This was a really good book, although I definitely did not agree with everything in it. I found it at Barnes and Noble and enjoyed the parts that I read, so I bought it. I did not realize it was written by an Orthodox rabbi! But I did enjoy his discussions of Jewish morality especially, such as mercy, modesty, and acts of kindness being ritical to Jewishness, charity as being above all other offerings, how to best observe the sabbath, and the pro-poor laws on work and wages.
However, the
problem I see with the author’s writing is that he doesn’t really distinguish
between which commandments and practices are most important and which or not.
His interpretation of Judaism seems all-consuming to me, so that it would
totally remove the Jew from society, constantly observing obscure holidays and engaging
in arcane practices. It is unclear in the book which practices and observances
are truly biblically-grounded. I am skeptical about the practices derived from non-biblical
sources or strained metaphors So I would like to read a Reform Judaism version
of this book.
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