I began studying Biblical Hebrew seriously when the COVID-19 Pandemic forced a hiatus from the daily requirements of work and other mandatory activities. This enabled me to devote more time to other pursuits, one of which was the desire to gain a level of proficiency in biblical Hebrew, the primary language in which the Old Testament was written. To this end, not only did I systematically go through a grammar on Biblical Hebrew, but also watched The Master’s Seminary’s Hebrew I/II & Hebrew Exegesis I/II YouTube series taught by Dr. Bill Barrick. For further immersion, I began watching the messages given by the pastor of a Messianic Jewish congregation. While there was no doubt in my mind that the pastor’s testimony of coming to faith in Yeshua as the Messiah was genuine, I found the messages to be ‘wishy-washy’ as he was trying to connect with his Jewish brethren who were not yet of his conviction.

In line with attempting to understand the mindset – or perhaps, the heart – of the unredeemed Jew, I recently happened upon the book referenced in the title, the author of which, it turns out is the grandson of the now-deceased Conservative Jewish rabbi and author, Robert Gordis, and the son of Leon Gordis, who was a renowned epidemiologist. So, his is a pedigree of scholars.

At the time his book, God Was Not In The Fire, was published in 1995, the author, according to the short biography on the back flap of the dust cover, had earned his doctorate at the School of Religion of the University of Southern California, was ordained as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and was teaching at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

The book, as I understand the author’s underlying premise, was written to present a cogent argument to those Jews who no longer feel a connection to Judaism, i.e., the spiritual aspect of their ethnic community, as the second part of the book’s title The Search for a Spiritual Judaism indicates, and have therefore abandoned it.

Gordis is an ardent proponent of accepting the Torah as the guide by which Jews should align their lives in order to seek and experience God’s closeness, not God’s truth. Gordis recognizes the [Torah] texts to be difficult, but “they are our ticket into Jewish authenticity” because it is a “uniquely Jewish spiritual pursuit…to celebrate the intellect.” Regarding reading the Torah, he acknowledges that “we minimized the importance of Hebrew [yet] when translated [the Torah text] must inevitably lose some of its power.” He also argues for conducting corporate worship in the original language, which increases the intensity of worshiping.

Although Gordis considers the Jewish world as one of study, theology, prayer, law, and community, it seemed to me that he is willing to compromise the holistic nature of Judaism by encouraging non-practicing Jews to return to their faith in simply reconnecting with the Jewish community and engaging in traditional ceremonies of circumcision (bris), marriage, and observing the Jewish Sabbath.

The “love affair” of Jews with their ancient texts stems from the intellectual sophistication with which they are written, reflecting the power of the written word to bring a deeper understanding of the underlying meaning of the ceremonies once the returning Jew begins to take Judaism seriously. Gordis appears to be ambivalent as to whether or not the Torah is the inspired Word of God.

There are several thoughts evoked by Gordis that require a comment from an evangelical Christian perspective – at least from the perspective of this reviewer who considers himself to be an evangelical Christian, although one holding a minority view on some points.

First is his celebration of the intellect and applying attention to the original Hebrew scriptures rather than relying strictly on a translation of a given text. The Jewish community, Gordis stresses, reserves the highest accolades for scholars. [LOC commentary: An indisputable article of evangelical Christianity is that all that is needed to understand and accept the message of salvation is clearly articulated in any honest translation of the Bible. Unfortunately, however, much of the evangelical community has a prejudice toward any treatment of scripture that smacks of “intellectualism.” Somehow, Yahwah’s invitation “To come, let us reason together” is forgotten, so that congregations are happy to be fed from the pulpit by pastors who have little regard for the original languages in which the most important book ever published was written. But the onus cannot be solely directed at the congregations. Much of the blame must be accepted by the men in the pulpit who satisfy themselves with a superficial reading (perhaps in several translations) of a passage under consideration for a sermon, relying on commentaries for insights rather than, if necessary, struggling with the meat of the passage in the original language – it is amazing the insights to be gained by the diligent student under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit Whose word it is. We as the evangelical community, which recognizes the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments/Covenants to be the “only guide for faith and practice,” should also hold in utmost esteem scholars, professional and avocational, of the evangelical tradition who wrestle with the Scriptures in their original languages to show themselves “workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth,” not only to personally draw closer to Yeshua but to facilitate the same for the congregations the former may pastor and with which the latter may worship.]

Another statement of Gordis’s with which I resonate concerns the Messianic Jewish movement, which he lumps together as ‘Jews for Jesus,’ accusing them of attempting to be part of both traditions, i.e., of Judaism, for the sake of national identity, and of Christianity. [LOC comment: If I may extrapolate from his argument, Gordis’s concept of the spirituality of Judaism is to be experienced by obeying the Law (mitzv(ah/oth)), in which Jewish uniqueness and authenticity are found. Therefore, for ethnic Jews to claim Yeshua over Mitzvoth, in the opinion of Gordis, is to abrogate their Jewish identity and is an affront to his sense of fulfilling Yahwah’s expectations for him and all Jews to commit to living according to His commandments.

On one plane, I commiserate. Messianic Jews (MJ), by elevating the Torah in their worship services, by worshiping on ‘the seventh day,’ i.e., Saturday, as dictated in the Mitzvoth (in this case, the 10 Commandments), by reverting to the Hebraic names of the apostles, by observing the Passover prescribed under the Old Covenant, and even by referring to themselves as ‘Messianic’ rather than as Christians, obviously are intentionally distancing themselves from what they consider ‘gentilic’ Christianity and with which they do not wish to identify. (A caveat is in order here: We are told in Acts 11:26 that “the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” The question arises, whether the word originally employed was the Greek ‘χριστιανος’ / christianos; or, the Hebrew ‘מש’חיים’ / moshichiim which was later translated into Greek. Franz Delitzsch, in his Hebrew translation of the Greek New Testament, opts for the latter. Perhaps we evangelicals should begin identifying as Messianics. To do so would distinguish the community of believers in Yeshua as the Messiah from the generic religious identity ‘Christian’ as opposed to ‘Muslim,’ etc.) They insist on this behavior despite Paul’s admonition that there should be neither Jew nor Greek within the Body of the Messiah. Nor do they refer to the place where they gather to worship as a ‘church.’ (Although I totally agree that a place for worshiping the triune God should not be called a ‘church,’ I’m sure my reason differs from that of Messianic Jews – cf. my post: https://the-dragon-is-slain.com/2022/06/11/theoretical-reconstruction-of-the-derivation-of-the-conceptual-word-church/comment-page-1/ ). It is fairly obvious that the MJ movement’s intention is to distance itself from ‘Christian’ terminology in an attempt to identify with and witness to their coethnics by adhering to the aforementioned list of worship protocols and identity markers. Gordis is right that this decision on their part is disconcerting.

However, some practices and traditions are revered as sacrosanct within evangelical Christianity that I feel should be abolished so that our focus is reoriented from the pagan influence of Rome onto the truth as revealed in all of Scripture. The evangelical community must reverse the ingrained habit of referring to ‘Jesus,’ ‘Christ,’ and ‘Lord’ by using the Biblical Hebrew connotational names ‘Yeshua’ (Salvation/Deliverance), haMoshiah’ (the Anointed One), and ‘Yahwah’ (the Eternal One, Who was, is, and will be). As for tradition, we evangelicals must dispense with connoting a Christian message to Christmas as the Messianic Jewish community should with Hanukkah and join in celebrating the Festival of Sukkot as the time when Elohim came to dwell among us as Yeshua, Who, as the feast concluded declared Himself to be the Light of the world. Similarly, the evangelical community should adopt the Jewish term Pesach (Passover, the paschal lamb; from pasach – to pass over, spare) or Pascha (suffer in NT Greek) rather than recognize the pagan holiday of Easter. Of course, the Messianic Jewish community should redirect its focus exclusively onto Yeshua as our Paschal Lamb. By doing so, a convergence of the two communities would be initiated.]

In his book, Gordis creates a strawman by juxtaposing a misinterpretation of the Apostle Paul’s argument concerning the Law that it causes sin and his declaration that “observance of the commandments (or the law as Paul calls it) will lead to holiness.” [LOC comment: But that is exactly the point Paul is making, that ‘the Law is holy,’ while the commandment (referring back to the 10th Commandment, to not covet) ‘is holy and just and good.’ But as sinful human beings, it is impossible for us to perfectly observe the Law. The Law does not cause us to sin; rather, it points to our sinful human nature.

It is curious that Gordis would find fault with the Apostle Paul’s tightly-woven theology of salvation based on grace and faith, founded as it is on the sound footing of the underlying message of the Old Covenant. On the one hand, it shows a hubristic approach to the Scriptures; on the other hand, his attack indicates that he feels the need to refute the core Christian doctrine of salvation through faith in Yeshuah haMoshiach alone.]

One of the most poignant sections of the book is the discussion of the Sabbath as a precursor of a future redemption. Gordis draws on German Jewish philosopher, Franz Rosenzweig, quoting from his book The Star of Redemption: “The Sabbath is the dream of perfection…the sign of Creation and the first revelation…the anticipation of redemption…Indeed, on the Sabbath the congregation feels as if it were already redeemed.” Gordis offers his take on Rosenzweig’s insightful interpretation of the seventh-day day-of-rest: “Shabbat comes not to say that everything is fine but to remind Jews that it is not and to demand that they change it.” Here Gordis is giving voice to the idea of ‘human activism’ over against ‘submission.’

Perhaps the saddest statement in the book is Gordis’s opinion, while discussing prayer, that “…with effort and with some fortune…we can become ever more thoughtful and more caring human beings, inching ever closer to the expression of God’s image that is at the very foundation of each and every one of us.” [LOC comment: Why would anyone want to rely on their own initiative and effort or how could they even trust their feelings regarding realizing God’s image in them? Initiative and effort ebbs and flows – is it ever sufficient, up to God’s expectation for us? Can we ever reach His standard? And our feelings can deceive us. On the other hand, Gordis’s nemisis, the Apostle Paul, gives us hope: “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, to will and to work for His good pleasure.” In other words, it is not up to us; it is the Holy Spirit, Whom we have received from Yeshua as soon as we believe in Him, and that faith with which we believe is not our own, it is God’s gift. It is God Himself Who enables us! The work then that we are to do is to fulfill the commandment of love – to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In another place, the Apostle Paul, speaking of the Holy Spirit, says, “Indeed we know that [He] works all things for good together with those who love God, with those being called according to [His] purpose.”

This brings us back to Rosenzweig’s picture of the Sabbath as a future redemption. That day of redemption has already come when Yeshua rose from the grave on the Sabbath! (cf. https://the-dragon-is-slain.com/2022/01/21/subject-regarding-sunday-to-be-the-lords-day-i-e-the-day-on-which-jesus-rose-from-the-grave/ ) We who have been called can testify with the Apostle Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And again, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (אָדנִינוּ ישוע הַמְשיח Adoni Yeshua haMoshiach)! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead… .”

I am not in a position to judge the merits of Gordis’s book from the viewpoint of a practitioner of Judaism or whether his arguments are powerful enough to persuade a non-practicing Jew to return to the faith of their fathers. It seems to me that although Gordis touts the intellectual nature of the Torah, much of his argumentation is directed at the emotions by emphasizing the traditions of Judaism as the initial and primary means to reconnect with the faith. The search for a spiritual Judaism through obeying the Law as contained in the Ten Commandments and perhaps however the remainder of the Tanakh or Old Testament/Covenant may influence the seeker, although he never mentions it, is a journey into self-realization rather than discovering the path to glorifying God. But the honest seeker of Yahwah will come face-to-face with Yeshua. At this conjunction of the seeker being called by the One he is seeking, the one who has been preordained to salvation will respond in faith to the call.

For the evangelical Christian, Gordis’s book will serve as a primer on the fundamentals of Judaism as described by a passionate practitioner who, by approaching his faith as an intellectual, praises the Torah as a stimulatingly sophisticated text worthy of deep examination. Yet, his compulsion to appeal to the emotions of Jewish traditions and to engage the text as the uninspired dictates of men with whom it is possible to argue serves as a barometer of the extent to which the “ancient texts” are merely a means to ethnic community and a guide for moral improvement.