Book of Life: Embracing Judaism as a Spiritual Practice Book

For what it was supposed to be, this book did an excellent job of fulfilling that goal. It was a great intro into the practice of Judaism. It covered the basic tenets of the religion without going too much in-depth into deep, theological rhetoric. It seemed to cover a little bit of everything and go into more detail about things specifically related to practice, and probably some aspects of Judaism that elicit the most questions, such as the proper dietary requirements of keeping kosher. It didn't cover any and everything, but I didn't feel like it was supposed to. That would have made the book like 1,000 pages long. And if there was a portion where you had more questions, Strassfeld does a great job of providing adequate references to other works that you can search out for more detailed knowledge of that specific topic. I really appreciated this as a great introduction into Judaism 101 and think it will give me a solid foundation upon which to build when going into further study of the religion and culture.

Overall, I think my favorite part was the explanation of the different holidays. One of the things that always stuck out to me about Judaism was that there almost always seems to be a different holiday going on, but I only knew the significance behind a couple of them. Strassfeld does a great job of explaining the significance of each holiday, as well as basic practices undertaken to observe the holiday. I also really appreciated his overview of the different main life events that take place within the Jewish community, from bat/bar mitzvahs to weddings and funerals. I found the whole book incredibly interesting and feel like I've learned more about a different culture. There were a couple of things that I wish he had covered in more depth, but that's probably just because I'm picky, specifically, what constitutes a common service and more behind the theological motivations of the religion. I thought it was very interesting how Jews are called to repair the world instead of waiting around for some paradise or otherworldly savior to come and put everything back how it should be. I was very drawn to that idea. I also loved how much Hebrew is interwoven within worship and how much that has acted as a unifier among diverse aspects of such an ancient religion. I wish that he had gone a bit more into the use of Hebrew as a language or included some basic 101 of things to know in Hebrew. He did include the information interwoven throughout the chapters, but some of the terms were only really explained once in an early chapter and then used throughout without a reminder explanation. It got confusing sometimes. Including a glossary would have been a big help. He did a great job of explaining what seem to be the major differences between denominations in appropriate sections, but I also would have appreciated more of a concise overview of those differences in another capacity, either a chart or recap at the end maybe.

Most of my complaints are just really nit-picky. This was a well-written intro into the world and culture of Judaism, why it means what it does, and the basic practice. The perspective is a very contemporary one and acknowledges the difficulty of practicing such an ancient religion in a modern world and that as such, many modifications have been made and the religion is not a one-size-fits-all list of rules. If anyone has any suggestions on other books that build off this intro and go into more detail regarding some of the specifics of Judaism, I would love the recommendations.