Future Tense: A Vision for Jews and Judaism in the Global Culture [Hardcover]

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes about personhood and peoplehood (in that order), of the particular and the universal, as a means of exploring the story of the Jews - the oldest surviving People of the Book. The message of 'Future Tense' seems to be the necessity of every person and every people to have sanctuary and sovereignty and that there is enough room in this world that they should. Rabbi Sacks writes of two lodestones of Jewish momentum and identity - 'fate' and 'faith' and tries to uncover the reasons why, little more than fifty years after the British troops marched into Bergen-Belsen, and the Russians Auschwitz, anti-Semitism is rising at an alarming rate against Jews and against the tiny State of Israel - "Today there are 120 countries in which the majority of the population is Christian. There are fifty-seven member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. There is only one Jewish state, a tiny county, one quarter of one per cent of the landmass of the Arab world." He argues, it is illogical to blame the political or military actions that have taken place in Israel in the new millennium for the rise in anti-Semitism as most Jews are not Israelis. He reminds his readers of the Jewish religious, historical, intellectual and artistic contributions to humanity which are phenomenal for such a small people. All of these contributions are investigated by the means of positing the 'particular' as Jewish and the 'universal' as non-Jewish. He speaks of an historical 'Greek wisdom' (Imperialist imperatives) as a form of attrition when brought into contact with Judaism. In contrast general 'wisdoms' found in the university are put forth as a sort of universalism which yeshiva students are encouraged to engage with. The Rabbi urges that if the contributions of Judaism to the universal are to continue, this wisdom must be understood and explored by the yeshiva student. There are some statements that dismiss certain teachings which he sees as belonging the aforementioned 'imperialist' kind which I don't agree with, but, as Rabbi Sacks puts forth, there is a dignity in dissent. As part of the overarching thesis of the book Rabbi Sacks compares the Septuagint translation of the name of God to the Masoretic understanding, contrasting 'I am what I am' with 'I will be what I will be' as the real force of his agrument that Judaism and the God of Israel belong to the 'Future Tense', and therefore Judaism plays a crucial part in the forward movement of the universal and thus the progression of human society. A compelling and often moving read. Highly recommended.

I loved the latest book by Jonathan Sachs -- a compilation of much of his thinking on the future and history of Judaism in one extremely readable book. Highly recommend to anyone who is a member of or thinks about the Jewish People.

Future Tense is a book that will make you think. It will make you think about ideas that you may have thought about in passing;however, it puts these ideas in a ways that make them so much more meaningful. The idea of the "Not Yet" and Hope as a theme for the future of Judaism,not defining Judaism in terms of the people that suffer alone, really resonated with me. Far to many people focus on apocalyptic inevitability, this book counters that sentiment in many ways. Not only was it meaningful, it was also very well written. I am glad that Rabbi Sacks has written this book; may he continue to write many more great works in the future.