GINZBERG, ELI. Agenda for American Jews. Pp. x, 90. New York: King's Crown Press, 1950. $2.00

• Published date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625127400186
• Author: Carey Mcwilliams
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

253

GINZBERG,

ELI.

Agenda

for

American

Jews.

Pp.

x,

90.

New

York:

King’s

Crown

Press,

1950.

$2.00.

This

is

a

book

which

defies

any

attempt

to

review

it

intelligently

for

it

is

really

not

a

book

but

the

outline

of

a

book.

The

pri-

mary

intention,

apparently,

was

to

make

the

outline

available

for

discussion

and

re-

search

and

to

raise

certain

questions.

But

whatever

the

intention,

one

may

reasonably

object

that

it

is

difficult

to

review

an

out-

line

or

to

review

a

book

largely

made

up

of

a

series

of

questions.

Chapters

made

up

of

numbered

para-

graphs

are

devoted

to

brief

outlines

of

cer-

tain

phases

of

Jewish

life

in

America.

The

chapter-subjects

relate

to:

Jews

and

Juda-

ism ;

Trends

in

Jewish

Life;

Synagogue

and

School;

Welfare;

Israel;

and

The

Gentile

World.

A

brief

bibliography

is

included.

The

discussion

which

Mr.

Ginzberg

in-

vites

American

Jews

to

undertake

is

made

to

pivot

on

the

assumption,

which

is

clearly

well

founded,

that

all is

not

well

with

Jew-

ish

life

in

America.

Elements

of

weakness

and

instability

are

noted

in

many

fields,

and

the

general

impact

of

the

American

environment

on

historic

Judaism

is

sugges-

tively,

if

meagerly,

indicated.

This

is,

in-

deed,

a

tantalizing

book,

for

tucked

away

in

the

numbered

paragraphs

and

subpara-

graphs

are

some

shrewd

and

interesting

statements

of

which

the

following

will

serve-as

examples.

Unfortunately

these,

and

other

statements

of

equal

interest,

are

not

brought

into

any

clear

or

coherent

pat-

tern.

Here

are

two

examples:

&dquo;There

are

a

considerable

number

of

’Jewish

leaders’

who,

although

they

con-

tribute

of

their

money,

time,

and

energy

to

the

furtherance

of

particular

Jewish

causes,

frequently

most

liberally,

nevertheless

seem

to

be

negatively

oriented

to

Jewish

values.

Their

outstanding

characteristic

is

a

basic

’uneasiness’

about

their

identification

with

the

Jewish

community.

One

cannot

gain-

say

the

impression

that

they

are

in

Jewish

work

largely

because

they

have

been

un-

able

to

find

satisfactory

alternatives.

What-

ever

their

unconscious

motivation

may

be,

devotion

to

the

ideals

of

Judaism

does

not

seem

to

be

determining.&dquo;

Or

again:

&dquo;Another

type

of

leadership

is

typified

by

an

excessive

aggressiveness

and

posi-

tivism

about

particularly

Jewish

causes.

The

fact

that

these

demagogic

leaders

are

usually

identified

with

a

single

Jewish

undertaking

rather

than with

the

broad

gamut

of

Jewish

work

is

an

a

priori

basis

for

suspecting

that

their

very

intensity

is

enmeshed

in

their

own

power

drives.

The

frequent

irascibility

of

their

actions

must

place

them

under

suspicion,

for

they

seem

unable

to

differentiate

the

security

of

their

own

leadership

from

the

values

of

the

cause

which

they

lead.&dquo;

CAREY

MCWILLIAMS

Los

Angeles,

California

PHILOSOPHY

AND

RELIGION

POPPER,

KARL

R.

The

Open

Society

and

Its

Enemies.

Pp.

xii,

732.

Princeton:

Princeton

University

Press,

1950.

$7.50.

This

first

American

edition

in

one

vol-

ume

of

a

work

first

published

in

England

in

two

volumes

some

five

years

ago,

con-

stitutes

a

revision

or,

perhaps

better,

a

cor-

rection,

of

the

latter.

To

confine

the

re-

vision

to

minor

matters

was

sound

judg-

ment

on

the

part

of

the

author;

while’in

the

present

case

at

least,

by

reason

of

con-

venience

and

availability,

I

feel

that

this

new

edition

of

a

work

of

major

significance

is

fully

justified.

The

last

third

of the

book

is

composed

of

notes,

mostly

discussion

notes,

of

great

interest

and

fascination

to

the

specialist,

arranged

to

correspond

to

the

chapters,

and,

as

the

author

himself

ventures

to

sug-

gest,

to

be

read,

if

at

all,

following

the

reading

of

the

chapters

to

which

they

cor-

respond.

The

author’s

text,

itself

solid,

erudite,

and

challenging

all

through,

divides

into

two

parts.

The

first

is

concerned

with

a

critical

evaluation

of

Plato

as

political

thinker,

historian,

and

sociologist.

It

ends

with

a

thesis

chapter

whose

title

is

also

the

title

of

the

whole

work.

The

second

part,

concerned

with

Hegel

and

with

Marx,

ends

with

a

similar

chapter,

which

is

also

the

conclusion

for

the

whole

book,

entitled

&dquo;Has

History

Any

Meaning?&dquo;