Sanctified Seasons

Book excerpt: This volume brings together a diverse collection of studies related to the cycle of Jewish holy days. Each chapter illustrates in a different way the interplay between the received teachings of the Torah and the vital impact of interpretations by diverse types of personalities, ideologies, historical events and communal dynamics. The articles are written from a sympathetic, but non-dogmatic perspective by an expert in the academic study of the Jewish religion. They were originally published as newspaper columns, and are designed to entertain as much as to educate the intelligent non-specialist.