Torah Today
A Renewed Encounter with Scripture
The central element of Jewish worship is the yearly cycle of reading the first five books of the Bible, the Five Books of Moses, called the Torah in Hebrew. Torah Today, a compilation of fifty-four essays that grew out of Pinchas Peli's Torah column in the Jerusalem Post, comments upon the weekly readings from the Torah. Written in a wonderfully clear style, each essay brings the reader closer to the rich spiritual world of Torah as it confronts the challenges of modern society. This reissue of Torah Today, with a new preface by Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, makes this classic work available to a new generation of Bible students.
Even though the first edition was published in 1987, Torah Today is still relevant to the modern reader. . . . It should have a wide readership in the Jewish and Christian worlds.
The late Pinchas H. Peli was Professor of Jewish Thought and Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, where he held the Norbert Blechner Chair in Jewish Values. Rabbi Peli was a lifelong resident of Jerusalem.
Harold M. Schulweis is the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. Many consider him to be the preeminent pulpit rabbi in the United States. He is the founding chairman of the Jewish Foundation for Christian Rescuers, an organization that identifies and honors those Christians who risked their lives to save Jews during the Nazi era.
- Foreword: Dialogue with Torah by Harold M. Schulweis
- Preface
- Genesis
- A Weekly Renewal
- The Noahide Laws
- In Quest of an Ideal
- It's the Style That Counts
- The Test
- All's Well That Ends Well
- Between Two Dreams
- Planning for a Confrontation
- Every Generation—Its Dreamers
- The Return of the Assimilated Jew
- Scoundrel's Haven
- Grandchildren and Jews
- Exodus
- The Beginning of the End
- The Road to Freedom
- Trial and Error
- Language of Faith
- Welcoming Outside Advice
- Blind Obedience Is Not Enough
- Partnership Offer
- The Caring Heart
- A Political Lesson
- Two Sanctuaries
- Open to Public Scrutiny
- Leviticus
- The Significance of Sacrifice
- Balancing Fire and Light
- Why Kashrut?
- The Mystery of Birth
- The Lethal Tongue
- Life and Death
- All You Need Is Love
- At the End of the Road
- When Torah and Land Meet
- Strength and Peace
- Numbers
- True People's Army
- What a Blessing
- On Complaining
- Pompous Delegation, Tragic End
- Disastrous Mutiny
- Time for a Change
- The Seven Books of Moses
- Choosing a Leader
- Sharing the Responsibility
- Facing Reality
- Deuteronomy
- A Time for Action, Another for Words
- First Refusenik
- The Strangers
- The Art of Giving
- The Pursuit of Justice
- Generation Gap
- The Gift of Joy
- Choosing Life
- Strong and of Good Courage
- Pride and Prejudice
- The Last Blessing
- Guide to Values and Topics
