5 comments about Maimonides: A Spiritual Biography (Lives and Legacies.).

1. The appearance of a new biography of Maimonides is always important, if only because it happens infrequently.

   What we need, and do not yet have in English, is an excellent and scholarly biography of Maimonides, like Netanyahu's biography of Abarbanel.

   Ilil Arbel's new biography, entitled Maimonides, A Spiritual Biography, does not fill that bill. However, for those who are already reading Maimonides, it will fill in the historical gaps reasonably well. The book is based on secondary and tertiary sources, with the exception of the more historically significant items of Maimonides' correspondence and some of the shorter works, which the author shows familiarity with. The author is fluent in Hebrew, and may be an Israeli, it is not clear from the jacket material. That material indicates that she is a "Writer and editor, and has a Ph.D. in the field of mythology and folklore, and is a regular contributor of Judaic myths to Encyclopedia Mythica, her next book is A biography of Hillel, she resides in New York City".

   The book comes with a full index and a short bibliography. There are a very few notes, more would have been desirable. I would like to know where she got some of her material. There is a Chronology which she confesses is based on the usual consensus opinions but not based on any research of her own.

   I do not think the book will do anyone any harm. She pointedly stays away from giving comment or analysis of the Guide or the Mishneh Torah, and for that reason, I do not understand why she calls this a spiritual biography. The excitement that I get from the works of Maimonides themselves is not well communicated by the author.

   What she does do that helps make this book of contemporary significance is the integration of Geniza material from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, about which I recently wrote on in connection with the Spertus College of Judaica exhibit. She does know this material, and has spent some time with the writings of S.D. Goitein, the acknowledged expert in that field. She also has listed in her bibliography several contemporary Israeli books on Maimonides. All of these sources help to provide depth and context in Maimonides' story.

   Among these positive attributes I would randomly site her extended treatment of the unending controversies between Maimonides and the Gaon of Baghdad, Shmuel Ben Ali, who was the leader of the Babylonian Academy and saw himself as the universal Jewish authority. She also fills in the personalities of Maimonides son Abraham, and his student Joseph Ibn Aknin, for whom the Guide of the Perplexed was dedicated.

   On the controversial issue of Maimonides' feigned conversion to Islam, she fails to explain the meaning of such conversions, and leaves her readers confused. At one point she states flatly we can rest assured that he never converted to Islam, and at other times she indicates just as flatly that he feigned observance of Islam. She should have explained that Islam does not need conversion at all as Islam views people as having an Islamic nature which only needs to be realized. Such realization takes place when the individual acknowledges the formula of the divinity of Allah and the prophecy of Mohammed in a mosque. Maimonides himself writes that since this is all that is required, together with occasional attendance at Mosque prayers, a Jew need not question his own faith if he has to do these acts for the sake of survival.

   Admittedly our determination that Maimonides feigned such conversion is based on circumstantial evidence, but it is exceptionally good circumstantial evidence. Apart from his own words in his epistle on the subject, we know for a fact that no Jew, and particularly no Jew of public prominence like Maimonides and his father, could have survived long in Fez, Morocco under the Almohads without feigning Islam. Then there is the well known case, discussed by Arbel, of the prosecution brought by Abul Arab ibn Moisha in Cairo. Moisha had known Maimonides in Fez, as an apparent Muslim, and was shocked to find him as the head of the Jewish community in Cairo. He brought a prosecution against Maimonides for the capital heresy of converting from Islam. Maimonides' protector, El Fadil, Saladin's vizier, was the judge in the case. Arbel states that Fadil's ruling was to declare Maimonides never really adopted the fate or converted but only kept up a fabulous disguise and therefore could not have had a relapse from Islam. What really happened, according to Dr. Joel Kraemer, was that the court ruled coerced conversions were not effective conversions in Islam, citing Quran, and Maimonides could not be held guilty for feigning conversion under coercion.

   Like all books nowadays, the editors don't really do any editing, and there are many obvious typographical errors in the text. One howler is the author's apparent inability to distinguish pray from prey (twice!) as in
   ". . . It prayed on his mind."

   The book is neither long nor difficult to read, and the author has a moderately engaging prose style. She seems to be genuinely interested in the details of Maimonides life, and for those reasons the book should be read.




2. As a librarian, I was alerted to this excellent biography by Booklist and by The Library Journal, which both gave it excellent reviews. I don't read every book I order, but since I am particularly interseted in Maimonides, I did read it, and with great pleasure. I have studied much of Maimonides' work, and many books that analyzed his work, but Arbel's book is the only one fulfilling the need for a lively biography that really tells about Maimonides, his character and his relationships.

   The book is extremely well-written, easy to understand, and will be entirely comprehesible to the secular reader. You don't have to be a Maimonides expert, a philosophy student, or a religious scholar to enjoy it. Yet any scholar will appreciate Arbel's historical research and grasp of the era he discusses.

   My only criticism was that I wished the book were longer and continued into the second generation (Maimonides' son, Abraham, was a fascinating character). However, I realized that the book is a part of a series of biographies, the well-received Lives and Legacies (all called "A Spiritual Biography") from Crossroad Publishing, so Arbel probably followed certain guidelines as to length. I am very much looking forward to the publication of Arbel's biography of Rabbi Hillel, which apparently he is writing now.




3. I am twelve years old, and I got this book for my bat-mitzva. I loved it and learned a lot and I would recommend it to both adults and children. I particularly liked the way Maimonides helped women during those hard times.



4. The kind of book only alert minds and lovers of history and culture will read. Rich in style, knowledge and historical information. No doubt, this is one of the best books written about Maimonides! Outstanding!!!



5. A concise biography of Moses Maimonides, great philosopher, physician to Saladin, writer on astronomy, logic, law and mathematics, which concentrates on his spiritual legacy. Moses Maimonides is considered the greatest Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages, his work inspiring not only his contemporaries of all faiths but also later thinkers such as Leibniz and Spinoza.
   A rich biography exploring the historical, philosophical and social aspect of a great philosopher to be treasured. Arbel is a splendid writer.
   Born into a distinguished family in medieval Cordoba, Spain, the young Moses Maimonides was quickly recognized by his teachers for his outstanding intellectual abilities and extraordinary versatility. At the age of 13, when his peaceful world was shattered by war and persecution, and his family was forced into exile, fleeing and wandering from one place to another for many years, his religious and secular studies continued. Moses was, above all, a writer, and he wrote extensively until the end of his life." "After completing the Mishneh Torah in 1180, Maimonides was recognized internationally as the chief religious and legal authority of the entire Jewish world. A large part of his writing comes from his responses. Letters came from rabbis, judges, scholars, students, teachers and head of schools; even private citizens sent their letters and expected an official responsum. The question of whether Maimonides meant for the Mishneh Torah to replace the Talmud remains one of the most controversial parts of his legacy, and Arbel addresses the troubling argument with a lucid and tenacious intelligence." Maimonides' views were curiously modern and his medical writings constitute a significant chapter in the history of modern medical science. He approached his work as a sacred duty and with a sense of mission, and acquired the reputation of a doctor who treated the soul as well as the body.
   
   The work of Arbel is a treasure by all means.

No comments about Sages and Dreamers: Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Portraits and Legends.

No comments about Franz Kafka, The Jewish Patient.

No comments about A Spiritual Life: Exploring the Heart and Jewish Tradition (S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture).

3 comments about Flavius Josephus: Eyewitness to Rome's First-Century Conquest of Judaea.

1. As an in depth introduction to the times and life of Flavius Josephus, this book is very good. What prevents me from giving it a 4-star rating is not the text, but the (bluntly) inadequate appendices. The there are no family trees of the kings and high priests of the period (167 BCE to 95 CE). The maps are very incomplete (no indication of the locations of Sepphoris or Jotapata, for example!). There is no time line of Flavius Josephus's life. The "Dramatis Personae" does not list the dates of birth and death of each person. Many characters who briefly appear are not even listed. One minor quibble with the book is the Epilogues; though the author is French, I wish she had leaned a bit less on French evaluations over the centuries of Josephus's significance. The basic book, lest I be misunderstood, is excellent. I appreciated her liberal use of external sources, including but not limited to, the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud, the Tosefta, Suetonius, Philo of Alexandria, Tacitus, Pliny, the Midrash Sifre, among many others. The horror of warfare during the revolt, and the heart-breaking destruction of the Second Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem -- they are here. Josephus's predicament, as he is caught between the super-power of his time and the insanity of his own people blindly bent on bringing destruction down on their people and land, is tragedy. The futile attempts of one man to stop history -- doomed to failure -- are caught in these pages. This book is worth reading (but bring a pen and paper to compensate for the sorry lack of summary information normally provided in a good set of appendices!)



2. I concur with the previous reviewer's disappointment over the lack of summarizing appendices. I found Professor Hadas-Lebel's
   account quite adequate, even stimulating as an introductory text on the twin research controversies over Josephus and the revolt to which Josephus is virtually the sole eyewitness/contemporary account (unless one counts the tantalizing fragments of Tacitus). I wish that the author had included a bibliography or a discussion of the conflicting modern academic or religious studies. Nonetheless, this book is both a good summary of the debate and a solid introcution to Josephus, the events he desribes and his predicament in the context of a hostile world. Particularly valuable is Hadas-Lebel's review of Josephus' legacy in art, music, literature and judicial polemics -- mock courts-martial and the like. I am pleased to see this book available again in paperback. I ordered expecting that some of the above defects would have been remedied. I hope that English-speakers might soon find translations of some of the author's other more recent work on the Jewish Revolt.



3. perhaps three or four if you already have. This book is essentially a summary of Josephus's books (especially his Jewish War). If you have not read those works, this is an excellent guide to Josephus. If you have read Josephus, this book will add a little bit to your understanding, but obviously not as much. What Lebel does best is add emotion to Josephus's relatively dry account: that is, she tries to explain the passions that drove both Josephus and the Jewish rebels.
   
   On the one hand, Josephus believed that the Jewish rebellion was suicidal, and that the destruction of the Second Temple may have even been Divine punishment for the rebels' murderous tactics. Lebel speculates that the rebels were driven not just by nationalism but by the hope of divine intervention. Even seemingly insane behavior (e.g. the rebels' destruction of food that Jerusalemites needed to survive the Roman siege) makes sense if the rebels believed that their bravery would be rewarded with a miracle. Indeed, some language in Josephus' own work supports this view: for example, Josephus quotes one rebel as stating: "Even had they wings, the Romans would never surmount the walls of Jerusalem."

5 comments about Roots Schmoots: Journeys Among Jews.

1. Where does the man get the nerve?

   Can you imagine going into a country for the first time and forming an opinion of its religion, people, customs, culture and esthetics by conversations with street people, going to hangouts of the marginal in Israeli society and staying at the tackiest of hotels?

   As an Israeli citizen, born and raised in New York, with a healthy dose of NY culture and esthetics, I really took umbrage - did the man really find no beautiful buildings (the new Supreme Court building is georgeous, just to name one), no lovely hotels (too bad he couldn't afford the Laromme, the Dan Pearl or the new Hilton)or pretty residential areas (like the lovely old, landscaped Talbeya)?

   As for cultured people, why couldn't the man get thru the front door to interview Amos Oz, Yehuda Amichai or a dozen other cultured, pluristic, highly intelligent fellow authors?

   I notice that he changed the cover of his book - good, because his face on the old one wasn't too esthetically pleasing. Maybe the negative things he felt about Israel were just manifestations of the negative things he finds about himself.

   Get some therapy soon, Mr. Jacobson.




2. Mr. Jacobson suffers from a deep-rooted identity crisis and his book could be of some use for anyone who is interested in this sort of behavior pattern. In terms of literary value "Roots Schoots" lacks intellectual depth. Mr. Jacobson is full of hate, prejudice, and uses irony, skepticism, and in many instances disrespect for the values imbedded in Jewish culture. He needs to solve his own dilemma first, free himself from whatever traumas he might have and then repeat his journey with a more open mind. Only then will he be able to judge "jewishness!"



3. No hatred in this book, although plenty in the remarks of two of the on-line reviewers who are like bit part players in the book itself. Jacobson is erudite, fair, modest, compassionate and compelling. He doesn't pretend to be writing an academic investigation, more a personal journey, and he has the decency to admit that it's an inconclusive one. There is, of course, no point in spending time and money on a book like this if you lack learning and humour, of if you believe that on matters of religion and identity you already have all the answers.



4. Roots, Schmoots: Journeys Among Jews is, first of all, funny. One should not come to it expecting to read a balanced, well-researched history/sociology of Judaism, Israel or the Diaspora. Think more along the lines of taking a long, relaxed (but neurotic as all get-out) trip with a very funny man in search of something even he can't quite identify.The chapters describing his time in the US are hilarious and poignant at once. The chapters on Israel are quite well done, capturing the author's exasperated love for the nation and its people, and his often wayward search for justice. Jacobson tries to avoid sentiment at all costs, yet continually finds himself caught up short by a lump in the throat. A very good, very funny travel book. A very good, very funny story of one person's hunt for himself. Not for the compulsively or competitively serious.



5. Howard Jacobson is Jewish, of Lithuanian extraction and was born in Manchester. This book looks hard at Jewishness and takes us all over the world in search of what it means. I really wish he'd spent more time looking what part Manchester played in developing his sense of who he is and where he came from.
   
   Question: There's lots of talk about Yiddish, what part did native languages play in the various countries Jews settled in?

1 comments about Good Beyond Evil.

1. A scrupulous,heart-rending account of a Jewish childhood in Slovakia during WWII. Eva Gossman and some of her family were saved from hideous local anti-semitism and the Nazi onslaught by a Slovakian woman and her daughter, who sheltered and fed them. It is a shattering portrait of terror and of the redemptive power of love. Gossman does not pretend to remember everything clearly, but what she does recall is enormously powerful.

2 comments about I Kept My Promise.

1. At the risk of being labeled anti-semitic, this American WWII veteran and member of the Boston Latin School Class of 1946 must observe that the Holocaust was much more than a Jewish event: It was genocide in its fullest form involving persons and groups adjudged by Nazis as undesirable -- gypsies, undesirable Aryans, almost anyone who offended almost any German citizen. Dwelling on the destruction of Jews in Europe, who comprised the bulk of the murdered citizenry tells a large part of the story of the Holocaust, but it borders on the offensive to suggest that Jewish suffering is the whole story. I would find the Holocaust Museum, just four blocks from my home a much more acceptable place if it had been named The Genocide Mueum.



2. I found this book to be a wonderful and well-written story. It is amazing because it is true. I must disagree with the previous reviewer. This book does not suggest that the holocaust was only about the Jews. The book merely focuses on one person. It is clearly the story of one man's amazing survival. This man happens to be Jewish. The events are sad and heartwarming. I also appreciated the photographs and other information contained in the book. It puts faces with the names. The book is an easy read and I would recommend it for both adults and children. Though the events are tragic, it is so important for the young people in our society to know what happened.

4 comments about Theo: An Autobiography.

1. I first discovered Theo when I was in college -- and a friend of mine found some folk music records of his at a campus record store.

   Then I discovered he's an actor. And a writer. He's written some wonderful books on folk music, with the stories that go with the music. He wrote the back jacket copy for the records, and it opened gateways into the music and out of the music into the world that music came from.

   He's appeared on almost all the major hit TV series. Most memorable for me is that he is/was Ivanova's Uncle on Babylon 5 and Worf's human father on Star Trek: DS9 etc.

   You surely know who he is -- you've seen him again and again.

   But only a true die-hard fan like me -- who goes to his concerts whenever I can -- picks up enough about his life history to get a feel for where this immense talent comes from.

   Theo is one of the major influences that led me to become a professional sf writer. Today, I play his CD's and tapes made from the old vinyl in my car -- and it gives me the strength and energy to keep on. Keeping-on has begun to pay-off! Just today, I have another new title now available on amazon.[com], The Unity Trilogy.

   The story of Theo's life is the story of Art. And here and there you get to peek into the world as it was during some terrible war times -- and what it meant to escape all that horror.

   This is a book to treasure. It should be available as an ebook download forever!

   Live Long and Prosper,
   Jacqueline Lichtenberg




2. Theodore Bikel's name is syynonymous with the Arts. His autobiography detailing his years on the London and Broadway stage and his Hollywood film career is stuffed with anecdotes about actors and legends. It brings a real sense of living that charmed life. I enjoyed every minute of his story.

   His experiences escaping the Nazis as a child, his passion for folk music, and his stewardship of actors' and civil rights show him as a champion of the less fortunate and a righteous individual. This is the story of a totally expansive life and in spite of my earlier knowledge and enthusiasm for his work and music, I came away with greater insights and understanding of the man's drive and achievement. It's a great book. I recommend it to every theator-goer, activist, music lover, and any soon-to-be fan of Theo Bikel.




3. "Theo" is a wonderful journey through the life of an interesting, entertaining, many faceted person. You'll be facinated to follow him from his birth place in Vienna, through his many travels and career to his comments on the present day world conditions.

   He is a jack of all trades and master of all!




4. This book is delightful. It is a must for every theater goer, folk music lover. I think it should be required reading for ALL drama students and students in general. It is a rollicking story of a lifetime spent being in the present moment, facing all forms of worldly turmoil from a childhood in Vienna as a jewish boy to manhood and family in America.
   It is the loving story of a man choosing to fight for human rights with only his guitar as a weapon.
   From his days in Israeli theater and on to England in Repertory theater to appearing on American stage, movie screen and television to activism of all colors, this story reveals a man whose quest for LIFE brings him into our lives. And we are all the better for it.
   
   SHalom and God speed to a wonderful character in my life.
   Mrs. Leslie Van de Ven, RN, BA

3 comments about Jazz Survivor: The Story Of Louis Bannet, Horn Player Of Auschwitz.

1. "Jazz Survivor" by Ken Shuldman is one of those marvelous books that opens up our hearts and minds. This book allows you to be introduced to an amazing man... Louis Bannet. Louis was a Musician, Performer, Holocaust Survivor, Husband, Father, and a masterful Storyteller. This is the true story of a man who lived each moment of his life to the fullest. Louis had such a generous spirit, that he was able to keep his memories of the horrors of the holocaust at hand, to share, inform and inspire others. "Jazz Survivor" is a celebration of Louis' life. This is a book I will cherish, and so will you.



2. I was profoundly moved by the story of louis bannet.
   though a true story about the horrors of the holocaust it is also a read that is more inpiring than any book written with the sole purpose of inspiring.
   Louis Bannet will live forever in me.



3. Although I read this book over a year ago, I haven't been able to get Louis Bannet's story out of my mind. Being a musician myself (albeit an amateur one) I can't even begin to imagine my life riding solely on the merits of my playing. But regardless of how wonderful a musician Bannet was (and he was), his humanity and courage is more impressive. Shuldman captures this without overshadowing it. Bannet is the star; Bannet is the inspiration and Shuldman makes sure of this. The writer is the conduit for Louis to come alive again to all who read "Jazz Survivor". An amazing tale told with love and admiration. I highly recommend this book.