18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Worthwhile Survey of Judaism, July 11, 2009
This review is from: Jewish Literacy Revised Ed: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History (Hardcover)
This volume is commonly given to Jewish Confirmands, and with good reason. It covers, in a compact and well-written fashion, Jewish history, religion, and culture. There are 15 parts: 1) Bible, 2) The Second Commonwealth, the Mishna, and the Talmud, 3) Early Medieval Period: Under Islam and Christianity, 4) Late Medieval Period, 5) Modern Period--Western and Eastern Europe, 6) Zionism and Israel, 7) The Holocaust, 8) American-Jewish Life, 9) Soviet Jewry, 10) Antisemitism, 11) Jewish Texts, 12) Jewish Ethics and Basic Beliefs, 13) The Hebrew Calendar and Jewish Holidays, 14) Life Cycle, and 15) Synagogue and Prayers. This volume is much easier to read than an alphabetically-organized encyclopedia.
The author is a member of the Modern Orthodox movement (which combines traditional Talmud study with secular study). His work treats quite fairly the three largest denominations of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform), but the section on Mordecai Kaplan and Reconstructionist Judaism is rather weak--a much better summation is given by Emanuel S. Goldsmith in the Preface to Dynamic Judaism (pp. 15-30). Humanistic Judaism isn't treated at all.
The typography is very good; I found just two typos (p. 345, "statue" instead of "statute"; p. 364, "Orthodox rabbits" instead of "Orthodox rabbis"). The index is fine, but there is no glossary of terms. One glaring omission in the history section is a table of famous, accomplished Jews in the areas of mathematics, science, engineering, business, philosophy, music, and sports. (The history section is really very gloomy and disturbing; it ignores the lives of many high-achieving and happy Jews.) Leon Trotsky is covered, but Ayn Rand isn't! The section on theodicy discusses supernaturalism and atheism, but not transnaturalism. The section on afterlife fails to compare and contrast bodily resurrection versus reincarnation (held by many Jewish thinkers, beginning with Philo). There are sources and further reading at the end of each topic, but there is no bibliography at the end of the work. Other than these few minor issues, there isn't much to complain about--the book is recommended to both Jews and non-Jews.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
good revision of already excellent research book, December 22, 2008
This review is from: Jewish Literacy Revised Ed: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History (Hardcover)
The original version was a well-acclaimed research book, and the revision adds some updating material that was missing from the original. It is not as good as others regarding Jewish holidays, but its other aspects more than compensate. It is helpful for both Jews and non-Jews regarding Jewish life, Jewish history, and Jewish religion.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable book that stands the test of time, July 19, 2009
This review is from: Jewish Literacy Revised Ed: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History (Hardcover)
This book brings Jewish education alive. The title and size of the tome are intimidating, the reading is not. The book is an easy read that can be the either the basis of a Jewish self-education program, or easy answers to random questions about Judaism. Rabbi Tehushkin successfully makes Judaism's essence come alive. This is no mean feat, as most readers come to the book trying to undo years of sleeping through religious school.
It's a fantastic addition to the library of any Jew or student of religion.
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