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Reviews written by Louis Jacobs

This section contains a selection of book reviews written by Rabbi Louis Jacobs.

In Defence of God – 4 reviews of contemporary Jewish thought

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 12 March 1971. His Own Torah: Selected Papers and Sermons of Felix A. Levy: A Memorial Volume, edited by Sefton D. Temkin, Jonathan David, New York, $10. The Royal Reach, by Norman Lamm, Feldheim, New York, $6.95. Judaism and Ethics, edited by Daniel Jeremy Silver, Ktav, New York, $10. God’s…...

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Louis Ginzberg, ‘A Commentary on the Palestinian Talmud’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 16 July 1971. A Commentary on the Palestinian Talmud. A Study of the Development of the Halakah and Haggadah in Palestine and Babylonia (Hebrew) by Louis Ginzberg. Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1971. $60,00. This reprint by Ktav comprises the three volumes published by Ginzberg in 1941 together with a…...

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Samuel H. Dresner, ‘The Zaddik’

The Zaddik. By Samuel H. Dresner. With a preface by Abraham J. Heschel. Abelard-Schuman. 30s. Heinrich Graetz, the famous Jewish historian, writing of the Chassidic movement, described it as “a daughter of darkness.” It was, says Graetz, “born in gloom, and even today proceeds stealthily on its mysterious way.” The majority of modern writers in…...

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Haim H. Conn, ‘Human Rights in Jewish Law’; Eliezer Berkovits, ‘Not in Heaven’

Human rights and human duties Human Rights in Jewish Law. By Haim H. Conn, Ktav (New York) for the Institute of Jewish Affairs, London. The concept of human rights, owing much to Locke, Paine and the American Declaration of Independence, is a modern concept for which there is no term in the classical sources of…...

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Baruch Litvin & Sidney B. Hoenig (eds.), ‘Jewish Identity’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 31 December 1965. Jewish Identity. Compiled by Baruch Litvin and edited by Sidney B. Hoenig. New York: Philipp Feldheim. $6.75. The famous “Who is a Jew?” debate reached its culmination in the letter addressed by Ben Gurion, in his official capacity as Prime Minister of Israel, to the “Sages of…...

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Arnold Jacob Wolf (ed.), ‘Recovering Judaism: Reflections on a New Theology’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 1 April 1966. Recovering Judaism: Reflections on a New Theology. Edited by Arnold Jacob Wolf. Chicago: Quadrangle Books. $6.50. Theology is viewed nowadays with suspicion. It is frequently suggested that, on the Jewish scene, it is not so much a question of dethroning the queen of the sciences as that…...

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Martin Noth, ‘The Old Testament World’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 11 February 1966. The Old Testament World. By Martin Noth. Translated by Victor I. Gruhn. Black. 48s. When reading the Bible one comes across verses like: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the Arabah,…...

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Alexander Altmann (ed.), ‘Studies in Nineteenth Century Jewish Intellectual History’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 9 April 1965. Studies in Nineteenth Century Jewish Intellectual History. Edited by Alexander Altmann. Harvard University Press. 46s. Readers, and they must be many, who found the first volume of studies edited by Dr. Altmann absorbing, will not be disappointed with this second volume, the scope of which is limited…...

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Jacob Neusner, ‘History and Torah: Essays on Jewish Learning’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 21 May 1965. History and Torah: Essays on Jewish Learning. By Jacob Neusner. Vallentine, Mitchell. 15s. The problem Dr. Neusner considers in this book is that of the compatibility of objective scholarship (so far as the classics of Judaism are concerned) with commitment. The scholar endeavours to investigate his sources…...

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Hans Joachim Schoeps, ‘The Jewish-Christian Argument’

Originally published in The Month, July [year unknown], pp. 60-1. The Jewish-Christian Argument, by Hans Joachim Schoeps (Faber 30s). Professor Schoeps traces in this book the history of the polemics between Jews and Christians centring around the different theological approaches of Judaism and Christianity. His main contention is that in modern times there is to be…...

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Leo Baeck, ‘This People Israel’

Originally published in June 1965 in a Reform Synagogues publication. Many of the insights Leo Baeck gave to the world in his ‘The Essence of Judaism’, published in 1905, are repeated in this, his last volume. The Jewish ideal of desiring the ‘nearness of God’ rather than fusion with Him; the meaning of the berith,…...

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In Bible Times – 3 reviews on biblical history

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 25 June 1965. Syria and Palestine. By G. Posener, J. Bottero and Kathleen M. Kenyon. 8s. 6d. Palestine in the Time of the Nineteenth Dynasty. By O. Eissfeldt. 6s. The Hebrew Kingdom. By O. Eissfeldt. 8s. 6d. Three advance fascicles from the revised edition of the Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge…...

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Gershom G. Scholem, ‘On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism. By Gershom G. Scholem. Translated by Ralph Manheim. Routledge & Kegan Paul. 30s. Professor Scholem is the Zunz of Jewish mystical studies, the acknowledged master of the scientific investigation into this much neglected but highly significant branch of Jewish thought. This volume consists of…...

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Harry M. Orlinsky, ‘Understanding the Bible Through History and Archaeology’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 29 September 1972. Understanding the Bible Through History and Archaeology. By Harry M. Orlinsky. Ktav. New York, 1972. Harry M. Orlinsky’s brilliant first essay, “Ancient Israel,” first published years ago, is here reprinted together with photographs and documents from the ancient Near East in parallel columns to the text and…...

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Peter Brent, ‘Godmen of India’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 15 September 1972. Godmen of India. By Peter Brent. Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, London. 1972. £3.50. Peter Brent, having travelled widely in India to meet Hindu Gurus and their disciples, provides a fascinating account and analysis of the Guru-shishya relationship. For all his successful attempt to be objective and…...

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Eugene Newman, ‘Life and Teachings of Isaiah Horowitz’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 22 September 1972. The gigantic compendium of the Jewish religion known as Shene Luchot Ha-Berit (abbreviated to Shelah) by Isaiah Horowitz (c. 1570-1626) was originally compiled for the edification of the author’s children (some children!) and is a remarkable testimony to Jewish spirituality at its highest. Horowitz quotes at length…...

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David Tribe, ‘Nucleoethics: Ethics in Modern Society’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. Nucleoethics: Ethics in Modern Society. By David Tribe MacGibbon & Kee. £2.95. The former editor of the humanist weekly, Freethinker, and former president of the National Secular Society surveys in this lively book various idealist theories of ethics, which he rejects as illusory, while advancing what he considers to be…...

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Hermann Cohen, ‘Religion of Reason Out of the Sources of Judaism’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. Religion of Reason Out of the Sources of Judaism. By Hermann Cohen, translated by Simon Kaplan. Introduction by Leo Strauss. Frederick Ungar. New York. 1972. $15. The Jacket blurb of this book correctly describes Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) as the greatest Jewish philosopher since the Enlightenment: A real philosopher of international…...

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Anthony Gibbs, ‘Oh My God, Is That You?’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 21 July 1972. Oh My God, Is That You? By Anthony Gibbs. Allan Wingate. London, 1972. £1.75. This book, expensive for its size (102 pages together with a few photographs) defines faith as “an irrational belief” but comes down eventually on the side of the angel to maintain that the…...

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Clifford Rhodes, ‘The Necessity for Love: The History of Interpersonal Relations’

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. The Necessity for Love: The History of Interpersonal Relations. By Clifford Rhodes, Constable, London. £3.25. Somebody once said that most of the words in English for the really important things are of one syllable. “Love” is such a word, but, as Clifford Rhodes demonstrates in this book, the word can…...

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