Why do the portraits of Biblical heroes contain such flaws? In the ancient world, heroes were taken much more seriously than they are today. Societies often portrayed one person or character as the primary hero of the culture. That person was depicted as being on a higher plane of existence than mere mortals–as partly divine, […]
Q&A: Dan Ornstein, author of Cain v. Abel
What made you cast the Cain and Abel story as a trial? As I mention in the book, one day I was sitting in jury selection for a criminal trial at our local county courthouse. The presiding judge took great care in advising all of us about our grave responsibilities to seek the truth and […]
List of Forthcoming & Recent Titles – UPDATED Fall 2019
2020 Navon, Emmanuel—The Star and the Scepter: A Diplomatic History of Israel November 2020 The first encompassing book on the diplomatic history of the Jewish people retraces and explains the Jews’ interactions with other nations from the ancient kingdom of Israel to the modern State of Israel. Greenspoon, Leonard—Jewish Bible Translations: A Comparative History November […]
Press on ‘A Year with Mordecai Kaplan
Jewish Book Council review by Jonathan Fass, May 2019Reconstructing Judaism review by Elsie Stern, July 2019Wisdom Learned at the Feet of Mordecai Kaplan, Oct 2019
Press on ‘In This Hour’
Before Heschel Became Heschel, Moment Magazine, May 29, 2019Shepherd Express, July 2019
Why Buy The Book?
For too many Jewish young people, bar/bat mitzvah has been the beginning of the end of their Jewish journeys. When students perceive the Torah as incomprehensible or irrelevant, many form the false impression that Judaism has nothing to say to them. Enter the game-changer: the JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows teens in their own […]
A YEAR WITH THE SAGES: Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion – Reviewed by Jack Riemer, The Boston Jewish Advocate
May 2019 – There are two main types of commentary on the Torah and on Rabbinic Literature. One kind is objective scholarship. The other is personal response. In objective scholarship, the writer strives to determine what was the original meaning of the Text. He studies the parallel literatures of antiquity. He uses ancient grammar. And […]
Press on Modern Conservative Judaism
The Challenge of the Middle by Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal
Press on ‘A Year with the Sages’
Publisher’s Weekly: Religion and Spirituality Announcements, 2019 A YEAR WITH THE SAGES: Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion – Reviewed by Jack Riemer This is Rabbi Reuven Hammer’s last book, and it is in some senses his best. Reuven Hammer had a long and distinguished career as a rabbi and as an educator during which […]
Press on Abraham J. Heschel
Cornel West Talks about Edward Kaplan’s work – video
