Sparks Amidst the Ashes: The Spiritual Legacy of Polish Jewry (review)

Book Reviews 163 These criticisms, however, do not diminish the authors' seminal contributions. This is the best book in the shop, and it deserves a wide arid attentive readership. David P. Conradt Department of Political Science East Carolina University Sparks Amidst the Ashes: The Spiritual Legacy of Polish Jewry, by Byron L. Sherwin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 176 pp. $29.95. In his now classic work The Earth is the Lord's: The Inner World ofthe Jew in Eastern Europe, Abraham Joshua Heschel asserts that "The Eastern European period ... was the golden period in Jewish history, in the history of the Jewish soul." Now, in an important book by one of Heschel's most gifted disciples, Byron Sherwin continues the exploration of the spiritual life ofthe vibrant Jewish community in Poland over the last thousand years. His study is essential reading for anyone who wishes to learn of the greatest spiritual period in Jewish history. A major contention of Sherwin's book is that American Jews live in spiritual poverty. Their ignorance and neglect ofthe spirituality ofthe Polish-Jewish community is a major reason for their impoverished state. According to Sherwin, the great heresy ofAmerican Jews is that they have replaced the centrality of God with Israel, both the land and the people. The essence of Judaism consists oflove ofGod, love ofTorah, and love of Israel. The spiritual giants ofJudaism have agreed that love of God comes first. But in America, the role of God has become insignificant. Without love and awe of God there can be no authentic Judaism for Sherwin nor for his master, Heschel. Sherwin contends that by embracing the heritage ofour East European ancestors, we can recover the spiritual riches of the Jewish tradition. Sherwin devotes a good portion ofhis book to an exploration of the saintly Jewish scholars ofPoland who can help to lead us from spiritual alienation to wholeness. The following are a few ofthe sages on whom Sherwin focuses, ones who can teach us how to "build bridges from the heart to God" (p. 15): • The Ba'al Shem Tov (1700-1760), the founder of the Hasidic movement, who, in the words of Heschel "uncovered the ineffable delight of being a Jew." • The Seer of Lublin (1745-1815), leader ofPolish Hasidism, who stated: "Before the Ba'al Shem Tov, the study of Torah was supremely stressed. With the Ba'al Shem Tov, the emphasis shifted to prayer. But with me, it has shifted to acts of loving kindness" (p. 27). • Moses Isserles of Cracow (?1525-1572), the great halakhic scholar, who is known as "the Maimonides of Polish Jewry." 164 SHOFAR Spring 1998 Vol. 16, No.3 • Eliezer Ashkenazi (1513-1586), who will be of special note to all readers interested in interfaith dialogue. Sherwin claims that Ashkenazi is an early pluralist who held the incredible view that, in Sherwin's words, "religious absolutism is a sin, while religious pluralism is the will of God" (p. 40). • Israel Salanter (1810-1933), the brilliant Lithuanian Talmudic scholar, who founded the Musar [ethical self-perfection] Movement that became very influential among the Yeshivot in Poland. Salanter, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the nineteenth century in Poland-Lithuania, stressed that the primary goal of human beings is the attainment of spiritual perfection. • Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), who perhaps more than anyone has revealed to us the spirit of East European Jewry. In the [mal chapter of the book, "The Land We Shared," Sherwin deals with the complex issue of Polish-Jewish relations. He does not accept the Polish stereotype that there has never been antisemitism in Poland nor the Jewish stereotype that all Poles are notorious antisemites. Until the German-Austrian Nazi occupation, Poland served as a great haven for Jews. For the preceding thousand years it had been the America of Europe. Sherwin's years ofparticipation in Polish-Jewish and Catholic-Jewish dialogue give him good insight into the many inaccurate generalizations about Jews and Poles. In 1992, he was given the first Man of Reconciliation award from the Polish Council ofChristians and Jews and in 1995 the Officer's Medal of Merit, a presidential medal from the Republic...