Joseph Telushkin, spiritual leader of L.A.’s Synagogue for the Performing Arts, tends to think big. His 14 previous books include the 784-page “Jewish Literacy” and the comparatively short, 688-page “Jewish Wisdom.”
“You Shall Be Holy” is another big book, but is only the first of three promised volumes of Telushkin’s “A Code of Jewish Ethics” series. This one focuses on personal character; the second will deal with interpersonal relations, and the third with community issues. Even the series’ title suggests grand ambitions, evoking Maimonides’ and Joseph Karo’s medieval codes of Jewish law.
But Telushkin delivers big. His central thesis is that Judaism’s essence is personal ethics, rather than ritual observance or creed. That what God wants of us, above all, is to treat one another kindly and honorably.
Like most other propositions in the book, this one is richly, even extravagantly, supported by an incredible range of excerpts and anecdotes, drawn from Tanach and Talmud, rabbinic commentaries, Chassidic legends, Mussar teachings, contemporary secular scholarship, personal experience, pop psychology and the daily paper. The awesome variety of these sources, and Telushkin’s ability to present them all with wit and clarity, make the book truly fun to read.
Though you’ll want to keep it on your shelf for reference, it’s also, surprisingly, a page-turner.
Because he recognizes that ethics is fundamentally about our everyday treatment of loved ones and strangers, the scope of Telushkin’s concern with character is astounding. Besides chapters on gratitude, repentance, forgiveness, humility, judging others fairly, and avoiding hate and envy, he counts common sense and good manners as ethically obligatory virtues.
It’s strangely exhilarating to read, for example, that Judaism forbids us, on moral grounds, from being tardy and wasting other people’s time.
And Telushkin is not afraid to tell us what to do. He manages to be inclusive and pluralistic without being the least bit vague or wishy-washy, never hesitating to use the imperative voice or the modal verb “should.” From a Sefer Chassidim passage on recognizing when another’s needs are greater than yours, he concludes: “If you are hailing a taxi, and see a pregnant woman, someone with young children, or a senior, let that person have the first taxi that comes.”
Telushkin also gives us the “how,” offering clear, compelling guidance for cultivating virtues, and psychologically astute advice on controlling our anger, apologizing and treating others justly.
This is not to say that all his prescriptions are uncontroversial or feel-good. He reaches deeply into Jewish ethics to challenge the reader’s intuitions and the teachings of other ethical traditions. In a major section devoted to lashon hara — evil speech — he pushes us to think, Jewishly, about when and why the truth is sometimes best left unsaid.
And it is clear to Telushkin that Judaism, in contrast to some Christian views, forbids us from ever offering forgiveness to a murderer, since only the victim can forgive a personal crime.
The book’s encyclopedic style, with quotes and anecdotes aplenty but often little tying them together, sometimes comes off as choppy. This would be fine for a pure reference book; but “You Shall Be Holy” is in many respects a personal, inspirational literary work. On the other hand, as a resource you’ll want to use to research topics in Jewish law and ethics, the book cries out for a detailed index.
In addition, Telushkin’s writing sometimes has an old-fashioned, gendered ring — when, for example, he suggests that women in particular should be complimented on how they look because they “often spend considerable time and money trying to make their appearance attractive to others.”
But overall the book conveys balance and universal compassion. Telushkin sometimes takes gentle jabs at the behavior or hypocrisy of public figures, but he distributes these evenly across the political spectrum, and somehow never seems malicious. This models the respectful truthfulness he is trying to teach us. There is a great deal that is wise and moving here — an extraordinary feat for what is, essentially, a reference book.
Jeff Burack is an AIDS physician and medical ethicist living in Berkeley, and a member of Or Zarua (Reconstructionist Havurah of the East Bay) and Congregation Netivot Shalom.
“A Code of Jewish Ethics Volume 1: You Shall Be Holy” by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (576 pages, Harmony/Bell Tower, $29.95).