Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 16 June 1972. Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Today’s English Version, Fontana Books, Collins, 1972, 20p. To have the Psalms in modern English is not to everyone’s taste but those who are attracted by the idea can do worse than use this fine rendition. The Hebrew titles are…...
Jacques Monod, ‘Chance and Necessity’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 16 June 1972, p. 16. Chance and Necessity. By Jacques Monod. Collins. £1.75. This book, published in French in 1970 and now in an English translation, is the work of a Nobel Prizewinner whose field is genetics. In this essay he steps outside the domain of his special expertise to…...
Ronald S. Clements, ‘Exodus: Commentary’; Carlo Suares, ‘The Song of Songs: The Canonical Song of Solomon Deciphered According to the Original Code of the Qabala’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. Exodus: Commentary. By Ronald S. Clements. Cambridge University Press, 1973. £2.20. The Song of Songs: The Canonical Song of Solomon Deciphered According to the Original Code of the Qabala. By Carlo Suares. Routledge, Berkeley and London, 1972. £2.80. With the New English Bible translation as its basic text, the Cambridge…...
Isadore Twersky, A Maimonides Reader
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. A Maimonides Reader. By Isadore Twersky, Behrman House, N.Y. $12.50. People who try to read Maimonides’ “Guide for the Perplexed” in order to discover answers to their own religious difficulties inevitably emerge more perplexed than ever. This is bound to be the case since the problems with which the great…...
El-Am Talmud, Bava Metzi’a (III Hammaphqid), ed. Rabbi Dr A. Ehrman
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 14 July 1972. The Talmud, Bava Mezi’a (III Hammaphqid), El-Am-Hotza’a Leor Israel, Jerusalem—Tel Aviv, 1969. The El-Am translations and commentaries have justifiably become famous as the best popular introductions to the study of the Talmud. This volume on the third chapter of tractate Bava Mezi’a admirably lives up to the…...
Robert Gordis, ‘The Biblical Text in the Making’; Jacob Needleman, ‘The New Religions’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. The Biblical Text in the Making: A Study of the Kethib-Qere. Augmented Edition with a Prolegomenon by Robert Gordis. Ktav, 1971. The New Religions. By Jacob Needleman. Allen Lane. The Penguin Press. London, 1972. £2.75. Professor Gordis’s book first appeared in 1937. It is now republished together with a Prolegomenon…...
Whitall N. Perry, ‘A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 14 April 1972. A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom. By Whitall N. Perry. George Allen & Unwin. London, 1971. £7.50. The “wisdom” referred to is that of the Philosophia Perennis and the book contains copious selections from the religious classics of mankind arranged according to topics. The basic assumption is the…...
Harry Guntrip, ‘Psychology for Ministers and Social Workers’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. Psychology for Ministers and Social Workers. Third edition, fully revised and brought up to date. By Harry Guntrip. Allen & Unwin. £3.25. The author of this interesting book is a psychotherapist and lecturer in the department of psychiatry at Leeds University and was formerly a Congregational minister. The aim of…...
Solomon B. Freehof, ‘Modern Reform Responsa’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 4 February 1972. Modern Reform Responsa. By Solomon B. Freehof, Hebrew Union College Press, 1971. $7.50. Rabbi Freehof has not only pioneered the study of the Responsa (in his The Responsa Literature and A Treasury of Responsa) but is himself the leading Respondent for the Reform movement, arguing consistently that…...
Chaim Raphael, ‘A Feast of History: The drama of Passover through the ages’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 3 March 1972. A Feast of History: The drama of Passover through the ages with a new translation of the Haggadah for use at the Seder. By Chaim Raphael. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1972. £4. It is difficult to avoid superlatives in recommending this extremely attractive book, not unreasonably priced…...
M. J. Field, ‘Angels and Ministers of Grace’
Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle. Fairy tales Angels and Ministers of Grace. By M. J. Field. Longman. £2. The author of this curious book is an ethno-psychiatrist who spent several years in West Africa and whose experiences there have led him to believe that he can discover the true meaning of many Biblical passages. Fantastic…...
Hermann Strack (ed.), ‘The Babylonian Codex of Petrograd’
Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle. The Babylonian Codex of Petrograd. Edited with Preface and Critical Annotations by Hermann L. Strack. Prolegomenon by P. Wernberg-Moller, Ktav, 1971. $50.00. This reprint of one of the oldest manuscripts extant of a section of the Hebrew Bible (the latter prophets) was first published, with Strack’s annotations, in 1876. The…...
Joanna Weinberg (trans. & ed.), ‘The Light of the Eyes’
Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 4th January 2002. “The Light of the Eyes” Azariah de Rossi, translated with annotations by Joanna Weinberg, Yale University Press, £48. The Me’or Enayim, (“Light of the Eyes”), by the extraordinary 16th-century Italian polymath, Azariah de Rossi, can rightly be said to be the seminal work of Jewish historiography. De…...
Eugene Borowitz, ‘Unfinished Rabbi: The Selected Writings of Arnold Jacob Wolf’
Originally published in the Times Literary Supplement, 11 September 1998. Arnold Jacob Wolf UNFINISHED RABBI The selected writings of Arnold Jacob Wolf Edited by Eugene B. Borowitz 288pp. Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee. £27.50. 156663 183 1 This book contains many of the important essays, previously published in various journals, scholarly and popular, of a remarkable…...
Soren Kierkegaard, ‘The Last Year – Journals’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 24 September 1965. RELIGIOUS PARADOX By LOUIS JACOBS The Last Years—Journals, 1853-55. By Soren Kierkegaard. Edited and translated by Ronald Gregor Smith. Collins. 35s. Kierkegaard’s genius cannot be ignored by anyone concerned with the meaning and significance of religious faith. It is largely due to him that we have become…...
J. B. Phillips, ‘Four Prophets: Amos; Hosea; First Isaiah; Micah: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew’
Four Prophets: Amos; Hosea; First Isaiah; Micah: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew. By J. B. Phillips. Bles. 15s. J. B. Phillips, famous for his translations of parts of the New Testament, now turns his hand to the Old. The all-too-familiar and, for Jews, very irritating habit of seeing the one as inferior to, and…...
Maurice Simon & Isaac Levy (eds.), ‘Essays and Addresses’
Essays and Addresses. By Samuel Daiches. Edited by Maurice Simon and Isaac Levy. Samuel Daiches Memorial Volume Committee. Reviewed by Rabbi Dr. LOUIS JACOBS This volume is a fitting tribute to the memory of a beloved scholar and teacher in Israel. In the opening memoir, Dr. George J. Webber, with his usual literary skill, paints…...
Judah Goldin (trans.), ‘The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan’
The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan. Translated from the Hebrew by Judah Goldin. Yale University Press, London: Cumberlege. 38s. Reviewed by Rabbi Dr. LOUIS JACOBS “Aboth de-Rabbi Nathan” is one of the so-called Minor Tractates of the Talmud, generally printed at the end of the fourth division of the Babylonian Talmud. It is a commentary…...
Umberto Cassuto, ‘Commentary on the Book of Genesis’, Part II
Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Part II; From Noah to Abraham. By U. Cassuto, translated by Israel Abrahams. Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1964. xiv + 386pp. 57s. This Commentary on Gen. 6.9-11.32 is the third volume in the series of the late Professor Cassuto’s work on the Pentateuch translated from the Hebrew by…...
Alexander Altmann, ‘Studies in Religious Philosophy and Mysticism’
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 1 August 1969, p. 19. Studies in Religious Philosophy and Mysticism. By A. Altmann. Routledge & Kegan Paul. £3. The many friends and admirers of Dr Altmann in this country will welcome this collection of his profound scholarly articles on religious and philosophical themes with particular reference to their appearance…...