Telling Tales, by Jacob Neusner. Louisville: Westminster/ John Knox Press, 1993. Reviewed by Rabbi Shira Lander, ICJS Staff.

In this brief yet comprehensive assault on the history of Jewish-Christian dialogue Neusner summarizes the character and content of the past two thousand years of what he calls "juxtaposed monologues": Christians have invented an inferior, hollow Judaism in order to supersede it, and Jews have dis-missed Christianity as irrelevant and unintelligible. Rather than create a mythological portrait of the other to best suit the needs of one's own religion, of which both judaism and Chris-tianity are guilty, Neusner proposes that Jews and Christians finally confront what is truly distinct and irreconcilable about the other, on the other's terms.

The first part of the book, "Why There Has Been No Judeo-Christian Dialogue: Two Monologues and the Conspiracy of Hypocrites," presents a brilliant summary and critique of what has feebly passed for debate and dialogue. In fact, his is the best argument for the uniqueness and necessity of the ICJS. In the second part, "Two Issues for an Honest Argument and How There Can Be a Judeo-Christian Dialogue," Neusner de-mands that Jews and Christians begin to make sense of one another's central beliefs, which have, up until this point, been thoroughly incomprehensible. For Neusner, true dialogue would consist of Jews, fully grounded in their own religion and willing to point out differences, trying to understand and acknowl-edge the validity of the Christian faith in Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God. Likewise Christians, rooted in a faith that does not compromise its fundamental doctrines to appease anxious Jewish dialogue partners, would try to make sense of Israel, both as God's chosen people and the geo-political state.

In his guide to how this conversation might unfold, however, Neusner stumbles where others have fallen. On the one hand he insists that we can only understand the other's identity in his/her own terms. On the other hand, his use of analogies (such as Mary and Rachel, the Body of Christ and the People of Israel) unwittingly distorts the distinctiveness of both tra-ditions. Nor does he accept the challenge that Christians' awareness of themselves as incorporated into the body of Israel poses to Jewish spirituality and self-understanding. Per-haps these issues belong to the dialogue that we at the ICJS have been privileged to pursue, a dialogue that might surprise and delight Neusner.

SHEKHINAH/SPIRIT: Divine Presence in Jewish and Chris-tian Thought, by Michael E. Lodahl. New York: Paulist Press, 1992. Reviewed by the Rev. James C. Blackburn, All Saints Church, Sunderland, Maryland.

The Holy Spirit in both Judaism and Christianity is the subject of this exceedingly worthwhile offering. The discussion takes place in the context of process theology and is openly linked to the difficulties of doing the work of theology in our post-Holocaust world.

Lodahl first addresses the "problem of exclusivism," in which Christianity has traditionally presented herself as having re-placed Judaism. By focusing on the concept of Divine presence in Scriptural and Rabbinic writings, the author affirms an au-thentic, common theme in both Judaism and Christianity.

In dealing with the Spirit and the problem of evil, Lodahl enters into the Kabbalistic worlds of the Zohar and Isaac Luria, con-centrating on a contemporary understanding of galut (exile). He directs attention to post-Holocaust interpretations of Buber, Fackenheim, and Arthur Cohen. The final section treats eschatology and "Shekhinah Christology," the manifestation of God's Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ. Joining with van Buren, Lodahl claims that "Jesus is the Jew through whom the God of Israel" has brought the gentiles into covenantal relationship.

This book is packed with information and will prove challenging to traditional doctrines of the Spirit and of the Christ. On one level it is yet another helpful approach to Christian-Jewish understanding. At a much deeper level, it radically questions several "comfortable" beliefs held by many Christians. On both counts, it succeeds marvelously and will more than repay close reading.

Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust, edited by Carol Rittner and John K. Roth. New York: Paragon House, 1993. Reviewed by Rabbi Shira Lander, ICJS Staff.

This is a remarkable collection of essays that explore both the uniqueness and the banality of women's experience in the Shoah. As one scholar, Myrna Goldenberg, comments, "The hell was the same, but the horrors were different." Rittner and Roth divide their work into three parts: first person accounts; analytical essays by contemporary scholars that explore the relationships among antisemitism, racism, and sexism; and re-flections by Holocaust survivors, their children, their rescuers, and their archivists.

Essayists conclude that the Nazis' commitment to exterminate the entire Jewish "race" resulted in the targeting of women and children for murder since they were considered the "car-riers of the race." Joan Ringelheim's piece raises disturbing questions about Holocaust research and the pitfalls of inter-preting women's experience in the Shoah: in noting women's ("natural") ability to adapt to the horrors of Auschwitz, some scholars celebrate the values that reinforce their oppression. Aside from the distinctiveness of women's biological vulner-ability, Ringelheim asks whether socially conditioned sexism contributed to the demise of women and children in the Shoah. She notes that when the S.S. came to round up men in villages, they left their families somewhat willingly, believing falsely that "Deep down the Germans are civilized ... They would not harm women and children." Unfortunately, the truth was just the opposite.

This book will be a ground-breaking source for years to come, and it demands our attention.

THE HEALER OF SHATTERED HEARTS: A Jewish View of God, by David J. Wolpe. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1990. Reviewed by Rabbi Gila Colman Ruskin, Congregation Chevrei Tzedek, Baltimore.

God can touch a life. Faith can alter vision. Little else in this polychrome world will suddenly pull things together, make the jagged pieces fall into place as will faith in God. Few things go as far to ease the ache of loneliness, the terrible fear that we are spinning blindly through the universe. No other force can so fill the night with presence, hear the unspoken fears, calm the uncertain stirrings when the dark is so strong that even shadows disappear.

David Wolpe begins with the simple statement: "Judaism with-out God was unthinkable to an earlier age." Yet one can best appreciate this lyrically rich spiritual-theological treatise by reading the dustjacket description of the author as "an ardent atheist" at an earlier age. Here is the passionate outpouring of Wolpe's discovery of the God of his tradition.

For modern Jews who believe that it is only what you do that counts, who may "admire the imagery of the Bible but do not hear the voice," whose lives are fearful and void, Wolpe offers the Rabbinic tradition of Midrash, of prayer, of mysticism. The goal is emunah: not a simpleminded blind faith, but a trust and belief gradually apprehended by plunging into the world with eyes open. Wolpe presents the relationship between humanity and God as a creative partnership, illustrating his chapters on fear, death, and evil with vivid Misrashim. Although the tradi-tion he uncovers is ancient, Wolpe's quest must be understood in the context of the nineties' search for a politics of meaning, for a new spirituality that transcends the rationalism and scientific inquiry that have so dominated Western thought.

Wolpe demonstrates substantial knowledge and application of Rabbinic texts. The philosophical influence of Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Heschel can be detected, yet Wolpe may be forcing the similarities through his writing style. Especially helpful is the "Suggested Readings" section, an affectionately annotated bibliography. Because Wolpe's quest is universal and familiar, his book may be read and appreciated by all seekers.