New Oxford Review: Review of Second Exodus

Leila Miller reviewed Second Exodus in the New Oxford Review, November 1999 issue. This is her review in its entirety:

St. Paul believed that one day the Jewish people would come home to their Messiah: “Now if their trespass means riches for the world, how much more will their full inclusion mean!…If their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” (Rom 11:12-15)

The journey of a Jewish person into the Catholic Church can be glorious even as it is fraught with difficulty, confusion and a thousand questions. Most Jews face opposition from family members, who consider conversion to mean a rejection of one’s people. There has been an increasing number of books and apostolates to help such Jews on their journey, and a new book, Second Exodus, by Martin K. Barrack, is the latest to help them along their way.

Barrack, a Jew who married a Catholic and twenty years later himself became a Catholic, asked thousands of questions during his own walk to the Cross. This book incorporates those questions and the answers Barrack found.

Second Exodus begins with a brief introduction, followed by these straightforward propositions: 1) God exists, 2) Jesus is His Messiah, and 3) of all the denominations professing Him, only the Catholic Church teaches with His true authority. Barrack’s approach is classic apologetics.

By the third chapter, Barrack invites his Jewish readers to meet God in the Persons of the Holy Trinity, and follows with an introduction to the Blessed Mother, the Saints and angels in the fourth chapter, which is lovingly entitled “Meet the Family.” In succeeding chapters, Barrack illuminates the sacramental life of the Church (the chapter on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is worth the price of the book) and God’s unchanging moral law (which he defends vigorously and joyfully). NOR readers will appreciate his insightful wrap-up chapter on the spiritual battle currently raging between the Church and Satan.

Barrack treats the reader like an intimate friend, walking us through the vast expanse of salvation history. Time and again, he expresses major ideas in simple terms, as on the consecrated religious life: “Sometimes, in the morning or evening, we find ourselves driving into the sun. We pull down the sun visor to block out the distracting rays so we can see the road. Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are a sin visor.” He uses powerful images which stick in the reader’s mind long after the book has been closed: “We cannot break a covenant. We break ourselves against a covenant by violating it.”

From beginning to end, Barrack’s zest for the Catholic Church shines through, as does his love for his Jewish brethren. He aptly demonstrates that the Jew who becomes Catholic is not giving up anything, rather he is claiming his rightful inheritance and “completing” his own Judaism. Second Exodus is a romance with our Shepherd, and Catholic teaching is carefully placed within its Jewish setting like a diamond in a wedding ring. The Catholic who gives this book to an inquiring friend would do well to read it himself, as one cannot truly know the Holy Catholic Faith without an understanding of its Jewish roots.

Second Exodus is saturated by Scripture, and Barrack references nearly all the passages, making it easy for the reader to follow in his own Bible. As someone who is married to a Jew who recently converted, I am most excited about the fact that it is a “living book,” having its very own website available for those who seek answers to the many questions that are bound to surface upon reading it (www.secondexodus.com). Jewish conversions are delicate and often painful, and each soul on the journey has an inestimable need to interact with others who have traversed the same terrain.

This is an important book. No less than the Rev. John A. Hardon, S.J. wrote the Foreword to Second Exodus, concluding it with these words: “This volume by Martin Barrack deserves wide circulation.” I can only agree.