Jewish Identity Through Literature by Feigue Cieplinski

Jewish Identity Through Literature Reviews

• 
  Phoenix

  On Becoming What One Reads
  
  Becoming a Jew is not simply a matter of declaring a change of faith, it is a process of assuming an identity seeped in over 3500 years of history. In a book designed for conversion education programs author Feigue Cieplinksi takes the reader on a historic tour of Jewish thought as to what it means to be a Jew.
  
  Of course there are touch points in the biblical narrative. Joseph is used as an example of how a Jew alone in a foreign land finds his language, values and family ties the key to to who he is. Of course Ruth, the quintessential convert is discussed as well.
  
  From a selection of Aggudot or stories from the middle ages, the classic store of the rabbi's wife and the return of the borrowed jewels is well told and a worthy inclusion. So too are the poetry selections of Judah HaLevy whom we are told leaves Spain to pursue the dream of living in Israel, only to meet a tragic end near the Western Wall.
  
  Latter chapters deal with Chassidism and Zionism and of course the book includes the poetess Rachel who is buried on the shores of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and Bialik. The challenge of assimilation is not shirked with two stories, in particular "Arthur Realizes His Mistake". Dealing fully with the Holocaust however is deferred. There is an able description of some of the background in Germany, and some episodes told though the eyes of children including a lovely post-holocaust story "The Torah's Secret". Truthfully though, how could one tell the story of the Holocaust without upending the rest of the book. IMHO Cieplinski has found the right balance.
  
  I've given this book 4 stars because I feel that some of the latter selections could have been more far ranging. A selection from Schwarzbart's "Last of the Just", a poem from one of the trio of Canadian Jewish Poets of A.M. Klein, Irving Layton or Leonard Cohen, a touch of I.B. Singer, something perhaps representative of recent Mizrahi or Sephardic origin or an excerpt of SF as a capstone for the future (cf: Wandering Stars, an anthology of Jewish Science Fiction, 1973) might have added just a bit more. (The last occurred to me when I reviewed the last short chapter titled "The Future" which seemed more of a dashed off.note and a lost opportunity to better engage the reader to supplement with their own discoveries. Its not these specific choices that matter - they are only an indication of how I feel the book might have been improved.
  
  The selections were thought provoking and the analysis provided was open ended enough to encourage further speculation. It was a good book.