[net.religion.jewish] want book on jewish customs & traditions

cyrus@symplex.UUCP (04/21/84)

I am looking for a good book on the Jewish religion.
It should describe (in some detail) customs, practices, and traditions.

As this may be of general interest, please post replys to the net.


			-Cyrus Azar

dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (04/26/84)

One such book is "From Sabbath To Sabbath". Sorry, I don't remember the
author. I had a copy many years ago, and have seen recent reprints in both
hard- and soft-cover.

Dave Sherman
-- 
 {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave

martillo@ihuxt.UUCP (Yehoyaqim Shemtob Martillo) (04/26/84)

So far the books posted on the net would give a rather inadequate
introduction to Judaism.  Having met the creep Waskow and read several of
his books, I can state unequivocably that his ignorance of Judaism could
easily fill the Rose Bowl.  He also distorts Judaism to conform to his
mindless leftist views.

Good Books:

You have to start with a commentary on the teaching of Moses.

	La voix de la thora, E. Munk -- This book is available in English
Translation.

Then you have to learn about the oral tradition.

	The Essential Talmud (Hatalmud lakol) by Adin Steinsalts.

From Moses to Moses their is no one like Moses.

	Introduction to the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah) by I.
	Twersky (the Talner Rebbe).
	
Then some study of Jewish Law would be good.

	Jewish Law and Jewish Life responsa selected by Bazak.

Time for language study.

	Biblical Hebrew by T. Lambdon.

	A Textbook of Israeli Hebrew by H. Rosen.

	A Grammar of Aramaic by G. Dalman.

	A New Arabic Grammar by J. Haywood, H. Nahmad.

	Diqduq ha`Arabit-haYehudit Ymei haBeinaim (A Grammar of Mediaeval
Judaeo-Arabic) by J. Blau.

Since the most highly developed Jewish Culture in existence recently (the
Labor Zionists exterminated it was Yemenite Jewish Culture), the following
books should be read:

	Jews and Arabs by S. D. Goitein,
	
	Tales from Yemen by S. S. Goitein, and

	Halikat Teiman by Y. Qafih.

The behavior of European Jews in 19th and 20th centuries has been quite
disgusting.  To understand how this behavior is disgusting the following
novels are very good:

	Badenheim `Ir Nofesh (Badenheim 1939) by A. Appelfeld.

	Tor haPla'ot (Age of Wonders) by A. Appelfeld.

	Tsili by A. Appelfeld.

There is a fourth book but I do not know the title.

For Jewish Response to German persecution, you should read:

	Holocaust and Halakha by [?] Rosenberg[?] (Rosenthal), and

	Responsa from the Holocaust by Oshry[?].

For higher Jewish studies if you have no background, use

	The Gateway to Learning by E. Krupnick and

	Aids to Talmud Study by Aryeh Carmell.

Then  you may work on the classical texts.  Unless you have a Qafih
translation, Judeo-Arabic texts should be read in the original.

If you happen to read Spanish, Me`am Lo`ez from the Biblioteca Universal
Sefardi is worth reading.  The English and Hebrew translations are
inadequate.  This edition uses Roman letters.

For modern Jewish philosophy, the only worth authors worth reading are
Hermann Kohen (I may have the last name spelled inadequately) and Franz
Rosenzweig.


-- 

                    Yehoyaqim Shemtob Martillo

         (I don't care what you think about my signature)

dsg@mhuxi.UUCP (GREEN) (04/27/84)

[golems and dybbuks]

I don't want to sound trite, but you must first learn to walk before
you can run, so... some of my choices for *INTRODUCTORY* books on
Jewish customs, traditions and "culture" are:

"This Is My God" by Herman Wouk
"The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism" by Dennis Prager & Joseph
	Telushkin
"To Be A Jew" by Hayim Halevy Donin
"Wanderings" by Chaim Potok
"Enyclopedia of Jewish Concepts" by Philip Birnbaum

For more advanced topics send away for a brochure from:
	Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
	1969 Coney Island Avenue
	Brooklyn, NY 11223

Read some or all of these to get a feel for 20th Century "Assimilated
Ashkenazic New York" Jewish "culture":  Note that they should be read
with an open mind!!!

"An Orphan in History" by Paul Cowan
"World of Our Fathers" by Irving Howe
"Marjorie Morningstar" by Herman Wouk  ( Yes, I'm being serious. )
"Goodbye, Columbus" by Philip Roth ( Contact me and I'll tell you why. )

And for entertainment:

"In My Father's Court" by Isaac B. Singer
"Great Jewish Short Stories" ed. by Saul Bellow
"Gems of Rabbi Nachman"  edited by Aryeh Kaplan
"The Aryeh Kaplan Reader" by Aryeh Kaplan ( This may be "Philosophy" (?))


All of the above are easily readable and easily available.  I totally
realize that there are other books, but would you tell someone to get
a copy of Kernighan and Ritchie if they just wanted to "learn something
about computers"???

Shalom,
David Seth Green     Bell Labs    phone 201-564-2290  path ..mhuxi!dsg

( I am totally responsible for all of the above spelling and translations,
please flame on the content not the grammer, spelling, punctuation, etc. )