Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 31:1. Robert Goldenberg. The Sabbath-Law of Rabbi Meir (Brown Judaic Studies 6). Scholars Press, Missoula. 1978. ix, 297 pp. $9.00 (members $6.00). Dr. Goldenberg, following the form-critical methodology pioneered by his teacher, Jacob Neusner, examines 76 separate texts from Mishnah, Tosefta and the two Talmuds, each in some way linking…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 31:2. Arthur Green, Tormented Master: A Life of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (Judaic Studies Series). University of Alabama Press, 1979. viii, 395 pp. $27.50. Nahman of Bratslav, the eponymous hero of Arthur Green’s fine study, established a new branch of Hasidism in opposition, to some extent, at least to the…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 31:2. Z. Dimitrovsky (ed.), Mehkarim u-Mekorot (‘Texts and Studies’, Analecta Judaica, Vol. I), Jewish Theological Seminary of America and Ktav. New York, 1977. 510pp. This is the first volume of a proposed series in which monographs by members of the Faculty and graduates of JTS present the fruits of their…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 31:2. Bernard S. Jackson (ed.), Modern Research in Jewish Law (The Jewish Law Annual; Supplement One). Brill, Leiden, 1980. vii, 157 pp. Fl. 56. Professor Izhak Englard published some years ago in the Hebrew journal Mishpatim a critique of modern research methods in Jewish law. This was followed in the…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 30:2. Leon D. Stitskin, Jewish Philosophy: A Study in Personalism, Yeshiva University Press, New York, 1976, 587 pp. $12.50. Dr Stitskin makes a valiant attempt at formulating a comprehensive Jewish philosophy in terms of personalism, i.e. self-knowledge, both as a basic ideal and as a point of departure for all…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 30:1. Bernard S. Jackson, ed., The Jewish Law Annual, Volume I, Brill, Leiden, 1978, x, 274 pp. Fl. 84. This first volume of an exciting new venture in Jewish studies consists of: Part I, ‘Mishneh Torah Studies’, a symposium in which are considered various aspects of Maimonides’ great Code of…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 25:2. Eugene B. Borowitz, The Mask Jews Wear: The Self-Deceptions of American Jewry, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1973, 222 pp., $7.95. Professor Borowitz believes that many American Jews wish deep down to assert Jewish values (defined as an emphasis on law, family, celebrations, accomplishment and compassion) in their…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 25:2. Jeannette Meisel Baron (ed.), Steeled by Adversity: Essays and Addresses on American Jewish Life by Salo Wittmayer Baron, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1971, xi, 729 pp., $9.00. Although concerned almost entirely with American Jewry, these papers, written by the distinguished Jewish historian over a period of…...

Originally published in Journal of Jewish Studies 25:2. Eliezer Berkovits, Faith after the Holocaust, Ktav, New York, 1973,180 pp., $7.50. Professor Berkovits makes an honest attempt not exactly to solve the problem of evil but to show how a man of faith can learn to live with it and yet remain secure in his faith. There…...

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…...