A PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
DIAMENT, NATHAN J.
A PILGRIM’S PROGRESS David Klinghoffer Finds a Home By Nathan J. Diament David Klinghoffer is one of thousands of late-twentiethcentury Jews to make the journey from secularism to Orthodox...
...The eighth grader could have cast aside his book and grown up a comfortable, secular Californian...
...But shortly afterward, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he was led to an Orthodox congregation with an astute rabbi—which led him in turn to begin observing the Sabbath and, ultimately, to embrace Orthodox Judaism...
...But the second thing he read shocked him far more, for it set forth the rules of adoption and conversion— and clearly suggested that he, adopted from a non-Jewish mother, was not Jewish...
...A PILGRIM’S PROGRESS David Klinghoffer Finds a Home By Nathan J. Diament David Klinghoffer is one of thousands of late-twentiethcentury Jews to make the journey from secularism to Orthodox Judaism...
...The young Washingtonian could have married the Catholic woman he was dating and not turned to Orthodox Judaism...
...It was there at college, however, that he had his brief affiliation with Conservative Judaism...
...He seems to have surprised even himself with his strong assertion that “God has chosen me to join the Jewish people” and that “His will is contained in the Torah and the rabbinic tradition...
...Certainly it failed to ignite his...
...Those returning to traditional Judaism must be mindful of religious rules that apply to virtually every act of their waking day...
...The Brown University freshman could have remained in secular liberalism’s ranks...
...Much of The Lord Will Gather Me In is provocative...
...Secular intellectuals tend to think of religion as merely a “coping strategy” to help weak people...
...And yet, something like this must be true for all those who can appreciate the freedoms secularism offers but nonetheless choose faith...
...Klinghoffer often seems very sure of himself, and he spares nothing in his criticism of others— including his fellow Orthodox Jews— whose observance or commitment doesn’t measure up to what he believes it should be...
...But Klinghoffer’s particular odyssey—recounted in his engaging new book, The Lord Will Gather Me In—is anything but common...
...Though he declares that he still understands the appeal of Conservative Judaism, Klinghoffer nonetheless decided that its willingness to compromise Jewish law for modern convenience ensures that this form of Judaism “fails to ignite Jewish souls...
...It was this challenge to his Nathan J. Diament is the political and legal affairs director of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America...
...Indeed, the phenomenon of the ba’al teshuva, the returning Jew, is common enough nowadays to deserve the term “movement...
...In the conversion ceremony that followed months of study, while standing in the ritual bath, Klinghoffer was asked for a spontaneous statement of commitment...
...During a summer semester at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, he found Conservative Jews struggling, he claims, “to have it both ways”: to profess faith in ancient traditions but also to be free to manipulate them to conform to modern realities...
...Klinghoffer is still a young man who has been affiliated with Orthodox Judaism for only seven years and may not yet fully grasp—as he would acknowledge—all the nuances of Orthodox observance and belief...
...But the fact remains that he does provide lucid explanations of such aspects of Jewish observance as the laws of family purity, restrictions on shaving practices, and the wearing of “fringes” on a four-cornered garment...
...The adopted son of a Californian, Reform Jewish couple (whom he describes as “easygoing” in their religious observance), Klinghoffer bumped into traditional Judaism while he was in the eighth grade, reading a standard introductory text, To Be a Jew...
...But just as often, especially in the modern world, it demands commitment and sacrifice...
...To embrace belief, they must act in ways that place them outside the secular mainstream of American culture...
...There is certainly “freedom in the commandments,” as the Talmud notes, and religion often offers psychic and spiritual comfort...
...identity that served as the catalyst for Klinghoffer’s search for Jewish authenticity...
...In that book, the future books editor of William F. Buckley’s National Review discovered an articulation of Judaism that revolved around laws and obligations...
...The procedure, he notes, was “effortless,” and left him feeling largely unchanged...
...What those like David Klinghoffer demonstrate is the hard work and intellectual fortitude necessary to pursue a religious life in the modern world...
...During his college years, Klinghoffer began to observe more and more Jewish laws, including the dietary restrictions...
...What is clear throughout his tale is that David Klinghoffer’s journey was propelled by his relentless search for “the Truth,” wherever it led and whatever it demanded of him...
...Coming to New York for his first stint at National Review, he attended a Conservative synagogue and underwent a ritual conversion under the direction of its rabbi...
...The stories of Klinghoffer’s romance with a Catholic woman and his search for his birth-parents and ancestry are emotional narratives marvelously woven into the tale of his spiritual odyssey...
...The tale should inform our perception of religion and the role it can play in life—providing a modern American instance of the Psalmist’s insight that “God is close . . . to those who call to Him in truth...
...In each case, Klinghoffer chose the path that seemed to lead toward truth even as it asked him to make sacrifices...
...It was like nothing he had heard from his family’s Reform rabbi, and the first thing to catch his attention made him uncomfortable: Judaism’s strict rules against tale-bearing and gossip, which he realized he, like most boys, violated daily...
...In The Lord Will Gather Me In, the reader will find an articulate account of a journey from the secular to the devout...
...But he characterizes himself as still secular when he began his freshman year at Brown University...
...In high school, Klinghoffer occasionally donned his grandfather’s phylacteries and leafed through his prayer book...
Vol. 4 • January 1999 • No. 18
