Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 7:1/2. Abraham Weiss, Le-heqer ha-Talmud—The Talmud and its Development, Philip Feldheim, New York, 1954, pp. 446, price $5. The Babylonian Talmud (like the Palestinian) is strangely silent on the subject of its own composition. Who were its final redactors? What role did they play? By which process did the Talmud…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 46. Yitzhak D. Gilat, Studies in the Development of the Halakha (in Hebrew). Bar-llan University Press, Ramat-Gan, 1992.417 pp. Bernard Jackson (ed.), The Jewish Law Annual, Volumes IX and X (1991-1992). Harwood Academic Publishers, New York. 300 and 302 pp. £65.00 per volume. Walter Jacob and Moshe Zemer, Rabbinic-Lay Relations…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 46. Samuel Tobias Lachs, Humanism in Talmud and Midrash. Associated University Presses, London, 1993. 150 pp. £24.50. Lachs squarely admits in the Preface that his book is selective, an anthology of statements in the Talmud and Midrash which reflect, in the terms used by the author, an anthropocentric rather than…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 47:1. Gloria Wiederkehr-Polack, Eliezer Zweifel and the Intellectual Defense of Hasidism. KTAV Publishing House, Hoboken, N.J., 1995. x, 254 pp. $39.50. Daniel Meijers, Ascetic Hasidism in Jerusalem: The-Guardian-of-the-Faithful Community of Mea Shearim. E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1992. vii, 142 pp. £33.75/$51.50. Nowadays, in addition to the many studies of Hasidic…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 45:1. Lionel Kochan, The Jewish Renaissance and Some of its Discontents (Sherman Studies of Judaism in Modern Times). Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1992. x, 125 pp. £35.00. The Jewish Renaissance referred to in this book is the astonishing re-creation and re-building of Jewish life after the Holocaust,…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 45:1. Basil F. Herring, Jewish Ethics and Halakhah for Our Time: Sources and Commentary, volume 2 (The Library of Jewish Law and Ethics, vol. XVII). Yeshiva University Press, New York, 1989. xxvi, 279 pp. $19.95. Aaron Kirschenbaum, Equity in Jewish Law: Beyond Equity: Halakhic Aspirations in Jewish Civil Law (The…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 45:1. Naftali Loewenthal, Communicating the Infinite: The Emergence of the Habad School. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1990. xi, 336 pp. £31.95/545.95. Roman A. Foxbrunner, Habad: The Hasidism of R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa and London, 1992. xi, 307 pp. Rachel Elior, The…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. Abraham R. Besdin (ed.), Man of Faith in the Modern World: Reflections of the Rav, vol. 2 (adapted from the lectures of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik). Ktav, Hoboken, New Jersey, 1989. 164 pp. $15.95. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik is renowned throughout the Jewish world as Halakhist, thinker and orator…....

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. David Birnbaum, God and Evil: A Jewish Perspective. Ktav, Hoboken, NJ, 1989. xxi, 266 pp. $20.00. Birnbaum surveys the various theodicies advanced by Jewish thinkers in ancient, medieval and modern times (especially in connection with the Holocaust), subjects these to criticism and then offers his own which, he claims,…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. David Ellenson, Orthodoxy, Halakhah, and the Boundaries of Modern Jewish Identity. University Press of America, Lanham, New York, London, 1989. x, 192 pp. $31.00. It is widely acknowledged that the halakhic process—the manner in which decisions in Jewish law are arrived at by the posekim—is often influenced by extra-legal…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. Robert Gordis, The Dynamics of Judaism: A Study in Jewish Law. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1990. x, 244 pp. Jacob Katz, The ‘Shabbes Goy’: A Study in Halakhic Flexibility. Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia/New York, 1989. viii, 253 pp. $22.95. J. David Bleich, Contemporary Halakhic Problems, vol. Ill…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. Freema Gottlieb, The Lamp of God: A Jewish Book of Light. Jason Aronson, Northvale, New Jersey, 1989. xxi, 498 pp. $35.00. Aryeh Wineman, Beyond Appearances: Stories from the Kabbalistic Ethical Writings. Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, New York, Jerusalem, 1988. xi, 174pp. Freema Gottlieb draws chiefly, but not exclusively, on…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. Bezalel Safran (ed.), Hasidism: Continuity or Innovation? (Harvard Judaic Texts and Studies, V). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA / London, 1988. xviii, 144 pp. £4.75. This is an important but somewhat oddly balanced little book. Emanuel Etkas’s ‘Hasidism as a Movement’ occupies with the notes 26 pages; ‘The Origins…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. Erich Spier, Der Sabbat (Das Judentum, 1). Institut Kirche und Judentum, Berlin, 1989. 220 pp. Elliot K. Ginsburg, The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah (SUNY Series in Judaica: Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion). State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989. xx, 341 pp. $44.50 (hb)/$14.95 (pb). Elliot K. Ginsburg,…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 41:2. Alan J. Avery-Peck (ed.), The Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism: Issues in Talmudic Redaction and Interpretation (New Perspectives on Ancient Judaism, vol. 4). University Press of America, Lanham, New York, London, 1989. xv, 151 pp. $18.50. It is not possible within the limits of a review to deal at…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 40:2. Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The Jewish Heritage. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1988. vii, 204 pp. £25.00 (hb)/£7.95 (pb). William Zuidema (trans. John Bowden), God’s Partner: An Encounter with Judaism. SCM Press, London, 3987. xvi, 239 pp. £8.50. Marc H. Ellis, Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation. SCM Press, London, 1988. xii, 147…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 40:2. Abraham J. Heschel (ed. Samuel H. Dresner), The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov: Studies in Hasidism. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1985. xiv, 213 pp. £23.75. Heschel examines in rich detail all that is known or claimed to be known about four charismatic figures belonging in…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 40:2. Joel Roth, The Halakhic Process: A Systematic Analysis. Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, 1986. 398 pp. $35.00. Simon Greenberg (ed.). The Ordination of Women as Rabbis: Studies and Responsa. Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, 1988. vii, 228 pp. $19.95. B. S. Jackson (ed.), Jewish Law Association Studies, I: The…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 40:2. Henry Adler Sosland, A Guide for Preachers on Composing and Delivering Sermons: The Or ha-Darshanim of Jacob Zahalon. A Seventeenth Century Italian Preacher’s Manual. Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York, 1987. xiv, 194 pp. (English); 54 pp. (Hebrew). $20.00. This book consists of a critical edition, based on…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 40:2. Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives. Yale University Press, New Haven and  London, 1988. xx, 419 pp. £30.00/$49.50. Moshe Idel, Studes in Ecstatic Kabbalah. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1988. xi, 178 pp. $39.95 (hb)/$ 12.95 (pb). Moshe Idel, Language, Torah, and Hermeneutics in Abraham Abulafia (translated from…...