12 Friday, December 9, 1983 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS The Mind-Body Problem': Maturity and Self-Worth By SHARON HOCHMAN (Editor's note: Ms. Hochman is a clinical so- cial worker in private practice in Birmingham.) "I'm often asked what it's like to be married to a genius," begins Renee Feuer Himmel, the heroine of Rebecca Goldstein's first novel, "The Mind-Body Problem" (Random House). For Renee, "wife of a genius" is too readily an af- firmation of her self-worth, but it hardly defines her as a distinct personality. Not wanting to play the fool by adopting a melod- ramatic pose towards her own life, Renee (Rebecca Goldstein) sets out to explore the answer to the in- itial question. With wit and wisdom Renee lays her life before us and we embark on a fascinating journey of dis- covery. We laugh as she offers surface intellectualism, slickly updating the stereotypic first command- ment of Jewish Mothers from "You are who you marry" to "You are who you sleep with." We learn, as she questions the very na- ture of reality, the perplex- ing problem that Shopenhauer called the World Knot. SHARON HOCHMAN educated, introspective females, Renee struggles with resolving the dichotomy between the inner place of the mind and the outer world of the body — subjective and objective reality. She emerges from the cocoon of an Orthodox Jewish family (and a mother who greets her scholastic honors with the lingering question ... "Nu, Renee, and how will this help you find a husband?") to alight at Barnard Col- lege. There, she becomes im- mersed in the investigation of mind-body pleasures. Brilliant men excite her but her experiments are more Like many highly- than cerebral. Meetings of the mind become meetings of the body. The research is "by the book," but it is not "The Joy of Sex" that is the reference. Renee and her boyfriend, Hillel, use the Kitzur Shulhan Arukh (the Code of Jewish Law) in- stead. Hillel jokes, "We're sys- tematically doing every- thing it says you shouldn't." (Tasting forbidden fruit means making love by candlelight or daylight, hardly erotic by secular standards.) Renee continues her studies at Princeton Uni- versity as a graduate stu- dent in philosophy. She humorously describes the atmosphere as one of "gen- teel goyishness" where Jews do not seem Jewish (unlike Columbia, where even the non-Jews seem Jewish). During her second year, delighting in the pleasures of the mind be- comes an unsavory task. She is a metaphysical has-been, concerned with questions about the Meaning of Life — hopelessly out of style in a department wed to lin- guistic analysis and the meaning of words. Unable to sustain herself, in need of narcissistic supplies, she re-focuses, and again becomes a mistress of the pleasures of the body. She meets and marries the famous Noam Himmel, mathematical genius, whose discovery of super- natural numbers at the age of 12 catapulted him into in- stant scientific stardom. His arrival at Princeton is marked with the honor given to Einstein years be- fore. Because Renee plots her world on a "mattering map," a theoretical con- struct which assigns one's place by what matters most to him or her, Renee is set. At Princeton "what" mat- ters is intelligence (Renee's aphrodisiac), and "who" matters is a function of "what" matters. "Who" matters is Noam Himmel and Renee matters because she is his wife, as predicted by her mother's first com- mandment: You are who you marry. Simply put, "I am thought of, therefore I am. (Apologies to Descartes.) On the "mattering map" of Renee's mother, being a good Jewish girl (kosher) means periodic visits to the mikve and following a host of pro- hibitions. A man's posi- tion is determined by the number of pages of Tal- mud he can commit to memory — not his ability to bring home the "beefenette." She attended Barnard and received her PhD from Princeton Univer- sity in philosophy. She is married to a mathemati- cian. Although Noam calls her religious upbringing "suck- ling on irrationality," Renee has metabolized it. She retreats to her Jewish- ness and the protective simplicity of childhood. Recalling the serenity of the Sabbath, the mysteries of Faith, enables her to "reunite" with her parents and deny separation. When her marriage falters, she at- taches herself to a new rela- tionship "with the qualities of a sustained orgasm," a continuation of the infantile drive in a new setting. Renee is forced to face painful truths about herself when her latest Academic Prince will not take her along for the ride. Without the distortions in reality testing, she can know her husband for the first time, and know his pain_ Perhaps through -writing this book, Renee's "Self- Analysis,". she has become capable of being alone and liking it — a person in her own right. Recently, Ms. Goldstein won a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies to write a philosophical study on "The Concept of the Body." The "teacher" shines through the "writer" throughout the novel, and it is a veritable feast for one hungry for ideas. The reader is treated to large, meaty portions of Plato, Spinoza and Freud. It is obvious that Ms. Goldstein is one of those rare professors who under- stands the reality of the ideas she studies and writes about. "The Mind-Body Problem" is no ivory tower treatise. These insights were earned in the theater of personal experience. Although Renee does not solve the mind-body prob- lem, she is a wiser woman for her search. For the reader, the journey has been well worth taking. "The Mind-Body Problem" is in- tellectually stimulating and entertaining, a triumph for a first novel. We look forward to hearing from Ms. Goldstein again. Rebecca Goldstein, like her protagonist in the book, was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family. NY District Attorney Defends Israel West Bank Policy Robert M. Morgenthau, New York County District Attorney, in a New York Times Op-Ed page article Dec. 1, strongly defended Is- rael's Judea-Samaria (West Bank) policies. The scion of one of Ameri- can Jewry's most prominent families emphasizes that the treatment accorded the Arabs by Israelis has been humane and has benefited the Arabs. He declares: "Israel has brought un- precedented prosperity to the West Bank. There are four Arab universities — none existed under Jordan. Medical care, life expec- tancy and the standards of living are all rapidly ap- proaching Israel's levels. "Existing tensions and restrictions are rooted in the territory's transi- tional status. Once Is- rael's right to exst- is af- firmed, West Bank Arabs, like their 700,000 breth- ren who are Israeli citi- zens, will have full civil and human rights and will live in peace with Is- rael. "What is lost amid the sensational headlines and passionate debate is that, despite occasional Arab vio- lence and ugly incidents of Jewish vigilantism, 50,000 Jews and 750,000 Arabs in the West Bank live, work and trade in peace. There is a modus vivendi with Jor- dan, the bridges on the Jor- dan River are open, com- merce flourishes and 150,000 visitors from Arab countries come every sum- mer. "If the West Bank, rather than reverting to Arab rule, remains under Israel, its Arabs will live in a free democracy instead of an autocratic police state." Bible Classes Behind Bars could not imagine that drug addicts, thieves and mur- derers serving their prison sentences would study the Bible guided by heads of yeshivot and rabbis. By MOSHE RC i The Jewish News Special Israel Correspondent TEL AVIV — It is a char- acteristic event for Israeli reality. In spite of the flood of problems Israel has to cope with, the minister of internal affairs, Dr. Yosef Burg, and the chief of Is- rael's prisons, Dr. Werth- eimer, found the time to deal with an extraordinary idea, namely, to organize yeshiva schools in the Is- raeli prisons and induce prisoners to study the Bible. In our richest fantasy we • • - •••• The project was started. Dr. Wertheimer was certain that it would be met with laughter and that nobody would be in- terested. However, the enthusiasm was great. There were more candi- dates than the classes could accept. The first class was carried out in the Tel-Mond prison •• 411111106106111111111111101111.11M11111111101110, ' near Natanya. Sixteen pris- oners began taking the Talmud course under the guidance of Rabbi Golomb from Jerusalem. Among them was a 21-year-old man who was convicted of theft and robbery and was serv- ing a 13-year sentence. After the first lesson he addressed the rabbi and told him, "I was promised that one-third of my sentence would be deducted if I would behave well in prison. I promise you, rabbi, that after my release I will work as a locksmith." Providing a seven-point reasoning analysis in sup- port of Israel, Morgenthau states in his essay: "Fifth, Palestinian Arabs already have a state.. All Arab leaders, including King Hussein and Yasir Arafat, have repeatedly de- clared that Palestinians and Jordanians are one na- tion. The inevitable conclu- sion is that a Palestinian- Arab state exists: it is called Jordan and it comprises 80 percent of the area of Pales- tine as defined by the League of Nations (the only existing political definition of Palestine). It is therefore difficult to see the need for a second Palestinian - Arab state in the 40-by-50 mile area known as the West Bank. "First, there is no one to talk with about the West Bank, Israel has re- peatedly called for negotiations, stipulated in the Camp David agreement. Jordan, after hinting, promising and teasing, has refused to join. "Palestinian Arab lead- ers, fearful after assassina- tions by the Palestine Lib- eration Organization, shy away. Egypt has shown no interest in West Bank negotiations since 1980. "Second, Israel cannot re- linquish military control of the West Bank. Both the governing coalition and the Labor opposition believe that military control of the area is vital. The reasons could not be plainer. The `confrontation states' on Is- rael's eastern front are arm- ing feverishly. By 1986, they will have a staggering number of sophisticated weapons, including 10,000 tanks. (That's about the number the Atlantic al- liance has for the defense of Europe.) "To suggest that Israel withdraw from the only barrier between these hos- tile armies and the 10- mile-wide coastal strip that contains 80 percent of Is- rael's population and 66 - percent of its industry is to recommend suicide. "Third, it is illogical to claim that the settlements are 'an obstacle to peace.' "Sixth, Israel's right to Judea and Samaria and to the coastal plain is in- disputable. Israel's legal claim is based on the League of Nations Man- date, which - stipulated Jewish settlement and a Jewish National Home in all of Palestine. It is based, too, on the his- toric, religious and cul- tural Jewish ties to the land, on the 3,000 years of uninterrupted Jewish presence, on the fact that only the Jews have ever had an independent sov- ereign state there and on the sacrifices they have made to redeem the land. ROBERT MORGENTHAU Only the prospect of an irreversible, complete Is- raeli takeover of the entire West Bank can serve as an incentive for the Arabs to negotiate. If the settlements are fro- zen, the Arabs will noth- ing to lose by waiting. Fourth, the 'demographic danger' is a canard. There is no danger that Israel will be engulfed by a fast growing Arab population. The West Bank has been under Israel control since 1967. Since then, the ratio of Jews to Arabs were of the Jordan River — in Gaza, the West Bank and pre-1967 Israel -- has remained exactly the same:" 65 percent Jews, 35 percent Arabs. (Without Gaza, it is 71-29.) All proj- ections point to a similar ratio in the future. a 4 4 "Seventh, West Bank Arabs have more civil rights than citizens of any Arab country. They have access to impartial courts and the right of habeus cor- pus. They enjoy freedom of the press, of movement and of peaceful assembly.