“Open Wounds, The Crisis of Jewish Thought in the Aftermath of the Holocaust”

Book Review by Daniel E. Levenson

Perhaps the greatest challenge to Jewish thought in the last fifty years is how to understand and find meaning in the world after the experience of the Holocaust. But despite the difficulties inherent in this endeavor, there does seem to be something quintessentially Jewish about continuing to struggle with meaning and spirituality in the aftermath of such overwhelming sorrow and destruction. Professor David Patterson of the University of Memphis is one voice in the discussion, addressing this question in his book “Open Wounds, The Crisis of Jewish thought in the Aftermath of the Holocaust.” (University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2006).

Although Patterson’s prose can be dense, and his liberal use of quotes and citations of outside sources can sometimes be a bit distracting, it is in the places where he allows his own voice to come to the fore that his writing is most moving. A good example of this is in his description of the etymological root of the Hebrew word “Shoah,” where he makes the point that terms like “genocide” and “catastrophe” are inadequate terms to describe the level of destruction brought about by the Nazi reign of terror.

Patterson writes of the Shoah that “It is the creation of an anti-world in the midst of the world, an undoing of creation in a rain of ashes that have found their way into every human being.” The centrality of the relationship between god and the Jewish people is an important theme in this book, and Patterson emphasizes that many of the ethical responsibilities that Jews have come from their unique nature of this relationship with god. This relationship carries with it not only obligations of religious observance, but strong moral imperatives about the way that we, both as individuals and a community, treat other people. Patterson writes “The Jewish people are chosen, in their particularity, to attest to the universal chosenness of every human being. Each human being is singled out to assume an absolute responsibility to and for all human beings.”

Patterson also does an excellent job of showing how the Jewish commitment to not only saving the lives of individuals but to the sanctity of life itself, as well as an underlying belief in the inherently positive forces of creation, stood in sharp contrast to Nazi doctrine. He is clearly devoted to the idea that Judaism and Jews represent life and creation, while the Nazi regime was the physical incarnation of the polar opposite, and that they were not just representative of death, which is a part of life, but effectively symbols and agents of the “undoing” of life and creation.

There is no doubt that this book will appeal to a more academically-oriented readership, but anyone who is willing to take his or her time and go through it carefully will find it full of engaging and thought-provoking ideas ranging from the exploitation of Jewish cultural knowledge as a key component of the pathologic ideology of Nazism, to a discussion of how and why the ideas of philosophers from the ancient Greeks to Kant are often in opposition to the ethics of the Torah and Talmud. It would seem that Patterson’s purpose in writing this book is not only to examine the state of Jewish thought after the Shoah, but to be an active voice in that conversation, and to draw others into the discussion. If this is indeed his goal he has succeeded admirably, and anyone who takes the time to read “Open Wounds” will find themselves asking their own questions about the emotional, intellectual and spiritual toll exacted on the Jewish community, and mankind in general, after the Holocaust. And while these are perhaps questions without sufficient answers, David Patterson has at least begun the discussion, which is a very valuable thing to do.

This Book review appeared in the Jewish Advocate in April, 2007.