Originally published in JJSO 29:1 (1987), pp. 68-9. Nahum M. Sarna, Exploring Exodus, xii +277 pp., Schocken, New York, 1986, $17.95. Following the very helpful and hugely successful guide to the first book of the Bible, Understanding Genesis, Dr Nahum Sarna now provides a guide, on the same lines, to the second book of the Bible. The…...

Originally published in JJSO 28:2 (1986), pp. 154-7. Abraham Halkin and David Hartman, Crisis and Leadership: Epistles of Maimonides, x + 292 pp., The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1985, $15.95. The three famous Epistles of Maimonides—On Martyrdom; To the Yemen; and On Resurrection—are here translated from the Arabic with learned notes by Abraham Halkin. David…...

Originally published in JJSO 28:2 (1986), pp. 149-50. Saul Bernstein, The Renaissance of the Torah Jew, xiv + 412 pp., Ktav, New York, 1985,$20.00. One of the most remarkable phenomena of the post-war years in world Jewry is the growth of Orthodox Judaism, especially in the United States, when so many had prophesied its speedy demise. Rabbi…...

Originally published in JJSO 26:1 (1984), pp. 65-6. Reuven P. Bulka, ed., Dimensions of Orthodox Judaism, xvii + 471 pp., Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1983, $25.00. For the information of the potential reader of this fascinating collection of very readable essays (most of them previously published in scholarly journals and newspapers), linked by the editor’s splendid…...

Originally published in JJSO 25:1 (1983), pp. 68-9. Chaim Raphael, The Springs of Jewish Life, v + 288 pp., Basic Books, New York, 1982, $16.50. When David Hume asked a man, who was reading philosophy for the first time, how he was getting on with his studies, the man replied: ‘I am persevering but cheerfulness keeps breaking…...

Originally published in JJSO 18:1 (1976), pp. 67-8. Gerald Blidstein, Honor Thy Father and Mother: Filial Responsibility in Jewish Law and Ethics, Library of Jewish Law and Ethics, edited by Norman Lamm, xiv + 234 pp., Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1975, $15. This is a very erudite analysis (61 pages of notes to 157 of…...

Originally published in the Journal of Jewish Studies 30:2 (1979), pp. 253-4. Ze’ev Falk and Aaron Kirschenbaum (eds.), Dine Israel: An Annual of Jewish Law and Israel’s Family Law, Vol. VII. Tel Aviv University, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv, 1976. English section, 166 pp., Hebrew section, 254 pp. The majority of the papers in this seventh volume…...

Originally published in the Journal of Jewish Studies 31:2 (1980), p. 271. Benzion C. Kaganoff, A Dictionary of Jewish Names and their History, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1978. xiii, 250pp. £5.95. Rabbi Kaganoff, in his introduction to this well-researched study, notes that since Zunz wrote his Die Namen der Juden, 140 years ago, no book has ever been…...

Originally published in the Journal of Jewish Studies 31:2 (1980), pp. 270-1. Robert Gordis, Love and Sex, A Modern Jewish Perspective, Farrar Strauss Giroux, New York, 1978. xii, 290 pp. $8.95. Professor Gordis faces courageously the challenge of the ‘new morality’, admitting that some of the modern attitudes have value but maintaining that they require the correctives found in…...

Originally published in the Journal of Jewish Studies 31:2 (1980), p. 270. Bernard S. Jackson (ed.), The Jewish Law Annual, Volume II, Brill, Leiden, 1979. ix, 270 pp. Fl. 84. The second volume of The Jewish Law Annual has the same format as the first: Part I, a symposium on ‘Codification and Restatement’, and Part II, a Chronicle, Notes…...

Originally published in the Journal of Jewish Studies 30:1 (1979), pp. 137-8. Elijah J. Schochet, “Taz” Rabbi David Halevi, New York. Ktav, 1979. 79 pages. Every student of Shulhan ‘Arukh, Yoreh De’ah, has been obliged to immerse himself in the fierce Halakhic debates between David ha-Levi, author of Turei Zahab, the Taz, and Shabbetai ha-Kohen, author of Shiftei…...

Originally published in the Journal of Jewish Studies 30:1 (1979), p. 137. Menahem Elon (ed.), Shenaton ha-Mishpat ha-‘Ivri, Vol. V. Jerusalem, The Hebrew University, Institute for Research in Jewish Law, No. 9. 1978. 406 pages. This volume contains ten learned articles on various aspects of Jewish law—hamishpat ha-‘ivri—the term being given a sufficiently flexible connotation to embrace historical…...

Originally published in Conservative Judaism 21:1 (1969), pp. 93-4. A Conceptual Approach to the Mekilta, by Max Kadushin, New York: Jonathan David Publishers, 1969, 298 pp.; Lauterbach’s edition and translation of the Mekilta De-Rabbi Ishmael, vol. 1, 215 pp., $6.95, paperback $2.95. Max Kadushin’s pioneering work on Rabbinic thinking is well-known to students of the Talmudic…...

Originally published in Conservative Judaism 18:2 (1964), pp. 59-61. Torah Min Hashamayim B’aspaklariah Shel Hadorot, (Theology of Ancient Judaism), by Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Soncino Press, London and New York, Vol. I, 1962, 297 pp., plus LIX, $6.75. The publication of this Soncino volume on the weighty subject of revelation by a theologian of Professor Heschel’s…...

Originally published in Commentary Magazine 48:5 (1 November 1969), pp. 89-91. Liberal Beliefs A New Jewish Theology in the Making. by Eugene B. Borowitz. Westminster Press. 224 pp. $6.50. How can a Jew Speak of Faith Today? by Eugene B. Borowitz. Westminster Press. 225 pp. $6.00. For a long time now, many Jewish thinkers and scholars have proudly,…...

Originally published in World Jewry 8:4 (1965), p. 17. Rabbi and Minister: The Friendship of Stephen S. Wise and John Haynes Holmes. By Carl Herman Voss. World, Cleveland & New York. $6.95. Giants of Faith: Great American Rabbis. By Rabbi Alex J. Goldman. Citadel, New York. 1964. $6.95. The American Reform Rabbi. Profile of a Profession. By Abraham…...

Originally published in World Jewry 14:2 (1971), p. 26. How to Live in the Present Tense. By Haim Kemelman. Thomas Yoseloff. £2.25. The Mediaeval Jewish Mind: The Religious Philosophy of Isaac Arama. Vallentine, Mitchell, £2.80. The Heavenly Counsellor in Isaiah xl. 13-14: A Study of the Theology of Deutero-Isaiah. By R. N. Whybray. Cambridge University Press. £2.20…....

Originally published in World Jewry 10:5 (1967), p. 28. You shall be as Gods. By Erich Fromm. Jonathan Cape. 25s. Worship in Ancient Israel. By H. H. Rowley.. S.P.C.K. Press. 42s. The sub-title of Erich Fromm’s book is: ‘A radical interpretation of the Old Testament and its tradition’. Radical indeed—its thesis being that the God idea is…...

Originally published in World Jewry 10:2 (1967), pp. 26-7. The Psycho-analytic Revolution: Sigmund Freud’s Life and Achievement. By Marthe Robert. Allen & Unwin. 50s. Judaism in Sigmund Freud’s World. By Earl A. Grollman. Bloch, New York. $4.95. Sigmund Freud and the Jewish Mystical Tradition. By David Bakan. Schocken Paperbacks. New York. $1.95. Of these three books on…...

Originally published in World Jewry 9:3 (1966), p. 24. Conversion to Judaism. A History and Analysis. Edited by David M. Eichhorn. Ktav Publishing House, New York. $5.95. “Judaism is a tolerant faith, teaching that the righteous of all peoples have a share in the world to come”. “R. Helbo said: Converts are as harmful to Israel as…...