God’s Monsters
by: Esther J. Hamori
Broadleaf Books, October 31, 2023
304 pages
Review by: E. Broderick
When Esther J. Hamori’s book, God’s Monsters, popped up on the BookishlyJewish Suggest A Book form, I was pretty excited. I’m not sure who submitted it, anyone is welcome to suggest a book, but this individual had clearly been paying attention to my personal reading choices. I have often written about my love for Jewish mythical beasts and my own use of them in my fiction. A book about monsters written by a professor at the Union Theological Seminary had the potential to be interesting AND provide fodder for future stories. I was in.
Those expectations were met. The book is written with a humorous style that helps make some of the drier, research heavy, portions come life. There are many pop culture references (a lot of which I admittedly did not get. I’m an honest woman about my less than full participation in the cultural zeitgeist), but also stories about the authors own experience of monstrosity and a few footnotes attributing images or quotes to her students. Several of the detailed creatures have already appeared in my writing and they will continue to do so in a more nuanced way now that I have a new perspective on them. However, what struck me most was how the book drove me to think deeply about the creator of these creatures, namely God.
The book has a central thesis, building towards the final chapter, in which we explore God as a monster. The picture painted is not a pretty one, but that is to be expected when our only source information are passages relating to biblical monsters. There is definitely a lot to learn about the creator and deployer of these monsters, but it felt a little false to do so in a vacuum ignoring any and all other aspects of God. I didn’t fully connect to this last chapter, partially because I felt it was too little too late. The chapter was fairly short, and by keeping it as a grand finale instead of scattering some of the very deep insights it contains throughout the book, the author lost me along the way. I had formed my own conclusions by that point, not all of which dovetailed with the books.
That doesn’t mean it was a waste. It simply means I enjoyed the book in a way that is perhaps different than what Dr. Hamori intended, which is never a bad thing. This philosophical kind of reading required me to pause after each chapter to work through some very complex thoughts. While the books ultimate premise might not have convinced me, I did learn quite a bit, and found my own conclusions satisfying.
At this point, I hope you’re wondering what those conclusions are, because I’ve pretty much already decided to share them. But first I’d like to include a few content notes as the BookishlyJewish readership encompasses a wide variety of religious thought and practice. The book contains not only descriptions of monsters from the Hebrew Bible but also some from newer Christian writings. Dr. Hamori correctly uses the term “Hebrew Bible” rather than the misleading and somewhat derogatory “Old Testament.” She also addresses the innate struggle in gendering God and explains the various choices made in the book on this topic. I appreciated this a great deal. However, as a person that grew up as an Orthodox Jew, I was interested in the Christian passages only for what they could tell me about Christianity. I did not consider them valid evidence or contributions about the nature of my God, because I’m not Christian. Any picture of God emerging from Christian writing is not relevant to me, but it is relevant to a great deal of other people who do believe those writings to be divinely inspired.
Which brings me to my next point, one that helps form many of my conclusions drawn from the evidence presented in the book. Dr. Hamori often refers to authorship of both bibles and the implication is that these are human texts, not necessarily the word of God. However, if a person does not believe these books were divinely inspired, it’s pretty hard to claim they actually say something about the nature of God. A bunch of made up stories or hallucinations from would be prophets, are not exactly valid evidence. They don’t say anything about a divine being who had nothing to do with their creation. Indeed, some who hold that the Bible is a solely human creation may not even believe there is a God in the first place. Certainly lots of Jews do not believe in God. So what then are those readers to glean from all the arguments in the book?
I can’t answer that for every reader, but for me that view would mean that these writings tell us about the people who wrote them. We see what their perception of God was, how it differs from the prevailing one today, and how they may have needed something or someone to blame their troubles on. The book of Job, which the author repeatedly cites as one of Gods worst offenses, handily proves this point. Bad things happen to good people. To prevent all of us from collapsing beneath the weight of that knowledge, someone or something needs to take the blame. God is the easiest target. They are all powerful, can do no wrong, and are also very handily not comprehensible to humanity. We can lay our burden at Gods feet and promptly forget about it all because we could not possibly understand the ways of God. Frankly, being responsible for all the worlds ills, including death and plague, is a beating that only a God figure is strong enough to withstand. In her last chapter Hamori touches on this idea of comfort in a God that also dwells in the dark places, and I would have loved to see it expanded.
But what about those, like myself, who do believe in some form of God and who feel that at least some of these writings were divinely inspired? I can’t answer this questions for the Christian’s, because as previously mentioned, I’m not Christian. Indeed, some of the quoted Christian passages were a pretty wild ride for a first time reader. I will focus solely on a Jewish perspective, and I would pose that from the Jewish tradition, very little quoted from the Hebrew Bible is surprising. Jews have never romanticized our angels into the winged cherubs found on Hallmark greeting cards. From the very first chapter of our Bible we are told that humans were created in Gods image. Which means we have to look no further than ourselves for connection and understanding. Humanity is both utterly perfect and utterly flawed. We are capable of extreme kindness, but we also daily see proof of our epic ability to behave like monsters. Part of this is our own free will, but where do these desires come from if not from the one who made us?
I am not a Rabbi or a biblical scholar, but I struggle to find a passage in Judaism that insists God is perfection personified. All knowing, incomprehensible, all powerful. Sure, that is definitely in some liturgy somewhere. But it may not be heretical to suggest that God, and their many creations, is flawed. Indeed, repairing a flawed world is a central tenet for many branches of Judaism. Which begs the question of why God set us such a task and partnered with humans in this way if they could create a flawless world instead. There are many answers, including pretty theories about God desiring to reward us, but those have always been to forcefully saccharine to ring true to me. Plus, they require too much suffering for one righteous human to reap their reward. I would instead wonder if God too is seeking to repair and understand a flawed nature of their own. We cannot understand God, but we can understand ourselves, and that’s the closest we’re going to get. And boy are we ever flawed.
It’s been awhile since I thought so deeply on a religious topic. Perhaps in another life, had I been born to a different gender or life circumstances, I might actually have been a Rabbi or theologian. I’ve always enjoyed learning about the worlds various religions. Perhaps there may yet be a second act for me in Jewish nonfiction writing. Who knows? The possibilities are endless. After all, I contain a spark of God within me, and I have Dr. Hamori to thank for reminding me of that.
Note: BookishlyJewish received a free review copy of this book after contacting the publisher when the book was suggested through our Suggest a Book Form.