Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 25:2. Jacob Neusner (ed.), Understanding Jewish Theology, Ktav, New York, 1973, x, 280 pp., paperback $3.95; cloth $7.95. This anthology, comprising in the main recent essays on the three central themes of Jewish theology—God, Torah and Israel, was compiled, the editor remarks, for the benefit of his students in…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 25:2. Seymour J. Cohen (ed. and trans.), Sefer Ha-Yashar: The Book of the Righteous, Ktav, New York, 1973, xx, 298 pp., $12.50. Presented here is the Hebrew text of the Sefer Ha-Yashar with Rabbi Cohen’s translation into English. The Introduction discusses the complicated problem of the date and authorship…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 25:2. Roy A. Rosenberg, The Anatomy of God, Ktav, New York, 1973, vii, 196 pp., $8.50. This book contains an English translation of the four sections of the Zohar dealing with The Holy Ancient One and other aspects of the Godhead in the Kabbalistic scheme. The sections are: The…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 23:2. Samuel S. Cohon, Jewish Theology: A historical and systematic interpretation of Judaism and its Foundations, Royal Vangorcum, Assen, The Netherlands, 1971, xiii, 481 pp. Fl. 53 ($14). Of all the branches of Jewish learning theology has been the most neglected. Judging by the lack of interest in the…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 25:2. Jacob Neusner (ed.), Soviet Views of Talmudic Judaism: Five Papers by Yu. A. Solodukho in English Translation, Leiden, Brill, 1973, xii, 110 pp. The writings of the Russian Talmudic scholar Yulii Aronovich Solodukho (1877-1963), unknown previously except to a handful of Talmudists, are now made available to much…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Sociology 23:2. Alan Unterman, Jews. Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, xiii + 272 pp., Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices (General Editor, John R. Honnells), Routledge & Kegan Paul, Boston, London, and Henley, 1981, £10.50 (paperback, £6.50). This well-written book is more sociology than theology, an accurate description rather than an…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Sociology 23:2. Solomon B. Freehof, New Reform Responsa, x + 282 pp., Alumni Series of the Hebrew Union College Press, distributed by Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1980, $12.50. This is yet another of the volumes of Responsa published by the supreme Halakhic authority of the Reform movement. The very idea…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Sociology 19:1. Irving J. Rosenbaum, The Holocaust and Halakhah, x + 177 pp., The Library of Jewish Law and Ethics (Norman Lamm, ed.), Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1976, $12.50. Halakhah, from the root halakh (‘to go’, ‘to walk’) is the Jewish way, the detailed pattern of behaviour according to…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Sociology 19:2 (1977), pp. 205-7. David Bleich, Contemporary Halakhic Problems, xviii + 403 pp., The Library of Jewish Law and Ethics (Norman Lamm, ed.), vol. IV, Ktav Publishing House and Yeshiva Univ. Press, New York, 1977, $15.00. A young man wishes to emigrate to Israel in spite of his parents’…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Sociology 20:1 Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger, Censorship and Freedom of Expression in Jewish History, vii+295 pp., Sepher-Hermon Press with Yeshiva Univ. Press, New York, 1977, $12.50. This pioneering inquiry examines how inner censorship operated among Jews and promises to become the standard work on this fascinat­ing subject, giving the lie to the absurd…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Sociology 19:2  Henry A. Fischel (ed.), Essays in Greco-Roman and Related Talmudic Literature, with a Prolegomenon by the editor, lxxvi + 533 pp., The Library of Biblical Studies (Harry M. Orfinsky, ed.), Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1977, n.p. This volume contains reprints of 27 essays by distinguished scholars, arranged…...

Originally published in Religious Studies 11: 3 (Sept. 1975), pp. 377-378. Orlinsky, Harry M., Essays in Biblical Culture and Bible Translation Pp. xv 462. (Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1974.) $15.00. The Bible, in addition to being a great literature in its own right, is, of course, the sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. Until very…...

By Joel Roth, A Centennial Publication of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. New York, 1986. The Rabbinical Assembly of Israel Law Committee Responsa 5746 (Heb.), Committee Members: Rabbi David Golinkin, Rabbi Reuven Hammer, Rabbi Theodore Friedman. Jer., 1986. Since its inception Conservative Judaism has been committed to the halacha, that is, to the traditional…...

From Ancient Creed to Technological Man Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974. pp. xviii, 349. Reviewed by Rabbi Louis Jacobs in the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 7: 3 (Fall 1976), 454. Hans Jonas has gathered together in a single volume a number of essays, previously published between 1965 and 1973, in the two…...

Simon Greenberg, The Ethical in the Jewish and American Heritage, vol. 4 in the Moreshet Series, Studies in Jewish History, Literature and Thought xvi+327 pp., Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, 1977, $15 The first and longest chapter in this book discusses the general question of the relationship between religion and ethics with particular…...