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Day by Day: Reflections on the Themes of the Torah from Literature, Philosophy,
and Religious Thought, Rabbi Chaim Stern (Beacon Press)
Book Review
Rabbi Chaim Stern is a poetic and prolific writer. Readers may
recognize his name as the editor of two Reform prayerbooks, both
Gates of Prayer (Shabbat and weekdays) and Gates of Repentance
(High Holidays). He is also the author of On the Doorposts of
Your House, a how-to home prayerbook. So there is no doubt that
Rabbi Stern knows how to present inspirational material to a wide
audience.
Day by Day offers readers a compendium of thoughts on each week’s
Torah portion, arranged thematically. So, for example, Bereshit
is the theme of "Creation", Tzav is "Offerings" and V’zot Habracha
is "Humility." First Stern explains the connection between the
parsha and the theme, and then gives a week’s worth of stories,
sayings, and proverbs from hundreds of sources. The sources range
from Chasidic tales to ancient historians to modern poets, both
Jewish and from other traditions.
The book is beautifully written and easy to use. I found a number
of wonderful connections which deepened my feeling for the portion
of the week. All the sources are "popular" as opposed to "scholarly"
and so the book is not intended for study purposes but rather
to be used as an inspirational "companion" to a weekly reading
of Torah. As it says in the section on Emor, from the Proverbs,
"Pleasant words are a honeycomb." This book is sweet and well
worth tasting.
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