The Jewish Book of Why

by Alfred J. Kolatch

If you have ever wondered why Jews celebrate a particular holiday or observe a specific ritual or custom, The Jewish Book of Why will surely provide the answer. Since its initial publication in 1981, this best-selling volume has been an essential resource for Jews seeking to better understand their own heritage and for non-Jews desirous of understanding the lifestyle of their neighbors. In this now-classic work, Rabbi Alfred J. Kolatch presents hundreds of questions frequently asked about Jewish belief and practice and provides answers that are concise, clear, and straightforward. Whether discussing the celebration of milestone events, the definition of Jewish identity, conversion from another faith, death and mourning practices and procedures, synagogue ritual, or the rationale behind the kosher dietary laws, he presents the range of views held by the major Jewish Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. The information is presented simply and objectively, replacing confusion and misconception with knowledge and understanding. Enhanced by an index that makes the information readily accessible, The Jewish Book of Why is authoritative, enlightening, and indispensable.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Nonfiction, Religion, Reference, Judaica, Theology

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was very informative regarding Jewish holidays, traditions, and rituals. I keep it handy to refer to anytime a reference is made to something in another book, the media, or the calendar. I would recommend it to everyone who desires to know more of the Jewish culture. It was very thorough without being overly long.

[John Martindale · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good deal of the whys didn't appear to justify or offer any sort of rational grounding to a number of Jewish practices, I understand their commitment to Torah, but the application of it and the basis for many customs seemed pretty out there for me. Many of the whys behind certain customs went back to medieval superstitions, and beliefs in magic. A number of custom were the result of some rabbi creatively adapting a word or concept from some completely unrelated biblical passage that had nothing to do with the custom at hand, other customs are simply because some rabbi said so.

If one wonders why Jews can't eat cheese burgers and must have two different refrigerators, and ask why, one is told that it is because the Torah says "Don't boil the kid in its mothers milk", to which one again wonders WHY for this prohibition has absolutely nothing to do with not eating cheese burgers. To this one is told some Rabbis interpreted it so. At which one wants to ask WHY would other Jews and rabbis accept such a ludicrous, groundless and off the wall interpretation? This is the kind of why question that Kolatch doesn't address. If the basis for such practices are really this loose, practically anything can go, no matter how off the wall and absurd. I just wish for some sort of justification or rationalization. Gee... if I was a Rabbi and read those who have a wet dream are unclean and must go outside of the camp, and said this passage means men cannot sleep, or if they sleep, must be awaken regularly less they dream and if not awaken regularly, they must have their hands bound behind their backs. Surely people would react and say this a ridiculous application of this law, but such an interpretation surely is more connected with the passage, than chilling stake and cheese in the same fridge being prohibited due to a command not to boil a kid in its mothers milk!

I had a similar experience while listing to a book on the early church, much of the Catholic doctrine originated really early, and for many Catholics this is sufficient, when giving the why the church fathers adapted such doctrines and practices, it often comes down to early church authorities taking some random biblical passage completely out of context, or some bizarre and irrational line of thought that was a creative response to some issue at the time.
I guess really it comes down to authority, the WHY simply is that someone considered an authority said so. If pressed, one gives the reason why that authority said so, and it doesn't matter if the authorities "why" is ludicrous, based upon pagan superstitions, terrible hermenutics or fallacious reasoning. I suppose respect for the authority means one doesn't press further, it is not to question the authority or challenge the the authorities "reasons", or lack thereof.

Maybe the reason religious books explaining why don't attempt to give a rational and sensible why to many things, is this wasn't the basis on which ancient authorities formulated their ideas and customs, so they're simply undefendable from modern viewpoint.

[Dov Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of great information and I learned from it some interesting details about things I knew a just a little about. The organization can be a bit frustrating and because of the organization, the book becomes repetitive if you try to read it straight through. The conversational tone and relative brevity differentiates this book from other similar books, and makes it in some ways more accessible. Some other books that do similar things but go more in depth: Telushkin's Jewish Literacy, Robinson's Essential Judaism. I think they all cover similar ground and yet each complements each other nicely.

[Zhelana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty interesting book, but all too often it boiled down to "because the Bible says so." I'd like to see some of the more rational reasons for things, and how they evolved. The book was hundreds of one paragraph answers, and I think I would have been happier with it if it had been fewer more in depth answers.

[Patricia Ferreira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book! I've read it to learn more about jews, since I knew what everybody knows: that they don't believe the Messiah has come yet, and they don't eat pork; it was pretty much it, actually, so with this book I learned that their relationship with their religion is much more complex, with many festivities and holy days; and they have to follow millions of rules. Very interesting.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is not a lot of revelatory information here and it would be hard to find an answer to a particular question without a fair bit of "scrolling." But everything was explained with a neatness and simplicity which made it very accessible and a useful reference work given that it is over 40 years old.

This is part of a project where I read through some of the sefarim that my late father had acquired to fill out his shelves and provide straight forward answers to fundamental questions.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot of new info. What stands out most is that they used to (or maybe still do) put knives in the crib with baby boys before their circumcision. That is what stood out most to me because as a general rule, you don't give knives to babies. Like my nephew is almost 4 and he was waiving a chopstick around the other day and that was terrifying enough to my eyeballs and those of everyone in the room.

[Avery Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informational... For the most unnecessary things you need to know about judaism. I was actually pleasantly surprised though. This book was pretty fun to read. I thought this book was going to be a boring informational reading... It was half of that. I really enjoyed the reasoning behind all of the different cultural things that they do. I wouldn't read this again, but I did like it.

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one over the course of a few months off and on. It's a book of common questions and answers, so does not need to be read all at once. For recommending to folks with questions…I'd give it about a 3. There are much better books out there, but this also isn't the worst. Although it was published in the early 1980s, one might expect the answers to questions about a thousands-year-old faith to be somewhat timeless, but this is unfortunately not the case. I was disappointed by Kolatch's lack of scholarly references (footnotes? endnotes? nothing but a bibliography) and his tendency to refer everything back to 'probably this custom started from appeasing the local demons'. Although historically this is actually largely true, without proper scholarly referencing it leaves the casual reader with a strange view of Judaism. What he is saying isn't wrong, but how it is relayed might well be improved upon. The 'Objects and Garb' section offers the most useful information to the Jewish newcomer, in my opinion, and contains a few things I haven't seen explained elsewhere.

[Lisa Ard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read every word of this book, but then the format doesn't lend itself to that. It's more of an encyclopedia on the Jewish traditions and religion with short excerpts explaining why Jews do what they do.

A Jewish friend recommended it to me when I asked for a book that would explain some of the key concepts of Judaism. This conversation arose after she told of setting up the sukka for Sukkot. (What?!) The book covers marriage and divorce, death and morning, dietary laws, clothing, the high holidays, Sukkot, Sheminim Atzeret, and Simchat Tora, Chanuka, Purim, Passover, plus much more.

It was more detail than I wanted, but then again, I found the information I needed and skimmed the rest.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book painful to read. Parts were interesting but most I found very religious. Its one thing to do things because they are commanded in the Bible but to read the reason behind many things alot sounded simply superstitious reasons. I learned alot from this book. I never knew Jews cared which shoe they put on first or had to wave certain types of branches 3 times in each direction and recite certain prayers. This book was a bit of an eye opener. I hope that Jewish people do these things for more meaning than what was conveyed in this book... this book seemed like a bunch of rules.. very specific rules. I personally dont think G-d is that picky, demanding or controling.

[Lisa Feld · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t get me wrong, this book is engagingly written and accurate on many points. But I’m scoring it low because the author has a tendency to ask certain questions no one was asking, or phrase questions in a way that point to his preferred practice: “Why are Shabbes Goys an important part of Jewish life?” “Why are women not allowed to have an Aliyah to the Torah?” as though there is only one right answer, and then avoid mentioning sources or practices he disagrees with, or he will specify why the Orthodox practice is “right” and neglect to mention why Conservative Jews interpret the law differently. I recommend Klein’s Guide to Jewish Practice instead.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend loaned me this book and I am so glad she did. I learned so much about the Jewish religion from this book. If anyone wants to find out why we do the things we do in the Jewish religion, this is the book for you. If you are someone who is interested in understanding the Jewish religion than this book is for you as well. I highly recommend this book as it is extremely informative.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. This helped me understand more about the nuts and bolts of this rich, complex faith and its long history. The best thing about this book is that it breaks down what can seem the Herculean task of gaining insight into Judaism into manageable increments. Rabbi Kolatch's language is clear and accessible. Makes me want to get the sequel.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than I probably ever needed to know about things like the blue thread in a talit (which I thought was a tallis, but whatever). Judaism is so interesting. This book is a Q & A--a little repetitive if you actually read it straight through, but not a bad resource.

[Karyn Wynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. My only complaint is that I do not speak hebrew, and I have the impression that would help. I am reading the second book now tho. It was not that much of a deterrent to no know the language. I am Jewish and I like having the historical reference to WHY

[Laura Gilfillan]

A book explaining the background of many, many of the laws and traditions that Jewish people follow. Interesting, if somewhat overwhelming, to learn about. I also enjoyed finding out more about the ancient history that is the foundation of the Jewish faith.

[C. L. M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly educational. I have learned so much from this book. Mr. Kolatch has clearly put much time into creating this collection of Jewish information. I am now reading the Second Jewish Book of Why as the first was so fantastic.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most any questions you have about Judaism can be answered in this book.

[Marianne Ogden · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the things you wanted to ask a Jewish person but were afraid to ask. It's especially helpful as a cultural perspective.

[Bari · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book my rabbi gave me on bat mitzvah, the book he gave to my brother on his bar mitzvah.... both copies yet to be read all the way through

[Jewcygirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Answers just about any question about Judaism. Love it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this four times now...every time I do, I learn something.

[Sharon Callaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reading this now. Just to find out why they do and believe as they do.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pick this up whenever I have a question. I've read the whole chapter on death and burial customs. It's very interesting!

[Zmira · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am still reading this book but i really has great facts about judisum

[Amy Sjoquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

read a lot of it, good answers

[Joshua Sierk · Rating 4 out of 5]

still reading, sort of, on & off, whenever i get inspired. it's great to pick up & put down & that's what i've done for several years.

my brotherinlaw has all of the series & i recommend them all

[Jada Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, but definitely written for someone more aware of Jewish tradition than myself.