Faith in a World of Logic: Milton Steinberg’s Modern Struggle in “As a Driven Leaf”
Delving into a tractate of Talmud offers more than an intellectual exercise — it allows one to catch a glimpse into Jewish life in ancient Palestine. Hidden within lengthy debates on the minutiae of halacha are windows into a living, breathing world — fleeting details that, when pieced together, create a vivid yet wholly incomplete portrait of the Jews of old. Some passages describe the sages’ debates so clearly that one can almost see them gathered in their batei midrash, dissecting and expounding the sacred text of the Torah, or convening to resolve issues within the community. Yet, despite these few bursts of personality, the Talmud remains largely silent about who these Torah giants were beyond the positions they held and the arguments they directed. When learning the Talmud, it is hard to imagine the lives these sages led outside of the beit midrash: the dreams they had, the fears they possessed and the inner struggles they grappled with.
It is this gap that “As a Driven Leaf” by Milton Steinberg seeks to fill.
Loosely based on the various stories describing Talmudic sage-turned-heretic, Elisha Ben Abuyah, “As a Driven Leaf” paints a startling picture of ancient Palestine in an era of turmoil. Set in a time when Jewish tradition heavily clashed with the rationalist culture of Hellenism, Steinberg creates a rich plot of temptation and resistance: a story of a man caught between two enticing worlds, struggling to find the path of truth.
Steinberg’s story-telling skills are best described by Chaim Potok, in the Foreword to the 1996 edition of the book. Potok writes, “I had been studying Talmud from the age of eight, lived deep in its winding argumentations and dialectics. But nothing I ever heard or read before was able to bring the world of the rabbis so vividly to life for me as Milton Steinberg’s novel.”
While the story is completely fictional, “As a Driven Leaf” guides readers to imagine what life might have actually looked like for Jews living in ancient Palestine after the destruction of the first Temple. Steinberg does not shy away from describing the alluring aspects of the Pagan world that would have appealed to Jews struggling to remain true to their Judaism. The protagonist, Elisha Ben Abuyah, represents the prototypical man caught between two worlds: A man who seeks truth so earnestly that he fails to remain true to himself, and ends up losing everything.
Raised by an assimilated and highly educated pagan Jew, Elisha Ben Abuyah is first introduced to the world of Greek literature and philosophy, which he devotes his days to learning until the untimely death of his father. He is then taken in by his strictly observant uncle, where he dives headfirst into Torah study and becomes instantly enamored with Judaism’s teachings.
Elisha quickly becomes a brilliant and inquisitive Torah scholar and he continues to rise in the Torah world until he is appointed to the Sanhedrin, the highest rabbinic court and legislative body.
But, as Elisha steps into this new role, he begins to doubt the foundations of his faith, questioning whether the Torah is truly divine and how God can be just in a world of suffering. Slowly, his inner conflict becomes more pronounced, and while he attempts to retain his outward composure, the tenets of his faith in God slowly melt away, leaving him broken and struggling to grasp onto the beliefs he once held so dear. Although labeled as a heretic by the Jewish community, Elisha does not give up without a fight. He consults with his close friends — Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Akiba, Ben Zoma and Ben Azzai — desperately seeking answers to his dangerous questions. Yet his attempts bear no results, and ultimately his desire to understand the world through reason engulfs him. Elisha is removed from the Sanhedrin, excommunicated and pronounced dead by everyone he ever knew and loved.
Completely and utterly alone, Elisha ventures to the pagan city of Antioch, known for its rich culture and intellectual giants. There, he reconnects with a childhood friend and embarks on his mission of understanding the world through reason and logic. Captivated by Euclid’s “Elements,” a compilation of logical, mathematical axioms and postulates, Elisha yearns for a rational approach to life.
Inspired by Euclid, Elisha vows to forget everything he once knew and begin from scratch, mapping out a clear progression of logical claims, hoping that it will allow him to discover the truth he so desires. The truth, however, does not come as easily as he hoped. Elisha becomes increasingly frustrated as he advances in his studies, but arrives no closer to the truth he seeks.
Elisha’s world collapses when Euclid’s mathematical theory, the paradigm of rational thought in his mind, is proven illogical. Gone is his last hope of deriving truth from reason, and Elisha must accept the fact that he threw away his entire life for a dream that will never be actualized. Steinberg writes that Elisha laments his decision to abandon his Judaism, and he “confessed that his blasted years totalled into an abomination, that the torturous course of his days must remain forever without the frailest hope of vindication.”
Elisha understands too late that his insistence on reason as the basis of life is wrong. After dedicating his life to seeking a truth he believed so deeply existed, Elisha is left to ponder the cost of abandoning faith for the emptiness of a life lived by logic alone. His pursuit, once noble and passionate, displays the folly of a man caught up in his own mind, leaving him stuck with neither certainty nor fulfillment, utterly and irrevocably alone.
While the setting of “As a Driven Leaf” is ancient, the book appeals to the modern reader. The issues faced by Elisha are reminiscent of the struggles that modern man faces in a secular world. In an era defined by reliance on science and reason, with faith dismissed as mere naivety, “As a Driven Leaf” brings life to the tension between faith and reason, doubt and devotion and tradition and modernity.
Ultimately, “As a Driven Leaf” offers readers a glimpse into how the world of ancient Palestine may have looked. Through a fictional depiction of Elisha Ben Abuyah, Steinberg portrays the inner turmoil that plagues individuals of faith and reason in every generation, cautioning his readers to recognize the dangers of pursuing truth without remaining grounded in tradition. His novel reminds us that when one is caught between two worlds, the default decision should not necessarily be to choose one. Perhaps truth lies in the courage it takes to remain suspended between the two worlds, never fully choosing one nor the other.
Photo Caption: The alluring world of ancient Greece that drew Elisha from his Judaism.
Photo Credit: Unsplash / Dawid Tkocz
