Torah: A Modern Commentary : Exodus [Hardcover]

W. Gunther Plaut (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 571 pages
• Publisher: Urj Pr; First edition thus. edition (August 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807400408
• ISBN-13: 978-0807400401
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,078,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Sacred Writings > Torah

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not bad at all, but I like some others better, January 12, 2004

By 

Michael Lewyn (Forest Hills, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Torah: A Modern Commentary : Exodus (Hardcover)

I think the reviewer who wrote a long 3 star review in 1999 described the major strengths and weaknesses of this book: definitely more detailed than I expected, but insufficiently respectful of traditional interpretations. I think the Hertz Chumash and the Conservative Chumash (Etz Hayim) both strike a somewhat better balance between tradition and modern views.

But I would like to point out one thing that this book does very well: Plaut goes out of his way to incorporate not just the views of today's commentators, but also views other than the most traditional Jewish views (at one extreme) and his own: for example, he uses 19th and early 20th century commentators more frequently than Etz Hayim, and (unlike Etz Hayim) occasionally takes passages from the Koran to show how the Muslim tradition addresses Torah laws and stories.

On balance, I can't say this is my favorite Chumash- but nevertheless I am glad I spent a year using it.