	San Diego Jewish World 'There's a Jewish story everywhere'

                              Today's Postings

Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia: "Shul accuses cab companies of charging elderly exorbitant fares" ... "Jewish youths attacked in hate crime" ... "Wife charged with murder of missing Israeli"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Study shows Jewish schools pay female principals less than male counterparts"

Dora Klinova in La Mesa, California: "The first Americans in my life."

Fred Reiss in Winchester, California: "Christian afterword sours analysis of Torah and Book of Joshua"
                              The week in Review
                           (click on dates to see back issues)

Monday, October 15

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Sentimental short stories depict men living up to Judaism's tenets"

Shahar Masori in San Diego: "The Land of Milk and Honey: the film, the song, and the country"

Susie Meltzer in San Diego: "What skill level will you choose for a raft ride through Judaism?"

Photo Stories

Three Agencies, One Building—Agency for Jewish Education joins the United Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation in common quarters in San Diego.

Sunday, October 14

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego, California: "Jumping rooftops over the streets of Pop"

Joe Naiman in Lakeside, California: "How MLB Jews performed in 2007"

Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: "Malashock Dance presents Let’s Duet, a studio series, at the Dance Place"

Michelle Rizzi in Coronado, California: "Ghosts, hiding places, U.S. Presidents: Growing up at the Hotel del Coronado"

Saturday, October 13

Ellen B. Graber in Palatine, Illinois: "Never again: Why I signed the petition to remove JewWatch from the Google list."

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Temple Solel bar mitzvah student wins big on TV's Jeopardy show"

Joel Moskowitz, MD and Arlene Moskowitz, JD in La Jolla: "A genetic detective story to be told at San Diego Jewish Book Fair"

Friday, October 12

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Movie poses question when a Jew should stay or leave a country"

Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego: "Gentle art of Jewish persuasion."

Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego: "Excellent occasions to daven mincha"

Photo Stories

Gevatron in San Diego..... Photos from Eyal Dagan

All Together, Grandma .... License Plate Photos from Melanie Rubin

Thursday, October 11

Carol Davis in Costa Mesa, California: "Shipwrecked! An Entertainment lives up to description in its name"

Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia: "Amcor anti-Semitic slur angers community" ... "Hilaly still teaching in Lakemba" ... "New Zealand welcomes Israel's envoy"

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: "Local foundation funds research, counsels patients on fighting prostate cancer"

Joe Naiman in Arcadia, California: "Other actresses can have Broadway; Abrams prefers to work at the track"

Larry Zeiger in San Diego: "Hey, Jude chases Lucy in the sky with diamonds across the universe"

Wednesday, October 10

Judy Lash Balint in Jerusalem: "Creating facts on the ground in a new battle for Jerusalem"

Cynthia Citron in Los Angeles: "Begin legacy stirs memories as L.A. crowd marks 30th anniversary of Egypt-Israel peace process"

Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: "Better editing would have benefited the memoir Hilda"

Tuesday, October 9

Aaron Demsky in Ramat Gan, Israel: "Biblical names, popular in America, fraught with meaning"

Charles Gadda in New York: "Is Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit biased toward the Christian narrative?"

Gail Feinstein Forman in San Diego: "A Farewell to Marcel Marceau"

Archive of Previous Issues

____________________

The Jewish Citizen
by Donald H. Harrison

Study shows Jewish schools pay female principals less than male counterparts

SAN DIEGO—Female principals in Jewish day schools are paid significantly less than their male counterparts, according to a survey for the Avi Chai Foundation answered by 380 principals across the United States.

Conducted during the 2005-2006 school year by Dr. Marvin Schick, president of the New York-based Rabbi Jacob Joseph School, the survey found that 55.2 percent of the respondents were male, while 44.8 percent were female. The return rate was approximately 75 percent of the surveys that had been mailed out.

Schick

“Gender is a powerful factor in salary determinations, with women principals being paid significantly below what men earn,” Schick reported in his just issued survey report.

The survey provided the following percentage breakdown for principals’ salaries:

●Less than $60,000: 6% men, 12.1% women

●$60,000-$89,000: 23.5% men, 34.5% women.

●$90,000-$119,000: 21% men; 33.3% women.

●$120,000-$149,000: 21% men, 9.7% women.

● $150,000-$179,000: 17.5% men, 7.3% women

●$180,000 and above: 11% men, 3% women.

“There can be no question that gender is a major factor in what principals are paid,” Schick said in the report. The educator also reported that the discrepancy in salaries between men and women is “consistent with what occurs in professional life.”

Questioned by E-mail whether he detected a trend in Jewish schools to undervalue female principals, or to overvalue male principals, Schick responded:

“I do not want to say there is a ‘trend’ to undervalue women as principals, although I agree that there are those of the other gender who are overvalued. Whatever discrimination exists reflects conditions in the general society and perhaps also the greater tendency of men to demand a higher wage, at times on the ground that they are the primary breadwinner. Since this is the first such survey, I cannot speak comfortably about any trend, although my impression is that the gender gap has been narrowing.”

Schick serves as a senior advisor to the Avi Chai Foundation and is a retired professor of constitutional law at City University of New York, Johns Hopkins Press published his book Learned Hand’s Court, a study of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

For the most part, the survey of Jewish day school principals reported statistical trends without making recommendations. The exception came in a section of the survey dealing with the training that principals had in preparation for their jobs.

“The respondents lend support to the advocates of mentoring activities that link new principals with veteran or retired principals who serve as mentors,” Schick wrote. “Since it is certain that many of the principals were never mentored—and certainly not before they became principal—it is meaningful that nearly half credit mentoring as a vital preparatory experience….

"Additional support for the efficacy of mentoring comes from supplementary comments offered in response to the question, ‘How better to prepare principals?’ Of the 220 principals who offered suggestions, by far the largest number—more than half—underscored the importance of mentoring, most making it their sole recommendation….

“What comes across in these comments is the feeling of principals who are new or relatively new to the job, that they need help, that their previous education and school experiences did not adequately prepare them,” Schick continued.

“Since...a large proportion of day school principalships are held by educators who are relatively new to the large challenges they now face, a strong case can be made for greater communal and philanthropic investment in mentoring arrangements that become part of the fabric of American Jewish education.”

Schick acknowledged that “the mentoring concept is high on appeal but not easy to implement because of the high cost and formidable administrative and logistical barriers.” He suggested that “different approaches need to be explored, including the use of the Internet to link veteran and newer principals.”

The affiliation of the respondents was 57.5 percent non-Orthodox and 42.5 percent Orthodox, according to Schick’s report.

Jewish Memories
The first Americans in my life

By Dora Klinova

LA MESA, California—It was the year 1990. The Cold War was over. The Soviet Government desperately needed foreign currency and welcomed tourists, especially from America. Little by little, the Americans started to come. Their curiosity about the mysterious Russia and its sister eepublics was much stronger than the fear of those unpredictable communists.

I lived in Odessa, Ukraine, a beautiful resort on the Black Sea with a high level of culture. The Soviet Union started to fall apart; it was a mess in the country. Jews were once again allowed to emigrate; the rest of the citizens envied and hated them. They blamed the Jews for everything. The Jews were always the guilty ones. Period.

I seriously started to think about emigration and tried to find any avenue to meet some Americans and communicate with them.

We had an old prestigious International Hotel in Odessa named “The Red Hotel”. Secured and protected, this hotel was only for foreigners, mostly American. For us, the average Odessa citizens, The Red Hotel was a no-no territory. We were not permitted to put our nose inside.

Americans, who visited Odessa and stayed at The Red Hotel, were unreachable. There was no way for us to meet with them. But the Americans refused this isolation. They wanted to communicate with Odessa’s people.

As it is said, if you seek, you will find.

Somehow I was introduced to the director of the committee who organized the leisure time for the American groups in Odessa. Their program itinerary scheduled one evening with an Odessa family including a dinner at their home. It looked like a protest to the invisible wall that our security system built around Americans. This dinner was a challenge to the Odessa tourist committee. They must find a trustful family to put the Americans there for an entire evening and leave them alone.

The director courted me (or pretended doing this) perhaps waiting to see if he could safely introduce American tourists to me. He found that I was an excellent cook. Despite many suspicious looks cast my way, he finally decided that I would not shoot or bite the Americans.

He said:

“American tourists want to spend an evening with an Odessa family. Would you like to prepare a nice dinner and invite a couple of Americans to your place?”

All my family at that time was a handicapped 83-year-old Aunt Rachel who lived with me. I laughed:

“Do you think they will be interested in meeting Rachel?”

“You will be great by yourself.”

“I barely speak English”, I said.

“Don’t worry, they have a translator.”

“OK, I will do it. Would you like to come as well?”

“No, no, they won’t like any officials at the dinner. They want to feel free.”

The American’s itinerary provided thre hours to dine with a Soviet family on Tuesday, from 6 pm to 9 pm. When I agreed to this adventure, the director informed me that he would be sending me not two, but six Americans plus a translator.

I burst in laughter. .

“Why are you laughing?” He asked.

“You made your job simpler. It would take a lot of your time to find another trustful Odessa family. It is easier for you to send a whole bunch of Americans to my place, isn’t it?” I teased him.

“You are too sharp,” He laughed.

“Don’t worry, I can handle it. I will greet all of them.” I said.

I was permitted to invite some of my friends. The leisure program would pay for the dinner expenses.

“My God,” I thought, “I have to put together a whole party.”

The director called me:

“Please serve the dinner with three crystals.”

“What does it mean?” I asked.

“One crystal for wine, the second for brandy, the third for water or juice.” “What?” I asked him. “No. You make these “three crystals” at your fancy hotel. I will do it more simply. It is my home and my rules. OK?”

“OK. You are the boss”.

I laughed. They are really crazy about Americans. Three crystals! Funny expression. I will remember it.

My mind played ping-pong with the idea of making this dinner. I should prepare an outstanding dinner. I must show these Americans what it means to have dinner in a “Russian” family. Why Russian? No, I am not Russian. I am a Jew. I will prepare Jewish food. I will tell them that I am a Jew.

Should I invite some my friends? Yes, it would be a good idea. No, it wouldn’t. Who needs to know that I expected guests from America? Personal contacts with Americans were not welcomed.

To have Americans at my home and not to tell anybody? To keep this secret? Impossible! I wanted the entire world to know it!

Tuesday? Not a good day. I worked and came usually back home at 6:30pm. To prepare the dinner a day or two before, on Sunday? No, the food must be fresh. I needed a day off on Tuesday.

My boss was also a Jew. All Soviet Jews secretly cherished an emigration dream. My boss studied English, pretending that he needed it for his dissertation.

In the morning I came to his desk.

“May I invite you to my place for a dinner on Tuesday? “ I asked.

He looked at me in surprise. We had never socialized before.

I explained:

“I will be having a group from America over for a dinner. Would you be interested?”

His eyes sparkled with interest.

“Yes, perhaps.”

“You are welcome to come with your wife.”

“I am sure she will be pleased.” He looked at the calendar. “Oh, I cannot. Unfortunately. It is my daughter’s birthday. But if you need, take Tuesday off. We will pay you for this day.”

Great! This is what I needed.

I invited a couple of my Jewish friends over to share the Americans with them.

It was September- the blessed time in Odessa. The Market had all one wanted of fruits and vegetables. I bought the best, and started creating wonders in my kitchen. My Aunt came to the kitchen with her crutches.

“What is going on here?” She asked.

“We will have special guests.” I replied.

“How many?”

“Seven.”

“Why are they special?”

“They are from America.”

“I don’t remember that you have American friends. Did you ever meet them before?”

“No.”

“Are you crazy? Don’t you know that all Americans are gangsters? Do you want to bring to our home seven bandits?”

“Who told you this rubbish?” I asked my Aunt.

“You work, work, work, you don’t know what is going on in the world. I know. I watch TV. I read newspapers. You must immediately stop doing anything for them.”

She yelled at me, banging the floor with her crutches.

“You are tired; go to the balcony and rest.” I asked her.

“I am not tired!” She raised her voice.

“Ok, your crutches are tired. You will break the floor. Go to the balcony! Relax. I will talk to you later.”

“You don’t listen to me! I categorically forbid you to open the door to these bandits. They are all bandits!” She pointed her finger into my face and left to the balcony loudly crying.

I worked hard for a few hours. To the accompaniment of my Aunt’s crying, I prepared a great dinner. Rachel dramatically refused to eat lunch. She walked into her room and slammed the door. Near 6 p.m., I asked her to change from her robe to a nice dress.

My aunt yelled:

“No! You are a stubborn donkey. I don’t want to see you and your darn Americans!”

At 6 p.m. my guests arrived. Kind smiling faces. They introduced themselves.

Florence and Irwin Blickstein, from Boca Raton, Florida

Adrian and Rosemary Pinto, from Norwich, Vermont

Virginia Foote, from Tucson, Arizona and

Ida Fowler, from El Paso, Texas.

They were a part of a senior group of medical professionals. Delighted to come to my home, they looked in amazement at the table covered with a colorful abundance of food.

“How could you find so much food?” They asked. “The shelves at your stores are empty.”

“In my refrigerator,” I joked.

They couldn’t believe that I prepared everything myself.

I announced:

“This not a Russian home, it is a Jewish home. I am a Jew. I want you to enjoy Jewish food. I live with my old aunt, but she doesn’t speak English and asked to excuse herself. She has decided to stay in her room.”

Irwin said: “We are also Jews. Does she speak Yiddish?”

“Yes, she does.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“I hope so.”

We came to Rachel’s room. Irwin started to talk to her. I left them alone. In a few minutes my Aunt called to me:

“Where is my lipstick? I need a mirror and my best blue dress. I will come to the dinner.”

Three hours flew by like three minutes. We laughed and talked, talked and laughed, and sang Jewish songs. They sang to Aunt Rachel “A Yiddisher Mama.” Who cared that my English was poor?

At nine o’clock the bus driver knocked on the door.

“We must go. This is the best time we have had in this trip. We would like for you to come and join us at the Red Hotel tomorrow at lunchtime. We will be there and we will wait for you.”

“I am not allowed to enter the Red Hotel.” I said.

“Don’t worry. We will take care of it.” They insisted.

The next day I brought them a gift: a beautifully illustrated book about Odessa. Our meeting was short; their schedule was very tight. I left with my hands full of souvenirs.

Perhaps they expressed their excitement about the evening in my home to the tour administration. I was placed on the top list as Odessa’s family to greet Americans. Every two weeks a different group of Americans came to Odessa. I made two more dinners and met another twelve Americans. Then America discontinued this program. It was not a pleasure for the tourists to see depressed people and empty store shelves.

In 1992 I immigrated to America, and came to the San Diego area. I called some people who visited my home in Odessa. One couple from Seattle, Zelma and Erwin Kremen, came to San Diego to see me in 1994.

Florence and Irwin Blickstein often telephoned me from Boca Raton, Florida. Irwin talked to Rachel for hours in Yiddish.

Rachel died in 2001. Florence and Irwin Blickstein passed away in 2004.

My boss lives in New York City now.

The American names in this story are real.

The Jews 'Down Under'
By Garry Fabian

●Shul accuses cab companies of charging elderly exorbitant fares

MELBOURNE— Temple Beth Israel (TBI) is waiting for a response from the Victorian Taxi Directorate (VTD) after two frail, elderly women were charged exorbitant taxi fares to visit the synagogue in Alma Road, St Kilda.

Both women, who are widowed and in aged accommodation, were charged fares more than three times the normal rate for the distance.

TBI executive director Alan Samuel said that a 79-year-old shul member was charged $71.40 for a ride from her home at Classic Residences in Brighton East to TBI on August 3. She was attending an erev Shabbat service to observe her husband's yahrzeit.

The distance was tracked at just over eight kilometres. The
congregant took the same trip some days later and was charged $19.91.

On March 16, a 91-year-old woman was charged $49.60 for a trip from her assisted-living accommodation in Elsternwick to TBI for an erev Shabbat service. Both fares were paid with cabcharge e-tickets.

"In the latest case, the driver told our member no receipt was given and he was seen to place the e-ticket into his pocket," Samuel stated in a letter to the VTD.

"These drivers are clearly taking advantage of elderly members of our community."

Alan Samuel said that when he phoned Black Cabs about the March 16 fare, he was told by a supervisor the trip had been logged as going to Mulgrave. But he knew for a fact, he said, that the congregant had traveled from Elsternwick direct to TBI.

Samuel phoned Black Cabs on April 11, but has become frustrated by how the taxi company has been handling the matter.

He was referred to the client services division, which did not return his call. He then left messages on May 16 and May 29, and is still waiting for a reply. The taxi company has also not responded to a letter sent by Samuel on July 16.

After the August 3 incident, Samuel contacted the VTD, the state's taxi-industry peak group, but as yet has had no response.

VTD director Peter Corcoran stated that it is his organisation's
policy to formally investigate all formal complaints lodged against taxi drivers.

"If a driver is proven to have acted outside driver accreditation
standards and cannot show reasonable cause for the breach, then appropriate action will be taken, which may include suspension or cancellation of driver accreditation."

He said a new accreditation regime for the taxi industry, to be
introduced on December 31, will include service standards
and accountability measures to ensure taxi services meet the
expectations of Victoria's travelling public.

Help from a major donor has enabled TBI to offer free taxi travel to the synagogue for its elderly congregants, generally aged 75 and over.

●Jewish youths attacked in hate crime

ST. KILDA—A second race attack against Jewish teenagers has occurred in St.Kilda - four youths were assaulted during an anti-Jewish rant.

Monday night's assault in which two 14 and 15-year old Jewish boys were punched, followed an August attack in nearby Carlisle Street in which a Jewish boy was set on by men wielding a baseball bat.

Police interviewed two suspects in relation to the first assault and it is believed at least one of those men was involved in this week's bashings. A source who had spoken to the victims said while anti-Semitic abuse was a feature of both assaults, the victims believed they were targeted indiscriminately by drug-addicted attackers.

The assailants were heard to yell anti-Semitic comments as they attacked the group of four boys, two of whom were physically assaulted, one suffering swelling to the face.

A Yeshiva College student was hit several times to the body with a baseball bat on August 18 and a chair was thrown through a Carlisle Street restaurant where a Jewish customer was struck. The attackers allegedly shouted "Aussie pride" (a slogan used by a radical right wing group) during the assault.

A police helicopter was used in the search for the assailants and it is believed that two men in their 20s were later questioned. B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission executive officer, Manny Waks said regardless of belief some of the attackers were affected by drugs or alcohol, they were obviously examples of anti-Jewish assaults.

"If we are going to use drugs and alcohol as an excuse to mitigate assaults, I think this is a concern", Waks said. "People have got to take responsibility for their actions. The perpetrators attacked visibly orthodox young people...f---king Jews was said, and similar vitriol."

Waks added that violent incidents in Melbourne had surged in the past two years and the Jewish community was feeling vulnerable."Quite a number of people including prominent members of the community, have told me they don't wear Jewish-identifying clothes or ornaments for fear of the response. The more attacks happen, the more acceptable they become in the wider community".

●Wife charged with murder of missing Israeli

SYDNEY—A Byron Bay woman has been charged with the alleged murder of her Israeli husband, Ronen Veinstein, whose body has not been found and was last seen in December in 2004.

Regina Veinstein was allegedly the last person seen with her husband, but his disappearance was not reported until five months later when an associate of Ronen Veinstein contacted police in May 2005.

The German woman was charged on September 27 and appeared in front of Lismore Local Court, where she pleaded not guilty, a day later.

According to the Byron Bay's local rabbi, Mosheh Serebryanski, the close-knit Jewish community was shocked at the story.

He said the most disappointing aspect is that there is no burial spot for Ronen Veinstein, so that he can be properly remembered.

"A friend had a dog that died of a snakebite last week and he showed me where he buried his dog. Even the dog has a place, it is very sad not to have a burial place for my friend."

Regina Veinstein was remanded on bail until the case is again before the court on November 20.

People of the Books

Christian afterword sours analysis of Torah and Book of Joshua

Joseph’s Bones: Understanding the Struggle Between God and Mankind in the Bible by Jerome M. Segal, Riverhead Books, New York, NY ISBN 978-1-59448-939-6, 2007, 307 pages, $24.95.

Reviewed by Fred Reiss, Ed.D

WINCHESTER, California—If the Bible is correct, then morality entered the world when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge since after eating its fruit, their eyes were open, they saw that they were naked, and sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness. This fruit imparted the special gift that allowed them to distinguish good from evil and right from wrong. Is there, then, a moral imperative that transcends the divine? After all, God did not command them, “Thou shall not go naked,” yet Adam and Eve knew it was wrong, and then took the affirmative step to clothe themselves in order to correct the error.

God did command them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge and later, when they heard God in the Garden of Eden, they hid. Adam and Eve hid because they knew it was wrong to disobey God’s command precisely because they ate the forbidden fruit. Suppose God commanded, “Don’t chop down any of the trees in the garden,” but for whatever reason, they chopped one down. Would they have known that it was wrong? The answer must be a resounding “No” because Adam and Eve were amoral until they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.

The biblical text specifically says that possessing knowledge of good and evil is a god-like quality (according to the Book of Genesis, another quality is immortality, which Adam and Eve could have achieved by eating the fruit of the Tree of Life, which might have happened if God had allowed them to remain in the Garden of Eden.) Now, author Jerome M. Segal jumps in and poignantly asks, if morality is self-evident and god-like, then is God moral? His newest book, Joseph’s Bones: Understanding the Struggle Between God and Mankind in the Bible, offers the unequivocal answer that God is not moral.

To arrive at this conclusion, Segal reads the first six books of the Bible, the Five Books of Moses and the Book of Joshua, which he calls the Hexateuch, as novels devoid of any religious significance, a method known as narrative criticism. Joseph’s Bones makes four important points. First, God cannot be a God without worshipers, and so he sets out to find a people to make His own. Second, God is an immoral, totalitarian, hot-headed god, as shown in certain biblical stories including: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the binding of Isaac, and His interactions with Israelites as they wander in the desert under the leadership of Moses. Third, God’s morality is different (and better) by the time Joshua takes the mantle of leadership. Finally, Joseph’s persona is the antithesis of God’s character.

Segal does a commendable job reviewing the Hexateuch, and I will mention only some of his examples. In the time of Noah, God kills off all living things because some group, perhaps most, of humanity is wicked and lawless. Segal asks if it is possible for newborn babies and infants to be evil? What sin could the animals possibly have committed? He concludes that God is immoral because He kills the innocent with the guilty. Noah might have been the most righteous of his generation, but he lacks the intestinal fortitude to denounce God’s moral errors on each of the three occasions that God informs Noah that He will bring an end to all flesh. The biblical narratives suggest to Segal that God regrets what he did after Noah appeases Him with numerous sweet-smelling sacrifices, and consequently, God gives Himself a sign, a rainbow, as a personal reminder never to destroy the world in a fit of anger by flood again.

Segal informs us that Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, was God’s match. Not wanting to directly confront an all-powerful being bent on killing everyone who inhabits Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asks God if He will sweep away the innocent with the guilty: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” Abraham pleads six different times with God to change the criteria from total destruction to saving the cities if He can find only five innocent people. According to Segal, God fumes over this dialogue and Abraham’s price to pay was the near sacrificing of Isaac.

Moses, like a rainbow, is drawn from water. As such, he stands as a permanent reminder to God not to destroy the entire Israelite nation. For example, many, but not all, of the Israelites worship the golden calf. As a result, Moses destroys the tablets holding the Ten Commandments, smashes the idol, and forces the people to drink the gold. God plans the annihilation of the Israelites; killing the innocent with the guilty, and starting over with Moses. The next day Moses asks God to forgive them or to be killed along with the Israelites. God refuses to absolve the guilty and kills three thousand Israelites.

Though Moses fears God’s uncontrollable wrath, he demands that God be in their midst and that he be permitted to see God’s face. According to Segal, Moses asks these things because he wants to have a deeper understanding of God in order to become a better protector of the people. God does not grant Moses his request and only permits Moses to see His back.

The twelve spies return from the Promised Land. Ten report that the Israelites will lose any war fought with its inhabitants. God does not just punish the ten by killing them through some plague. No, He punishes the entire people by forcing them to march in circles in the desert for forty years. Six hundred thousand will die without ever seeing Canaan. Later, in Korah’s Rebellion against Moses, God only kills 14,700 associated with Korah; leaving the innocent alone. For Segal, there is hope for God.

By the time we reach the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses has grown from the humblest person on the face of the Earth who cannot speak without his brother to a dynamic spokesman for and fearless leader and guardian of the Jewish People. Deuteronomy, according to Segal, is not just a recapitulation of God’s laws, but a warning to follow God’s laws or face total obliteration. Moses truly fears for his people after he is gone, and passes the mantle of leadership on to Joshua because Joshua grasps the essence of Moses teachings. By this time, God is not only in their midst, but he directs the strategy of battle, and is satisfied if the Israelites, themselves, seek out and punish sinners.

The Israelites carried two arks in the desert for forty years, the Ark of the Covenant and the ark that held Joseph’s bones. The former was commanded by God; the later as the fulfillment of a promise to Joseph made 400 years earlier when he asked that his bones be carried out of Egypt with the Exodus and buried in the Promised Land. According to Segal, Joseph represents everything that God is not. Joseph was a powerful ruler who chose mercy over justice and love over vindictiveness. The Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant out of fear, but Joseph’s bones out of admiration.

Segal concludes with an Afterword and an Appendix. It is here that he goes far astray. In the Afterword he replaces the method of narrative criticism with a religious analysis of Jesus’ life to show that God has further changed from a God who punishes the masses to one who punishes the individual sinner, and that He has evolved into a God of love. He makes the point that Jesus became the Pascal lamb to save the world from sin, just as Moses directed the killing of the Passover lamb so that the blood could be used to save the first-born Jews.

The Afterword relies so little on the narratives of the New Testament that it is difficult to understand if he is referring to Original Sin, or sin in general. If he means Original Sin, then he previously pointed out that Adam and Eve, and subsequently all of humanity were punished for this sin through expulsion from the Garden of Eden, childbirth pains and working the land to obtain food. If his conclusion is that belief in Jesus saves the world from Original Sin, then he contradicts his previous findings. Segal never builds a case that God is so immoral that He punishes for the same sin twice. On the other hand, if he means sin in the general sense, we also have a contradiction, for there is never a claim made that being Jewish and believing in God prevents divine punishment, so how does the analogy of being Christian and believing in God’s son avoid divine punishment?

Moreover, Segal does not carry this logic to the present and discuss God’s morality during the time of the Crusades, pogroms, or the Holocaust.

If Segal had stopped with the Book of Joshua, disapproval could only be leveled at his narrow use of literary criticism to interpret the Bible. For example, in addition to analyzing the narratives, one expects him to consider changes in style within a text, and from one book to another, something that may not be obvious when relying on an English translation. Similarly, God uses various names for Himself throughout the Bible, particularly the quotes cited in Joseph’s Bones. Segal leads us to believe that there is just one primary name for God, Yahwah; however he cites numerous passages that use the word the Hebrew word Elohim, which also translates as God. Perhaps God already recognizes His nature, and uses different names to impart different actions.

Segal would have us believe that the narratives speak for themselves, but they do not. In too many places he is forced to make extraordinary inferences to complete his story. Additionally, if the books of the Hexateuch are read as novels, then their stories must be interpreted through the moral frame of reference in which they were written, the Middle Eastern culture.

There is a long-standing tradition in the Middle East that an entire family is killed for the indiscretion of one of its members. Perhaps this is the upshot of an even older