Customer Reviews

Yes, But Is It Good for the Jews?: A Beginner's Guide, Volume 1

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A word of warning to the reader; this book is not a cohesive story that one reads from the front cover to the back. It consists of an encyclopedia-style collection of entries of those elements that the author has rated as being good or bad for Jews. Having said that, then typical of Jewish humor, the author plays on Jewish insecurity. This book was not written for non-Jews; its charm is in the reader recognizing themselves and their own sensitivities. This book was also not written for Jews who cannot laugh at themselves. For these readers, the satire will be lost. If however, you are Jewish and insecure and yet can laugh at yourself, then I recommend this book.

This book is utterly hilarious and definitly something you'll want to give to your friends and family. It's totally readable straight through but also the perfect book to come back to again and again. Geller does a great job of bringing together the facts and the funny and i certainly felt smarter and more clever after reading it. I promise that you'll never look at "Bewithed," Vidal Sassoon, or "Star Wars" the same way again.

This is one of those books I wanted to like a lot better than I did. I understood it to be the kind of book which might interest certain highly assimilated Jews a bit more in their own Jewishness.

But the fare here is really not that attractive. The book is really a long commentary on pop- culture , on fashions of the hour.

It also does not provide any real argument in asserting something to be good or bad for the Jews. And in a way makes the whole question seem ridiculous. I might add for me it is not a ridiculous question but a most important one.

There is no effort to deal with any serious political issue. For instance at this moment the state of Israel is threatened by a leader aiming at nuclear weapons who has said he will 'wipe out the Zionist state'. I imagine that I serious book on a subject of what is good or not good for the Jews would touch upon a threat like this.

The book has inaccuracies . It lists Mark Twain as one of the worst writers in attitudes towards the Jews. In fact the truth is overwhelmingly the opposite and Twain wrote most friendly and appreciatve words about the Jewish people.

The book does have humor at certain points. I did get a few chuckles going through it.

And I suppose a few chuckles is better than none at all.