judaism

Finished The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel last year, and got around to reviewing it this weekend. A short but very thoughtful book.

"Very good, concise book which helped me develop a more intimate and philosophical understanding of Judaism. Heschel has an influential but singular view of the religion and its practices which are clearly conveyed in The Sabbath. The objective of the book is to provide a broad understanding of the origin of the Sabbath and how it is understood and practiced in Judaism from a moral, not practical, perspective. Heschel makes a convincing argument that the Sabbath is a fundamental and inextricable practice in Judaism that relates to torah, God, Israel, and Hebrew, and seems to unite them. The core argument is that while previous religions had holiness, Judaism facilitated a transition of this holiness from space to time."