Communications.

Communications. DEAR EDITOR: Edward Alexander's review of Kaddish by Leon Wieseltier (Fall1999) offers me the opportunity for a dissenting comment. Yes, amongJews it is customary for the oldest son to recite the kaddish after thedeath of his father or mother. Orthodox Jews repeat the prayer for 11months, at the conclusion of the morning, afternoon, and eveningservices. When my mother died the rabbi came to my father's house."You can read Hebrew?" he inquired of me, the first-born."Not sufficiently," I said (knowing that there was atransliteration available for the ignorant). "Let me be the judgeof that," the rabbi replied. He sat me down at the dining table andled me through the text. "Not only is my knowledge lacking," Isaid, as I stumbled yet again, "but my eyesight is failing.""You are in luck," he replied, "my son is anoptician optician,filler of prescriptions for and dispenser of corrective lenses. An optician may grind lenses as instructed by the prescription of an optometrist (see optometry) or ophthalmologist (see ophthalmology) or transcribe the instructions for laboratory mechanics. ." Leon Wieseltier is certainly a better Jew than I. After his fatherdied he resolved (though long-since lapsed) to mourn him in theprescribed manner. Moreover, he decided to record the process, and writethe history of the mourner's prayer too. Nor did he need new specs."Who ever heard of a Jew who did not know Hebrew?" he asksrhetorically. He is referring to our ancient co-religionists, but thesarcasm is directed towards his contemporaries (most of whom he regardsas ersatz er��satz?adj.Being an imitation or a substitute, usually an inferior one; artificial: ersatz coffee made mostly of chicory.See Synonyms at artificial. semites). "In the absence of the Talmud," hepronounces, "there is no Judaism. There is only Jewishness."In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently : Judaism is rigorous, intellectually demanding (i.e., thereal thing), whereas Jewishness is merely "easy ethnicity" (orPepsi). Thus are such rivals as Philip Roth (author of Patrimony), andAllen Ginsburg (creator of his own Kaddish), shown the door. Be warned, Wieseltier does not wear his learning lightly. E.g.:"There follows a responsum ... that was sent by Rabbi Meshullam, orMeshullam ben Moses, the teacher of Nehemiah the Makhirite, to Nehemiah,who lived in Worms for a while." Innumerable authorities such asRabbi Akiva (who turns out to have originated the kaddish), Maimonides,Nahmanides, Rashi, Zedekiah the physician, Eleazar ben Judah (aka thePerfumer) et alii are quoted ad infinitum. Imagine being buttonholed by a born-again yeshiva student on aflight to New York who wants to do nothing more than show off his skillat pilpul. Leo Rosten defines pilpul with uncanny pertinence: "Aninflated form of analysis and debate used in Talmudic study: i.e.,unproductive hair-splitting that is employed not so much to advanceclarity or reveal meaning as to display one's own cleverness."And, oh boy, does Leon think he's clever. He announces, without ablush, that his favorite word in the English language is,"philosophy." I am reminded of another student of philosophywho also lost a father. The one wonders: "To be, or not to be -that is the question ...." The other concludes: "It is notpossible to have an unephemeral experience of the unephemeral." Nodoubt the latter sounds better in Hebrew. Hamlet's uncle, you'll recall, was not wedded totradition: "'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,To give these mourning duties to your father; But you must know thatyour father lost a father ...." In short; forget him. Hamletrefuses; for him memory is rebellion. Wieseltier also sees a kind ofvictory in memory. His father died a natural death, but his grandparentswere murdered by the Nazis, as were other relatives who did not fleeDrohobycz in time (Drohobycz, incidentally was home to that other filial filial/fil��i��al/ (fil��e-al)1. of or pertaining to a son or daughter.2. in genetics, of or pertaining to those generations following the initial (parental) generation. memorialist me��mo��ri��al��ist?n.1. A person who writes memoirs.2. A person who writes or signs a memorial. , Bruno Schulz). The unconsecrated dead are recorded on hisfather's tombstone, and thus given a taste of immortality.According to Wieseltier (and who would disagree?) their after-life willlast as long as the memories of their descendants. Unfortunately, Wieseltier guards his father's memory toojealously; we are vouch-safed his name only in the book'sdedication. Other personal information is allowed to break the surfacescholarship very rarely; as when Leon opens the ark in lieu of hisfather during the Yom Kippur service, an event freighted with emotionand significance. Alas the raw power of the moment is not properlytransmitted. Easy ethnicity is taboo, but not easy sentimentality. Sowhat should be moving reads as artful and contrived. In truth,Wieseltier's feelings are more readily evoked by books. When the year of mourning is at an end he returns to thefountainhead foun��tain��head?n.1. A spring that is the source or head of a stream.2. A chief and copious source; an originator: "the intellectual fountainhead of the black conservatives", as it were: "I am browsing in Biegeleisen'sbookstore, surrounded by black hats and black beards and black caftans,when suddenly I feel that I must never leave this musty place again.Here in this room, arranged on tables and shelves, is what I need. Hereis what the millennia were for. I feel tiny and happy. The books plead:stay, stay, stay." So far, so good; a transference has taken place.For "books" read "father." But then there is a veryodd twist: "I am quivering, like the willing victim of aseduction." Eh? Let's be charitable; forget paedophilia paedophiliaor US pedophiliaNounthe condition of being sexually attracted to children [Greek pais, paid- child + philos loving]Noun 1. , callit bibliosexuality. Such a relationship certainly has its limitations.Libraries are the repository of tradition, but it takes more than booksto establish continuity. It requires progeny. I worry for Wieseltier (nolonger a young man). Has he produced a child to say kaddish for him (mayhe live till 120)? A chip off the old block a child who resembles either of his parents.See also: Chip who will be able tointercede and "acquit To set free, release or discharge as from an obligation, burden or accusation. To absolve one from anobligation or a liability; or to legally certify the innocence of one charged with a crime. acquitv. the father" for the self-love that hasspoilt his admirable enterprise? CLIVE SINCLAIR St. Albans, England