Literature: Response to As A Driven Leaf





		Elisha's quest for understanding becomes a need for certainty as his displaced grief causes him to be blind to the wisdom of his past and to the limitations of the Greeks and Romans. Elisha's friend and fellow rabbi Akiba also studies the Greeks and Romans, but instead of becoming intoxicated by idealism, as did Elisha, he is able to give both reason and faith expression in his life. Demonax, an itinerant philosopher, once asked the same questions of certainty as Elisha, but now seeks to serve humanity through compassion. Joshua, Elisha's mentor, is moved by the injunction within the Old Testament that the Jews are to be the light of the nations. Yet Elisha arrogantly dismisses any notion of mysticism or aesthetics or moral necessity as valid answers to reason's relentless questions. Inspired by Euclid's Elements of Geometry, he tries to find unchallengable metaphysical assumptions as the basis of morality and justice. Once this link can be proven, mankind can for all time know with certainty the meaning of life. Steinberg weaves the reader into Elisha's story. Through vivid imagery of lush Galilean olive groves and austere Judean desert, and through the seasonal and daily rhythms of Jewish life, you arrive in first century Palestine. Elisha's good nature draws us in, and his intellectual honesty appeals to our modern sensibility. Like any good storyteller, Steinberg aims not to resolve the tensions for the reader, but to allow the reader to fully experience them. In this direct experience of the story lies the clue to the riddle. For this is a story of how ideas work themselves into our lives. A constant note throughout is the grace of friendship that endures through circumstances. Subtly you sense Steinberg's own view that Judaism offers a unique light to the world, and that modernity, with the aid of reason, trims the wick of this light. There is something very compelling about Elisha's quest. In the face of superstition or blind belief, reason is refreshing and evolutionarily necessary. Elisha's story is that of everyone who finds themselves honestly questioning their faith. It takes courage to ask the questions because they challenge cherished beliefs and patterns of life. At the same time, something in us which cannot be held back by superstition or convention seeks to know the mystery of the universe. We don't want to delude ourselves or avoid taking existential responsibility. But reason eventually points beyond itself because we come to understand we can never perceive reality purely objectively. There are certain experiences of reality that must be honoured but can't be explained. At this point we need courage to let go of the need for certainty and step into mystery. Previous 1 [2] 3 Next