Hillel: If Not Now When by Rabbi Telushkin

Hillel IF NOT NOW WHEN by Joseph Telushkin

“Hillel: if not now, when” by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Shocken, 2010

Can a book about the life and teachings of Hillel, now having his 2000th yahrzteit commemorated, be subversive, bitterly critical, and even fiercely polemical? Hillel, the mild-tempered and patient teacher whose students and progeny (a whole lot of the Talmudic leaders) lead the debates in the Talmud? The man who was the inspiration for some of the best teachings of Jesus?

You better believe it! Not so very hidden in this book is quite an attack on some of today’s practices.

Every educated Jew can recite the striking aphorisms Hillel offered – he is quoted the most in Pirke Avot – and all know the stories about how he summarized Jewish thought while standing on one foot. Rabbi Telushkin does an admirable job of taking the bits known or rumoured about Hillel and creating a picture of a living person. Interestingly, he is at pains to show that Shammai was not an irrelevant “straw man” and foil the wiser HIllel nor that Hillel was always the “good guy” and liberal in his teachings.

Yet the most profound value of this short, well-written book lies in contrasting the world-views of Hillel with the constipated and ill-liberal practices of today. No where are these practices more deficient than in our closedness to promoting membership in the Jewish faith. Today, we are exactly at the opposite pole from the welcoming attitude that House of Hillel – and Jewish practice world-wide in the Roman Empire – espoused and we are so much the worse for it.

Let me end by mentioning a simple “proof” of our present departure from earlier rabbinic thought that Rabbi Telushkin poses. When someone is asked, “Is David religious?” – what do we mean? Do we mean is he a decent person who treats others well and is honest in business and careful in personal relations? As Rabbi Telushkin points out, we really mean nothing other than “Does he practice the rituals of Judaism?”.

Sad.

B.B.

www.israelsjudaica.com

Book Review: Frumkiss Family Business by Michael Wex

Frumkiss Family Business by Michael Wex

 If you haven’t already started reading Michael Wex’s Yiddish-inflected books, “The Frumkiss Family Business” is a hilarious place to start.

In the guise of a family saga over four generations, Wex has creatively woven the  most engaging, entertaining, and even surprising comedy. It stretches from life in the shtetls of Europe to the landmarks of today’s Toronto… including Caplansky’s deli on College Street. For sure, you’ll be trying to see which fictional characters and which elements of the plot seem to be kind of like people you know and things you recall from reading the newspapers.

The patriarch, Faktor, is a multi-talented actor, comic, and writer, with an urge to confound everybody. The family secret is slowly revealed and how Wex unravels, re-ravels, and twists and turns the secret is a joy to read. And you bet you won’t hear how he does it from me.

Don’t miss this book. Very amusing, full of historical reminiscences, a tour-de-force of Jewish life here and in the most fervent corners of Jerusalem – not always complimentary, fun with Yiddish, and lots more.

Step into Character with Toronto Jewish Writer John Miller

A Sharp Intake of Breath by

Author: John Miller

Reviewed by Amit Bitnun

One could argue that self-expression is the main reason people write. A character’s voice is either autobiographical or the author’s personal interests, enthusiasms and values are craftily disguised in the choice of subject, the characters and their development. John Miller, whose latest novel A Sharp Intake of Breath (Dundurn, 2007) has received the 2008 Martin and Beatrice Fischer Award in Fiction at the 20th Canadian Jewish Book Awards, admits that writing from someone else’s point of view liberates the imagination.

A Sharp Intake of Breath is the story of Toshy Wolfman. Born into a liberal Jewish family in Toronto in the 1930s, Toshy’s formative years are defined by the insecurity and rejection he feels because of his cleft lip and palate and resulting speech impediment. Despite his photographic memory, his appearance and breathy nasal voice, cause peers to verbally abuse and alienate him, and adults to brand him as stupid and without potential. Toshy’s devotion to his two sisters, combined with feelings of self-loathing and worthlessness, climax in a life-changing, snap decision that consigns him to the Kingston Penitentiary.

The prison experience contributes to his self-growth and maturity and follows him into old age. The no less important present day plot serves as basis for flashbacks into Toshy’s life. The story moves seamlessly between these pieces, whose puzzle-like connection will ultimately give the reader a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. A must-read story of marginalization based on appearance and perceived disability.

The book is so well written, it is very hard to believe that the only part of John Miller reflected in the book is his deep concern and sensibility to social issues. Born in Toronto, he graduated from McGill with an Honours B.A. in Geography of International Development, and obtained an M.A. in International Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, Netherlands .

Whether working with the AIDS Committee of Toronto, being the Executive Director of Trinity Home Hospice, working in policy development and program management for the Ontario government’s Ministry of Community and Social Services, or consulting for non-profit organizations and governments, John has dedicated his expertise to helping the marginalized. “When we step into the shoes of people who’ve been marginalized, it helps us understand the world better.

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