REVIEW: Reclaiming Redemption
Moshe Taragin, Reclaiming Redemption: Deciphering the Maze of Jewish History (Mosaica Press), 477 pp.
It is now routine to refer to the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, as “the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.” The refrain, while highlighting the immense barbarism and tragedy, its scale and scope, also underscores the essential difference between the events: The 2023 attack came about in the sovereign Jewish State, 75 years after the historical repositioning of our people. Reclaiming Redemption by Rabbi Moshe Taragin explores the contemporary Jewish nation that has emerged “from the tunnel of history,” a people who are no longer bystanders or objects, but actors on the world stage. In this new existence, redemption, once an abstract concept, now looks very real and practical; the barriers to its fulfillment look more daunting as well. The essays in this work were written prior to Simhat Torah 5783, but, Taragin notes, the heinous attack that ignited our current war did not wipe away the ailments or blessings of our contemporary age. Indeed, in many ways, it accentuated them. Taragin’s ambitious goal is to take on the challenges of living in an era “inching closer to the end of history.” This means marshaling a diverse array of sources, historical perspective, and calling upon experiences and the wisdom of his teachers, to fearlessly tackle the weighty question of Israel’s religious/secular divide, the complex relationship between Israel and the Diaspora, and the State of Israel’s interaction with the world in an attempt to understand, interpret, and recommend a pathway to Geula.
The secular quality of the nascent Zionist movement was impossible to ignore. Rav Kook’s vision of a religious renaissance, Taragin notes, never fully materialized. The tensions over conversion, Sabbath observance, kosher standards, secular marriage, religion in the public square, etc., remain prevalent within Israeli society. Just hours before the attacks on October 7, Tel Aviv’s streets had erupted with internecine squabbling about erecting a mehitza at an outdoor Hoshana Rabba prayer event on city space. Even as an unrepentant Religious Zionist, Taragin does not deny the solid historical foundation of those who are suspicious of religion and nationalism intermingling. Why support or join a spiritually precarious movement that may endanger the soul? In our sources, there are subtle dismissals of the rejectionist approach. The Prophet Elijah could not stomach idol-worshipping Jews in his midst, and for that he is “retired to heaven in a chariot of puritanical fire.” Contrast Elijah with the judge Gideon who despite his own “questionable background” led the Jewish people to victory and religious revival.
[Read more about Reclaiming Redemption, and access purchase links, at the author’s website.]
A prominent strand within our tradition promotes inclusivity even of the less committed. Despite his well-earned reputation for “Litvishe” learning, Taragin calls upon Hasidic thought to bolster inclusion and embrace of the broad Jewish nation. In a particularly bold observation, he notes “Korach’s message served as a cornerstone of the Chassidic revolution.” That declaration of universal holiness, while unable to displace the protocols of religious specialization, nonetheless can empower our generation. “Chassidus asserted that even before turning their hearts back to Hashem, and even without full Halachik compliance, every Jew possessed a latent sanctity.”
Many lament that the centrality of secular Zionism has led to the “supplanting of religious consciousness, by cultural identity” to the point where faith and halakha become secondary or even irrelevant. It is what leads the contemporary Hasidic community to eschew its historical openness and choose insularity. However, the rise of Jewish culture may itself be an expression of deep identification with the Jewish people and with God. The projects of agriculture, so central to early Zionism, stemmed not only from practical, economic need, but from a desire to reconnect to the land and to a way of life of our ancestors. So too, we cannot ignore the secular Jew’s investment in and sacrifice for the Jewish people as an expression of a spiritual core, as Rav Kook so famously articulated.
One fact cannot be denied: the pined-for return to Israel is now an option for each and every Jew. The Zohar analogized the Eretz Yisrael to a mother. “A mother’s love provides confidence and clarity… The Land of Israel provides similar confidence and serenity.” And yet in the twenty-first century, the Jewish diaspora, particularly in the United States, largely eschews Aliya for the comfortable communities in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Taragin avoids taking easy shots at American Jewry and underscores Orthodoxy’s exilic achievements. Yet, danger lurks in that very success. “When we enter exile too peacefully, we often become too settled, and it sometimes takes a violent event to shake us from our historical slumber.” Taragin points to historical moments, the Khmelnytsky uprisings of 1648-1649, the Spanish Expulsion, that rocked stable and even successful communities. One can only imagine how the book would have drawn parallels to events on American college campuses had its writing not been completed prior to the waves of antisemitism in the United States, Australia, and Europe, which we have witnessed over the past year-plus.
The events of these “interesting times” have generated a worldwide Jewish reevaluation of our identities as individuals and as a people that “dwells alone.” It is not an easy challenge, and no less an individual than Moshe, the Midrash claims, failed his first test of Jewish identity when he was marked by Yitro’s daughters as an ish Mitzri, an Egyptian man. Contrast that with Yosef who consistently identifies as an Ivri, a Hebrew. “By tenaciously maintaining his identity as an ish Ivri, Yosef reinforced his association with the land of Israel.” It isn’t by chance that Moshe is ultimately barred from entering the land, while Yosef’s bones are returned—at his insistence. Taragin asks those who live outside Israel to nonetheless “live Israel” as an identity.
Not too long ago, a Torah work’s comment on geopolitics might be viewed as an absurdity or oxymoron. Thanks to the State of Israel, Jews are no longer a marginal community. Taragin promotes Jewish nationalism, though cautions us to avoid extremism and reflect on its spiritual kernel and commitment to heaven. This can be accomplished by telling our national story with recognition of God’s hand as we do on Passover, or by coupling “intellectual outburst” with national pride as we do on Hanukka. It requires looking at the world through Torah-tinted lenses. To the Jews, Jerusalem is not merely the seat of government, but a locale exerting a “primal lure,” emitting a “kinetic force” that inspired the soldiers of the Six-Day War who ultimately stood before a “re-enfranchised Kotel.”
[Listen to Moshe Taragin on the Tradition Podcast.]
When questions of “the Jew in the modern world” once focused on the benefits of secular wisdom or business ethics, they now grapple with Israel’s place within the community of nations. Of course, we know too well that there are nations that seek to annihilate the Jewish State and its population. There is, however, another “cultural faceoff” replaying before our eyes. “Athens” seeks not to destroy the Jewish people, but displace its spirit. The challenge is, even as we interact with the world, to preserve the vision of Jewish destiny. Here Taragin advocates what he cleverly calls the “Isaac Accords,” rapprochement between the children of Yaakov and those Esav (i.e., the Western world), where we partner and grow without negating our unique Abrahamic core.
Almost thirty years ago, my teenage self was moved and inspired by sitting in Rabbi Moshe Taragin’s shiur, experiencing his pedagogical brilliance dissecting the theory and assumptions of classical yeshiva learning for the uninitiated, inviting us to join him in the task. In Reclaiming Redemption, he applies those talents as an educator to the greater issues facing the Jewish nation. His preternatural eloquence, uncanny optimism, and predilection for seeing more than one side of an issue makes the book an engaging read. Organized topically, these essays return to many of the same themes and observations, even as they explore new source material. Reading them by Parasha or holiday, assisted by the index at the end of the work, will help a reader appreciate the diversity of his thought, and experience this work (as I believe it was designed) as a student hearing the Rebbe’s weekly schmooze.
As I write, my Rebbe sits at the bedside of his son Noam, a soldier seriously injured in the fighting in Lebanon. “A ticket to the land of Hashem isn’t cheap,” he writes, and is often paid by the brave members of the Israel Defense Forces, God’s “human partners” who protect the Jewish people and reclaim redemption. For Noam Avraham ben Atara Shlomit, I pray for full recovery, and, for his family, the faith and strength depicted in his loving father’s insightful and important work.
Elie Weissman is the Rabbi of the Young Israel of Plainview, NY, and serves as Associate Director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC).