Thread by @JoshuaCypess

1/ Last year I read Moment magazine's Five Books Project (momentmag.com/five-books-pro…) - which asks prominent Tribespeople which 5 books are essential to be an educated Jew.

To put it mildly, this topic is right in my wheelhouse (book maven, rabbi, PhD in Jewish Studies)

2/ The basic question is: "which books I should read to be an 'educated Jew'" & it's variously interpreted. Initially, I was being cute: Bible, Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud, Mishnah Torah, Shulchan Arukh.

But that's actually a poor answer.

3/ Ya see, I'm a book guy, but 80% of my vast library are reference books. I've read, cover-to-cover, 20% of my library (& 5%+ of my books I haven't even opened, oy)

The Moment shyla is abt reading, not owning. So for my 5 Books I needed to set real rules if I want to be useful

4/ I need to propose 5 books that are: (a) ones I've actually read & usually read often; (b) books I can expect everyone to be able to read before they're 30 yrs old; (c) and key: the basis for being educated no matter what stream of Judaism, from Reconstructionist to Chasidic

5/ Ya see, I can't expect everyone to read my original 5 (Talmud, Bible etc) because I personally had to force myself to read all of the Bible & did so only once. I took over 7 years to finish the Babylonian Talmud. And I don't ever expect to read all of the Shulchan Arukh.

6/ Those 5 books are basically reference; only the super-elite has read all 5 "books" (which is really over a 100 actual books) & in my own life, that's not what I re-read to make me educated and prepared to be the best servant of God I can be

7/ So I came up with my list last year & so far it's unchanged. These are 5 books (2 actual single books, 3 series) that I've read, that I can assign to ppl (& have done so for my conversion students) & I believe will be needed for every Jew from every form of secular & religious

8/ The Five:
(1) Rashi on Chumash
(2) Rabbi Menachem Leibtag's Chumash commentary
(3) Rambam's Laws of Repentance
(4) Kitov's "The Book of Our Heritage"
(5) Rav Soloveitchik's "Fate and Destiny"

See below for why.

9/ #1 Rashi on Chumash (chabad.org/library/bible_…)

This is the largest series, but most schools start this at the youngest age. While it looks cheap to basically add a 6th book (the Torah), it's also pretty much a given to know the Chumash.

10/ #1 cont: But my point is that knowing the parsha/Chumash isn't as needed as knowing Rashi's interpretation. Rashi's project is to choose one or two the paramount rabbinic comments on the verse out of the *hundreds* in the Gemara & many books of Midrash.

11/ It's usually wrong to claim 'Rashi says' b/c what we're quoting is a Gemara or Mechilta or Sifrei. Rashi's genius is choosing what he prefers. That's why other rabbis 'disagree' with Rashi - b/c they disagree w/ his choice or w/ his interpretation of the Chazal.

12/ This is also why choosing Rashi isn't being Ashkenaz-centric, b/c his commentary is just a collection of earlier sources. E.g., when Saadia Gaon sounds like Rashi, it's b/c Saadia is quoting the same Chazal.

Yet this popular misconception about Rashi shows his importance.

13/ I'm putting Rashi on the list, and as #1, b/c Rashi's comment on a verse is how the majority of Jews over our history have understood that verse. Rashi has become the baseline for how our people have primarily understood the Torah & as such knowing Rashi = knowing Chumash

14/ Knowing Rashi doesn't mean accepting the Midrash as the pure definition of the verse (for oh so many reasons) but IMO it's crucial for everyone to have a shared starting point, which has been Rashi (aka the rabbinic statements quoted by Rashi) for over a millennium

15/ It's also crucial to recognize that Jewish tradition rejects a literal translation of the Bible, and that also comes through when we read Rashi.

True, many people then take Rashi literally... but that's an easier theological/epistemological problem to deal with.

16/ That's the first of the 5:
*(1) Rashi on Chumash*
(2) Rabbi Menachem Leibtag's Chumash commentary
(3) Rambam's Laws of Repentance
(4) Kitov's "The Book of Our Heritage"
(5) Rav Soloveitchik's "Fate and Destiny"

In a moment, I'll add the next 2-5

17/ #2 Rabbi Leibtag on Chumash (tanach.org) feels like a cop-out b/c it's not even in a book yet (I'm trying! Send him an email to ask him to do it!) but it's 2020 & even suggesting 'books' feels outdated. Remember when we needed to say 'cordless' phone? 'Color' TV?

18/ Rabbi Menachem Leibtag (RML) has distilled the 20/21st Century work in 'pshat' commentary (esp. from Gush) & processes it through his own high quality pedagogy & clarity. While Rashi is needed as the baseline (even RML references it), every Jew needs to know the pshat.

19/ I taught Bible in Stern College for 3 years & I defined Pshat as the *necessary* interpretation of the Biblical text (as op. to "drash" which is a didactic interp., or at least a *possible* interp.)

Nobody has collected & taught the pshat on Chumash better than Rabbi Leibtag

20/ So since I believe an educated Jew needs to know the Chumash, my first 2 choices are #1 Rashi - to know what Jews over millennia, from the time of the Gemara until now, say about Chumash & #2 Leibtag - to know what the Chumash really means.

21/ #3 on the Five Books list is Sefer Toda'ah by Rav Eliyahu Kitov, translated into English as a 3 book series "The Book of Our Heritage"

When I taught conversion classes, I used this basically as a textbook.
feldheim.com/book-of-our-he…

22/ Every student needed to spend at least one year living a Jewish life in a community, practicing the customs of the year, and I had them read Kitov to prepare for each season

Kitov is like Rashi for Jewish life & the holidays. In that, he teaches what traditional Jews "know"

23/ Kitov describes & explains the customs of the holidays, the laws, & the prominent midrashim.

He writes at a level for everyone to understand (see chabad.org/search/keyword…) as op. to Zevin's "Festivals in Halacha" which I love, but is more for elites

24/ These 3 books #1 Rashi on Chumash, #2 R'Menachem Leibtag on Chumash, #3 Kitov on the holidays are basically enough for every Jew to know how to understand God's covenant (the Chumash) as common custom (Rashi) & meaning (RML) & to understand Jewish life & the holidays (Kitov)

25/ The next two books are about philosophy, morality & life's mission:
#4 Rambam's Laws of Repentance
#5 Rav Soloveitchik's "Fate and Destiny"

Both are single books; but b/c they can be seen as specific to Orthodoxy, I need to substantiate the choices.

26/ #4 Rambam's Laws of Repentance is the last book of Sefer Mada in the Mishna Torah; and I try to read it every year.

Here's a wonderful Hebrew/English translation from Rabbi Eliyahu Touger
chabad.org/library/articl…

27/ What's the Meaning of Life? Well, that's the Chumash. But for more, we need philosophers

My expertise covers many books (MA in Jewish phil. from BRGS which is separate from my PhD in religion & sociology from Brandeis) & I believe the single crucial book is Hilchot Teshuva

28/ There's 10 chapters in Hil. Teshuva, one for each day of the ten days of Repentance. Rambam writes in beautiful, precise Hebrew & his prose rewards close study.

He teaches how we're judged; which sins are too great to repent due to their vast damage that can't be repaired.

29/ E.g. 4:3 "[sins that are] impossible...to repent completely. [Which] are sins between person and person, concerning which it is impossible to know the person whom one sinned against in order to return [what is owed him] or ask for his forgiveness."
chabad.org/library/articl…

30/ This includes those who take bribes because "He does not know the extent of the perversion or the power [of its implications] in order to pay the [people whom he wronged]"

or "One who takes a share of a thief's [gain], for he does not know to whom the stolen article belongs"

31/ Rambam incorporates the entirety of rabbinic tradition until his time (1200 CE) plus his own multi-faceted genius plus his sensitivity to human behavior & nuance of social action.

E.g. another type of sin is that is often so small that the sinner doesn't consider it wrong.

32/ It may be my favorite:

4:4 "One who eats from a meal which is not sufficient for its owners. This is a 'shade of theft.' But, the person will not realize that he has sinned, for he will rationalize: 'I only ate with his permission.'
chabad.org/library/articl…

33/ Rambam describes a someone whose lack of sensitivity for human deprivation allows them to abuse the poor who are trying to maintain dignity & keep up appearances but also depend on others knowing their difficulties

Being ignorant of another's poverty prevents atonement

34/ Later chapters are abt reward & punishment, rules of free will, the manner in which we serve God (out of Fear, or out of Love or - highest of all - out of Love)

[Also, a close reading in 10:5 teaches that women should learn Torah at the highest level]
chabad.org/library/articl…

35/ But is the book useful for non-Orthodox? Well, I've often said that Rambam for Jews is like Abraham Lincoln for Americans: everyone claims him & makes him into their own group.

Rambam is the patron rabbi of Chabad and Modern O and is required for every yeshiva student

36/ If there's any one rabbi who's been claimed by all Jews, due to his breadth of coverage, dedication to tradition & Jewish law while also being expert in philosophy & science, it's Rambam.

Even when people disagree w/him (see: reaction to his Guide), he's still kept in canon

37/ Moreover, I feel the Laws of Repentance are an important starting point for understanding the issues of reward & punishment, how to understand the impact of our actions on this world, how to worship God, etc.

My choice of Rambam follows the pattern set above in the first 3

38/ Rashi, Leibtag, Kitov are to create a combination of knowledge in (a) commonly held Jewish knowledge & tradition about practice & ideology while (b) teaching the laws AND the rationalist understanding of the common tradition.

Rashi AND Leibtag. Kitov gives tradition AND law

39/ So too, Rambam in Hilchot Teshuva gives the laws and tradition of repentance as written all over the Talmud plus his neo-Aristotelian philosophy, scientific reasoning, & wise common sense on how to understand those rabbinic statements.

It's a necessary book to start with.

40/ The last of the 5 (chronologically & the one I'd likely substitute out, if needed):

Rav Soloveitchik's "Fate and Destiny" (Eng. version of "Kol Dodi Dofek") which is about Zionism, Israel but ultimately about the mission of the Jewish people

books.google.com/books?id=YeQlK…

41/ I try reading this every year after Passover for the period of the Four Days (as I call it) of the modern period: Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel's Memorial Day & Independence Day, & Jerusalem Day.

This is a good summary of the main points
lookstein.org/professional-d…

42/ Rav Soloveitchik z'l (aka "the Rav" in my community) is my grand-teacher many times over & like the Rambam (oh, look at me), he combines Jewish tradition with deep & methodical, rationalist thought.

This follows the above pattern, of course. I'm Modern Orthodox for a reason

43/ This book is here b/c I believe that every educated Jew (the reason for this list) needs to understand a mature, well argued & traditional case for Zionism.

I'm modern Orthodox and Zionist, not as a compromise but as an optimal philosophy. This book helps explain why.

44/ Were I a chassid, the 5th book would be from my rebbe; a Charedi, maybe "Michtav me'Eliyahu" to explain the resistance to modernity.

But this is my list, my mind, & what I think everyone needs to know.

I've lived my life w/o reading those other books. I *need* the Rav.

45/ Every Jew, secular to charedi, needs to confront tradition and modernity and the modern state of Israel as well as the concept of the Jewish people as a political entity.

The Bible is clear we are a nation. So how to understand that idea is part of knowing what Judaism means

46/ The Rav explains w/typical thick nuance & detail what living according to the shared fate of peoplehood - what made every Jew a potential victim of the N*zis but also what creates a need for mutual aid & responsibility

But also what it means to have Destiny: a world mission.

47/ As I conceive the list of books needed to be educated, we need to know What is the tradition, What is Jewish practice (the first 3) then How to live as a commanded being (Rambam) then Why Be Jewish, why do we need to act as a nation, in Diaspora or in our own land.

48/ I'll finish for now. See below for many others (incl. some of my friends, @YehudaKurtzer or @ABuchdahl & teachers like Shula Reinharz or @DrEricaBrown) or famous Twitter rabbis (e.g. @TheRaDR)

Or add your own, I'd like to see it. #ShanahTovah !

momentmag.com/what-five-book…

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