Scattered Among the People: The Jewish Diaspora in Ten Portraits

Jay Newman is a professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph. His
most recently published works include Biblical Religion and Family
Values: A Problem in the Philosophy of Culture, Competition in Religious
Life, Religion vs. Television: Competitors

It has been of monumental importance not only for Jewish history but for
world history that Jews, guardians of one of the world’s oldest and
most important cultures, have throughout most of their history found
themselves living as a minority among other peoples. In this carefully
crafted and immensely engaging examination of the delicate and demanding
situation of Jews in diverse places at various times under sundry
circumstances, Winnipegger Allan Levine offers keen insights into the
resourcefulness of individual Jews and Jewish communities in the face of
persistent threats of anti-Jewish animosity and cultural assimilation.
Rather than offering a comprehensive history of Jews in the Diaspora,
Levine invites us to reflect on individuality and commonality in Jewish
cultural experience by considering 10 “portraits,” each focusing on
Jewish personalities, families, and communities at a critical moment in
Jewish history. He begins with a poignant depiction of Isaac Abravanel
at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and
concludes with an equally poignant account of Soviet Jew Boris
Kochubiyevsky’s struggle in 1967 to be allowed to emigrate to Israel.
In each of the 10 portraits—and also a brief autobiographical one—we
are offered an intimate glimpse into the travail, ingenuity, and courage
of famous or obscure Jews facing distinctive variants of traditional
problems.

Levine is well suited for his task. An accomplished writer of both
fiction and popular history, he can deftly bring personalities to life
in sympathetic biographical sketches; and as an academically trained
historian, he can situate these personalities in their historical and
cultural context in a trustworthy and illuminating way. In a valuable
introduction, he concisely raises a number of basic sociological issues
that orient our reflection throughout the survey, and he concludes the
book with an overview that revisits those issues in a useful and
inspiring way. He has also provided endnotes, a fine bibliography, and
over 30 photographs. This handsome book would make a superb addition to
any bibliophile’s personal library, but especially that of a Jewish
reader or a non-Jewish admirer of Jewish culture and Jewish
perseverance.