The Jewish Book of Why

OK, so ever since my grandmother died my family has been lets say "less than religious" We don't celebrate hardly anything anymore and I find it sad. I now have my own family, a son that is 5 and a husband that is also young at heart. Between my husband and myself, we want to raise our son with some sort of religion or spirituality and we didn't really know where to begin, that is until we found this book. The fact of the matter is that we had to buy another copy because we were "fighting over it" at times. Enough said.....OYE

The first book was good. This book is great.

Alfred J. Kolatch’s 1981 book “The Jewish Book of Why” is the first of a two-book series in which the Conservative rabbi explains in clear and easy to read language the origin and significance of Jewish practices, holidays, and symbols. Rabbi Kolatch (1916-2007) published more than fifty books. In this volume, he focuses on customs, traditions, and rituals in sixteen areas such as the early years of life, marriage, divorce, death, mourning, dietary laws, and holidays.Among many dozens of questions that he answers are why do Jews observe the Sabbath, why do many male Jews wear yarmulkes (skullcaps), what holidays occur each month, why is it that the religion of the mother not the father determines the religion of her child, may a woman perform circumcision on a male child, why do Ashkenazic Jews not name children after living relatives while Sephardic Jews prefer to name children after living relatives, why do some male Jews refrain from marrying a woman whose first name is the same as their mother, why are weddings permitted on Lag B’Omer, why do brides circle their groom many times during the wedding ceremony, why is drinking wine part of the wedding ceremony, why is the wedding ring first placed on the index finger and then transferred to the fourth finger of the left hand, why is a glass broken during the wedding ceremony, why do a bride and groom go to a private room to be alone immediately after the wedding ceremony, why can’t a woman initiate a Jewish divorce, why does a Jewish divorce certificate have to be handwritten, and why is it written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. This small sampling shows that the book is quite comprehensive and informative.

I have had a copy of this book for decades, and I was very glad to find it still available on Amazon to give to my mixed-heritage niece. She had many questions about the Jewish side of her heritage, and no book answers them better than this one.

Answered so many questions I've had for a long time-and much more!

Answers to questions you never asked. Interesting.

I got this as a gift for a friend who is always asking me questions about the Jewish religion. I also own one myself and find it very helpful.

This is a wonderfully informative book. I have a copy, and bought another for my grandson. You can read straight through the book, use it to just get the answers to any of your questions, or just turn to any page at random and educate yourself. I highly recommend this book.

Very interesting g bookGreat read

great book

I found this little book helpful for my course on judaism. While it was basic it gave the answers I was looking for

Not what I ordered but now sorted out very generously - see above. This was a miniature (and incomplete) version of what I wanted and that was not clear from the advert

excellent and well worth the money