Recommendation for a book on Jewish Law?

January 10, 2007 11:14 AM

Calling all Jews! I need a reading list for my girlfriend.

So my (non-Jewish) girlfriend would like to know a bit more about Jewish law, and I'd like to recommend book or two to her. Important notes:

1. The focus here should be on the law of Judaism, and in particular its laws on secular issues. So, nothing on the culture, rules for shabbat, etc. (It's fine if this is mixed in, but it should not be the focus.) I'm concerned more about, e.g., Jewish rules on abortion, suicide, gay marriage, etc.

2. I'd really like to show her the ambiguities in the law, how much of it is built from arguing from different positions, and about how, at the end of the day, there is more than one right answer to many questions. The process is as important as the result. To this end, I'm not looking for something that tries to look at the underlying texts and give a simple bite size answer, but more something that talks about how the bible has ambiguous statement [X], the sanhedrin fought and came to [X] conclusion after considering alternatives. Rashi then said [Y], Rambam said [Z], etc.

3. Preferably, the book should be from a Reform perspective. Conservative may be okay, too. Definitely not looking for Orthodox.

So, given the caveats above, do you have any books you can recommend?

posted by kingjoeshmoe to religion & philosophy (13 comments total)

I'd recommend "Kosher Sex" by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (link). It's an interesting look into the role that sex plays in modern Jewish relationships. It also makes for a great coffee table book and conversation starter!
posted by galimatias at 11:21 AM on January 10, 2007

yeah, Boteach's cool, but he was Michael Jackson's rabbi, you know
posted by matteo at 11:23 AM on January 10, 2007

The Jewish Book of Why is a pretty good resource for all aspects of Jewish life, but with a focus on religious observance and law and their theological and historical origins. I remember there being a few questions I had that weren't addressed by the book, but for the most part it was very informative. The edition I have is fairly old and may have been revised since then. There is also a second Jewish Book of Why. I'd recommend getting the set.
posted by SBMike at 11:24 AM on January 10, 2007

Second SBMike
posted by inigo2 at 11:32 AM on January 10, 2007

This is secondary to the type of book you're looking for, but for a really fascinating and wonderful perspective on this, you could guide her to the short stories that make up Issac Bashevis Singer's quasi-memoir, In My Father's Court.
posted by j-dawg at 11:51 AM on January 10, 2007

Not precisely what you have in mind, but Douglas Rushkoff's Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism is, at minimum, a good read.
posted by box at 12:11 PM on January 10, 2007

Not my area, but Solomon Schechter's Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology is a classic and will represent the range of rabbinic opinions on a given topic.

Your best bet is to contact your nearest reform temple, tell the rabbi you're reading up on Reform perspectives on Halakhah (though, in truth, you're already in the camp of the Conservative Movement if you're treating the Law as something other than a historical curiousity) and ask her for a reading list.

Better yet, you could contact look around for a synagogue in your area that has an evening Talmud Shiur. There's really no substitute for looking at the texts themselves and there are plenty of resources to help you even if you don't read Hebrew. Rather than shoving a bunch of books down her throat, you might have a much better time of it if you read some text together.
posted by felix betachat at 2:18 PM on January 10, 2007

Here's a big reading list that should get you started.
posted by felix betachat at 2:30 PM on January 10, 2007

IANAJ but this short article appeared in Newsweek this week: Beliefwatch: Bookish. It is about the woman behind Nextbook.
posted by loosemouth at 3:16 PM on January 10, 2007

I'm confused too: I thought the point of Reform Judaism was more "[t]he autonomy of the individual in interpreting the Torah and Oral Law, as well as in deciding which observances one is thereby prescribed to follow" (quoting the Wikipedia artticle).

Anyway, here's the Reform/Progressive FAQ, which it says is "is drawn primarily from published positions of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) and the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) -- the primary organizations for Reform Judaism in North American[sic]" and includes links to both the UAHC and the CCAR. The FAQ also says that "[t]his list should be used in conjunction with the Soc.Culture.Jewish Reform Reading List" (of which felix betachat just provided a text version; I prefer HTML for such research, YMMV). And from a quick Dogpile search I found an organization called the American Council for Judaism (ACJ), said website having an article list from their magazine, one or two of which might serve your purpose. And MyJewishLearning.com has (among other things) a list of magazines and webzines that undoubtedly will have pointers to other information sources. And then there's the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) which also has a actual physical library in Manhattan where they have ("in addition to a monthly book club") discussions on the kinds of things you're asking about (see my "library" link for "brief descriptions of past presentations"), but if you can't just up and fly cross-country there's a Learning section to their website and a list of links to other directories and web sites that also might lead to helpful information (like resouces in Los Angeles).

I'm sure there's much more info out there, but I am not a real reference librarian (IANARRL); I just typed in the vaguest of search terms (reform judaism talmud halakah) and clicked through some links on the first page of results. (This kind of thing is why I love the World Wide Web.) And you could also follow felix' advice about asking a Reform rabbi.
posted by davy at 5:40 PM on January 10, 2007

I'd really like to show her the ambiguities in the law, how much of it is built from arguing from different positions, and about how, at the end of the day, there is more than one right answer to many questions. The process is as important as the result. To this end, I'm not looking for something that tries to look at the underlying texts and give a simple bite size answer, but more something that talks about how the bible has ambiguous statement [X], the sanhedrin fought and came to [X] conclusion after considering alternatives. Rashi then said [Y], Rambam said [Z], etc.

A good starting point would be the oven of Akhnai story from the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Metzia 59b), which is, to my mind, one of the most wondrous and scandalous texts in the Jewish canon. It shows the paramount importance of hermeneutics and argument to the community.

Of course, this aggadah has spawned its own share of interpretations. A particularly wonderful one is Daniel Boyarin's, which comprises the first chapter of his book, "Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash". If you have access to JSTOR through a university, you can read the article here. It's very clear and exciting.

Another interpretation, from a more overtly legal perspective, is Daniel Greenwood's, Professor of Law at the University of Utah. I've just come across it, but it seems promising.
posted by limon at 6:05 PM on January 10, 2007

(I access JSTOR through my public library's web site; you type in the number above your library card's bar code and a PIN and click. Is this universal, like does LA have it?)
posted by davy at 6:58 PM on January 10, 2007

davy, what an awesome collection of links.

I'm confused too: I thought the point of Reform Judaism was more "[t]he autonomy of the individual in interpreting the Torah and Oral Law, as well as in deciding which observances one is thereby prescribed to follow" (quoting the Wikipedia artticle).

Well, first off, Reform has grown a bit more conservative in recent years - that's still the general position, but more traditions are observed than say, were observed twenty years ago.

I'm guessing maybe joe is trying to give his girlfriend a window into where he comes from, perhaps, and sharing a bit of the complexity of Judaism with her.

I second contacting the urj.org - they have free "taster" classes and then longer paid ones for those who are interested in learning. My wife and I took one together before we married, because she wanted to understand a bit more about Judaism, even if she wasn't planning on being one herself.
posted by canine epigram at 8:15 AM on January 11, 2007