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These are the Words : A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life
Arthur Green, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont) 1999
Review
Rabbi Arthur Green, the former President of the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College and now Professor of Modern Jewish Thought
at Brandeis University, has written an elegant yet entirely accessible
lexicon of Jewish spiritual concepts for our day. Rabbi Green
presents short (1-3 pages) essays which teach both the literal
meaning and spiritual significance of 149 Hebrew terms, such as
halakhah, kabbalah, sephirot, and mikveh. It's not a lexicon, precisely, but more like a collection of
discourses which attempt to show how these words form and inform
Jewish life- each entry represents not merely a word, but a religious
concept.
For example, under minhag [usually translated as "custom" to differentiate it from "law"]
Rabbi Green shows how local customs can vary widely in the celebration
of holidays and life cycle events; he briefly discusses the interplay
between custom and law in traditional communities; and offers
examples of new minhagim that have arisen in contemporary liberal Jewish communities.
He does all this in about a one and a half pages; this is not
a book which goes deep into any one topic, but serves as an introduction
and reference for a broad variety of topics. After reading his
entry, one might then progress to the Encyclopaedia Judaica or
other more specialized books for more details and depth.
Thus in my estimation this book is perfect for beginners in Judaism
or those with involvement in the Jewish community but who lack
systematic knowledge of Jewish words and ideas; advanced students
may wish to investigate a bit before investing in a book which
may not meet their needs. Someone who has been learning for a
while probably knows much of what the book presents but will doubtless
find a new way of looking at some familiar terms. Green's great
strength as a scholar is his way of explaining and rethinking
traditional Jewish ideas, and I find it admirable that someone
of his great learning wrote a book for a general audience, and
not only the academic elite. Many will find These are the Words to be a steady stepping-stone into contemporary Judaism.
Rabbi Neal Joseph Loevinger |
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