As I write this, I am about to leave for Israel for the first General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations to be held in Jerusalem. It will be filled with fund-raising advice and survey results and demographic data and fears for Jewish survival and demands for Jewish unity. But all the fund raising in the world, all the surveys and sociologists and market researchers and all the strategic planners cannot fill the void that is left when a community loses its memory and forgets its mission, its sacred vision and its existential purpose. If Heschel could be with us in Jerusalem, I'm sure he would remind us that we are in a holy city, filled with God's presence, and he would surely remind us of our duty as Jews and as Jewish leaders as he did in 1965. Thomas Cahill wants us to understand biblical characters as if they were our friends and neighbors.
Theological questions are so complex and so academic.
Ordinary believers are left out in the cold. So he made it a point to communicate the Bible's stories and themes in clear, concise and inviting language, letting everyone in. Everyone Thinks and Feels is that the historical, social, political and economic roots of Western civilization can be traced to the Hebrew Bible. Engaging the laity, he would argue, is a very Jewish approach. And therefore, Mr. Cahill believes, the ancient Israelites were among the first practitioners of true democracy.