Reviews for Holy Letter: A Study in Jewish Sexual Morality

The average rating for Holy Letter: A Study in Jewish Sexual Morality based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-12-13 00:00:00 Glen Shepard NO SPOILERS: I LOVE this! Something to sink my teeth into. Gosh, I am being spoiled, one lovely book after the other! I sit here thinking about having recently read Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps, Jamilia,I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust and Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China. They are all so completely different! And yet each one has been wonderful to read. Look what we can do with words! The same thing hits me with sounds - you are given set tones and from them look at all the songs that can be created! Sometimes I just marvel at what can be done with the things at our fingertips! Chrissie stop philosophizing! This book appeals to me right now b/c: 1. It teaches about Indionesian history. 2. It is a memoir, so you experience what living through history is like. 3. There are magical Hindu myths intertwined with the hard facts. 4. Bali is conjured befor your eyes. I like the spunk of this woman, who was drawn to Bali. She lived there NOT as a tourist, but as one of the indigenous people. She came to love the land as her own. To love it and to fight for it to achieve Indonesian independence. And to suffer for it - she ends up in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during WW2. However, I have just begun. She was born and spent her early childhopod on the Isle of Man. When her Scottish step-grandfather died, her mother moved them to Hollywood in the US. Now she has her heart set on Bali, and that is where she will go. Magic and fate and being dealt a given hand of cards are part of her upbringing as a Manx child. So off to Bali it is. It is written in the stars. What will she do with the hand of cards dealt her? I have only read 18 pages and all of this already been served! And now I have finished the book. When I began reading this I realized that I have previously read another book about Indonesia, set in the time immediately following WW2, about the chaos the country was in. About the Indonesian fight for independence and the role Japan, Britain and the Dutch played in the years following WW2 up tp 1949 when Indonesia became independent. The other book I had read was The Admiral's Baby by Laurens van der Post. When I added this book to my shelves, I wrote a short review. I read the book quite a few years ago. One of my friends brought to my attention that after van der Post's death a biography was written that claimed he was a complete liar. This caused a huge ruckus in the media. Please see the comments under my review of The Admiral's Baby, rather than my repeating everything here. There you will find links to the discussions concerning the moral depravity of van der Post. I was quite shocked when I heard of this. I had assumed that all I had read in the Admiral's Baby was correct. It really felt truthful. I guess I had been duped. The upshot of this was that I had no intention of being duped again, and the book I was rcurrently eading, Revolt in Paradise, did have me a bit worried. Some facts seemed rather too stupendous. The author had met so many, done so much, had herself played such a leading role in the Indonesian fight for independence. So I looked on the net. What do I discover, but that another book has been written disclaiming the veracity of Revolt in Paradise. This book is entitled The Romance of K'tut Tantri and Indonesia. This book, which I have not read, is said to go beyond criticizing K'Tut Tantri and turns the book toward a discussion of how you judge the truth of an autobiographer. What is "the truth"? In an autobiography you are given how the author sees his/her life and the events held therein. Maybe truth isn't black or white, but gray! Of course some truths are verifiable, and these better be correct. Other events may however be open to interpretation. This is where veracity can be debatd. Anyhow, tthis discussion of dishonest authors influenced how I judge Revolt in Paradise. My gut feeling is that the hisorical facts are correct but Tantri's role in the events is exagerated. It is completely verifiable that she was Surabaya Sue, that she played an important role in broadcasting the news representing the views of the Indonesians freedom fighters against Dutch colonialism. This book is chockful with clear facts of the events in the fight for independence. BUT, even here I have some quibbles. Too few dates were given. Treaties were named and battles sited, and I wanted to know on what date this or that occurred. The timeline of the events was not completely linear, so one couldn't be quite sure. And then there is a map, but it was TERRIBLE. Impossible to read and lacking some of the cities discussed in the book. Neither was there an index or any notes. What made ma most worried about the veracity of her role in the events was the way the story was written. I swear it felt like a movie script. It was VERY exciting. And the things she thought up and did and organized, well, I am sorry, I find it all a bit hard to believe. It is her role in history that I think is exagerated. There is one episode where she says everything had to be kept secret, and even up to the writing of the book it was kept secret! So how do we know it is true?! In the final analysis I have chosen to give this book 3 stars. There is much to be learned about the Indonesian fight for independence and the culture and traditions of Java and Bali. The author's work is written as an exciting political novel. You do not want to put it down. It is an exciting read. By the end I was reading bits out loud to my husband and laughing. It was that enjoyable, but you have to read it with a discerning eye. You have to think - OK, this is how SHE sees her role in the events. The event did happen, and perhas she was involved, but not to the extent that she claims! It is also important to remember that there were many who hated her, particularly among the Dutch! Of course the Dutch and even the British would wish to denounce and blacken her name, so who can you trust to give the correct story? I cannot know with certainty what exactly is right and what is not. I was often looking at Wikipedia for clues. So read the book to learn about Indonesian independence and about the traditons and cultures of Java and Bali. Have a fun time gripping your seat while you read of her escapades and adventures. She sees herself as an Indonesian. She stes clearly that Indonesians love play acting, and they love an adventure. When she said this, I kind of felt she gave herself away. It is not wrong to read this book! I enjoyed reading it, and I've learned a lot! ETA: My GR friend Petra gave me two links that review this book. I laughed b/c they have the same view as I do - read the book. It is fun and very informative, but don't believe every ounce of it. I must first warn that these reviews give serious "spoilers". If you are interested, here they are: Thank you Petra!

Review # 2 was written on 2021-09-23 00:00:00 Mark Bigonger This is an interesting autobiography about an American woman who makes Bali her home in the early 1930's, is imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese during World War II, and helps her fellow countrymen in Indonesia finally gain their independence a few years later. I enjoyed learning about the history of the area.