By Rabbi Dr. Dov Lerner Straus Center Clinical Assistant Professor On Wednesday, April 13, the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought hosted Dr. Abraham Socher, professor emeritus of Jewish studies and religion at Oberlin College, editor of the Jewish Review of Books, and author of the recently published Liberal and Illiberal Arts: Essays (Mostly Jewish), in conversation with Straus Center Clinical Assistant Professor Rabbi Dr. Dov Lerner. The presentation was delivered in Rabbi Dr. Lerner's "Thought of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks" course, which is being offered at Yeshiva College in collaboration with the Straus Center. The two discussed the feisty exchange between Rabbi Sacks and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the latter having reviewed Sacks' 2017 book, Not in God's Name, in the pages of Socher's publication. Rabbi Riskin, a leading Religious-Zionist and founder of the city of Efrat, accused Rabbi Sacks of seemingly embracing diaspora as an ideal and depicting powerlessness as a central tenet of Jewish aspiration. Rabbi Sacks vehemently defended his work, charging Rabbi Riskin with a misreading of Maimonidean proportions—to which Rabbi Riskin responded with a reiteration of the claims that he felt that Rabbi Sacks had failed to counter. "Abraham himself, the man revered by 2.4 billion Christians, 1.6 billion Muslims and 13 million Jews, ruled no empire, commanded no army, conquered no territory, performed no miracles and delivered no prophecies," Rabbi Sacks wrote in Not in God's name. At the center of their debate lay the role and character of the Jewish state—both as incarnated in the modern State of Israel and any embodiment of Jewish political power. Rabbi Riskin censured Rabbi Sacks' for portraying an "anemic Abraham," and Rabbi Sacks suggested that Rabbi Riskin was willfully overlooking the toxic blend of religion and power. "Why does Sacks feel compelled to describe such an anemic Abraham?" Rabbi Riskin wrote. "Although Moses Maimonides once described the patriarch as a 'weak' philosophical preacher, this was precisely to underline the ultimate necessity of political action and power." Over the course of the semester, the students related to Rabbi Sacks' thought in the realms of theology, ethics, and political theory. Hearing Dr. Socher engage their instructor on matters that intersected with all three brought their studies to life in ways that promised to make the rest of the semester that much more edifying. You can learn more about the Straus Center and sign up for our newsletter here. Be sure to also like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram and connect with us on LinkedIn.