The Japanese and The Jews

Description

Writing in the allusive and freely associative style characteristic of the popular Japanese essay form, the author compares and contrasts the Japanese and the Jews with keen critical insight tempered by affection. He records their attitudes and responses to such basic human matters as food, water, spiritual freedom, physical security, government and man's relation to natural forces. While drawing freely from personal experiences, literature and popular sources, he also turns to such traditional materials as medieval Japanese social and legal documents, the Talmud, and the Torah in his search for the forces that have shaped the Japanese and the Jew as we know them today.