In Pirkei Avot, that classic tractate of rabbinic ethics, Akavya ben Mehalalel advises Jews to reflect constantly on three questions: Where have you come from? Where are you going? And before Whom will you eventually be accountable? The present book tries to do this from the vantage point of the Jewish people as a whole over the past two centuries.
The idea for the book had its origin in an international symposium convened by Jews’ College, London, in May 1989. The title of the gathering was Traditional Alternatives: Orthodoxy and the Future of the Jewish People. What lay behind it was an accumulating sense of rift and conflict throughout the Jewish world. I felt then, and still do, that Orthodoxy faces a considerable challenge of leadership in this situation. Our aim in the symposium was to bring into dialogue a whole series of Orthodox voices. For when there is no immediate solution to problems confronting the Jewish people, the most important religious imperative is to engage in what the sages called “argument for the sake of heaven.” One of the themes of the present study is a plea for recovery of what I call “tradition as argument.”
As I reflected on the controversies we were to confront, it became increasingly clear that they could not be understood without first setting them in context. I decided therefore to sketch the broad historical and sociological background against which they had arisen. What emerged was a study of modern Jewish identities, the conflicts among them, and the way these might be minimized if not immediately overcome.
The book was published in England prior to the symposium under the title Traditional Alternatives, and I was delighted when Arthur Kurzweil of Jason Aronson Inc. suggested the possibility of an American edition. The themes of the book are as much American as British, and I welcomed the chance of a wider discussion of its ideas. I have made some minor changes, and I hope that American readers will recognize some of the dilemmas faced by the fictional Anglo-Jewish family with which the book begins and ends.
Several debts of gratitude must be recorded: to Lord Jakobovits, the British Chief Rabbi, for his advice in planning the original symposium; to Mr. Stanley Kalms, then chairman of Jews’ College, for the restless questioning that was the impetus of this and many other initiatives; to the staff of Jews’ College for their support and stimulus; to Ezra Kahn and Marilyn Redstone for help in obtaining the books needed for the research; and to my secretary Adele Lew for deflecting the distractions while the book was being written.
Special thanks are due to Arthur Kurzweil for suggesting this edition and for his help and encouragement throughout. Above all I owe an incalculable debt to my wife Elaine, and our children, Joshua, Dina, and Gila. Without their patience and encouragement, neither this nor any other of my activities would have been possible.
The book touches on sensitive and controversial topics. I therefore end with the prayer of R. Nechuniah ben ha-Kaneh, one that was very much in mind as I was writing: “May it be Your will that I do not err in a matter of halakhah, declaring pure that which is impure, or impure that which is pure.”
Jonathan Sacks
London
24 Shevat 5750
19 February 1990