Rabbis: Observations of 100 Leading and Influential Rabbis of the 21st Century
Rabbis is an extraordinary book about modern Judaism. It features portraits of rabbis and essays in their own words. Spanning the globe and the ideological spectrum, this book portrays today's Jewish leaders, and Judaism itself, in its diversity and dimensions. Keepers of the flame of Judaism, these are people who are working in the twenty-first century but are deeply aware of their religious legacy.\ The people here represent the rabbinate as the hard-to-define, impossible-to-categorize...
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Rabbis is an extraordinary book about modern Judaism. It features portraits of rabbis and essays in their own words. Spanning the globe and the ideological spectrum, this book portrays today's Jewish leaders, and Judaism itself, in its diversity and dimensions. Keepers of the flame of Judaism, these are people who are working in the twenty-first century but are deeply aware of their religious legacy.The people here represent the rabbinate as the hard-to-define, impossible-to-categorize world that it is. Included are rabbis who are fixtures on talk shows, serious authors, scholars, the first woman rabbi, and the first Ethiopian rabbi. Their stories, in terms of their coming to grips with their spirituality and their Judaism, are brilliantly articulated, filling the book with inspirational messages and spiritual guidance for people of all faiths. Author Biography: George Kalinsky has been the official photographer at Madison Square Garden for more than thirty years, as well as for The Alvin Ailey Dance Company. He is also a special photographer for the New York Mets. He has authored seven books, and his photos have appeared in numerous publications. Michael Kress edited the rabbis' personal essays. A graduate of Yale and of Harvard Divinity School, his writing on religion and spirituality has appeared in many prestigous newspapers around the world. He is the editor in chief of MyJewishLearning.com, a Jewish educational Web site, and the former editor at Beliefnet.com, a multi-faith Web site. Milton Glaser has been a seminal figure in graphic design for over fifty years, originally as a founder of Pushpin Studio and in recent years as the head of the multidisciplinary design firm, Milton Glaser, Inc. His recent book on design is Art Is Work. Publishers Weekly There is, it seems, no shortage of rabbis who do the unexpected, and Kalinsky, official photographer at Madison Square Garden, has gathered 100, presenting their portraits and short first-person essays. Rabbis in cowboy boots, rabbis in fatigues, rabbis on cell phones, gay rabbis, rabbis who eat sushi. A Los Angeles rabbi's shirt reads "Grateful Yid," while another, from Rome, saddles-up on a motorcycle. If the premise is hokey, the essays often are not. While a high percentage here write from Long Island, Marvin Tokayer, the former Chief Rabbi of Japan, writes of his encounter with a Japanese man who revealed his self-taught mastery of Yiddish-despite never having heard it spoken. The two kibitzed a night away, exchanging cultural knowledge. Senator Joe Lieberman declares in his introduction to the book, "Beneath the differences lies an even more profound unity..." And in a "Fiddler" moment, Kirk Douglas in his foreword, calls what these rabbis do "tradition." While there's some schmaltz here, there's also a challenge to bland stereotyping. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
\ Publishers WeeklyThere is, it seems, no shortage of rabbis who do the unexpected, and Kalinsky, official photographer at Madison Square Garden, has gathered 100, presenting their portraits and short first-person essays. Rabbis in cowboy boots, rabbis in fatigues, rabbis on cell phones, gay rabbis, rabbis who eat sushi. A Los Angeles rabbi's shirt reads "Grateful Yid," while another, from Rome, saddles-up on a motorcycle. If the premise is hokey, the essays often are not. While a high percentage here write from Long Island, Marvin Tokayer, the former Chief Rabbi of Japan, writes of his encounter with a Japanese man who revealed his self-taught mastery of Yiddish-despite never having heard it spoken. The two kibitzed a night away, exchanging cultural knowledge. Senator Joe Lieberman declares in his introduction to the book, "Beneath the differences lies an even more profound unity..." And in a "Fiddler" moment, Kirk Douglas in his foreword, calls what these rabbis do "tradition." While there's some schmaltz here, there's also a challenge to bland stereotyping. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalThe official photographer at Madison Square Garden, a special photographer of the New York Mets, and the author of seven photographic books, Kalinsky here focuses on 100 influential rabbis from around the world. On the pages facing their portraits, the rabbis themselves write about their careers and their personal, spiritual, and social commitments and concerns. There are Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist rabbis, among them pulpit rabbis, academics, writers, administrators, a comedian, folk musicians, and a surfer. These rabbis come from both small towns and big cities, ranging from Jerusalem to Paris to Rome. Among them are Marc Gellman, the award-winning author and cohost of The God Squad television program; Yosef Hadana, chief rabbi of the Ethiopian Jews; Alvin Kass, senior chaplain of the New York City Police Department; best-selling author Harold Kushner; and Sally Priesand, the first woman to be ordained a rabbi in the United States. Their brief essays are as diverse as their backgrounds, and Kalinsky's full-page photographs capture some of the depth and color of their hearts, minds, and lives. As Senator Lieberman writes in his introduction, "Together, they help and inspire us all." Highly recommended for young adults and adults, whether Jewish or gentile.-Marcia Welsh, formerly of the Guilford Free Lib., CT Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.\ \
