Lost Tribes

Last updated on: March 10, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The notion that American Indians are the ten lost tribes of Israel is quaint today, but during the age of exploration, Europeans thought they had plenty of proof. Thomas Thorowgood’s Iewes in America laid out dozens of resemblances between Judaism and Indian customs. As summarized by Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, these included: “like the Jews, the Indians ‘constantly and strictly separate their women in a little Wigwam by themselves in their feminine seasons; they annoint their heads as did the Jews; they ‘wash... Read more

Savaging Judaism

Last updated on: March 10, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Drawing on Howard Eilberg-Schwartz’s The Savage in Judaism, I argue that the ills of modern theology can be cured only by re-savaging Judaism. And Christianity. Read more

Prostate Hoax?

Last updated on: March 10, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The Economist review of The Great Prostate Hoax by Richard Ablin observes that opposition to prostate testing has moved in from the margins. Ablin, who claims to have identified the protein widely associated with prostate cancer, questions whether it gives any useful information. As the review explains, “In some men with cancer, PSA levels may be elevated. But a high PSA does not necessarily mean that a man has cancer, nor does a low PSA mean he should be carefree.” Ambiguous... Read more

Genesis

Last updated on: March 10, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

It’s a central thesis of John B. Judis’s new Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict that there was a moment when the Arab-Israeli conflict could have been averted, but, under pressure from the Zionist lobby, the great powers, especially the US under Truman, failed to avert it. Judis writes, “if any agreement were possible, it would have had to be imposed by outside powers, and then enforced by them until the Jews and Arabs agreed to abide by... Read more

Sacrifice of Charity

Last updated on: March 10, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

In both Christian and Jewish theology, charity was one of the forms of post-sacrificial sacrifice. Halbertal (On Sacrifice, 40-1) observes that this is not merely a matter of substitution but of fulfillment. Sacrifice, he points out, always exists under the possibility of failure. A worshiper brings his gift, but God may not receive it. The gap between offering and acceptance is filled with anxiety and fear, the possibility that God might have reason to refuse to welcome the worshiper into... Read more

Self-transcendence and sacrifice

Last updated on: March 10, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Self-transcendence is in various forms an essential part of modern moral theory. To be truly good, in a Kantian framework, is to transcend personal self-interest, self-love, in order to conform one’s actions to the categorical imperative. Halbertal (On Sacrifice) observes that this note of self-transcendence means that sacrifice is inherent in moral theory: You “give up” our own interests for the sake of the greatest happiness of all, to obey the categorical imperative, to advance the common good, to protect... Read more

Righteous aggressors

Last updated on: March 10, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Halbertal (On Sacrifice, 72-3) offers this fine analysis of the self-justificating moves of aggressors: “The mind can play complicated games, and among them is the accusation that an aggressor directs toward his victim for causing him to become violent, which all too easily turns into a justification for further violence. This cycle seems to be an integral feature of abuse. A person who feels guilty toward someone begins to see that person as his tormentor, which gives him a reason... Read more

Pure Gift?

Last updated on: March 8, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Is the olah, the “whole burnt offering,” a “pure gift, as Moshe Halbertal has it in On Sacrifice (14)? It seems so: The entire animal is burned, no meat remains for the worshiper, there is no evident benefit given in return for the total devotion of an animal to Yahweh, Sed contra: The olah is said to “make atonement” for the worshiper (Leviticus 1:4) that produces a pacifying aroma (1:9). It’s not a “pure” unreciprocated gift. It’s a gift whose return... Read more

Auden’s Secrets

Last updated on: March 8, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

When I spot an essay entitled “The Secret Auden,” I get nervous. When it’s in the New York Review of Books, I get nervouser. Edward Mendelson’s recent piece on Auden does refer to Auden’s homosexuality, but the focus of the piece is elsewhere: Auden’s dirty little secret is that he was a charitable and generous man, despite going “out of his way to seem selfish.” For instance: “Auden heard that an old woman in [his Episcopal] congregation was suffering night terrors,... Read more

Giving All To God

Last updated on: March 8, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

It is well known that Greeks rarely offered holocaust sacrifices – sacrifices in which the entire animal is offered to the gods by being consumed in the fire. the most common sacrifice was the thysia, which always culminated with a meal. Alongside the rare holocausts were the equally rare “moirocausts,” in which an an entire leg or some portion of flesh was burned, reducing the meat available to the human worshipers. Early in the twentieth century, it was thought (by... Read more