Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 40:2. Judith Hauptman, Development of the Talmudic Sugya: Relationship between Tannaitic and Amoraic Sources. University Press of America, Lanham, New York, and London, 1988. 243 pp. $27.50. A puzzling feature of the Babylonian Talmud (with no parallel in the Palestinian Talmud) is the recording of a saying (memra) of an…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 39:2. Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, The Human Will in Judaism: The Mishnah’s Philosophy of Intention (Brown Judaic Studies 103). Scholars Press, Atlanta, 1986. xiv, 250 pp. $31.95. Examining the instances in the Mishnah in which human intention has significance in the formulation of the law, the author of this book comes to the conclusion…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 39:2. Joseph Dan (ed.), texts translated by Ronald C. Kiener, Preface by Moshe Idel, The Early Kabbalah (The Classics of Western Spirituality). Paulist Press, New York, Mahwah, Toronto, 1986. xiii, 205 pp. $10.95 (pb). Moshe Idel, translated from the Hebrew by Jonathan Chipman, Introduction by Shlomo Pines, The Mystical Experience…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 39:2. Samuel S. Cohon, Essays in Jewish Theology. Introduction by Jakob J. Petuchowski. Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinnati / KTAV, Hoboken, 1987. xiv, 366 pp. $29.95. Harold M. Schulweis, Evil and the Morality of God. Foreword by Chaim Potok. Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinnati, 1984. vii, 168 pp. $15.00. Samuel…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 39:2. Manfred H. Vogel, A Quest for a Theology of Judaism (Studies in Judaism, University Press of America, Lanham, New York and London, 1987). xxxv, 292 pp. $28.50 (hb)/$15.75 (pb). Professor Vogel has put together his essays on Judaism during the past twenty years to provide a multi-faceted but single…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 36:2. Eugene B. Borowitz, Choices in Modern Jewish Thought. Behrman House, New York, 1983, xi, 305 pp. $9.95. Professor Borowitz examines in this book the various responses made by Jewish thinkers to the problem of modernity, i.e., the challenges to Jewish life and faith presented by Western thought and culture…....

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 36:2. Edward Zipperstein, Business Ethics in Jewish Law. Ktav, New York, 1983. xvi, 180 pp. $15.0O/$8.95 (paper). This is primarily a study of how the Halakhah regulates commercial life, with chapters on the nature of ownership; unfair pricing of goods; usury; weights and measures; attitudes towards wealth; obligations of employer…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 35:2. Allan Lazaroff, The Theology of Abraham Bibago: A Defense of the Divine Will, Knowledge and Providence in Fifteenth Century Spanish-Jewish Philosophy, University of Alabama Press, Alabama, 1981, xiii, 139 pp. £9.00. Kalman P. Bland, The Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction with the Active Intellect by Ibn Rushd with…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 35:2. Nils G. Holm (ed.), Religious Ecstasy, Almquist and Wiksell, Uppsala, 1982, 306pp. This book is based on Papers read at the Symposium on Religious Ecstasy held at Abo, Finland, on the 26th-28th of August 1981. The subject is treated from various angles: the relationship between mystical experience and the…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 34:2. Rachel Elior, Torat ha-Elohut be-Dor ha-Sheni shel Hasidut Habad (The Theory of Divinity of Hasidut Habad: Second Generation). Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1982. 406 pp. $15.00 This book is a study of the thought of an acute but neglected Habad thinker, R. Aaron of Starosselje (1766-1828), a prominent…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 34:2. Aaron Kirschenbaum, (ed.), Diné Israel – An Annual of Jewish Law: Past and Present, Vol. IX. Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 1980. Hebrew 229 pp.; English 154 pp. $15.00. The latest volume of Diné Israel is of the same high standard as its predecessors. The majority of the articles are in…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 35:2. M. Russell and Rabbi J. Weinberg, trans, from the Hebrew, The Book of Knowledge: From the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, Ktav, New York, 1983, xi, 144 pp. $15.00/$7.95 (paper). Fred Rosner (trans.), Maimonides’ Commentary on the Mishnah:  Tractate Sanhedrin, Sepher-Hermon Press, New York, 1981, xix, 215 pp., $14.95. Fred…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 35:2. Bernard S. Jackson (ed.), The Jewish Law Annual, Vol. III, Brill, Leiden, 1980, viii, 257 pp. F1.108. Volume IV of the by now very well-established Jewish Law Annual has appeared, making the present review of Volume III much belated. This volume is the first to be devoted (in Part…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 35:2. Simon Greenberg, A Jewish Philosophy and Pattern of Life. Jewish Theological Seminary of America/Ktav, New York, 1981. xix, 550 pp. $25.00. Dr. Greenberg, Vice-Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, seeks to provide a contemporary, Jewish philosophy of life. With a background of very wide reading in Jewish…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 35:2. David Berger (ed.), The Legacy of Jewish Migration 1881 and its Impact. Brooklyn College Press, New York, 1983. vii, 187 pp. To commemorate the centennial of the mass migration of Jews from Russia in the wake of the pogroms, a conference sponsored by Brooklyn College was convened, the participants,…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 36:2. David S. Zubatsky and Irwin M. Berent, Jewish Genealogies: A Sourcebook of Family Histories and Genealogies. Garland Publishing Inc., New York/London, 1984. xxx, 422 pp. $30.00. Alex Haley’s book Roots and the television series based on it, as well as the American Bicentennial, started millions of Americans in search…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 36:2. Ella Belfer (ed.), Manhigut Ruhanit be-Yisrael (Jewish Spiritual Leadership in our Time). Dvir, Jerusalem/Tel-Aviv, 1982. 309 pp. Papers read by representative Jewish thinkers and leaders at the 1979 international symposium, under the aegis of the Institute for the Study of Judaism and Jewish Thought, have been expanded to provide…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 36:2. David Bleich, Judaism and Healing: Halakhic Perspectives, Ktav, New York, 1981 xiii, 199 pp. $15.00. There is a good deal of discussion nowadays, especially in the United States, of what is known as bio-ethics, the consideration of the kind of ethical questions posed by new advances in medical knowledge…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 36:2. Eliezer Berkovits, Not In Heaven: The Nature and Function of Halakha. Ktav, New York, 1983, vii, 131 pp. $12.50. In this short but compelling book a distinguished Orthodox Rabbi and thinker courageously affirms the human role in the development of the Halakha, coming quite close in the process to…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 34:2. James E. Priest, Governmental and Judicial Ethics in the Bible and Rabbinic Literature. Pepperdine University Press, Malibu, California (Ktav, New York), 1980. xvii, 313 pp. $17.50. The author of this study is a Christian Minister and Professor of Bible at Pepperdine University who had studied Mishnaic Hebrew and general…...