"JEWISH WISDOM: Ethical, Spiritual, and Historical Lessons from the Great Works and Thinkers"

by Joseph Telushkin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 1994

Rabbi Telushkin (Jewish Humor, 1992, etc.) takes full advantage of Judaism's culture of commentary in this grab bag of quotations from Genesis and the Talmud to Samuel Goldwyn (""Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined""). The passages are numerous and short, and Telushkin's comments on them are offered in an affably instructive tone. Fragments from religious texts and secular writings share these pages, mostly in a spirit of good-natured contentiousness. The first parts of the book are categorized along religious lines of Talmudic reasoning and moral philosophy (e.g., ""Truth, Lies, and Permissible Lies""), while the later parts address the more plainly historical issues of anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Zionism. Telushkin isn't making any sustained or sophisticated argument here about the nature of Jewish wisdom. He's just alluding to sources and passages and conversing about them.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1994

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 672

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994

Categories: NONFICTION