Jewish Social Ethics (review)

Abstract

112 SHOFAR Winter 1994 Vol. 12, No.2 constitutes continuities rather than ruptures in the elaboration ofJewish civilization. As I have noted, Eisenstadt is interested in providing a vivid and usable past, and·in many ways he has succeeded. The struggles Eisenstadt denotes as crucial to the maintenance ofJewish civilization are intellectual and depend on familiarity with a textual tradition. Eisenstadt rarely mentions faith as an ingredient sustainingJudaism. Ironically, however, his emphasis on Judaism's texts issues from a faith that there will be sufficient support for sustainingJewish literacy. When peopledisagree about primary principles, consensus on the sacredness or relevance of any text cannot be taken for granted. Moreover, in an age committed to autonomy and free discussions, the fact that elites are engaged in debates over the predicates of]ewish survival may prove insufficient to the task. Still, Eisenstadt's book is a reminder of the need to link religious principles to shrewd institutional arrangements. As Jewish leaders consider the status of the Jewish community in the United States and in Israel as well as their aspirations for the future, this is an important lesson to keep in mind. Donna Robinson Divine Department of Government Smith College Jewish Social Ethics, by David Novak. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. 252 pp. $39.95. David Novak is one of the more profound contemporary academics writing on Jewish ethics. His concern has been not only to articulate traditional Jewish ethics in terms of the Western academic discussion, but to do so in a way that makes true inter-religious dialogue possible. The present volume makes a major contribution to both goals, but especially the second. Novak accomplishes this by bringing together here eleven of his previously published essays, all revised or updated, and arranging them so that they systematically and in constant dialogue with the Western metaethical tradition present a coherent picture of his view of Jewish ethics. A look at the arrangement of materials makes clear the overall thrust of the book. The first three chapters deal with the question of the place of natural law within Jewish ethics. Those who know Novak's work are aware that he holds natural law to be indigenous to Jewish ethics. What we find in these essays is not some facile assertion of natural law, however. Book Reviews 113 Chapter One is a careful analysis of some important opponents of the idea that natural law is basic to Jewish ethics: Marvin Fox, Leo Strauss, andJose Faur. Novak's aim in this chapter is to point out that their negative answer to the question of natural law in Judaism leaves the issue far from settled. In the next two chapters, Novak considers two important Christian "natural law" thinkers so as to retrieve their insights for Judaism. The first is Paul Tillich, the complexities of whose views on the relationship between ethics and natural law are carefully and tightly teased out against the background ofWilliam Frankena's critique. Chapter Three is in essence a defense of the natural law metaphysics of the Roman Catholic thinker John Murray. Murray shows us, as does Tillich, that the natural law perspective has important things to say for religious ethics, Judaism included, in the modern world. Having addressed the metaethical questions, Novak turns in the remaining essays to the concrete and practical application ofJewish social ethics. Again the placement of materials is itself part of the message. Chapters Four and Five deal with questions of gender and sex. As Novak explains in his preface, these materials serve as a bridge to the following chapters which deal with political issues. The thought is that our lives as political beings are premised on our prior status as sexual and gendered beings. It is in fact through our sexual and gender roles that we first construct our relationships to other people in the image of the divine (Chapter Four). Chapter Five takes up one of the most striking contemporary illustrations of the interrelationship between religious ethics and politics: the question of homosexuality and AIDS. Chapters Six and Seven turn to more general political issues: Nuclear War and Technology. In both chapters the theme is the same, namely, the threat of destruction posed...