Why Should Jews Survive?: Looking Past the Holocaust Toward a Jewish Future

Today, both liberal and conservative Jews, warns L.A. rabbi Goldberg, follow a flawed ``master story,'' in which post-Holocaust Jewish identity is based on mere survival, not on any rich sense of history and worship. Instead, the author urges attention to the story of Exodus, in which Jews were given a chance to serve God and the world. In his thoughtful and challenging essay, Goldberg ranges through art, theology and Jewish communal politics, from Schindler's List to Harold Kushner (When Bad Things Happen to Good People), arguing that the ``most distinctive evidence'' of God's presence is that, despite their crimes, the Nazis ``ultimately failed to murder the Jewish People.'' He also warns that the Holocaust tempts Jews, especially those in Israel, to uncritically claim victimhood and exemption from criticism. Thus, he argues, Israel must follow righteous Torah practices rather than situational ethics, and American Jewish communities must rise above dues paying to maintain three practices: study, prayer and ``acts of covenantal faithfulness.'' Ultimately, he relies on the idea of Jews as the chosen people, a tenet from which many Jews shy away: ``Jews should survive because they are the lynchpin in [God's] redemption of the world.'' (Aug.)