To the Editor:

According to the review by Jon D. Levenson [August], Elliott Abrams argues in his new book, Faith or Fear: How Jews Can Survive in a Christian America, that unless American Jews become religiously observant, Judaism in the United States will die out. He may be right (I hope not). But can that persuade the millions of us who are secular to reorient our whole lives?

Abrams, Mr. Levenson says, maintains that a Jewish revival in American can come about only if most Jews relinquish “their doctrinaire attachment to secularism.” This is a singularly disrespectful way of describing the attitude of most of the Jews I know. We are secular because we are not persuaded that keeping kosher, avoiding elevators on the Sabbath, or even repeating the ancient prayers are meaningful ways to God (if there is one). Religious observance will become part of our lives only if we find such observance rewarding on a day-to-day basis, not as a hollow contribution to Jewish continuity. Inner satisfaction must result to induce us to make the enormous sacrifices of time and effort that being observant entails. Preaching about the long-run advantages to the survival of the Jewish people will not do it.

The review does not tell us whether the book describes any personal rewards that might be derived from observance or has any suggestions for improving religious ritual to make it more meaningful. If these issues were brought up by Mr. Abrams, the reviewer has done him an injustice by not mentioning them.

Edith U. Fierst
Washington, D.C.

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Jon D. Levenson writes:

Edith U. Fierst’s quarrel is not with me but with Elliott Abrams. Whether she scores a valid point against him is, nonetheless, open to doubt. In Abrams’s view, “Jews must fear, above all else, God’s righteous wrath, and seek above all else to love God, keep His commandments, and teach them to their children.” His use of the expression “above all else” tells me that his ultimate goal is neither “[i]nner satisfaction” nor “the survival of the Jewish people,” but something higher—selfless commitment to the God of Israel. The paradox, of course, is that from the standpoint of traditional Judaism, selfless commitment results in the “inner satisfaction” and the “personal rewards” that Abrams does not detail and that Edith Fierst has not yet found in Judaism.

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