What do you think?
Rate this book
The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary
The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary shows Jews of all ages and backgrounds that the Jewish people’s most significant book is not dusty and irrelevant but an eternally sacred text wholly pertinent to our modern lives. Designed to keep the attention of all readers, each lively essay is both brief enough to be read in minutes and deep and substantive enough to deliver abundant food for thought.
Its cornerstone is its unique four-part meditation on the Jewish heritage. After briefly summarizing a Torah portion, the commentary orbits that portion through four central pillars of Jewish life—the Torah ( Torat Yisrael ), the land of Israel ( Eretz Yisrael ), the Jewish people ( Am Yisrael ), and Jewish thought ( Mahshevet Yisrael )—illuminating how the four intersect and enrich one another. Furthering the Jewish thought motif, every essay ends with two questions for thought well suited for discussion settings. Each commentary can be used as the launchpad for a lesson, a sermon, a d’var Torah, or a discussion.
Readers from beginners to experts will come away with new understandings of our Jewish heritage—and be inspired to draw closer to its four dimensions.
Its cornerstone is its unique four-part meditation on the Jewish heritage. After briefly summarizing a Torah portion, the commentary orbits that portion through four central pillars of Jewish life—the Torah ( Torat Yisrael ), the land of Israel ( Eretz Yisrael ), the Jewish people ( Am Yisrael ), and Jewish thought ( Mahshevet Yisrael )—illuminating how the four intersect and enrich one another. Furthering the Jewish thought motif, every essay ends with two questions for thought well suited for discussion settings. Each commentary can be used as the launchpad for a lesson, a sermon, a d’var Torah, or a discussion.
Readers from beginners to experts will come away with new understandings of our Jewish heritage—and be inspired to draw closer to its four dimensions.
- GenresJudaism
408 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2021
4 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 9, 2021
Central to Jewish religious life is the Torah. It provides the foundation for sermons and teaching and liturgical life. In this commentary, written by Rabbi Eli Garfinkle, the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El of Somerset, NJ, we move through the Torah, book by book.
Written in a way that makes it useful for persons of all experiences with the Torah, from the layperson to rabbis. Thus, it will prove useful for sermon preparation. The organizing principle is Jewish heritage. The purpose of this commentary, according to the author "is to help readers open these four dimensions -- the Torah of Israel (Torat Yisrael), the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), the Jewish people (Am Yisrael), and Jewish thought (Mahshevet Yisrael) -- essential to our Jewish heritage." (pp. xxiii-xxiv). The goal is to help the reader of Torah connect the four dimensions of Jewish heritage so as to better understand what it means to be Jewish.
You might say it combines traditional interpretations of the Torah, connections with the geography and of Israel, connections to Jewish identity as a people, and finally, commentaries drawing from Jewish philosophers, classical texts, and modern thinkers. As a Christian preacher, I see this as similar to a lectionary commentary such as Feasting on the Word, which has four parts to it - theology, pastoral care, exegesis, and homiletics.
Designed to make the readings from Torah relevant to modern lives. It is interesting and helpful. I will say that while often helpful the conversations relating to the land and nation of Israel can be offputting from a nonJewish point of view. That is, Garfinkle wants to be clear on his view of Israel's right to control its territory. Thus, there seems to be a Zionist element. It's understandable, but at times as a non-Jewish reader, I found it uncomfortable.
All that said, I found this to be a most useful and intriguing reference book.
Written in a way that makes it useful for persons of all experiences with the Torah, from the layperson to rabbis. Thus, it will prove useful for sermon preparation. The organizing principle is Jewish heritage. The purpose of this commentary, according to the author "is to help readers open these four dimensions -- the Torah of Israel (Torat Yisrael), the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), the Jewish people (Am Yisrael), and Jewish thought (Mahshevet Yisrael) -- essential to our Jewish heritage." (pp. xxiii-xxiv). The goal is to help the reader of Torah connect the four dimensions of Jewish heritage so as to better understand what it means to be Jewish.
You might say it combines traditional interpretations of the Torah, connections with the geography and of Israel, connections to Jewish identity as a people, and finally, commentaries drawing from Jewish philosophers, classical texts, and modern thinkers. As a Christian preacher, I see this as similar to a lectionary commentary such as Feasting on the Word, which has four parts to it - theology, pastoral care, exegesis, and homiletics.
Designed to make the readings from Torah relevant to modern lives. It is interesting and helpful. I will say that while often helpful the conversations relating to the land and nation of Israel can be offputting from a nonJewish point of view. That is, Garfinkle wants to be clear on his view of Israel's right to control its territory. Thus, there seems to be a Zionist element. It's understandable, but at times as a non-Jewish reader, I found it uncomfortable.
All that said, I found this to be a most useful and intriguing reference book.
August 12, 2021
Yet another Torah commentary, you might ask: there are so many of them. But each author offers something different. In the case of Rabbi Eli L. Garfinkel’s “The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary” (The Jewish Publication Society), each parasha (Torah portion) is looked at through four different lenses.
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...
July 8, 2022
I highly recommend reading it even if you are not Jewish. It is very informative, even to Christians.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews