Jews and Words (Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization (Yale)) (Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization)

by Amos Oz and Fania Oz Salzberger

A celebrated novelist and an acclaimed historian of ideas, father and daughter, unravel the chain of words at the core of Jewish life, history, and culture

Why are words so important to so many Jews? Novelist Amos Oz and historian Fania Oz-Salzberger roam the gamut of Jewish history to explain the integral relationship of Jews and words. Through a blend of storytelling and scholarship, conversation and argument, father and daughter tell the tales behind Judaism’s most enduring names, adages, disputes, texts, and quips. These words, they argue, compose the chain connecting Abraham with the Jews of every subsequent generation.

Framing the discussion within such topics as continuity, women, timelessness, and individualism, Oz and Oz-Salzberger deftly engage Jewish personalities across the ages, from the unnamed, possibly female author of the Song of Songs through obscure Talmudists to contemporary writers. They suggest that Jewish continuity, even Jewish uniqueness, depends not on central places, monuments, heroic personalities, or rituals but rather on written words and an ongoing debate between the generations. Full of learning, lyricism, and humor, Jews and Words offers an extraordinary tour of the words at the heart of Jewish culture and extends a hand to the reader, any reader, to join the conversation.

• ISBN10: 0300205848
• ISBN13: 9780300205848
• Publish Date: 15 February 2014 (first published 20 November 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Yale University Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 248
• Language: English
• URL: http://wiley.com/remtitle.cgi?isbn=9780300205848

Reviews

[Lianne]

I won a paperback copy of this novel courtesy of the GoodReads First Reads programme. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/04/16/review-jews-and-words/

I thought it was interesting how one of the central arguments that both authors focus on with regards to Jewish culture and history was the importance of books. Books, by extension, are also important, perhaps even more so because of how it communicates values, ideas, beliefs from one generation to the next. It is also in keeping with the notion that the Jewish people are one of the peoples of the book. The authors draw up references, text and examples from various literary sources, either from the Torah or other cultural titles, which was very interesting and informative.

To my surprise, curiosity, and ultimately my dismay, the authors chose not to include Jewish beliefs and the religion itself in-depth in the discussions. For a book discussing identity, I was expecting a more comprehensive look at the different elements that contribute to Jewish identity and while they do cite religious texts, it would have been interesting to see how the ideas and beliefs contributed to that identity.

While the dialogue and debate opened up differing perspectives to the cultural/social/historical/whathaveyou nature of Jewish identity, it does drift structurally. There are four chapters, each focusing on a specific topic, which serves as a guiding point. The first two chapters were pretty cohesive and strong, moving from one point to another, but I found the chapter on “time and timelessness” a little all over the place, touching on points here and there but not fleshing the point out to my satisfaction.

While fascinating, I don’t think I could recommend this book as a first-stop if you’re curious about Jewish identity, culture, and community. It’s informative, and it certainly touches on a lot of elements of Jewish culture, but given its partial nature as a dialogue between two individuals about Jewishness as a whole, it does leave the reader wondering what to make of all of the debates and the information. If you’re looking for an introduction, best look elsewhere and then return to this book for a perspective glance.