The Gods Are Broken!: The Hidden Legacy of Abraham

The story of Abraham smashing his father's idols might be the most important Jewish story ever told and the key to how Jews define themselves. In a work at once deeply erudite and wonderfully accessible, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin conducts readers through the life and legacy of this powerful story and explains how it has shaped Jewish consciousness.

Offering a radical view of Jewish existence, The Gods Are Broken views the story of the young Abraham as the "primal trauma" of Jewish history, one critical to the development of a certain Jewish comfort with rebelliousness and one that, happening in every generation, has helped Jews develop a unique identity. Salkin shows how the story continues to reverberate through the ages, even in its connection to the phenomenon of anti-Semitism.

Salkin's work--combining biblical texts, archaeology, rabbinic insights, Hasidic texts (some never before translated), philosophy, history, poetry, contemporary Jewish thought, sociology, and popular culture--is nothing less than a journey through two thousand years of Jewish life and intellectual endeavor.

Author: Jeffrey K. Salkin
Publisher: Jewish Publication Society
Published: 04/01/2013
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.47lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.55w x 0.43d
ISBN: 9780827609310

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2013
Publishers Weekly 03/11/2013
Booklist 04/01/2013 pg. 4

About the Author
Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin is the author of numerous books, including Righteous Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible: Ancient Role Models for Sacred Relationships and Putting God on the Guest List, winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award for the best religion book published in the United States.