Let’s start at the beginning.
Imagine a narrator of a biography of Washington who insists on pronouncing his name as Was Hing ton.
The narrator, whose name must live in infamy, pronounces the name Gershom ( pronounced Gershim, with a real SH like shalom) as Gers- hom. I couldn’t believe it. Finally, I just settled in for the story.
I hope that this guy never is allowed to narrate a book again without checking his ability or even interest
in providing accurate pronunciation.
George Prochnik, the author, is very taken with himself and his own rather pedestrian story.
He jumps back and forth from detailing much of the life of Scholem and that of him and his boring
family. Honestly, this is almost pathetic. No one really cares about Prochnik except himself and maybe
two other people in the world.
In addition, he subjects the listener to his brilliant lack of understanding of Scholem and his work.
Prochnik, a convert via a woman rabbi, is astoundingly ignorant of much of Judaism. No surprise here.
He has the nerve to pretend that his observations are to be presented alongside those of the genius
he pretends to describe, Scholem.
Scholem’s life is mostly presented here. The story, as it is, is interesting and I definitely learned many things
that I did not know and which help me better to appreciate his life and work.
Amazingly, his most famous book in the West, Major trends in Jewish mysticism, is scarcely mentioned.
Instead, we are informed that his work on Jewish messianism is the really important
contribution of this man.
What arrogance that Prochnik displays in these editorial decisions.
However, if you are willing to pardon the above things you may enjoy the book.
As far as the author, I am grateful to have discovered that I can now avoid anything authored by him.