About the Foreword
Chaim Potok's foreword to As A Driven Leaf was specially
commissioned for Behrman House's reissue of this masterpiece
of Jewish literature.
The foreword is a significant addition to this edition of As A
Driven Leaf. While Potok's brief essay certainly provides a
graceful introduction to the novel, it offers even more to the
reader who has already completed the book. You may choose to
return to the foreword after finishing the book, to discuss
some of the issues raised by Potok.
- Potok draws attention to Milton Steinberg's various Jewish
affiliations. He was ordained as a Conservative rabbi, and
studied under the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism,
Mordecai Kaplan. How do various movements within Judaism differ
in their interaction with the larger surrounding culture? Might
Elisha's story have been told differently by a Reform author?
An Orthodox author?
- Potok asserts that the novel's central drama--"a
conflict between religious and pagan ideas, between faith and
reason, between postulates of creed and science"--is one
that speaks to all of Jewish history. What are some of the
parallels in Jewish history that Potok has in mind? What are
contemporary examples of this drama in Judaism today? Are the
central characters in these cases more or less sympathetic than
Elisha?
- According to Potok, Elisha is a literary stand-in for
Steinberg himself, who also sought to find a harmony between
faith and reason. In Potok's words, the author and his
protagonist shared a belief that "philosophical reflection
was the beginning of piety, and that without a worldview one
could never stand firmly on the ground of faith." How does
Jewish tradition reconcile religious belief with intellectual
pursuits? In what ways does Judaism succeed, and fail, in this
attempt?
