Torah Lights: Genesis Confronts Life, Love and Family
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 PostContemporary 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