The Second Jewish Catalog: Sources and Resources [Paperback]

Michael Strassfeld (Editor), Sharon Strassfeld (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1976

The successful sequel to The First Jewish Catalog extends the discussion of basic laws and practices and offers further suggestions on how to make them part of your life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Publication Society of America; 1st edition (October 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0827600844
• ISBN-13: 978-0827600843
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Power of the BOOK!, October 18, 2009

By 

Bartleby "The Scrivner" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second Jewish Catalog: Sources and Resources (Paperback)

I have owned the first book for over thirty years. It has been my go-to source all this time. My copy is all loose sheets, binding long gone, many articles and downloaded supplements incorporated. There is no better foundation for why and how to be Jewish. (Disclaimer: I have almost finished the internet!)

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EASY READ/WONDERFUL INFO 4 MODERN JEWISH FAMILIES., June 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Second Jewish Catalog: Sources and Resources (Paperback)

THIS IS A LARGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION ABOUT JEWISH LIFE, PRESENTED IN AN EASY TO READ/DIGEST WAY. VERY HELPFUL FOR JEWISH NEWLYWEDS, AND FOR COUPLES IN A MIXED MARRIAGE, IN SORTING OUT A JEWISH WAY OF LIFE. EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL FOR THOSE NEW PARENTS/GRANDPARENTS PLANNING A BRIS/BERIT MILAH.

5.0 out of 5 stars THE SECOND OF THREE VERY USEFUL CATALOGS, May 10, 2011

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Second Jewish Catalog: Sources and Resources (Paperback)

This 1976 book is the follow-up to the 1973 The First Jewish Catalog: A Do-It-Yourself Kit. The editors wrote, "The truth is... we never planned to do another Jewish Catalog. The success of Catalog I and the deluge of requests from you, the reader, for additional information caused us to reconsider. And so we embarked on a second Catalog venture. Midway through, we realized we could not put everything into only one more volume. So we've decided to complete a trilogy, with yet another volume soon to come (The Third Jewish Catalog: Creating Community : With a Cumulative Index to All 3 Catalogs). By now it is common knowledge that Catalog I grew out of the havurah community. In many ways, however, the whole enterprise has moved beyond that community into a community that includes the many people who took Catalog I seriously, yet had never even seen a havurah... It is our hope that ... this new volume will also play a vital role in the movement's future."

There are sections on "Life Cycle," "Study," "Synagogue and Prayer," and "The Arts." Here are some quotations from the book:

"It will certainly seem strange to many people that the origins of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah... are shrouded in mystery, controversy, and scholarly debate. The reason for the lack or precise information is clear. The Bible fails to mention either a Bar Mitzvah celebration or to give any indication that thirteen was considered the demarcation line..." (Pg. 61)

"John Calvin was astonished at not finding any explicit reference to fornication among the sexual prohibitions of the Torah... The halakah, however, in Midrash and Talmud, interprets Leviticus 19:29 ... as referring to consensual relations without benefit of marriage." (Pg. 95)

"Jewish literature remains haunted by the minority opinion, much in the same way that the Jews as a whole remain a minority that haunts the majority." (Pg. 239)

"...it can be hard to make serious Jewish religious discoveries in a synagogue today. That is because most of the regulars in the synagogue near where you live have settled into comfortable patterns of behavior. They are married people looking for areas of stability in a too-complicated world." (Pg. 306)