Essential Lesson

by Audrey Lichter

I just finished reading Tablets Shattered, a book by Joshua Leifer. This book was embroiled in a Brooklyn NY controversy when a local bookstore refused to host a  prominent Brooklyn rabbi who is a devoted Zionist on the panel to interview the author. The author, although quite young, does a great job of reviewing Jewish life in America, and often bemoans the loss of the ethos of the working class Jew who helped  create the trade union and had a rich and thick Jewish culture of Yiddish, literature, theatre, and food. He goes into great depth in surveying the progressive Jewish  movements in America and spends lots of time berating Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians.

Although I didn’t agree with him on much of his analysis of Israel (He does concede that the wrote this before October 7th, and in his addendum to the book is shocked at the silence of many of this fellow progressives after October 7th.) what I found most intriguing his is own Jewish journey in the acknowledgment section of the book.

…community, including  a sense of duty and obligation to that community,
tradition, and humility are essential to finding meaning in Judaism

After surveying many progressive movements, he comes to the conclusion that community, including  a sense of duty and obligation to that community, tradition, and humility are essential to finding meaning in Judaism. He bemoans that the pay-to-play itinerant Rabbi model and the mindset that one’s  community has to be in sync with all one’s opinions has become de rigueur for community engagement.  This, to me, is the greatest insight and one that is sorely missing in today’s discourse. He now enjoys his synagogue community which he seems to have made a commitment to, and even relishes conversations with his fellow congregants who have diverse opinions. Although I am quite sure this was not his goal in writing the book, it is my main takeaway – the more things change, the more things stay the same.