What Kind of God? Essays in Honor of Richard L. Rubenstein (review)

Book Reviews 141 The grandchildren, too, are affected differently. Orit's story is brief, but she radiates a positive outlook in the way she relates to herself, and her descriptions are full of humorous and sensitive observations of family members. She can let her reality happen, unlike her mother who is too busy controlling it. She speaks warmly and lovingly of her grandmother, the survivor. This well written book, which, as the author said, is an orientation map to the lives, the memories, and the experiences of these three generations, makes an important contribution to the literature of Holocaust survivors. The author asks us to take note that "by comparing three life stories by three generations, we compare different life perspectives : the retroactive one of the survivors :who look back wanting to tell a story that reflects the major events in their lives; that of the middle generation, still in their active years, still creating their life story but also . finding themselves at a critical moment (midlife crisis?) as children grow and begin to leave home; and that ofthe third generation who may not yet have much of a story to tell." This work will appeal to the intelligent lay reader as well as professionals. It is definitely a welcome addition to understanding how Holocaust survivors and their children cope. It is interwoven with not only the personal life stories and scripts but the historical and psychological background of the fifteen individuals interviewed, and where and how these individuals experienced the Holocaust. Samuel P. Oliner, Ph.D. Department of Sociology and Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute Humboldt State University What Kind of God? Essays in Honor of Richard L. Rubenstein, edited by Betty Rogers Rubenstein and Michael Berenbaum. Studies in the Shoah, Vol. XI. Lanham, MD: University Press ofAmerica, 1996. 495 pp. $64.50. Writing a review of a Festschrift is a great task. This Festschrift is a collection ofarticles dedicated to Professor Richard 1. Rubenstein, aJewish theologian whose thinking, respected by Jewish as well as non-Jewish intellectuals, emphasized the impossibility of separating religion from history-the Zionist movement and Jewish culture, the Holocaust, and the 142 SHOFAR Winter 1997 Vol. 15, No. 2 establishment of the State ofIsrael. He regarded these events as the major happenings ofthe twentieth century. In my review I do not wish to seek new formulas for the examination ofworks of prominent scholars nor to grade these works; I wish to reflect on these studies and to look at the special impact these studies had on me as a reader and an intellectual who is constantly in pursuit of new ideas and questions. Indeed even the title of this excellent Festschrift stimulates a personal statement. Many times in history God and Jews were assumed dead, but again and again they have been resurrected. Sometimes God in the Buberian perception was eclipsed. He was there as his people were, but was not fully revealed. This is a God that in the time of need chose to hide; he chose to cover himself with a thick cloud to remain in his dominion, and he let his creation be destroyed. With this God we are constantly in a dialectic. With this God we are always in conflict. And possibly, as Michael Berenbaum once said, "The God who was silent while the Sboab happened should be ashamed to act now." The editors of this Festschrift, Betty Rogers Rubenstein and Michael Berenbaum, should be commended for their excellent work. The wide range of the collection speaks for itself. The 37 studies presented by scholars, some of them friends and disciples of Professor Rubenstein, are well written and well argued, and they present in an interesting way the complexities of the problematic issues Professor Rubenstein deals with as a Jewish theologian. These studies have a special aura; the spirits oftwo Jewish theologians are hovering above this important Festschrift. On one hand is the theology of Emil Fackenheim which contends that while Judaism continues to comfort the "unprecedented" atrocities of the Sboab, Christianity has yet to do so. In his perception (exploring the Haggada) the hope that died at Auschwitz was reborn with the establishment of the State of Israel...