Torah Lights: Genesis Confronts Life, Love and Family - Hardcover

Shlomo Riskin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9657108632 ISBN 13: 9789657108635

Publisher: Urim Publications, 2005

Synopsis

The Bible may be likened to a magnificent diamond, glistening with many brilliant colors all at the same time. And although the different hues often appear to be contradictory, when you view the totality of the light emanating from the diamond, you begin to appreciate how complementary they really are. Thus the sages of the Talmud understood that there are many possible truths contained in each biblical statement, each adding its unique melody to the magnificent symphony of the whole, synthesizing not in conflicting dissonance but in holy dialectic. Torah Lights is Rabbi Shlomo Riskin's analysis and original contemplations on life, love and family in the biblical book of Genesis.

About this title

About the Author:

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin's contributions to Israel and world Jewry over the course of the past 35 years have been instrumental in shaping today's Modern Orthodox society. His vision of an authentic Judaism which is inclusive of every Jew and appreciative of universal human concerns has made him an outstanding figure and leading voice in today's Jewish world.

The founding rabbi of the famed Lincoln Square Synagogue of Manhattan, Rabbi Riskin is internationally renowned for his innovative educational and social action programs, as well as his personal outreach to Jews of all backgrounds. He is the founder and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs, a network of groundbreaking educational institutions including a rabbinical and communal leadership college for men, a college for advanced Jewish studies and the training of women advocates for the rabbinical courts, a women s hesder program, and a Legal Aid Center for agunot.

The author of several books, monographs and articles on Jewish tradition and modern life, his weekly columns on the Biblical portion-of-the-week appear in The Jerusalem Post, as well as in over 30 Anglo-Jewish newspapers worldwide.

Rabbi Riskin received his rabbinical ordination from his mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, at Yeshiva University, and his Ph.D. from New York University. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rabbi Riskin serves as the Chief Rabbi of Efrat, where he resides with his extended family, traveling frequently around the world for speaking engagements.

Review:

Shlomo Riskin - chief rabbi of Efrat and before that of Manhattan's Lincoln Square Synagogue - is no exception in this regard. As he recalls charmingly in the opening pages of Torah Lights: Genesis Confronts Life, Love and Family, his acquaintance with Genesis came during the Friday nights he spent in his grandmother Haya Bayla's home in Brooklyn. A heavily accented Polish immigrant who would not take any criticism of the "savior of the Jewish people, Franklin Delano Rosenfeld," she taught the future rabbi, through Genesis, what some would define as Judaism 101, namely anything and everything from the basics of courtship to her theologically novel concept of "divine disappointment."

In sharing these roots with us early on, Riskin displays his trademark ability to communicate what is dear to him by touching what is dear to his audience. In his exegesis, the rabbi, who during his decades here has painstakingly built a reputation as a bridge builder - between Israel and the Diaspora, Orthodoxy and modernity, Greater Israel and land for peace, and when possible also between Arab and Jew - tenderly transmits a quest for harmony in a world that so often seems hopelessly disharmonious. --Amotz Asa-El, Jerusalem Post

Contemporary Torah commentaries in English are ubiquitous. They are available to reflect every Jewish denomination and to accommodate every religious or secular sensibility. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi (and architect) of Efrat is a master teacher and preacher. He speaks and writes with a modem cadence that reflects very traditional Jewish values. He applies classical and modem interpretations to contemporary issues affecting sentient Jews from all backgrounds. Torah Lights is really a mistranslation of the Hebrew title of this volume. It should be Torah Light-Ohr Torah. Not only is Ohr Torah the name of his network of educational institutions and programs, but Rabbi Riskin truly sheds Torah light on a wide range of topics. --Wallace Greene, Jewish Book World

About this edition

• Publisher: Urim Publications
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 9657108632
• ISBN 13: 9789657108635
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 309