Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 4 (1981), p. 317. B. Z. Uziel, Piske Uziel beshe’elot hazeman, Jerusalem: Mosad Harav Kook, 1977, Pp. 484.—Mosad Harav Kook has had the happy idea of publishing the legal decisions of the Rishon le-Tzion, Rabbi Uziel, on Halakhic questions raised in modern times as a result of new social…...

Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 4 (1981), pp. 316-7. J. L. Graubart, Havalim bane’imim, Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1975, 5 parts in 2 vols.—These responsa on the four a parts of the Shulhan Arukh have been reissued with additions. Among the many legal topics discussed are the following. Is it permitted in Jewish law for a…...

Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 4 (1981), p. 316. S. Braun, Kunteros Aharon, Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1978, Pp. 199.—The four volumes of Rabbi Solomon Braun’s She’arim Metsuyanim bahalakhah, a compendium of Halakhic decisions by famous authorities on questions arising out of the conditions of modern living, are widely used by Rabbis and are something of…...

Originally published in November 1981. Jewish Intellectual History. By Alexander Altmann. University Press of New England. £12.50. Although it is more than 20 years since the author of this profound work of scholarship left these shores, we still cannot help thinking of him as our Dr Altmann who was so influential when many of us…...

Nathan Rotenstreich, Tradition and Reality, The Impact of History on Modern Jewish Thought, xii + 145 pp., Contemporary Jewish Civilization Series, Moshe Davis, ed., Random House, New York, 1972, $1.95. The word ‘History’ in the sub-title of this book does not refer to the story of the past but to the methods by which the…...

Liqqutei Amarim (Tanya). By RABBI SCHNEUR ZALMAN OF LIADI. Translated by Nissan Mindel. New York: Kehot Publication Society. 38s, 6d. The Tzemach Tzedek and the Haskala Movement. By RABBI JOSEPH I. SCHNEERSOHN. Translated by Zalman I. Posner. Same publishers. 8s. 9d. The “Tanya” of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad movement in…...

Joseph Karo—Lawyer and Mystic. By R. J. Z. Werblowsky. Oxford University Press. 63s. Rabbi Joseph Karo is known to history chiefly as the author of the Shulchan Aruch and the gigantic work of legal synthesis, the Beth Joseph, upon which it is based. He also kept a diary (published under the name Maggid Mesharim) for…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, February 1971. A matter of interpretation LAW AND TRADITION IN JUDAISM. By Boaz Cohen. Ktav, New York. $6.95. STUDIES IN BIBLICAL LAW. By David Daube. Ktav, New York. $10.00. An interesting feature of the Jewish publishing scene is the astonishing output of reprints. Among the many classical and near-classical works…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 7th June 1985. The Sea of Faith: Christianity in Change. By Don Cupitt. British Broadcasting Corporation. £6.95. This is the book that accompanied the controversial BBC television series. The title, taken from a Matthew Arnold poem, is intended to suggest that the tide of Christian faith flows again after its…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle. Who was a Jew? Rabbinic and Halachic Perspectives on the Jewish-Christian Schism. By Lawrence H. Schiffman. Ktav. $8.95 (paperback), $14.95 (cloth). In this small but very erudite book (78 pages of text, 24 pages of learned notes), a clear account is given of how the final break between Jews and…...

Original source unknown. Reason in Quest of God A Faith for Moderns. By Robert Gordis. New York: Bloch Publishing Co. $5. Rabbi Gordis is a distinguished Bible scholar and teacher of Judaism and is one of the foremost religious thinkers in the United States. In this book he naturally draws chiefly to Jewish sources, but…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 5th January 1962. A Threefold Cord. By Viscount Samuel and Professor Herbert Dingle. Allen & Unwin. 25s. This is an absorbing dialogue in which Lord Samuel adopts the role of the Platonist, emphasising the idea, and Professor Dingle that of the Aristotelian, stressing experience. Both participants believe in the need…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 16th February 1962. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Part 1. From Adam to Noah, Genesis i-vi, 8. By U. Cassuto. 40s. The Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch. By U. Cassuto. 20s. Both books trans. from the Hebrew by Israel Abrahams. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, Hebrew University…....

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 12th May 1978. The Early History of Israel. By Roland de Vaux. Translated by David Smith. (Vol. I “From the Beginnings to the Exodus and Covenant at Sinai;” Vol. II “From the Entry into Canaan to the Period of the Judges.”) Darton, Longman and Todd. £16 (2 volume set). If…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 16th June 1978. The Concise Code of Jewish Law. Vol. I: A Guide to Prayer and Religious Observance In the Daily Life of the Jew. By Rabbi Gershon Appel. Ktav / Yeshiva University Press, New York. Distributed by Jewish Chronicle Publications, paperback £3.95. A hundred years ago Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 25th June 1971. Saadia Gaon His Life and Works. By Henry Malter. Hermon Press, N.Y. Faith Strengthened. By Isaac of Troki, translated Moses Mocatta, introduction by Trude Weiss-Rosmarin. Ktav, N.Y. Studies in Hebrew Astronomy and Mathematics. By Solomon Gandz, selected with an introduction by Shlomo Sternberg. Ktav, N.Y. Maimonides and Abrabanel…...

Originally published in The Heythrop Journal, A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology, 35:1 (1994), p. 73. Jewish History and Thought: An Introduction. By Menahem Mansoor. Pp. xii, 571, Hoboken NJ, KTAV Publishing House, 1991, $39.50/£19.95. Professor Mansoor, teacher of Jewish history and thought for many years at Wisconsin University, here provides, in capsule from, a clear…...

Originally published in The Heythrop Journal, A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology, 26:3 (1985), pp. 333-4. Prophetic Faith and the Secular Age. By Levi A. Olan. Pp.xiv, 162, New York, Ktav, 1982, $15.00. Rabbi Olan’s essay seeks to show how the teachings of the Hebrew prophets are relevant to the modern world, a world…...

Originally published in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry. Volume 1. Poles and Jews: Renewing the Dialogue (1986), pp. 361-2. David Darshan. Shir HaMa’alot L’David and Ktav Hitnazzelut L’Darshanim. Translated and annotated by H. G. Perelmuter. Cincinnati : Hebrew Union College Press. 1984. Pp. xii, 183 and Heb. 52. This book contains the original Hebrew text in facsimile…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 35:2 (1984), pp. 232-4. Schubert Spero, Morality, Halakha and the Jewish Tradition (The Library of Jewish Law and Ethics, ed. Norman Lamm, Vol. IX), Yeshiva University/Ktav, New York, 1983, xv, 381 pp. $20.00. In this book the practices and observances of Judaism which constitute the Halakhah are examined from the…...