REVIEW
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Title: The Burning Book: A Jewish-Mormon Memoir
Author: Jason Olson and James Goldberg
Publisher: By Common Consent Press
Genre: Memoir
Year Published: 2022
Number of Pages: 209
Binding: Paperback
ISBN13: 978-1-948218-57-3
Price: $11.95
Reviewed by Ian T. Davidson for the Association for Mormon Letters
Chances are The Burning Book: A Jewish-Mormon Memoir is unlike anything you have ever read before. Simplistically, you might say that this is the memoir of a Jewish teen who joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but never leaves his original faith behind. While true, that does not convey the richness of Jason Olson’s story or the truly personal glimpse of his life over the years as he grapples with belief, covenant, patriotism, and one’s life calling.
Written by Jason Olson and James Goldberg, The Burning Book is a memoir worth reading. As a young man, Jason wanted to be a rabbi, but within a few years, he was a Latter-day Saint missionary instead. After his mission, Jason attended BYU, then immigrated to Israel but returned to the United States to further his education. Ultimately, he became a Jewish Studies scholar, but in another unexpected twist, he became a military chaplain instead of an academic.
That zig-zagging story alone would be compelling, but the book is infused with meaningful prose which makes the book beautiful. For example, a young Jason feels invited by the “scent of study” (p.13) emanating from the pages of the Hebrew-English Tanakh he had received as a gift at his bar mitzvah. Or later in the book, as a military chaplain, Jason considered how to help those he was called to serve, and he observed something profound: “the beauty of repentance is that it transforms shame into wisdom, sin into experience” (pg. 204).
If you are a Latter-day Saint expecting a neat story that is faith-promoting in a way that elevates your faith while minimizing the faith of others then you will be disappointed. This story reflects the realities of a complicated, lived-in life. On the day of his baptism, a young Jason notes that:
“Beneath the excitement and relief, there was an undeniable layer of mourning. The day of my baptism was a day when I said goodbye to the Jewish life I had imagined for myself…The white clothing I would be baptized in felt at once like a sign of purity and rebirth and like a burial shroud” (p. 72).
This is not the last time that Jason feels a bittersweet loss, and because the narrative is crafted so well, the reader feels for him.
If you are looking for a unique and compelling story with complexity, depth and is filled with faith, The Burning Book: A Jewish-Mormon Memoir will grab your attention, your heart, and your curiosity.