Judaism Reclaimed: Philosophy and Theology inthe Torah (Mosaica Press, 2019), by Shmuel Phillips
Reviewed by
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein
In this outstanding
book, Shmuel Phillips examines various facets of Torah and Judaism from the
so-called “rationalist” viewpoint. He puts that approach to Judaism in
perspective by offering an uncensored presentation of Maimonides’ views without
cherry-picking passages to match a certain preconceived notion of what Jewish
rationalism ought to be. In doing so, Phillips offers a fair and open-minded
analysis of Maimonidean thought.
Many critics of
mainstream contemporary Judaism have misappropriated rationalism to support their
own whims. As Rabbi Micha Berger so eloquently put it, "The mind is a
wonderful organ for justifying decisions the heart already reached." In
his work, Shmuel Phillips shows that rationalism does not necessarily entail
rejecting traditional Judaism and actually dovetails nicely with it. He
demonstrates how even Maimonides—the hero of so-called “Rational Judaism”—did
not endorse free-standing rationalism, but rather a rationalism grounded in
certain immutable truths, which the mature scholar can only absorb through
rigorous character development and the study of both the Written and Oral
Torah.
This heavy book
(both in terms of its physical weight and the weighty nature of its discussions)
calmly provides the reader with a rationalist view of the Torah’s attitude to
such sensitive topics as homosexuality, polygamy, rape, eshet yefat toar (“comfort
women” in war zones), and gender roles.. He tackles raging controversial topics
like slavery and genocide (i.e. wiping out Amalek) in the Torah, and the
ubiquitous questions of objective morality and how to reconcile Torah and
Science. Phillips also gives logical and rational justifications for such
occurrences as halachic loopholes, ritual law, anti-Semitism, miracles, and
prophecy.
Phillips takes
on Biblical criticism by citing such scholars as Prof. Joshua Berman who
explain away linguistic—and even thematic—similarities between the Bible and
other ancient writings by invoking the notion that the Torah writes in the way
that people spoke and could be most easily understood and internalized by its
original audience. While following this approach, Phillips convincingly argues
that this approach is entirely in line with Maimonidean thought. In doing so,
Phillips’ tone remains authoritative and non-apologetic, and his arguments are
conservative, yet cogent. Phillips invokes Rav Hirsch to quell the concerns of
Bible Critics by characterizing the Written Torah as written in a sort of code
that can only be deciphered through the Oral Torah. This, of course, accounts
for all sorts of stylistic and thematic inconsistencies and redundancies.
Phillips also expounds
on the Torah’s Universalist message by following Rav Hirsch in characterizing
the struggle between Noah’s three sons as an allusion to the fight between
unbridled violence (Ham), the culture of aesthetics (Japheth), and spiritual
enlightenment through Godliness and morality (Shem). The ramifications of this
three-way conflict continue to reverberate throughout the world as it stands as
the basis for the contemporary clash of cultures.
This book also
broaches the topic of how to view Aggadic Midrashim. More
Kabbalistically-inclined authorities tend to take these aggadot at face
value and understand them as the intended meaning of the texts which they
interpret. However, rationalists in the mold of Ibn Ezra, Maimonides, and—to some
extent—Radak beg to differ. They maintain that the tradition of aggadot ought
to be treated separately from the texts upon which they nominally expound, and
said texts should only be understood in their simplest, literal sense. While
some have understood that the rationalists reject aggadot, Phillips
demonstrates that they simply compartmentalize aggadot and create a
clear barrier between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, without rejecting the
latter. Moreover, Phillips demonstrates that even some of the Kabbalists, like
Maharal and possibly Rashi, maintain that while all exegeses are connected to
the Torah's text (which must contain the totality of all truths), they can sometimes
be interpreted as referring to the spiritual dynamics which underpin the plain
meaning.
Each chapter
takes the reader on a masterfully-written journey through the rationalistic
perspective on a different topic. Truth is, you can probably write an entire
book for each chapter, but given the framework, this exceptional work does an
excellent job at concisely treating each issue with much erudition.
Phillips has a
knack for “turning a phrase” in a way that clarifies complex ideas in just a
few words. His skilled use of subtle humor and witty alliteration make the
subtitles in each chapter almost as fun as reading the content itself. He is
clearly a talented writer who has the ability to write up complicated
philosophical/theological arguments in an easy-to-read English, without
sacrificing accuracy or complexity.
This reviewer
respectfully disagrees with Rabbi Dr. Lord Jonathan Sacks’ approbation which characterizes
Philips’ book as providing “a remarkable new philosophical approach to Torah
and Jewish faith…” In this reviewer’s opinion, Phillips has offered the reader
nothing new other than an unbiased presentation of the theosophies of Rambam,
R. Yehuda HaLevi, Rav Hirsch, and R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk—essentially allowing
the timeless words of these great luminaries to speak for themselves. Phillip
does update the presentation of those philosophies in order to express them in
more contemporary terms, but he is certainly not offering anything radically
new. He essentially presents the ideas behind the rationalist stream of traditional
Judaism in a sophisticated and contemporary way, and for this alone he deserves
to be commended.
