Customer Reviews

The Bedside Torah : Wisdom, Visions, and Dreams

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This a wonderful book with insightful Torah commentaries focusing on Jewish personal values like love, family, helpfulness, and so forth. This book can be a powerful introduction to Judaism, or a powerful introduction to a personal, loving side of Judaism that is sometimes overlooked in favor of community values. The book starts with an introduction that explains the centrality of Torah in Judaism and how to read Torah when the stories seem crude or unjust. The rabbi inteprets Torah while assuming a just, loving God. The bulk of the book is made up of commentaries. There are three commentaries for each section of the Torah. Each section of the Torah is also paraphrased, so if you have never read the Torah, this is an easy way to get the general idea. But it's the three commentaries for each of the Torah sections that are the best part. The rabbi's commentaries mix basic good human judgment with an open heart, bouncing the mixture off the Torah. He interprets Judaism in a sensible, loving light. Are Jews a "chosen people"? Yes, he says, chosen to live a responsible life in concert with the values of Torah, not chosen to view ourselves as better than others. He asks, what are we to make of these long lists of names in the Torah? He suggests lists of names are created for a reason, because the names were important to an event or people. He suggests we get ourselves on other people's lists in our own lives, by helping our communities, friends and family.

I was stunned by Mr. Hinkle's criticism that this book is "Judeacentric." Well, a Rabbi writing about a book that is central to our religion - what did he expect? If he wants a balanced viewpoint, he should read a comparable book by an academic scholar of religion. I would never dream of criticizing a Christian scholar for writing from a Christian standpoint, a Buddhist writing from a Buddhist standpoint, etc. Allow we Jews the same courtesy, Mr. Hinkle.

This is very nice bed time reading that makes you want to stay awake and read on to the next entry. I love the different angles for each Torah portion which gives the feeling of a very good Torah discussion. All the insightful commentary in this book brings out the beauty of the Torah. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about Judaism and anyone who wants add more insight to their weekly Torah study.

This has long been one of my favorite books. The way I use it is that I read the Torah portion first -- not the synopis the author provides at the beginning of each of his "chapters" -- and then I read his commentaries. Some of them really resonate with my daily life today. Others are more "food for thought" for me. Since I'm not Jewish, I'm not necessarily reading this book so that I can understand Judaism. I just find the book to be universally insightful, and it's a lovely way to end an evening and to further my spiritual journey.

This is a delightful, charming and insightful collection of commentaries of each weekly Torah portion. Deinitely suitable for Jews and Christians alike. Each Torah portion has three succint comments from different contributors.

Rabbi Artsen provides a short synopsis of the weekly Torah Portion. The Rabbi then writes three different encapsulated views about the parasha for the week. The author brings modern insight to the ancient laws of the Jewish people.

The book is written with the plan to bring the Torah into our lives sprinkling a daily taste of the ancient scrolls into our lives. I recommend this book for those who want to try understanding the Torah by getting a quick read daily and perhaps use this to whet our apatite for the full version of the Five Books of Moses.

Thank you, Rabbi Artson, for your spiritual guidance, companionship, wisdom and inspiration. There are not many books in my extensive library that are as dog-eared as my copy of The Bedside Torah. As I flip through the pages, I'm amazed at the bent pages, highlights, circles, stickers, business cards, Torah commentaries, and day-glow pages of scribbled notes tucked into this tome.
Clearly, I was touched and inspired by Rabbi Artson's thought provoking comments as he guided me through the Torah. I loved that for each parasha there were three different views, and each time, I could count on finding some wisdom that spoke to me that day. Artson's language is contemporary and reaches into the heart, creating relevancy from the words of ancient Torah to our lives today.
While we continue to seek meaning from the labors of Rashi and Maimonides, our Modern Rabbis like Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson have much wisdom to share, influencing our lives in new and modern ways.

I liked the way this book made me realize my potential. I also recommend a book called Dreams: Gateway to the True Self.

As a Christian, the Old Testament, including the Torah, is part of my heritage. I purchased this book to glean more interpretive insights into these pivotal five books from someone who did not interpret them through the lens of Christianity, but from a pure Jewish perspective, in order to broaden my horizons. While gleaning much of worth, the book is so Judeaocentric that I felt more like an eavesdropper than an engaged reader. I found it interesting that Christians haven't cornered the market on guilt-mongering, because there is plenty of that here, directed toward the more religiously lax Jews. Until an enterprising rabbi can write an exposition on the Torah for a general (not just Jewish) readership, this book will have to fit the bill.