Mavericks, Mystics and False Messiahs
Episodes from the Margins of Jewish History
Pini Dunner
Toby Press, 2018, 208 pages
What do the following Jews –variously famous and
obscure – have in common: Shabbetai Tzvi, Samuel Falk, Rabbis Yaakov Emden and Yonatan Eybeschutz, Isaac Neiberg, George Gordon, Rabbi Yehuda Rosenberg, and Ignatz Trebitsch? Is it merely that a charismatic Los Angeles rabbi has bound their stories together in a lively, informative, but somewhat uneven narrative, or something more?
Most of the characters in Mavericks swap identities, faiths, and habitats with breathtaking rapidity, generally in the interests of their own survival or self-enrichment rather than out of ideological conviction. The rabbis embroiled in the controversies of the Get of Cleves, Sabbateanism, and its aftermath are portrayed as motivated more by their egos than by the pursuit of truth or the welfare of those seeking their aid.
In short, the author wears his rabbinic title lightly, presenting a selection of the less salubrious narratives involving his profession. Instead of footnotes, a lengthy conclusion discusses the author’s research methods and sources.
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