The Second Jewish Book of Why

Rating:
Summary: A satisfying appetizer
Review: Rabbi Alfred J. Kolatch, author of The Second Jewish Book of Why, has such a winning way with the written word that he has managed to turn out one appealing book after another 34 times! The Second Jewish Book of Why is his 26th, and five years after its publication, still available. My college student nephew recommended Kolatch's `books of why,' and I picked The Second because the questions and answers in The First were more familiar. The Rabbi's second book left me feeling as if I had had a very good appetizer, satisfying enough, but ready for more, much more.

While many answers struck me as complete, others did not. I was glad to learn why the philosopher Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated: because he "argued that God and Nature are one..." which, the Rabbi asserts, "ruled out belief ... in God's transcendence...[and] any interplay between God and man." I would have liked to learn how the Rabbi managed to conclude that "Spinoza was not terribly upset" in 1656, when his Sephardic community excommunicated him. Also, I would like to order Rabbi K's 6th book (now out of print), "Who's who in the Talmud." It followed his first Jewish Book of Why, published in 1981.

Fortunately, the indexing is excellent, as many fascinating tidbits are hidden. For example, I was thrilled to learn the origin of "Sephardim," the root of which is the Hebrew name for Spain, and Ashkenaz "being the Hebrew name for Germany." But this is buried in his answer to the question, Why is the term "Oriental Jew" sometimes confused with "Sephardic Jew"? The index in The Second Jewish Book of Why also includes its predecessor, which as of this writing, occupies the 8,370th place in popularity of purchases at Amazon.

A grab-bag of some of the delights of this volume would have to include mention of the many Purims enumerated in the Rabbi's answer to his question, "Why do some Jews fast on days other than those in the Jewish calendar?" In his response, we learn that it is customary to fast before Purim, and that there are communal fasts before all (!) Purims. Then he lists five additional Purims, the most recent being "the Purim of Casablanca (called Purim Hitler), established in 1943 ...on the occasion of Jews having been saved from Nazi occupation."

Rating:
Summary: A satisfying appetizer
Review: Rabbi Alfred J. Kolatch, author of The Second Jewish Book of Why, has such a winning way with the written word that he has managed to turn out one appealing book after another 34 times! The Second Jewish Book of Why is his 26th, and five years after its publication, still available. My college student nephew recommended Kolatch's 'books of why,' and I picked The Second because the questions and answers in The First were more familiar. The Rabbi's second book left me feeling as if I had had a very good appetizer, satisfying enough, but ready for more, much more.

While many answers struck me as complete, others did not. I was glad to learn why the philosopher Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated: because he "argued that God and Nature are one..." which, the Rabbi asserts, "ruled out belief ... in God's transcendence...[and] any interplay between God and man." I would have liked to learn how the Rabbi managed to conclude that "Spinoza was not terribly upset" in 1656, when his Sephardic community excommunicated him. Also, I would like to order Rabbi K's 6th book (now out of print), "Who's who in the Talmud." It followed his first Jewish Book of Why, published in 1981.

Fortunately, the indexing is excellent, as many fascinating tidbits are hidden. For example, I was thrilled to learn the origin of "Sephardim," the root of which is the Hebrew name for Spain, and Ashkenaz "being the Hebrew name for Germany." But this is buried in his answer to the question, Why is the term "Oriental Jew" sometimes confused with "Sephardic Jew"? The index in The Second Jewish Book of Why also includes its predecessor, which as of this writing, occupies the 8,370th place in popularity of purchases at Amazon.

A grab-bag of some of the delights of this volume would have to include mention of the many Purims enumerated in the Rabbi's answer to his question, "Why do some Jews fast on days other than those in the Jewish calendar?" In his response, we learn that it is customary to fast before Purim, and that there are communal fasts before all (!) Purims. Then he lists five additional Purims, the most recent being "the Purim of Casablanca (called Purim Hitler), established in 1943 ...on the occasion of Jews having been saved from Nazi occupation."

Rating:
Summary: Very good!
Review: This is a great book. Not as goos as the first, but well worth the money.