Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians.

Jewish Spirituality:
A Brief Introduction for Christians
Lawrence Kushner
Jewish Lights, $12.95, 128 pp.

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (not to be confused with Rabbi Harold Kushner, the equally esteemed author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People) is one of our most creative religious writers. This present work uses some material from his previous The Book of Miracles, but as the title indicates, targets sympathetic Christians.

Kushner draws on sacred Scripture, rabbinical writings, and the wisdom sayings of both Jewish theologians and Hasidic spiritual masters to introduce Christians to Jewish spirituality. He divides his subject into four parts, Creation, Torah, Commandment, and The Holy One, and each section is composed of brief chapters that focus on a particular theme. In structure and in substance, the book is very much an elementary introduction. Nevertheless, I found it full of wonderful vignettes.

Kushner, citing Proverbs 8:26, points out that the rabbinic Fathers taught that Torah existed in the mind of God before creation. I was struck that the same text, in the hands of the church Fathers, was seen as a reference to the Word. Even though the analogy is not exact, it is an excellent point for interfaith discussion. Likewise, the rabbinic example of the ram's horn--the shofar--which makes no sound until breath is blown into it, reminded me that a person prays when God's breath (spirit) moves through him or her. And Kushner's assertion that the term Torah is more accurately understood as "teaching" or "instruction" helped me to understand Psalm 1 as it prefaces the entire psalter, as well as to deconstruct Saint Paul's narrower understanding of law in opposition to grace.

As I read this deceptively simple book, I wanted to talk with Kushner, both to learn more and to add insights from the Christian perspective. To inspire the desire for such an exchange is high praise for any book. A discussion (even an argument or two) would be a good thing as Kushner shows because, above all, arguing and disputing is a traditional rabbinic exercise (sanctified by that great questioner, Job). In the Jewish view, even the greatest sages have not plumbed the depths of the mystery of God since, as the psalmist says, "the whole world and everything in it belong to God" (Ps 24:1).

Lawrence S. Cunningham is the John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.