Book News
I’m pleased to announce that the Hebrew edition of the first volume of The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom has finally come off the press! It can be purchased at the museum or on the museum website at this link. If you’ve got grandchildren in Israel, or you need to give a bar mitzvah present in Israel, this makes the perfect gift! It’s also very helpful to anyone learning Daf Yomi - as with the English edition, it includes an index to every animal reference in the Gemara listed according to the Daf. And you can also buy it for any yeshivah library, because it is OU-approved to be 100% free of added heresy!
In response to a question that I keep getting - no, I don’t know when the second volume of the English edition (covering birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and fish) will be coming out. It’s about 60% complete, but it’s been that way for many years, and I have very little time to focus on it. Sorry!
I do have some other museum writing projects that are likely to be published much sooner. These include a book of short Divrei Torah on the parasha relating to nature, a book on Exotic Kosher Cuisine combining both halachic and historic discussion along with recipes from the chefs at our famous museum events, and a coffee-table book to accompany our “Art of the Ark” exhibit.
I’m also toying with publishing a book about Torah, Work and Army, based on many notes and posts that I have accumulated on the topic. And perhaps a book about the ban on my books, on the occasion of the forthcoming 20th anniversary! There’s a lot of complicated editorial considerations regarding that one - perhaps I’ll write some posts about them.
Meanwhile, all my books that are in print can be purchased at the museum website, with free shipping in the US. (Please always buy from there rather than from Amazon!) I also have some free monographs there for downloading. Happy reading!
Mazel Tov, this is great news!
I'm sad to hear that you haven't made any headway with volume two. I'd like to repeat my suggestion I've made here in the past. If you would spend only 8 hours a day attacking Chareidim, instead of 9, that would give you an extra hour every day to actually be productive. This may not sound like a lot, but if you do this every day consistently, this will eventually add up. פרוטה פרוטה מצטרפת. I'm sure within a year or two we would have volume two all ready to roll.
But who will do your important work of Chareidi bashing while you're away, I hear you asking? Have no fear, I promise you the slack will be filled by many of your wonderful colleagues, from David Duke to Avigdor Lieberman. This is truly a win win for everyone.
I truly mean no offense, and I hope you don't take it that way.
All the best!
Sorry, not related to this post but -
I haven't gotten the full culture-war story yet, but coming with an outsider-ish perspective, I wanted to ask about the afterlife. The last few posts on RJ made me ponder a lot about this and I wanted to receive some clarification:
If there is an afterlife, I would think it follows easily that our time spent here on this world is kind of just to get there. Before I became religious I thought this life was a bit meh. Religion was like not a thing. So what we do don't matter. That simple. For some reason we all like to make meaning out of life, but it's all just to feel good. The afterlife card that religion offers makes this game meaningful. Working towards a goal, living for something beyond this grind.
Before I was very into science before. I especially loved quantum stuff. Not as a career and I was NEVER into the mathematics but man, Brian Greene's books were like the best things I've ever read! Actually met him once on a trip to New York at one of his fancy science festivals, really nice guy! But now with religion, I mean science is still cool, sure, but it pales in comparison to what's in store if there is an afterlife. Eternity?? That is freaky stuff. That's reality!
More and more I'm convinced of this Judaism thing, and that means this afterlife thing is legit. If this is all true, you can call me selfish, but like heck I'm not going to give this stuff up. I'm working with a study partner on Chinukh and Minchat Chinukh, getting the Mitzvot down pat (up to number 28 after a year plus!) Because I know that God wants us to learn His Torah and Mitzvot to get a picture of who He is before we kick the bucket. And three weeks ago I disabled my Netflix account and haven't watched a movie with girls since:)
Here is where I believe Haredim get it right. But I think there is a point that this ultra-focus on self perfection, even if correct, can breed selfishness. Now if I understand Luzzatto correctly, he explains that the reward is the connection with God, and being selfless is Godly, thus being selfless will actually help earn that reward. But does that flip the script and make it selfish again? This philosophy rabbit hole is giving me a headache.
The reason this has been bothering me now is because the Rationalists keep saying how Haredim are selfish, and do they have a point? Maybe. But their point is not actually against Haredim. It is against religion (with an afterlife) in general.
If anyone can help me, I'd be delighted.
Yo 😎