The Message of Leo Baeck
The Pharisees, and Other Essays.
by Leo Baeck.
New York, Schocken Books, 1947. 164 pp. $3.00.

 

The contents of this book are not new, although here collected together for the first time. The essay on the Pharisees was written in 1927 and published as a booklet in 1934. The others, according to the preface, appeared in a volume of essays in 1938, which was destroyed by the Gestapo. The contents of the several essays, valuable as they are, cannot therefore be taken (as the reader would naturally take them) as being the personal message of Dr. Baeck to those now living in the distracted world of today. The words were written years ago, before the terrible persecution of the Jews had risen to its height, and before Dr. Baeck had been caught in its clutches, and suffered, as recorded on the dust cover of the book.

Nevertheless, the book has a message for the present time, and the publishers have judged well that a collection of Dr. Baeck’s essays would be very helpful and encouraging in the troubles which lie heavy on Jews in these days.

For these seven essays, each in its way, express the undying hope of Israel, the unshakeable faith in its future, the sure trust that it will survive all shocks of calamity, and will in the end complete its task as God’s witness to the world, by his continual guidance and help. That has been the significance of Judaism throughout its long history; and this book, appearing as it now does after the most terrible suffering that even Jewry has known, is a reassertion of the undying faith of Israel, flung out in the face of the world. That is what this book really means, as the present reviewer understands it, and Dr. Baeck and the publishers may divide between them the honor of a notable service done for the cause which is dear to them.

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The first essay, of which the subject provides the title of the book as a whole, is considerably longer than any of the others. It extends to fifty pages, while the others vary round about sixteen pages each. Their subjects are as follows: “Tradition in Judaism,” “Judaism in the Church,” “Origin of Jewish Mysticism,” “Greek and Jewish Preaching,” “Two World Views Compared,” “The Character of Judaism.” The reader cannot fail to be impressed by the extent of Dr. Baeck’s reading in widely separated fields of study. Naturally, he is at home in the Rabbinical literature; but he refers often to Plato. He knows the New Testament, also Marcion and Tertullian. He makes a critical distinction between Luther and Calvin, decidedly in favor of Calvin; and the present reviewer was surprised and gratified, to meet with a reference to the Unitarianism of Priestley, Parker, Channing, Longfellow, and Martineau, by one to whom these writers were evidently well known. Such evidence of a mind richly stored and variously trained makes it possible to understand how it was that, during the years when he was in the concentration camp at Theresienstadt, he could and did fulfill the office of leader, counsellor, teacher, and friend to his fellow-prisoners. Without help from books, for none could be had, he organized classes for study in philosophy, theology, history and, in general, promoted the religious and intellectual life of his fellows in captivity. He did this for six years, and came out at last with spirit unbroken and head unbowed.

The long essay on the Pharisees is an attempt to solve the problem, so often attempted but in Dr. Baeck’s opinion unsuccessfully, viz: the real meaning of the name “Pharisee” and its consequent explanation of the significance of those who bore the name as a force in religious history. Dr. Baeck’s argument is elaborate and not too easy to follow, but it lays itself open to question and criticism to an extent that prevents its acceptance as a final solution of the problem with which it deals.

It all goes to strengthen the opinion, which the present reviewer has long held, that the real reason why the Pharisees were so called cannot now be recovered with any certainty, and is now of little or no importance. What the Pharisees did, and why they did it, and thus their importance in the history of Judaism—all this is well known and clearly established; but it does not need for its support an explanation of the name attached to, or borne by, those who played that part in Jewish history. The name may have been a mere nickname, or may refer to some trivial feature in their practice; what really matters, is to bring out clearly the fact that the Pharisees were the men who saved Judaism from becoming a barren formation, kept it a living religion and sent it on its way down the ages, always full of life and hope and faith. All this Dr. Baeck knows well, and it is all implied in his essay, once the argument has left behind the attempt to account for the name Pharisee. There could be no finer illustration of what the Pharisees really did than Dr. Baeck himself.

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Short though the other essays are by comparison with the first, they contain abundant matter for thought, and ample proof of the writer’s learning and his intellectual power.

The essay on “Tradition in Judaism” deals with a subject that is of primary importance in the development of Jewish religion. The writer is concerned not so much with the tradition in its historical sequence, as rather with tradition as a form of thought, a guide to life. The part which Dr. Baeck assigns to tradition in the development of the life of Israel leads him to make statements which are sometimes rather bewildering, at all events to a non-Jewish reader, and at other times makes him wonder whether the real course of development was not more simple than it is here represented.

The essay on “Judaism in the Church” is one which could be written only by a man of great learning, dispassionate judgment, and sympathetic understanding. There is nothing polemical in it, nothing to wound the most convinced opponent. It would do good to readers in all sections of the Christian church if they would study carefully Dr. Baeck’s demonstration of the direction of certain tendencies in Christian history.

Of the essay on the “Origin of Jewish Mysticism,” the present reviewer can hardly say anything with confidence, as he feels strongly his own ignorance of the subject. The essay on “Greek and Jewish Preaching” develops what may seem to be a paradox, and may really be a paradox. Is it possible to compare effectively the Greek and the Jewish method of appeal by men to their fellow men in the region of religion? Considering how different the two religions were, such a possibility seems doubtful. And to the present reviewer, the doubt is still there after reading the essay with all its learning. The essay on “Two World Views Compared” and the final one on “The Character of Judaism,” must here be left to make their own way to the mind and heart of the reader. The depth of their thought is perhaps only equalled by the difficulty of its expression, and the present reviewer humbly confesses his inability to do justice to them.

Looking back over the book as a whole, one is most of all impressed by the very great power of the author, alike as an exponent of his own or others’ thoughts, as a master of vast learning, and most of all as a spiritual force. His words and his example should bring hope to stricken hearts among his people, and nerve them to renew the fight in which Israel has been so often smitten down, but never in all the ages finally conquered.

With deep appreciation of its worth and warm regard for its author, I commend this book to the attention of everyone, Jew or Christian, whom it may reach.

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