the author's very limited imagination, comes a fictionalized account of the great sages of the Talmud,placed within a mundane, banal, and totally "turned off" mentality and spirituality. The great sages are unlikeable and close minded, weak and slightly retarded. A waste of time to read this book,(wish I could erase the impression from my mind), and it is not suitable for teenagers or adults. Avoid this book. Even the literary style(style?) does not justify it being written.
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Summary: Testimonial to theological truth
Review: Rabbi Milton Steinberg, whose untimely death prevented him from continuing a promising writing career, elaborates on an enigmatic historical figure and the conflict between conceited rationalism and pious faith. The drama grows as the inner conflict intensifies, leading to a tragic conclusion. Although it falls short of being a fiction masterpiece, it is an engaging read with important messages.
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Summary: If you only read one book this lifetime...
Review: Read "As a Driven Leaf". This book will change the way you think about what kind of Jew you are and what you want to be. Steinberg brings the past to life while making it relevant to the reader in surprising ways. I've read it 3 times, and each time, I gave it away to a friend. Your friends should be so lucky.
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Summary: "Wilt Thou harass a driven leaf?" -- Job 13:25
Review: Set at the time shortly after the destruction of the second temple, this novel is based on a traditional tale from the Talmud. The tale describes how four sages journeyed into the realm of metaphysics and as a result one died, one became insane, one became an heretic, and only one (Akiba) was able to come through the experience. The main character, Elisha ben Abuyah, is in fact a historical figure, and has come down through history as an heretic rabbi, an apostate, a dualist who betrayed the Jews to the Romans after the rebellion in 132-135 C.E. (the "Aher" -- the one who took another point of view).Elisha's faith, already shaken by the influence of Greek and Roman culture, looses his faith in God after witnessing the accidental death of a child. Like Job, Elisha challenges God -- "Wilt Thou harass a driven leaf?" The dictum of the sages "it is not in our power to explain either the happiness of the wicked nor the sufferings of the righteous," was not an adequate answer to calm his distress. In his attempt to find axioms and a succession of propositions on which the doctrines of the Tradition might rest, Elisha opens a Pandora box in his mind. Although Elisha's despair is honest, his persistent reverence and reliance on intellect turns his life into tragedy. He becomes aware that neither reality outside man, or feeling within him, is altogether logical, there is always a residue of the irrational never to be resolved into lucidity. Man's mind is an inadequate isntrument to achieve certainty. For all truths rests ultimately on some act of faith, geometry on axioms, and sciences on the assumptions of the objective existence and ordeliness of the world nature. Published for the first time in 1939, this novel remains forever important in its dealing of a fundamental philosophical issue: the limitations of reason and the power of faith in the search of Truth.
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Summary: reading in a history class
Review: Sometimes the things we are taught in religion don't match up with history. Sometimes the things we are taught in history aren't very exciting for fiction. This book does an excellent job of describing how Judiasm was forced to adapt after the destruction of the Temple. The characters' journeys are powerful and confusing at times because certainly it would have been a confusing time to be alive. Our professor had us read this in an advanced Jewish history course and write a review of the book from a historical point of view. Yes, there are historical problems but the feelings are very real. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: reading in a history class
Review: Sometimes the things we are taught in religion don't match up with history. Sometimes the things we are taught in history aren't very exciting for fiction. This book does an excellent job of describing how Judiasm was forced to adapt after the destruction of the Temple. The characters' journeys are powerful and confusing at times because certainly it would have been a confusing time to be alive. Our professor had us read this in an advanced Jewish history course and write a review of the book from a historical point of view. Yes, there are historical problems but the feelings are very real. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: The world of the Talmud brought to life!
Review: Steinberg's novel, recently reissued with a foreword by Chaim Potok, brings the world of the early rabbis to life in a way that no other novel ever has. Essentially the biography of Elisha ben Abuya, whose theosophical speculations led to his renunciation of Judaism, the book explores the richness of the world of Tannaitic times. The process which would eventually culminate in the creation of the Talmud was alive and in full swing. The rabbis who punctuate the pages of this book were the companions of Elisha, whose apostasy caused him to be branded Acher, the Other One
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Summary: A wonderful allegory about the trials of modern Jews
Review: The recent vogue among Jews to read this book is not surprising. Indeed, it is a wonderful tribute to an author and theologian of great potential who was taken from us far too young. The book tells the story of Elisha ben Abuya, one of the contributors to the Talmud who we are told lost his faith. The Talmud tells us little about him, but Steinberg does a marvelous job weaving the character into a historical tapestry that drapes over one of the great crisis of the Jewish nation, the destruction of the second temple and eventual exile. Through the book, we meet the various personalities that participated in the writing of the Talmud. To Steinberg's, each is interesting, unique, and richly brought to life. That said, many people have made the same mistake with this book that they do with other historical fiction; assuming that they can assume Steinberg accurately describes this milieu. I am fairly certain that were the author alive, he would laugh at such an absurd presumption. Rather, the genius of this work is that Steinberg projects some of the major problems facing modern Jewry on to an ancient context. While several of the arguments that appear in the text are historic, the central conflict between Hellenist (secular humanist) philosophy and Jewish ethics is a modern conflict we continue to fight to this day. Any reader of Rabbi Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, will recognize many of the arguments that Steinberg puts in his character's mouth as coming from the writings of that modern sage. This book touches modern Jews exactly because it speaks to the trials they face as we weave together and try to make compatible a life of torah and our place in the modern world. Steinberg speaks powerfully and emotionally to that conflict, recognizing that it is more than simply intellectual, but is also visceral. If you have struggled with such issues, I hearty recommend this work.
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