{"id":24227,"date":"2012-02-29T18:32:46","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T18:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=24227"},"modified":"2016-12-02T07:38:20","modified_gmt":"2016-12-02T12:38:20","slug":"book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: We\u2019re Missing the Point: What\u2019s Wrong with the Orthodox Jewish Community and How to Fix It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/oupress\/product\/were-missing-the-point-whats-wrong-with-the-orthodox-jewish-community-and-how-to-fix-it\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We\u2019re Missing the Point: What\u2019s Wrong with the Orthodox Jewish Community and How to Fix It<\/span><\/a><br \/>\nRabbi Dr. Gidon Rothstein. \u00a0OU Press\/ Ktav, 252 pages<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-post-24227 wp-image-24230 alignright\" title=\"Missing the Point Book\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book-199x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book-199x300.png 199w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book.png 423w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In this comprehensive and articulate treatise on the state of contemporary orthodox Judaism, Rabbi Rothstein courageously addresses the question of whether, despite all the focus on the minutiae of Jewish law and a theoretical commitment to complete Torah devotion, observant Jews are nonetheless falling woefully short of connecting with God on any level of significance. \u00a0His quest is to convince readers to reassess the nature of their relationship with God, to realize that more than anything else, He desires an intimate relationship with the Jewish people. This is expressed not only through strict adherence to halacha, but also, and especially, through mindful connectedness and constant faith that all things emanate from His Will.<\/p>\n<p>Rothstein\u2019s claim that \u201cwe do not even realize the basic parameters of what it means to serve God,\u201d while quite bold and certainly controversial, is based upon years of experience and study, and is sufficiently borne out by the evidence he offers to give pause to even his most ardent challengers. \u00a0He enlists the aid of texts from the Bible, the Talmud, as well as theological or halachic claims accepted \u201cby virtually all traditional thinkers.\u201d Instead of simply taking mitzvot at face value and observing them because halacha mandates that we must, Rothstein maintains that we must go a step further in attempting to extrapolate the deeper, more faith-based purpose of the commandments and uncover Judaism\u2019s essential theological concepts of belief (which he lays out clearly here).<\/p>\n<p>How many Orthodox Jews, asks Rothstein, think about the Exodus daily or fundamentally believe that God exists? \u00a0The numerous stories he shares (as well as stories each of us surely has) underscores the extent to which \u201cbelieving Jews\u201d struggle with the basic tenets of our faith. \u00a0With modern society\u2019s acceptance of many of the concepts Torah Judaism abhors, today\u2019s Jews, influenced by the social, political, and scientific climate, Rothstein asserts, are either swayed or find difficulty with Jewish law.<\/p>\n<p>To remedy this, Rothstein covers a broad array of topics, including the importance of Haazinu and Shema; the meaning behind the Torah\u2019s death penalty prohibitions; Noahide laws and how they are not intuitive; Shabbat and Its Concern with Positive Rest; and Autonomy as a Key to Understanding Women\u2019s Lesser Obligation in Mitzvot. \u00a0These chapters, and others, grapple with important issues and offer substantive conclusions that will fundamentally change our outlook on mitzvot and faith in a positive and meaningful way, while fully maintaining the integrity of the halachic system.<\/p>\n<p>Within each chapter, Rabbi Rothstein shares anecdotal stories to keep readers focused. \u00a0His fear that readers will put down the book before its conclusion leads to short chapters and an attention to brevity.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most important, Rabbi Rothstein asserts that there is much room for personal autonomy within halacha and Jewish life. \u00a0He concludes with practical changes we can make in our schools and synagogues, especially the ubiquitous issue of talking during prayer.<\/p>\n<p>If we can accept that Judaism mandates certain basic concepts that must always be at the forefront of a Jew\u2019s mind (i.e. there are no actions without consequences, death is not the end, G-d gave the Law at Sinai) and internalize them into our daily lives, then, Rothstein believes, our lives as Jews can be satisfying, compelling, and most important, completely rooted in a meaningful relationship with our Creator.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>For more details and to purchase Rabbi Rothstein&#8217;s book, please visit: <\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/oupress\/product\/were-missing-the-point-whats-wrong-with-the-orthodox-jewish-community-and-how-to-fix-it\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.ou.org\/oupress\/item\/were_missing_the_point<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We may be falling woefully short of connecting with God on any level of significance. But we can turn that around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":24230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-media","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Book Review: &quot;We\u2019re Missing the Point&quot; by Rabbi Gidon Rothstein<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite a focus on Halachic minutiae &amp; a theoretical commitment to Torah are we falling woefully short of connecting with God on any level of significance?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review: &quot;We\u2019re Missing the Point&quot; by Rabbi Gidon Rothstein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite a focus on Halachic minutiae &amp; a theoretical commitment to Torah are we falling woefully short of connecting with God on any level of significance?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-29T18:32:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-02T12:38:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"635\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chana Mayefsky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chana Mayefsky\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/\",\"name\":\"Book Review: \\\"We\u2019re Missing the Point\\\" by Rabbi Gidon Rothstein\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-29T18:32:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-02T12:38:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/76a593dabcbb8c5773794ba411e5b1fe\"},\"description\":\"Despite a focus on Halachic minutiae & a theoretical commitment to Torah are we falling woefully short of connecting with God on any level of significance?\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/book-review-missing-point-wrong-orthodox-jewish-community-fix-gidon-rothstein-chana-mayefsky\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Missing-the-Point-Book.png\",\"width\":\"423\",\"height\":\"635\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/76a593dabcbb8c5773794ba411e5b1fe\",\"name\":\"Chana Mayefsky\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Chana-Mayefsky_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Chana-Mayefsky_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chana Mayefsky\"},\"description\":\"Chana Mayefsky is an Online Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. 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