With Might and Strength: The Rabbi Shlomo Goren Autobiography

Editor Rath explains that this "book does not presume to be scholarly, but rather to disseminate Rabbi [Shlomo] Goren's life story as he felt it, saw it, and experienced it." As constructed by Rath from the words of Goren, the late chief rabbi of Israel, this memoir assumes a great deal of familiarity with both Orthodox Judaism and Israeli history. The lack of footnotes or endnotes%E2%80%94for instance, explaining what an admor is, or who Count Bernadotte was and why his assassination by Jewish extremists was significant%E2%80%94will make the text difficult for general readers. Goren was a witness to history; his family moved to Haifa from Warsaw in the 1920s, and he shifted from a Talmudic prodigy to a member of the Jewish underground fighting both the British and the Arabs before Israeli independence. He became the Israeli Army's first chief rabbi and used his knowledge of Jewish law to craft rulings that took into account practical realities. Goren's version of events will raise some eyebrows, as when he gives himself credit for persuading two cabinet minister holdouts to authorize the launching of the Six-Day War, and Rath's hands-off approach leaves that account uncorroborated. (July)