Teshuva: A Guide for the Newly Observant Jew

by Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz

Teshuva, return, is a personal, mutli-faceted spiritual reawakening; a desire to strengthen the connection between oneself and the sacred. The book is offered to the ba'al teshuva as advice and guidance in dealing with some of the difficulties likely to be encountered along the way. It addresses matters of principle and spiritual what the observances mean, how they are related, and, once embarked on the path of teshuva, how one is to relate to self, family, and the surrounding society.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (Hebrew: עדין שטיינזלץ) or Adin Even Yisrael (Hebrew: עדין אבן ישראל) is internationally regarded as one of the leading rabbis of this century. The author of many books, he is best known for his monumental translation of and commentary on the Talmud. Rabbi Steinsaltz founded the Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications. Under its aegis, he has published to date 58 books on the Talmud, Jewish mysticism, religious thought, sociology, historical biography, and philosophy. He teaches at Mayanot in Jerusalem. In 1988, he was awarded the Israel Prize, Israel's highest honor. He has received honorary Ph.D. degrees from Yeshiva University, Bar Ilan University, and Ben Gurion University.

Reviews

[Sasha]

An accessible presentation of the process and ideas behind what it means to return to being an observant Jew - whether that return happens when someone is raised observant and leaves for a time or is raised by a secular family.

Told from a distinctly Orthodox viewpoint, the book, to me, served the purpose of broadening my Judaic horizons as a member of a pluralistic community - as opposed to a guide for action that I will follow. If you aren't an Orthodox Jew and are interested in learning about Orthodox ways of thinking - without judgement - this may be a good book to pick up. However, if you aren't familiar with Judaism at all, this isn't the place to start learning about it.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is, in many ways, a light book of advice about how one who intends (or is) newly-observant ought to proceed. It explains where flexibility lies about the path and the view of from the Torah-observant about certain difficult issues (role of women, etc...). It remains, however, an apologetic and perpetuates the view that those Jews who are not Torah-observant are not really Jewish. Then again, I'm not really Steinsaltz's target audience.

[Simcha York · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rabbi Steinsaltz's Teshuvah is a curious and rewarding book. It is primarily targeted at the non-observant Jew who has decided to take on a halachically compliant lifestyle. However, unlike many how-to books, Teshuvah does not really focus on the nuts-and-bolts of halachic observance. This is not a book one would turn to for the ins-and-outs of an observant life. Oddly, for a book that does not focus on such things as the details of prayers and blessings, ritual and liturgy, and the laws of kashrus and shabbos, their is a tremendous amount of pratical advice to be found here.

Primariy, what Teshuvah presents is a guide to preparing one's heart, mind, and soul for the acceptance of a life devoted to Torah and mitzvos. While there is some discussion of such halachic issues as kashrus, shabbos observance, and taharas hamishpacha, these are presented not to provide the reader with the necessary halachic details - which for any one of these topics would be well beyond the scope of this volume - but rather to help the reader prepare for both the spiritual and social demands presented by adherence to the demands of these aspects of Jewish observance.

The information and advice provided by Steinsaltz is surprisingly practical, and this book will serve as a welcome primer for anyone in need of a guidebook to help them navigate both the rewards and struggles that will be encountered along the path toward increased observance.

[Alexa Duchesneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the beginning of this book to be very insightful and useful. The second half of the book was really targeted at people much earlier in their religious journey, so I didn’t gain a ton from that.

[John Minster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful introductory guide to Judaism, which also tries to address some tcommon issues a baal teshuva may face.