The Jewish religion : a companion /

Although there is no dearth of good one-volume reference books on Jewish culture, Jewish history, Jewish biography, and the like, Judaism itself--the religion that defines the whole enterprise--has not been as well served. The more welcome, then, Jacobs's fine dictionary. A well-known British rabbi and writer, Jacobs, an outspoken advocate of what in the US would be called "conservative" Judaism, has been a controversial figure in contemporary, orthodox-dominated English Jewish life. Nonetheless, by US standards, his perspective (about which he is explicit) is solidly in the mainstream. The book is enormously useful, with articles of varying length on the wide spectrum of ethical, doctrinal, and ritual issues encountered in the practice of Judaism (two paragraphs on "beard," more than eight columns on "dietary laws"). Included are subjects such as abortion, conversion, miracles, women; numerous common Hebrew terms (bimah, mikveh, tefillin); important figures in the development of Judaism (Buber, Heschel, Hirsch, Kaplan). The presentation of facts and issues is invariably clear and to the point. An indispensable resource for all libraries. S. Lehmann University of Pennsylvania

YA‘This compendium, arranged in dictionary format, allows students to learn about one of the world's oldest religions. Jacobs deals with topics ranging from personalities in the Bible to Jewish thinkers of the present day; he includes customs, traditions, and Jewish ideas on topics as diverse as adoption and astrology. The author also considers Jewish attitudes towards ecology, insanity, and even worrying. The text is readable and interesting; there is no need to have any grounding in Hebrew language or terminology. High school students asked to examine historical issues associated with Judaism or to understand Judaic allusions in literature will find this work invaluable.‘Ron Axelrod, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.