The Book of Jewish Knowledge: A Multifaceted Exploration of the Teachings, Observances, and History of Judaism

This blinkered chronicle by rabbi Tauber (Beyond the Letter of the Law) comes up short of its aim to “create a single book that surveys the full scope of Jewish teaching and Jewish life.” This extensively illustrated volume tells the Hasidic Chabad movement’s perspective on Jewish history through hundreds of short quotations from scripture, contemporary scholars, and religious leaders, punctuated by textbook-esque reflection questions and sidebars. Tauber provides primers on the Hebrew Bible, law, religious practices, holiday observances, and lifecycle events, but the treatments are superficial and unlikely to offer anything new for those familiar with Judaism. The scriptural analysis is similarly simplistic and portrays, for example, Abraham’s near-killing of Isaac as a straightforward test of faith and “self-sacrifice” despite stating that Isaac never agreed to be sacrificed. The historical coverage is also selective, such as when Tauber discusses the Orthodox rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994) without mentioning the controversial belief of many of his followers that he was the messiah, and when Tauber omits the non-Orthodox origins of the bat mitzvah. Additionally, any compendium that gives the same amount of space to Scarlett Johansson and Ivanka Trump as to Albert Einstein and Karl Marx should be taken with several shakers of salt. Those seeking a balanced, single-volume introduction to Judaism will be better off with Joseph Telushkin’s Jewish Literacy. (Sept.)