Semblance and Reality: Messianism in Biblical Perspective by Chaim Nussbaum

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Publisher: Hoboken, NJ : Ktav Publ. House, 1991

Rabbi Nussbaum presents us with a view of history filtered through the prism of a midrashic-kabbalistic reading of the Bible. By this reading history is revealed as the dialectical interaction of two human processes: confusion (irruv) and clarification (berur). The end-product of these processes is the emergence of the Might of the Messiah’, the Davidic image projected into future history. Though Semblance and Reality doesn’t succeed in changing my perspective on history, it does help me experience what it is like to read the Bible through Lurianic spectacles. The overriding feeling it communicates is compassion. The traditional Jewish sources which provide the basis for Nussbaum’s interpretation are embedded in his text; there are no footnotes. I found this a gratifying read, more than a convincing one; hence, a book for the heart.