The First Reconstruction of Judaism

Explore the historical world of this year’s

‘ONE BOOK MISHKAN’ selection:

AS A DRIVEN LEAF

By Rabbi Milton Steinberg

  Jews searching in spiritual paths outside Judaism is nothing new. In fact, as Milton Steinberg’s historic novel As a Driven Leaf demonstrates, some of our early rabbinic sages ventured into religious byways beyond the Jewish mainstream. We will study some of the earliest examples of religious challenges to the Jewish tradition and responses to them that conserved — as well as dramatically changed — Jewish practice and institutions. We will survey the variety of religious expressions that posed challenges to the survival of Judaism, from the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah through the Maccabean struggle against Hellenism,the Jesus Movement and the destruction of the Jewish state, culminating in Rabbinic Judaism — the first reconstruction of Judaism. Reading Steinberg’s book is encouraged but not required.