Sermon delivered in synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, probably no later than 1953. “And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not look upon the death of the child: and she sat over against him and lift up her…...
Passover Reflections
Originally published in Venture 1.1 (April 1956), pp. 3-4. A significant omission Search the Passover Haggadah from beginning to end and you will nowhere find the name of Moses. The one man responsible for the Exodus is apparently overlooked when Jews recall the deliverance of their people from bondage. This can hardly be a coincidence. Surely…...
Zeit haben, to have time
Sermon delivered probably in New London Synagogue, c. 1964. My times are in Thy hand (Psalm 31: 16). Someone has described the Biblical record as eternity expressing itself in time, it is certainly true that the Biblical authors were profoundly concerned with the theme of time. A good example is the way in which the Bible…...
Sabbath of Consolation
Sermon originally delivered c. 1956. The Talmud relates how four old, worn out teachers of Judaism were walking in ancient Palestine soon after the land had been laid in waste by the barbaric hordes of Roman invaders. The Temple lay in ruins, the glory of the ancient Jewish state was a thing of the past, the…...
Herbert Rosenblum, ‘Conservative Judaism: A Contemporary History’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 30 March 1984. Conservative Judaism: A Contemporary History. By Herbert Rosenblum. United Synagogue of America, New York, 1983. As this brief, popular, but far from inadequate account shows, the Conservative movement in the USA grew from small beginnings to become the largest Jewish religious grouping in that country, with congregations…...
Simon Greenberg, ‘A Jewish Philosophy and Pattern of Life’ (JC)
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 19 March 1982. A Jewish Philosophy and Pattern of Life. By Simon Greenberg. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America/Ktav, New York. $17.50. For the oft-repeated “Jewish way of life” to be meaningful, as our American friends would say, a strong theoretical foundation is essential. As in the title of this…...
Jacob Neusner, ‘Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishnah’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 23 April 1982. Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishnah. By Jacob Neusner. University of Chicago Press. £17.50. After compiling no fewer than 43 books (!) of detailed literary analysis of five orders of the Mishnah (the similar work on the sixth order was done by his pupils), Professor Neusner provides…...
J. A. Emerton & Stefen C. Reif (eds.), ‘Interpreting the Hebrew Bible: Essays in honour of E. I. J. Rosenthal’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 10 December 1982. Interpreting the Hebrew Bible: Essays in honour of E. I. J. Rosenthal. Edited by J. A. Emerton and Stegan C. Reif. Cambridge University Press. £22.50. In addition to a delightful biographical appreciation by Dr Reif and a full bibliography of the honouree’s publications, this Festschrift for Dr Rosenthal’s…...
A. A. Macintosh & Otto Kaiser – 2 reviews on commentaries to Isaiah
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 5 June 1981. Isaiah XXI: a Palimpsest. By A. A. Macintosh. Cambridge University Press. £12.50. Isaiah 13-39. By Otto Kaiser. Translated from the German by R. A. Wilson. SCM Press. £7.50. A palimpsest is a parchment which has been written on twice, the second time after the first writing has been…...
John Barton, ‘Amos’s Oracles against the Nations’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 20 March 1981. Amos’s Oracles against the Nations. By John Barton. Cambridge University Press. £7.50. Dr. Barton’s brief (only 83 pages) but very scholarly monograph analyses the opening section of the biblical book of Amos in which the prophet denounces the Arameans, the Philistines and the rest not for offences…...
Mircea Eliade; Robert P. Carroll; Sheldon H. Blank – 5 reviews on the prophetic experience
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 1984. A History of Religious Ideas. By Mircea Eliade. Collins. £12.00. When Prophecy Failed. By Robert P. Carroll. SCM Press. £7.50. Prophetic Essays and Addressee. By Sheldon H. Blank. Cincinnati. $12.50. All three of these books are of importance for the study of the Hebrew prophetic experience, although, in Professor…...
Gerald Hammond, ‘The Making of the English Bible’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 1982. The Making of the English Bible. By Gerald Hammond. Carcanet New Press, Manchester. £9.95. Gerald Hammond shows how the translators responsible for the Authorised Version carried out their task of producing this marvel of English literature, capturing so skillfully the cadences of the original Hebrew (the emphasis is on…...
William W. Simpson, ‘Jewish Prayer and Worship: An Introduction for Christians’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 20 August 1982. Jewish Prayer and Worship: An Introduction for Christians. By William W. Simpson. SCM Press. £2.95. William W. Simpson’s excellent introduction to Jewish prayers for Christian readers, received enthusiastically when it first appeared in 1965, is now re-published in attractive paper-back format. As expected from the distinguished General Secretary…...
Ninian Smart & Richard D. Hecht (eds.), ‘Sacred Texts of the World: A Universal Anthology’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 25 February 1983. Sacred Texts of the World: A Universal Anthology. Edited by Ninian Smart and Richard D. Hecht. Macmillan. £14.95. A useful test for a Jewish reader wishing to buy a work on comparative religion (on which subject there has been a proliferation of books, not all of good quality)…...
Zeev W. Falk, ‘Law and Religion’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 11 December 1981. Law and Religion. By Zeev W. Falk. Mesharim Publishers, Jerusalem. $10. Jewish law, like any other legal system, can be approached as if it operates entirely under its own categories, without any recourse being had to extra-legal values. Such an approach is stultifying, not only because it then…...
Louis Barish, ‘Varieties of Jewish Belief’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 17 October 1980. Varieties of Jewish Belief. By Louis and Rebecca Barish. Jonathan David, New York. Distributed by Jewish Chronicle Publications. £6.00. This reprint of Rabbi Barish’s “Basic Jewish Beliefs,” published as long ago as 1961, is now supplied with an Index and a new chapter on contemporary moral problems in…...
Mayer Lerner, ‘Hadar Ha-Karmel’, Vol. 2
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. Hadar Ha-Karmel, Vol 2. By Rabbi Mayer Lerner, edited by Rabbi J. D. Feld and published by the author’s son. London, N.P. This is the second volume (the first was published in 1970 and reviewed in this paper) of Responsa and other studies by Rabbi Dr Mayer Lerner, the first…...
C. K. Barrett, E. Bammel, and W. D. Davies, ‘Donum Gentillicium: New Testament Studies in honour of David Daube’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 14 July 1978. Donum Gentillicium: New Testament Studies in honour of David Daube. Edited by C. K. Barrett, E. Bammel and W. D. Davies. Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. £15.00. The time is long past when Christian scholars calmly dismissed the Rabbinic literature as having nothing of value to offer except…...
Israel Weinstock, ‘Studies in Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 23 July 1971. Studies in Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism (Hebrew). By Israel Weinstock. Mossad Harav Kook, Jerusalem. The conventional view in Jewish scholarship is that the Cabala, which arose in Spain and Provence in the thirteenth century, while it undoubtedly had its antecedents in an earlier, even far earlier, period, is…...
Hans Küng, ‘On Being a Christian’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 1 April 1977. On Being a Christian. By Hans Küng. Translated by Edward Quinn. Collins. £7.95. In this gigantic book of over 700 pages with learned it notes, the distinguished Roman Catholic theologian Hans Küng provides a systematic presentation of the Christian faith, the fruit of a life-time of study…...