Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim
Klein (Rachack Review)
In this work, Paul M. Hamburger — a lawyer by profession and author of
several legal books — assumes his alter ego Shlomo Mordechai Hamburger to take readers
on a profound exploration of the meaning of the word anochi in the
Torah. He begins by distinguishing between the Hebrew word anochi and its
more common synonym ani, both of are used by the first person to refer to
himself (“I/Me”). In doing so, the author emphasizes the meaningful difference
between the two words, with anochi representing God’s “signature” in
This World (so to speak), which shows His hand in everything. The book then
proceeds to examine classical rabbinical and Hassidic (especially, but not
limited to, Chabad Chassidus) writings on the topic, drawing out a consistent
and deeper meaning conveyed by the word anochi throughout the Torah,
from Bereishis to Devarim.
This book offers a fresh perspective on God's identity and the process
through which His Essence was revealed to the world. One of the practical
lessons Hamburger presents addresses the challenge of reconciling one's Jewish
identity with a desire to engage with the outside, secular world. To do so, he
highlights the example of Abraham negotiating his place in a non-monotheistic society
while facing the demands of Avimelech, an idol-worshipping Philistine king.
Hamburger reveals how Abraham's response in Gen. 21:24, Anochi Ishavei'a
(“I will swear"), holds a deeper significance because by swearing
allegiance to Avimelech and simultaneously affirming his faith in God, Abraham
exemplifies the ability to maintain a Jewish identity while participating fully
in the world-at-large.
This book is a treasure trove of knowledge, meticulously analyzing the
references to the word anochi in the Torah and offering profound
insights. Readers will find the book insightful, inspiring, and incredibly
interesting, yet presented in a readable English making it accessible to
readers of various backgrounds. Of course, Hamburger's research is well-sourced,
supported by numerous references and endnotes. Essentially, the author's
erudition shines through in his clear and concise analysis, while presenting a
fascinating thesis. While the accuracy of the research cannot be verified by a
non-scholar, the wealth of supporting evidence and well-placed notes certainly lend
credibility to Hamburger's assertions.
Although he comes from a totally different world than the largely
Hassidic teachings that Hamburger cites, it is worth noting that Rabbi Shmuel
David Luzzatto (1800-1865), also known as Shadal, in his commentary to Exodus
suggests parsing the first of the 10 commandments differently than its common
rendering. He reads it as: “I (anochi) Hashem, am your God who took you
out of the Land of Egypt (Exodus 20:2),” with innovation of the revelatory
aspect of this commandment being the fact that Hashem — the name of God that
the Jews had already known from their forefathers — is the very selfsame God,
who took them out of Egypt. The standard way of rendering this verse is “I am (anochi)
Hashem, your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt,” with the emphasis on
the fact that He who is revealing Himself at Sinai is none other than Hashem
who had taken the Jews out of Egypt.
Either way, what sets this book apart is Hamburger's ability to convey
complex and sophisticated mystical ideas in plain English. He skillfully
bridges the gap between profound concepts and everyday understanding, making
the text relatable and engaging. No doubt, this book’s clarity and the author's
ability to communicate intricate ideas effectively are results of Hamburger’s
professional standing as an international lawyer. His dedication to lifelong
learning is evident, and his words have the power to captivate and inspire.
Although this is his first book exploring Jewish texts and philosophy, this
reviewer hopes it will not be his last!
In conclusion, The Anochi Project: Seeking God's Identity is a
remarkable work that uncovers the depths of the Torah, providing readers with a
profound understanding of God's Essence and our relationship with Him. The
author’s insightful analysis, well-researched references, and engaging writing
style make this book a must-read for anyone seeking to explore the hidden
truths within the Torah.
Paul and Asklepios: The Greco-Roman Quest for Healing and the Apostolic Mission (T&T Clark, 2023) by Christopher D. Stanley
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein (Rachack Review)
This fascinating study on healing
and medicine in the Classical World divides into two parts. The first half of
the book offers a detailed account of the different health care options that
pagans in the Greco-Roman world had. The author shows how there were
essentially four “systems” of health care that operate side by side in that
milieu. Namely, home remedies, “religious” remedies, “magical” remedies, and
proto-medical care. The dominant modality used for run-of-the-mill sicknesses
which was especially practiced by families in the countryside was the “home remedy”
tradition that often passed down from generation to generation, but sometimes
something stronger was needed.
In those cases, Greco-Roman
pagans would turn to the many gods for a “religious” remedy, which usually
entailed offering a sacrifice or a prayer to a specific god with intent that
the deity help cure one’s ills. In particular, this book devotes much
discussion to the healing centers associated with temples Asklepios (a Greek
god associated with healing), but the aid of other gods were also invoked for
their supposed healing abilities. This mode of healing was officially accepted
as part of the civic religion practiced by pagan Greek and Romans. In addition,
other “unsanctioned” modes of healing — termed “magical” — were also available.
This often entailed appealing to freelance sorcerers who used various sorts of
drugs, amulets, and dream interpretation to help cure the ill by forcing the
hand of the gods. Finally, people living the Classical World also had access to
physicians who practiced early forms of what we now would recognize as medical
practice.
The first part of the book ends
with the author showing how these four systems worked side-by-side, but were
not as distinct as might be commonly thought. Instead, there was much overlap
and cross-pollinization between them, with different systems adopting and/or
adapting elements of other systems and incorporating them into its own.
The second part of the book
explores what the prevailing Jewish attitudes to health care may have been
during the first century of the Common Era. This part of the book draws from
the Bible, extra-Biblical Jewish literature, and rabbinic literature to try and
tease out what sorts of medical practices were acceptable to Jews and what was
considered beyond the pale. The author asks such questions as to what extent
Jews followed the Biblical bans against diviners and augurs when somebody’s
health might be at stake, and how Jews viewed pagan and polytheistic medical
practices that were explicitly associated with foreign gods and even invoked
their names. The book concludes with two chapters that speculate about how
Early Christians may have fit into this discussion and what positions the early
Christian leader Paul may have taken given his originally-Jewish upbringing.
The Six Days of Creation: The Garden of Eden, Dinosaurs, and the Missing Billions (Mosaica Press, 2023) by Alexander Hool
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim
Klein (Rachack Review)
By now, Rabbi Alexander Hool has
already gained a reputation for wading into questions that nobody else feels
like they can attempt to answer. In this work, he tries to deal with the
age-old question of the age of the universe. Like many other books devoted to
reconciling Torah and Science, Rabbi Hool is bothered by the wide gap between the
billions of years that science claims has elapsed since the creation of the
Earth and the mere ~5,783 years documented by traditional Jewish sources.
Like his previous books, Rabbi
Hool proposes an original and ingenious way of reconciling Torah Tradition with
secular sources. This time around, he draws on scholarship in the world of
physics — particularly Einstein’s Theory of Relativity — to draw a distinction
between fundamental time and general time. Based on that distinction, he argues
that during the Six Days of Creation, time was stretched to amount to what we would
nowadays consider a long duration of time than merely six days. This explains
why some elements of cosmology and the earth sciences seem to point to the
notion that the Earth is 13.8 billion years old. Rabbi Hool then demonstrates
how traditional Jewish sources were already aware of the notion that the
universe was expanding, but notes that according to those very same sources
this expansion stopped during the Fifth Day of Creation. Later on, Rabbi Hool
discusses the idea that dinosaurs once roamed the earth, and likewise argues
that these giant reptilians went extinct on the Fifth Day of Creation.
In this intriguing work, Rabbi
Hool also engages in Jurassic paleogeography and the study of plate tectonics to
discuss how the earth’s continents may have looked in Biblical Times (Pangaea).
He does this in order to shed light on where the Garden of Eden might have been
located, how the Holy Land was located at the geographic center of the world,
and where the gold of Ophir might be found. Overall, Rabbi Hool shows great
familiarity with scholarship on geography, geology, archeology, astrophysics,
and other fields of science. His arguments are sound and well-formed, but it
would take a real expert on these topics to truly assess the accuracy of what
he presents. Whether or not what Rabbi Hool proposes is factually or
historically correct, his charming book is chockful of information on the Bible’s
creation story and how it collides with or merges with the findings of contemporary
science.
