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Title: Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism by Dennis Prager, Joseph Telushkin ISBN: 0-671-62261-7 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 21 April, 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Mr. Prager, Please Calm Down
Comment: Ah, Dennis Prager. He can't write a book called Nine Questions People Ask about Judaism. No, he has to write, THE Nine Questions People Ask about Judaism. But this is typical Prager. His questions are just the topics upon which he wants to pontificate. On most questions, he could state his positions quite succinctly, but he prefers to belabor each point with the gleanings of his thesaurus.
The questions themselves don't mine any new territory of Judaic thought, nor pull new wisdom from old problems. As far as I was concerned, questions two and six are self-evident-- they're not really questions. Question eight, whether or not to intermarry, is certainly a question, but because Prager confines the argument to Judaism's tenet of "universal brotherhood," the question becomes some sort of logical fallacy.
To argue this question in terms of "universal brotherhood" only is to fall through the sand before the first sentence is out of your mouth. Serious debaters can pursue this question for days with powerful and substantial arguments on both sides that have nothing to do with some sort of ideal of "universal brotherhood."
Prager also asserts, with no support, that most people form their religious belief at a young age, and never examine them again as long as they don't become rabbis. Further, his question seven accepts without examination the much believed, but as far as I know unproved, "fact" that young people feel alienated from Judaism.
I read this book as a young Jew, a young Jew who read Torah on a regular basis, had been active in Hillel, observed ALL the holidays, and shomer Shabbes. I really resented his broad generalizations about young people.
But that's Dennis Prager. I haven't read anyone who takes himself more seriously since Rabbi Shammai. His narrative voice is so pompous, I keep waiting for him to declare himself infallible.
What's more, Prager has an agenda. I've read others of his works, and he has a very conservative political agenda, with some odd quirks, that he had tried other times to link with Judaism. I see him doing it here again. When he poses, then answers, these particular questions, he pretends to speak for Judaism (Judaism reified). I don't agree with him, and I resent what he is trying to do.
If he would be honest about his agenda, and then try to demonstrate that the Torah or the nava'im offer him proof text, that might be different, but what he is doing here is dishonest, and since this book is marketed as an introduction to Judaism, I think it's a poor show.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great for beginning Judaism students
Comment: We used this text in our adult Judaism class, and I, as non-Jew. in a moderate Conservative synagoguge, 'shiksa", in fact, found it most eloquent and to-the-point, of the many textbooks I have read in this genre. You can't go wrong with Telushkin and Prager ( the moderate voices crying out in the wilderness ).
Rating: 5
Summary: Rediscover Judaism
Comment: This quick reading book is targeted to the secular or non-practicing Jew who is reconsidering the role of Judaism in his life. Also a good book for the Jew considering intermarriage.
The book is organized into sections based on the typical reasons that non-practicing jews give for the nominal role that Judaism has in their lives. There is also a chapter which gives a good but brief Jewish view of the foundations of Christianity.
The authors have done a good job of organizing and thinking through their responses to statements ranging from "I can be a moral person without organized religion" to the complex issue of intermarriage.
The book was written 20+ years ago, so there are a few sections that are outdated, such as the brief section that deals with Soviet Jewry.
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Title: Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History by Joseph Telushkin ISBN: 0688085067 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 26 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Happiness Is a Serious Problem : A Human Nature Repair Manual by Dennis Prager ISBN: 0060987359 Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Think a Second Time by Dennis Prager ISBN: 006098709X Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 09 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Book of Jewish Values : A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin ISBN: 0609603302 Publisher: Harmony/Bell Tower Pub. Date: 22 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz ISBN: 047146502X Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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