lessness; unlike Christianity, Islam, andneven biblical Judaism, it never maintainedna self-sufficient imperium.nNeusner may be justified in exploringn”ecologically” within a communalncontext such as Judaism, but it isndoubtful whether the term “politicalneconomy” describes the object of hisnstudy. It is ironic that Neusner himselfnhas exposed the many flaws in Weber’snAncient Judaism, including its faultynuse of categories in analyzing ancientnJewish life.nWhat Neusner claims or refuses tonclaim for rabbinic — i.e., normative —nJudaism contributes to his controversialnplace as a Jewish thinker. Most OrthodoxnJews who are acquainted with hisnscholarship have reservations about it.nThough an observant Jew, Neusnernmakes no secret that he approachesnTalmudic literature as a scholar, not asnan Orthodox apologist. Neusner callsnattention to the historical circumstancesnin which rabbinic discussions occurred,nand he pays little attention tonthose medieval glossators whose commentsnappear alongside Talmudic passagesnand whom the Orthodox consultnfor interpreting their ancient sacredntexts. Perhaps Orthodox Jews are alsonembarrassed by Neusner for the samenreason as are their liberal coreligionists:nnamely, his unwillingness to make Judaismnresemble some ancient form ofnethical rationalism. Though OrthodoxnJews do not believe that their traditionnis really enlightened religion, some donfeel that it may be best for Gentiles tonthink otherwise. Reacting to the conventionalncharge that Jews are clannish,neven Orthodox Jews may wince atnNeusner’s stress on the closed naturenof Jewish learning.nTo liberal Jews, who dominate Jew- ‘nish philanthropic and public relationsnorganizations, Neusner is undoubtedlynan embarrassment. He exalts Judaismnfor precisely those characteristics fromnwhich liberal Jews wish to dissociatenthemselves: ancestral piety, devotion tonreceived custom, rejection of openmindednessnin favor of a self-enclosednbody of truth. Neusner not only findsnanti-liberal values at the heart of narrativenJudaism, but even argues on theirnbehalf. On the basis of his writings onencan infer not only his own Jewish beliefnbut sociological assumptions traceablento Max Weber and Ferdinand Tbnnies.nLike these German social thinkers.nNeusner believes that communities arenbuilt around cults, that social prescriptionsnand economic attitudes comenfrom ingrained religious attitudes, andnthat modern social science represents,nin large part, an attempt to escape thenobvious. The movement from organicncommunity to an impersonal civil society,nwhich Tbnnies was among the firstnto examine, creates for Neusner ancivilizational problem. Because of thisnmovement, he has explained, we havenlost our understanding of communityneven as a historical phenomenon.nThus his association of normative Judaismnwith a closed hermeneutic hasnunleashed an attack from those whoncannot see good coming from traditionalncommunal existence.nSome of the most impassioned invectivesnagainst Neusner have emanatednfrom those who dislike his morenaccessible writing. Those comments ofnhis that have elicited the most widespreadnnegative reaction have in factnbeen on the subjects of holocaust theologynand American Zionism. On bothnsubjects Neusner has spoken critically,nfrom a normative Jewish perspective.nHe has reproved holocaust theologiansnfor their explicit or implicit atheism andnfor their reduction of Judaism to a formnof Third Worid victimology. He hasnalso accused them of driving a wedgenbetween Jewish and Christian Americansnby their indiscriminate attacks onnChristians and Christianity as thencause of the holocaust.nOn Israel, Neusner has spoken allnLIBERAL ARTSnBARBED-WIRE BARBSnA new battle over sobriquets is undernway. Last year it was Fraser, Colorado,nand International Falls, Minnesota, thatnbattled for “Icebox of the Nation.” Thisnyear it’s LaCrosse, Kansas, and Mc­nLean, Texas, fighting for “The Barbed-nWire Capital of the World.”nIt seems that McLean plans to convertna former Sears, Roebuck & Companynbrassiere factory into a barbed-wirenmuseum. This didn’t go over well withnthe people at the barbed-wire museumnin LaCrosse, which has long laid claimnto the title “Barbed-Wire Capital of thenWorid.” LaCrosse’s museum is only fivenhundred square feet and is only opennthree days a week, whereas McLean’snnntoo frankly in (among other places) thenWashington Post. He urges AmericannJews to stop pretending they are aboutnto move to Israel while proclaimingnIsrael as the cultural center of Jewishnlife. Although Neusner supports thenright of Israel to exist and prosper as anJewish state, he has no use for thenexaggerated praise sometimes lavishednon Israeli society. As a patriotic American,nhe thinks that American Jews owentheir first loyalty to the United Statesnand that they should certainly notnrepay the country in which Jews havenprospered most by treating it as annalien, hostile land. To a Jewish criticnwho noted a similarity between WeimarnGermany and the United States,nNeusner replied with an offer to buynhis critic a one-way flight from Chicagonto Tel Aviv.nIn all fairness to him, it needs to bensaid that Neusner does not entirelynneglect the value of universal accessibilitynin the articulation of religious insights.nIn his studies on the confrontationnof Judaism and early Christianityn— and particulariy in his remarks onnAphrahat, a fourth-century monk whonwrote in Syriac against the Jewish claimnto continued divine election — Neusnernsympathetically presents both sides ofnthe great religious debate. He praisesnAphrahat for his mastery of Aristoteliannlogic, and, in a conversation with me,nidentified this pugnacious monk asn”one of us” — that is, a “bearer of thenclassical Western intellectual tradition.”nbrassiere factory offers some 14,000nsquare feet for a new museum and isnsituated along a major highway. Not tonbe outdone, LaCrosse has announcednthat construction will soon begin tonenlarge their facility. “This is real important,”nsaid Rick Weigel, head of La­nCrosse’s museum committee. “We’renknown as the Barbed-Wire Capital ofnthe Worid and we want to keep beingnknown as the Barbed-Wire Capital ofnthe Worid.”nDon Taylor, past president of thenWichita Barbed Wire Collectors Association,nsaid that there were enoughnstrands of spiked wire to fill two museums.nMAY 1990/33n