My favorite books about Judaism

[Hebrew Hammer]

Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism, by Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin. A short, spirited articulation of ethical monotheism as the rational essence of Judaism.

Jewish Wisdom by Joseph Telushkin. 90 short chapters exploring issues of ethics, meaning, our relationship to God, the response of an ancient religion to modernity, the Holocaust, and Zionism. Nearly every chapter is a gem. Telushkin writes simply and elegantly, and he has complete command of all the rich sources of Jewish thought. Plus he gets it, and knows how to convey what's meaningful.

The Long Shorter Way and The Sustaining Utterance, by Adin Steinsaltz. Jewish mysticism stems from the Zohar, which is incomprehensible to any but the most learned. The first Lubavitch Rabbi, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, wrote the Tanya to explicate and systemize the Zohar's thought. The Tanya, though, is barely comprehensible to any but the most learned. Steinsaltz, probably the pre-eminent Jewish scholar of our era, wrote these two books as a commentary on the Tanya to make it accessible. It is a profound exploration of God and man and ways of knowing God. These books are not easy reading, but the do merit the work for those interested in learning Jewish mystical understandings of the world and God.

[Fat Cat]

You are a troll, plain and simple. Take your toilet paper and wipe your ass with it.

[Pinky]

I thought the Torah would make the list, but what do I know?

[Shaun B. O'Murnecan]

I thought the Torah would make the list, but what do I know?

It's one of those Jew tricks. The Torah ain't a book.

We'll see how kosher Hebe is:

When did you finish writing yours? If you haven't, finish your jerking off on the fat chicks thread, jump into the mikvah, and start writing.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Thanks for the recommendations. I've ordered them from Amazon, but will never admit it.

[Hebrew Hammer]

I thought the Torah would make the list, but what do I know?

While I realize this was intended to be clever, it's a reasonable point. The Torah is a very difficult book to read and understand on its own. Jewish tradition is that God gave Moses both the written law (the Five Books of Moses) and the oral law (the Mishna). Then there's hundreds of years of commentary as to how to put together the oral law and written law and other traditions (midrash, gemara, and others). There's no sola scriptura in Judaism. Also, translation loses a lot of meaning if you don't know Hebrew. So, in terms of learning about Judaism, the only way to read the Torah and understand it is with extensive commentary.

A simple example: In the written Torah, a number of sins are punishable by capital punishment. But when the oral law and other traditions are considered, capital punishment was next to impossible to impose. Historically, when Jewish courts governed criminal matters (through the destruction of the second temple), capital punishment was extremely rare. That's also why capital punishment has always been banned in Israel, with Eichman being the only exception. So, summing it up, reading the Five Books alone is not a good way to learn about Judaism.

[Hebrew Hammer]

I thought the Torah would make the list, but what do I know?

It's one of those Jew tricks. The Torah ain't a book.

We'll see how kosher Hebe is:

When did you finish writing yours? If you haven't, finish your jerking off on the fat chicks thread, jump into the mikvah, and start writing.

If you want to have a shred of self-respect as a self-hating, Judaism-hating Jew, at least be a learned one. Jews use the word torah to mean a number of things, and one is a book containing the Five Books of Moses. As to the mitzva to write a torah, the tradition is that, except for Jewish kings (which haven't been around for some 2500 years), one may fulfill the mitzva of writing a Torah in many ways other than writing one. Google will get you there, but you should really take the time to develop more than a superficial understanding of Judaism.

[Shaun B. O'Murnecan]

I thought the Torah would make the list, but what do I know?

It's one of those Jew tricks. The Torah ain't a book.

We'll see how kosher Hebe is:

When did you finish writing yours? If you haven't, finish your jerking off on the fat chicks thread, jump into the mikvah, and start writing.

If you want to have a shred of self-respect as a self-hating, Judaism-hating Jew, at least be a learned one. Jews use the word torah to mean a number of things, and one is a book containing the Five Books of Moses. As to the mitzva to write a torah, the tradition is that, except for Jewish kings (which haven't been around for some 2500 years), one may fulfill the mitzva of writing a Torah in many ways other than writing one. Google will get you there, but you should really take the time to develop more than a superficial understanding of Judaism.

Your last two entries have been nothing but Jew talk par excellence.

Thanks for playing into the stereotypes nicely.

[Turdacious]

Guide for the Perplexed - Moses bin Maimon
Two Types of Faith - Martin Buber
Chosen - Chaim Potok (although I mostly liked this because it's a great novel)

[nafod]

You are a troll, plain and simple. Take your toilet paper and wipe your ass with it.

Beware the Eye of the Jew. It is upon you.

Extra credit if you can identify the movie.

[Fat Cat]

Jud Süß?