SHULA JACOBS,
NEW and BRILLIANT Upload!Unpublished article. Sources: Gittin 77b; Kiddushin 23a-b. The debate in the Kiddushin passage (above) is on whether a bill of manumission (shtar shihrur or get shihrur) of a slave must be given to someone other than the slave in order to ... Continue Reading ➨
M. H. Luzzatto on Talmudic Argumentation
Unpublished article. The following is the abbreviated version of Luzzatto’s remarkable introduction to Talmudic method as found in the new Jerusalem edition (1976) of Malachi Ha-Kohen’s Yad Malakhi. The treatise itself is somewhat longer (latest ... Continue Reading ➨
Kabbalah: An Account
Unpublished article. The word Kabbalah (from the root kibbel, meaning ‘to receive) is sometimes used in classical Jewish literature to denote tradition as a whole but more often the term Kabbalah is used for the theosophical system which arose in ... Continue Reading ➨
Kabbalah As The Soul of the Torah
Unpublished article. The following oft-quoted passage in the Zohar (Zohar III, 152a) describes how the Kabbalists have their own specific understanding of the sacred text of the Torah. ‘Rabbi Simeon said: Woe to the man who says that the Torah ... Continue Reading ➨
Abba Hilkiah in BT and The Unknown Saint in JT: A Comparison
Unpublished and incomplete article. Z.H. Chajes (1805-1885), in his well-known notes to the Babylonian Talmud printed in the Vilna Romm edition, observes that the story of Abba Hilkiah (Ta’anit 23a-b) is paralleled by the passage in the Jerusalem ... Continue Reading ➨
A Record of Conversations and Impressions of the visit of Rabbi Dr Jacobovits insofar as they concern the New London Synagogue
Unpublished, personal record of events leading up to Louis Jacobs's meeting with Immanuel Jacobovits, July-August 1966. Thursday July 28th 1966: At around 7 p.m. there was a telephone call from Captain Meyers, Sir Isaac Wolfson’s secretary, to say ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Michael H. Newman of ‘Seeker of Unity’
Seeker of Unity Louis Jacobs (Vallentine Mitchell, 25/-) The “Seeker” was Rabbi Aaron of Starosselje, and it was God’s Unity within the universe that he sought. Aaron of Starosselje lived about 150 years ago, and was the favourite disciple ... Continue Reading ➨
Rabbi Jacobs’ on the views of Anglo-Jewish youth – JC article
Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle. Rabbi Jacobs on views of Anglo-Jewish youth Jewish Chronicle Reporter A forecast that the future of the Anglo-Jewish community would lie with thinking people who adopted a “middle-of-the-road” ... Continue Reading ➨
Seymour J. Cohen reviews ‘Jewish Values’
Originally published in Conservative Judaism, Fall 1962-Winter 1963. Reprinted in The Bulletin of the Anshe Emet, 'From the Pulpit' section, p. 2. A REVIEW OF Jewish Values, by Louis Jacobs, Vallentine, Mitchell, London, 1960. Great concern has ... Continue Reading ➨
J. B. Phillips, ‘Four Prophets: Amos; Hosea; First Isaiah; Micah: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew’
Four Prophets: Amos; Hosea; First Isaiah; Micah: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew. By J. B. Phillips. Bles. 15s. J. B. Phillips, famous for his translations of parts of the New Testament, now turns his hand to the Old. The all-too-familiar ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Ben Zion Bokser of ‘Principles of the Jewish Faith’
Originally published in Jewish Bookland, September 1965. PRINCIPLES OF THE JEWISH FAITH: An Analytical Study. By Louis Jacobs. N.Y., Basic Books, 1964. 473 p. $9.50. RABBI LOUIS JACOBS is a controversial figure in English Jewry. He had been ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Leonard M. Schiff of ‘Principles of the Jewish Faith’
Principles of the Jewish Faith: An Analytical Study. By Louis Jacobs. Vallentine Mitchell. 1964. xii + 475 pp. 63s. Rabbi Jacobs has been compared by the journalists to the Bishop of Woolwich and he has certainly become a controversial figure in ... Continue Reading ➨
Maurice Simon & Isaac Levy (eds.), ‘Essays and Addresses’
Essays and Addresses. By Samuel Daiches. Edited by Maurice Simon and Isaac Levy. Samuel Daiches Memorial Volume Committee. Reviewed by Rabbi Dr. LOUIS JACOBS This volume is a fitting tribute to the memory of a beloved scholar and teacher in ... Continue Reading ➨
Judah Goldin (trans.), ‘The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan’
The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan. Translated from the Hebrew by Judah Goldin. Yale University Press, London: Cumberlege. 38s. Reviewed by Rabbi Dr. LOUIS JACOBS “Aboth de-Rabbi Nathan” is one of the so-called Minor Tractates of the Talmud, ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Bro. P. P. Philip Kantor of ‘We Have Reason to Believe’
Originally published in Bnai Brith Bulletin (Australia), March 1962, pp. 12-13, 20. These books have been lately much discussed. Rabbi Dr. Jacobs is considered by influential Jewish circles in Britain as a highly qualified scholar and as a ... Continue Reading ➨
Umberto Cassuto, ‘Commentary on the Book of Genesis’, Part II
Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Part II; From Noah to Abraham. By U. Cassuto, translated by Israel Abrahams. Magnes Press, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1964. xiv + 386pp. 57s. This Commentary on Gen. 6.9-11.32 is the third volume in the series ... Continue Reading ➨
Revelation – A Statement of the Theological Position of the New London Synagogue
Sermon delivered at the New London Synagogue, probably around 1964. The New London Synagogue came into being as the result of a dispute concerning revelation. But revelation is a theological concept and theology is notoriously elusive. While I am ... Continue Reading ➨
‘The Case Against Fundamentalism’ – A Review by Hyam Maccoby
Originally published in Jewish Quarterly 32: 1 (117) (1985), pp. 47-50. A TREE OF LIFE: DIVERSITY, FLEXIBILITY, AND CREATIVITY IN JEWISH LAW By Louis Jacobs (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1984, ... Continue Reading ➨
Review by Rabbi Jack Riemer of ‘Jewish Law’
Originally published in Conservative Judaism, 23: 4 (Summer 1969), p. 81. Jewish Law, by Louis Jacobs, New York: Behrman House, 1968, 210 pp., $4.95. For years the curricula of our religious schools have focused on Bible stories, and our ... Continue Reading ➨
‘A Lifetime in Judaism’ – Portrait of Louis Jacobs by Michael Milston
One of the ironies of life is that when one is living through history one does not always realise that it is history and likewise one can be in the presence of a Tsaddik without always realising that one is in the presence of a Tsaddik. One may not ... Continue Reading ➨