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Book Review of The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal
A review of The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness
Review by Gavriel Elijah
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On a recent Saturday evening I found myself at a bookstore, after Shabbat of course. While perusing the bookshelves like a fat kid in a candy store (I can lose a few pounds myself so I can say that) I came across a book titled The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal. My first thought was why Simon Wiesenthal would write a book on a flower. I then decided I had to get it along with another book or two.
I should start with the premise of the book. The Sunflower is the true account of famed Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal and a certain experience he has while a prisoner in a concentration camp. Mr. Wiesenthal tells us his account of a dying SS soldier asking for forgiveness for the horrible atrocities that he had committed, especially one act in particular.
After we learn of Mr. Wiesenthal’s actions towards the SS soldier, 53 men and women from around the world, all important in their own right, give their thoughts on Mr. Wiesenthal’s actions, how they feel, and how they hope they would have reacted in his place. These great men and women include Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (whose books on Ethics I am currently reading), and Tenzin Gyatso (The Dalai Lama). All three are men whom I love to read and whose books make up a good portion of my library. As a reader you find yourself not only asking if you could forgive someone for such horrible acts, but if you even have the right to forgive such acts. This book will make you think in ways I doubt most books ever will. I know the book left me spending hours pondering when we have the right to forgive and the reasons we should forgive.
In closing I cannot recommend this book enough. I even emailed my High School Honors Literature teacher to recommend it to her as well. I recently added a hard cover of this book on my list of must haves. This book is not only a must read for Jews, but for people anywhere. Only with books like this can we hope to achieve an understanding that humanity as a whole needs to reach.
Book Review of Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man who would Cure the World
A review of Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man who would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
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To sum this book up, it is the story of an extraordinary man: Dr. Paul Farmer. Farmer is caring, compassionate, smart, thoughtful, driven, and a champion of the rights of the poor. Farmer sees pathology, social medicine, politics, and anthropology as inseparable – and this drives the work he does.
Farmer helps save the world, but only by compromising other aspects of his life. He talks about the challenges of balancing meetings, raising money, politics, and direct care. And, certainly, his family and personal relationships suffer. But, Farmer doesn’t seem to mind. He criticizes “white liberals” who think that the world’s problems can be solved without sacrifice to them. He fights against the unfair distribution of wealth.
While the book does not explicitly talk much about religion, it does touch on the subject. Farmer says he does not act primarily out of religious or political motivations, but rather out of curiosity. In addition, Farmer sees anthropology as focusing on meaning. This entails exploring politics, economic systems, and histories. Farmer even tries to understand the causes of bad stuff, like suffering and illness from a holistic approach.
Among the many topics he studied, he learned a bit about liberation theology – a branch of Catholicism. Liberation theology was developed by Latin American theologians, and some of its tenets were endorsed in the 1960s by Latin America’s Catholic bishops. In this theology, it is the responsibility of the church to provide “a preferential option of the poor.” According to Farmer, this was quite different than the mainstream understanding of Catholicism which focuses its teaching on other areas, such as no premarital sex. Yet, he adds “if I had to choose between lib[eration] theo[logy], or any ology, I would go with science as long as service to the poor went along with it. But I don’t have to make that choice, do I?” (pg. 86).
Farmer even mentions how Haitian peasants understand how God allows suffering – they say “God gives but doesn’t share” (page 79). Farmer explains this: God gives people what they need, but people have to divide up what God has given. It’s fitting, because it is similar to liberation theology – which encourages people to face reality and to act quickly. It focuses on the horror of poverty and on fixing it immediately.
It is ironic how Farmer came to value faith; he says, “the fact that any sort of religious faith was so disdained at Harvard and so important to the poor…made me even more convinced that faith must be something good” (pg. 85). Yet, Farmer understands faith fairly broadly – he references faith in penicillin, faith in clinical trials, and faith in scientific progress.
I admire Farmer’s courage, dedication, and thoughtfulness. He does not view anything in isolation but rather chooses to delve into the interconnectedness of life. He fights for all people, saying that patients have priority, then prisoners, then students – which for Farmer, covers almost everyone. Dr. Farmer sees every person with illness as a potential patient and every healthy person as a potential student. Farmer almost seems a little too perfect, but he admits one of his flaws. Although all the major religions say “love they neighbor as thyself,” Farmer does not feel he can do that, though he strives to. His honesty is striking.
At heart, this book is uplifting, but I found at times that I felt like I was not doing enough. Dr. Paul Farmer is an extraordinary man, and I know my accomplishments, intelligence, and even aspirations fall short of his. What am I to do? Feel good that there are people like Farmer in the world, or feel badly that I am not up to his caliber? Does reading a book like this move me beyond my passivity – to a recognition that I can, indeed, make a significant difference in the lives of many?
Questions to consider:
- The book’s title, Mountains Beyond Mountains, comes from a Haitian proverb, “beyond mountains, there are mountains.” Why do you think Farmer chose this as the title for his book? Is it optimistic or pessimistic?
- The book quotes Margaret Mead who said: “Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.” With the recent inauguration of President Obama and the associated emphasis on change and personal responsibility, does this book speak to us more than before? Are we empowered to bring about change, or is it daunting?
- How do we read books about such extraordinary individuals without feeling badly that we are not doing our part?
- Knowing that Farmer’s personal life and family suffered (he had a young child whom he rarely saw), how do we reconcile this with the work that he did? Do the ends justify the means? How do we find balance in our own lives?
Book Review of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
A review of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin
Review by Rabbi Ana Bonnheim
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Greg Mortenson was just an average mountain climber looking for the next adventure. In 1993, he went out to scale K2, the world’s second tallest peak. After a failed attempt to reach the summit, he lost his group on the descent. He ended up high in the mountains of northern Pakistan, in a village called Korphe. Moved by the inhabitants’ kindness, Mortenson promised Haji Ali, a village elder, that he would return and build a school for the impoverished inhabitants of Korphe.
Ever since that first promise, Mortenson hasn’t stayed away from Pakistan for too long. In fourteen years, he built 58 schools and expanded to parts of Afghanistan. Mortenson’s schools take special care in educating girls, who would otherwise receive no education, and these schools counter the Taliban’s school networks. Mortenson believes that education is the key to freedom and to escaping poverty. Mortenson says that the kinds of people that he admires most, and indeed the religious leaders he admires most, are like Sayed Abbas, a Muslim cleric in rural Pakistan, who “is about compassion in action, not talk. He doesn’t just lock himself up with his books. Sayed believes in rolling up his sleeves and making the world a better place.”
Mortenson tells the story of his incredible journey in Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time. In a humble and simple voice, Mortenson tells his own story, a story that moves from a despairing, lost man to one with purpose, one who is changing the world. Mortenson’s interactions and adventures in Pakistan and Afganistan certainly make for exciting reading, but it is the larger messages of the book that are more inspiring.
First, Mortenson demonstrates the capacity of one person to make a tangible difference in the world. For all of us cynics for whom it can be easier to deny the possibility of change rather than strive for it, Mortenson’s story is evidence that each individual matters. But Mortenson doesn’t promote traveling to rural villages in war-torn countries as the only way to make a difference. It is one way to change the world, but it is not the only one. What is relevant about Mortenson’s journey is that he saw the potential for helping others and chose to help. He didn’t go out seeking to help rural Afghani and Pakistani villages but when confronted with kind, impoverished individuals, he saw that he could substantially help the villages. We can follow Mortenson’s example: we needn’t feel compelled to search the world for problems to solve (though this is perfectly fine) but simply must keep our eyes open to the opportunities and possibilities for change that come our way.
Second, Mortenson did not set out to change the landscape of village schools in an isolated, mountainous region. He set out to build one school for one village. The powerful message here is that when Mortenson began this project, he did not see it as it exists today. He saw one part of a problem and saw concrete action that he could take. An action led to another action which led to another action, which led to a realization of bigger picture change. Mortenson demonstrates how it is small, individual change which leads to global change. As Saul Alinsky, the founder of community organizing in America taught, acting locally leads to thinking globally.
Third, Mortenson believed in his dreams and didn’t get discouraged by his own limitations. For years, Mortenson had so little money that sometimes he lived out of his car. He put every penny he had towards his dream of building schools and dismayed that it was not enough. He put his heart and soul into raising money, not knowing if he could succeed to raise enough. He knew that what he was doing was important and affected others’ lives. He also knew that he would do his best to make it happen, even if immediate change was not possible.
Mortenson’s story is inspiring and thought-provoking for all ages. It is a great book for a family discussion or a teen book group. The lessons to be learned are many, but it would also be a shame to focus too much on lessons and ignore the beauty and wonder of Mortenson’s journey itself.
Questions to consider:
- What do you think drives Mortenson to do this work?
- What are the implications of his projects?
- Where do you see problems around you that are begging for action? What could you contribute?
- What do you think you learn most from Mortenson? What are his powerful messages to you?
Book Review: Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman
A review of Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – And How it Can Renew America
By Rabbi Ana Bonnheim
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Thomas L. Friedman, the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, recently published his fifth book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How It Can Renew America. Friedman’s thesis has multiple parts but is still simple: our world is becoming ever more crowded with a population explosion (our global population will soon be an estimated 8 billion people), more flat (meaning more globalized, based on Friedman’s last book, The World Is Flat, published in 2005), and hotter (due to climate change and the exponentially rising levels of human-caused pollution). These factors are all connected, and taken together require our immediate and sustained action in order to save humanity and our home.
The world’s population is quickly growing, particularly in countries that are not in the Western world. China’s population is skyrocketing. One used to be able to say that the statement, “You’re one in a million!” didn’t apply in China, because there, a person is literally “one in a billion.” But now the population is significantly higher than a billion (some estimate 1.3 billion) and growing, despite the laws surrounding family planning. More people equal more people to feed. It means a larger number of people consuming resources. Yet growth and increased consumption are inevitable results of more people living with higher standards like individualized transit (the number of individuals purchasing cars is skyrocketing in India) and communications (like cell phones and computers, which require electricity to power them), and a global food chain.
In short, we are living in an increasingly globalized world. Globalization is enabling countries to develop extremely quickly. Countries like China and India are not only growing with regard to their populations, but their infrastructures are expanding too. As smaller villages are becoming more connected, they need the infrastructure-starting with roads and electricity. China is finishing about one coal plant per week to power this extraordinary growth. The growth is good: it means that more and more people are living with better standards and have a higher quality of life. Yet, it also means that they are consuming more resources. Some of these countries are frustrated by the growing global emphasis on emissions standards: they say that countries like the United States and Japan were able to grow without focusing on developing renewable resources and that they deserve the same. But the problem is that it’s not the right attitude. Now, we know that we need to be more responsible about how we consume resources and how we treat our planet. If we continue living how we’re living, we are destroying our planet, and we may be destroying humanity along with it. So we need to change. It may not be fair, because some individuals are more responsible for our predicament than others, but nonetheless, this is the problem we collectively have.
Unfortunately, Friedman argues, here in the United States, we are not living like responsible global citizens. We are living like we own the world and aren’t thinking about the consequences of our actions. There is a growing green movement in our country, but without sustained, significant commitment from our government, we are not allowing this movement to have a strong enough future.
This is not a book imploring us to recycle-though we certainly should. This is not a book telling us to remember to turn the lights off or to drive more thoughtfully-though those are good things to do, too. This is a book arguing for a sea change in how we think about the world around us and humanity’s future on Earth. Friedman effectively shows how broken the American electricity system is and how intuitive solutions could be, if only we could create the policy structures and financial incentives to encourage enough change. Friedman is not naïve: he realizes that without a global crisis or enough incentives to change, our systems (and our pollutions) will remain the same.
Friedman is skilled at taking many small events and conversations and weaving them together in such a way that it is possible to see trends and a bigger picture. His gift to us is that he enables us to understand our dire need for a revolution in how we live. His gift, though, does not come without strings attached. Once we read this book, we need to act-to advocate for energy independence, renewable resources, and a shift in how our country controls its resources and taxes its citizens. That is our responsibility.
Questions to consider:
- How is energy independence related to a hot, flat, and crowded world?
- What would your life be like with Friedman’s vision of a new electrical grid? Can you imagine it?
- How can you be part of the greening of our world?
- Why are you (or aren’t you) compelled by Friedman’s arguments about the state of our world and its future?
- How do your convictions relate to your Jewish identity and understanding of Judaism?
Book Review: The Dinner Diaries (and other reflections on food)
A review of The Dinner Diaries: Raising Whole Wheat Kids in a White Bread World and other reflections on food.
By Carrie Vogel, Rabbinic Student
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Books about food have always been popular, but recently books about a certain way of eating have become extremely fashionable. As we become more invested in living “green” lives, there has been a discernable change in the way we relate to our food. Recently, I read several books about healthy, organic, sustainable eating, including Betsy Block’s The Dinner Diaries: Raising Whole Wheat Kids in a White Bread World. My parents were determined to raise whole wheat kids, even though all of our friends were happily living in a white bread world (who knew my parents were such trendsetters?!), so I admittedly brought with me years of whole wheat bread angst.
The gist of this genre of books is simple: organic, locally grown food is better for us and the environment. But in practice, it is not so easy – not when I was growing up and definitely not now. Most of us do not have space or time for a garden, let alone a farm. We may not have expendable budgets with which to pay others to farm our organically grown, local vegetables. We may live in parts of the country where our options for locally grown fruit and vegetable are extremely limited for a large part of the year. And, what about the fact that sometimes the things which are best for us to eat are the ones we do not find to be the most delicious?
In The Dinner Diaries, Block acknowledges all of these difficulties from the beginning and attempts to work around them to change the course (ha!) of her family’s eating patterns. She spends chapters reflecting on some of the most challenging aspects of healthy eating: factory farming, eating locally in cold-weather climates, fair trade items such as coffee and cocoa, the constant presence of junk food and perhaps most challenging: picky eaters. Every couple chapters there is an “At the Table” section where the things she and her family have learned are put into practice.
In many cases, Block succeeds in getting her family to incorporate locally grown fruits and vegetables, healthier fish and non-hormone injected chicken and beef into their meals. In fact, the greatest challenge she faces is the extraordinary amount of information available, much of it conflicting. In one chapter she struggles to determine how much milk her children should be drinking, whether it should be hormone free, organic or pasteurized and, in the end, whether they should even be drinking it at all. She faces the same challenge when it comes to creating a list of fish which are healthy for us but not raised under, dare I say “fishy,” standards. She does sort through much of it and provides the reader with a number of helpful lists and websites.
Many food authors and chefs encourage us to think about eating food in a deeper way. All of our senses should be tuned in to the item we are choosing to give us sustenance, nutrients and of course, happiness. In Judaism, laws for keeping kosher are, in part, there to force people to think about what we put into our bodies on a regular basis and to associate both holiness and Jewishness with the meals we choose. Some would say that the laws of keeping kosher make food “Jewishly holy,” but I would like to put forth the idea that these alone do not make our food holy. These books (and others like them such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan) encourage us to think about the potential for a holy relationship between us, our food and the world. In another fascinating book on this topic (Animal, Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life), Barbara Kingsolver writes, “Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used” (pg. 211). Is knowing your chicken was raised without steroids, holy? Is eating an apple picked from a tree in your own state, holy? Is eating food which has not been grown in soil brimming with pesticides, holy?
Questions to consider:
- What is the greatest challenge for you when it comes to eating more organically or locally (or both!)?
- What is one change you would be willing to try?
- Do you think about the food you eat? Does it occur to you to consider who the person was who cared for it before it landed on your plate? How might eating organically or locally be holy or powerful for you – or not?
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