Customer Reviews

Conscience: The Duty to Obey and the Duty to Disobey

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Drawing on Scripture, Talmud, history and literature, Rabbi Harold Schulweis has written a short book that celebrates the role of conscience as the essence of religion -- both in Judaism, specifically and religion, generally.

Highly readable with short chapters and "pull quotes" (those boxes with a quotation from the text set in the margin of a page), the book seems designed for faith-based study groups in synagogues. Schulweis writes very clearly and uses quotations thoughtfully -- even a group with people of different ages and from very different walks of life would be able to read it together easily.

Schulweis argues emphatically against a literal reading of Scripture. Specifically, he shows how Judaism has a rich tradition of reading the Bible that is willing to challenge even the words on the page in the name of the values that God stands for. Even explicit laws can be retired in the name of deeper principles.

The challenge for faithful people, he argues, is to seek to live under the direction of those deeper principles, and to build a world that is based upon them.

It is a good book, but not a great one. Simply, it is too short, and it leaves the reader wanting more...actually, a little too much more.

Nevertheless, fans of Schulweis' work, especially the magnificent "For Those Who Can't Believe," will be glad to have another useful, thought provoking volume to add to their libraries.

Rabbi Harold Schulweis is one of the greatest living rabbis. His insights on human behavior, morality and G-d are valuable for Jew and Gentile alike. This slim book is a pleasure to read. I am privileged to call him my rabbi and have a signed copy of his great book.

If you just wish to know simple straightforward halakha (Jewish law) then don't bother with this book. If you wish to see ways that conscience can play a role then read this book. It draws from traditional Jewish sources as well as others. It is a bit too short and I wished the early sections were more fleshed out. Still, definitely worth reading if this subject interests you.