Subtle task …

… Balancing Faith and Reason: on Milton Steinberg’s ‘As a Driven Leaf’ - WSJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Elisha ben Abuyah was a historical character, a Jewish apostate, about whom not all that much is known. He is said to have lapsed into hedonism, replaced Jewish ethics with pagan aesthetics, and betrayed the Jews to the Romans during the Bar Kochba rebellion. With great novelistic skill, Steinberg fleshes out the bare bones of information we have on Elisha ben Abuyah, breathes life into him and into the large cast of characters he encounters in the novel, and gives his story impressive dramatic unity.