Originally published in BSOAS 38:3 (1975), p. 627. Jacob Neusner: A history of the Mishnaic law of purities. Parts 1-5. (Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity, Vol. 6.) xxiv, 282; si, 338; xvi, 415; xvi, 350; xv, 282 pp. Leiden : E. J. Brill, 1974-5. Guildera 460. The tractates of the Mishnah (compiled c. 220) studied…...
David R. Blumenthal (ed. and tr.), ‘The commentary of R. Hoter ben Shelomo to the thirteen principles of Maimonides’
Originally published in BSOAS 38:2 (1975), pp. 493-494. David R. Blumenthal (ed. and tr.): The commentary of R. Hoter ben Shelomo to the thirteen principles of Maimonides (Etudes sur le Judaïsme Médiéval, Tom. vi.) xx, 354 pp. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974. Guilders 92. Maimonides in his commentary to the Mishnah, written in Arabic and later…...
Jacob Neusner, ‘The Rabbinic traditions about the Pharisees before 70’
Originally published in BSOAS 35:3 (1972), pp. 626-627. Jacob Neusner: The, Rabbinic traditions about the Pharisees before 70. 3 vols.: xvi, 419; xiv, 353; xvi, 427pp. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971. Guilders 264. Many essays have been written by theologians, Christian and Jewish, on what they accepted as Hillel’s version of the golden rule: ‘That which…...
Judaism and Self-Expression
Originally published in Giffnock Synagogue Bulletin and in Western Wall, September 1954. The cult of self-expression is one of the most popular in modern times. In its name people have been known to commit the most ridiculous excesses and to have shown scant regard for the most cherished beliefs and customs of the ages. The cult…...
Yitro – The Chosen People
Few of the doctrines of Judaism have been so misunderstood as that of the Chosen People. Shaw, who compared the idea to the Herrenvolk notion of the Nazis; Wells, who considered it an impediment to world unity; the poet who wrote “How odd of God to choose the Jews”; Protestant theologians who continue to speak…...
Passover – Sons and mystics
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle – Passover Supplement. The more usual sacred or mystical numbers are three, seven and ten. The number four, too, has profound psychological and hence mystical associations. The mind of primitive man came attuned to this number through his observation of how it occurred in nature; in the four seasons of…...
Naso – Giving graciously
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 3rd June 1955. His offering was one silver dish . . . (Num. vii, 13, 25, 31f.) When the lengthy, tedious account of the gifts that the princes brought at the dedication of the Sanctuary is read in the synagogue, even the most devout worshipper may be excused if he…...
Vayetse – Jacob’s Ladder
Originally published in the Jewish Gazette, Friday 26th November 1971. It is easy to understand why the story of Jacob’s dream should have exercised such a permanent fascination over the hearts of men and why it still does. What could be more romantic than a ladder with his feet on the ground reaching up to heaven…...
The Laws of Pesach
A talk by Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs on 23rd March 1983 summarised by Michael Rose. Many Jews who are not particularly observant all the year round feel that Pesach is the one time when they should be strict; hence the need for a talk on this vast and complex subject. Rabbi Jacobs spoke about a…...
Vayera – At Home and Abroad
And the Lord appeared unto him . . . as he sat in the tent door . . . (Gen. xviii, 1). Men have sought God in many different ways. Some have sought Him in the desert, the hermitage, the monastery, in religious exercises, in contemplation, in deep meditation on Divine themes. Others have found…...
Message for the Inter Universities Jewish Federation
Originally published in Babel, the magazine of the Inter Universities Jewish Federation (IUJF) in the late 1940s. FROM THE PRESIDENT Dr. Louis Jacobs Preachers, even former preachers, like the early Talmudists, have a weakness for mnemonics. The readers of this magazine will forgive me, then, if I try to express my Presidential message by using the…...
Emor – Tradition and Progress
And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the offering of your God; it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings (Leviticus xxiii, 14). In Temple times it was forbidden to eat new corn until the “waving” of…...
Shavuot – Experience and Truth
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 8 June 1962. Jewish teaching loves to dwell on the “we will do and we will hear” theme. When God came to give the Torah to His people Israel did not ask “What is written therein?” before accepting, but joyfully and spontaneously submitted without question to whatever God was to…...
Ritual and the Seder
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 20 April 1962. The fascination exercised by the Seder nights is universal. Even Jews whose attachment to other observance is lukewarm continue to observe the Seder rites in all their detail, and those who are normally lax are often in this respect quite meticulous. It is unquestionably true that a…...
Judaism Without God? – Rosh Hashanah
Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle – New Year Section, 12 September 1969. It ought to occasion no surprise that some men have held, and some still hold, that religion is possible without belief in God. In ancient times Theravadin Buddhism, which by any definition of the term religion deserves to be considered as such, was…...