As a Driven Leaf is the tragic story of Elisha Ben Avuya, or Acheir , as he is called in the Talmud. What is made clear by Chaim Potok in the Prologue and by Steinberg in the Author’s note at the end is that this novel is supposed to be taken as historical fiction. The fear that I initially had was that I would read the story of Elisha and even though I would know it to be fiction, would transmit the characters of Steinberg’s book into my later learning of the Talmud. Although I cannot be certain, I think that if one goes into this book with the mindset that it is a fictitious account of the story, this fear is ungrounded. Steinberg creates a fantastic tale, one which addresses many issues in our community today, by using characters of the Talmud. One such issue is the freedom of students to ask question in Jewish thought. A major problem of any orthodox institution, be it Jewish or not, is the feeling of dogmatic principles. When one feels that there are things that he cannot question, or get adequate answers to, it leaves the person feeling that their thoughts are not welcome. Sometimes this can lead to resentment and or leaving of the faith, as happened with Elisha ben Avuyah. His lessons in the secular philosophy of the time left him with questions that the other Rabbis did not feel were appropriate so he tried other methods of finding the answers to his questions. This also brings up the fear of learning secular subjects. Elisha had learned Euclid’s analytical geometry, where Euclid goes step by step to prove his theorems. Elisha felt that if this could be done for mathematics it should be able to be done for G-d and philosophy. While I believe that this is a faulty premise because if we could completely prove G-d’s existence there would be little test in belief, the idea that we should use ideas from the secular world to enhance our Jewish knowledge is staple of YU and Torah Umadda. The question; however, is how do we do this in a correct fashion so we can enhance our Judaism and not abrogate it? In a shiur I heard once from Rabbi Weider, it was said that we have a freedom of inquiry, but we do not have a freedom of resolution. We must question, for that furthers our understanding, but we must have a strong belief to back it up that even if we cannot find the answers we are looking for, they do exist. As I see it, it is to this conclusion that Elisha comes to. He finally understands his folly, that all proof must come from some axiom, and just because one doesn't understand everything, does not mean one should leave everything. In this fashion the Rav, specifically in Lonely Man of Faith and elsewhere, talks about the existential crisis that man is put into, one that he is not meant to ever be free from. By putting these topics in the words of our sages Steinberg hits on many important topics through the tale. Another fascinating portion of the narrative was the way Steinberg uses already famous quotes throughout the story. One that particularly came to mind was when Elisha tells Rabbi Akiva of his intentions to leave the faith and begin his project to try and prove faith, Rabbi Akiva says to him that "everything is foreseen; yet free will is given", as a token of his understanding that Elisha can do as he feels necessary. Although I don't believe that this is the true meaning of Pirkei Avot 3:15, by putting in quotations such as these into the novel, Steinberg adds a dimension to the story. One now feels that the Rabbis did not just say these statements in the learning halls. They lived by them and hoped that others would as well. Statements such as these also lend to Rabbi Akiva’s known kindness.
