An Intelligent Person's Guide to Judaism: Vol 1 (a first printing with authors signed plate)

What does it mean that we are spiritual beings? In tackling this important issue, this book argues that Judaism possesses a core of wisdom that appeals to Jews and non-Jews alike, and rejects Judaism seeking piety in abstractions, in rationalising injustice, in explaining the Holocaust away as a punishment for assimilation. It pleads for recognition of the fact that, unlike Christianity, Judaism is not about death or suffering, but primarily about seeking optimism and spirituality. In a modern world riddled with angst, this book aims to have a positive impact on how our relation to society should be understood.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is Director of the L'Chaim Society, a high-profile Jewish education organization in Oxford, Cambridge and London, which hosts world figures and statesmen lecturing on values-based leadership. He appears regularly on radio and television, and lectures around the world on contemporary issues. His weekly essays o modern-day dilemmas and relationships appear with regularity in leading newspapers in the UK and the United States, and are read by a dedicated international following on the internet. His most recent books include Kosher Sex (1998) and The Jewish Guide to Adultery (1995). Rabbi Boteach lives in Oxford and London with his Australian wife Debbie and their six children.