Torah Book Reviews

Making It Work A Practical Guide To Halachah In The Workplace Rabbi Ari Wasserman Distributed by Feldheim / 524 pp. I'm just blown away. The "Ari Wasserman" label has simply proven itself once more as being synonymous with excellence in Torah, primarily Halachic, literature. In this latest volume R' Ari, who should be everyone's role model of a "working Ben-Torah," presents all the thorny issues that Orthodox Jews must face in the workplace. Some of the issues dealt with include yichud, shaking hands with the opposite sex, holiday parties, dina d'malchusa dina, honesty when interviewing, entering non-Kosher restaurants, and much more. Every issue includes real-life stories, mussar, hashkafa, and of course, the halachic issues. This book is unprecedented in it's style, presentation, and "halachic honesty," presenting all the major halachic views from all ends of the Orthodox spectrum. There may not be a more well-rounded advance...

Forgotten Giants: Sephardic Rabbis before and after the Expulsion from Spain Rabbi Yosef Bitton Gefen Publishing House / 121 pp. Although most of us have heard about such Sephardic greats like Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel and Rabbi Yosef Caro, and their accomplishments, the same may not be true regarding such other greats like Rabbi Avraham Saba and Rabbi Tam Ibn Yahya. As such, Rabbi Yosef Bitton, an author and rabbi living in New York City, has done a tremendous service and Kiddush Hashem by resurrecting the memory of over two dozen Sephardic Scholars from the pre to post Spanish expulsion Era with his “Forgotten Giants”. Although brief, but inspiring, Rabbi Bitton presents the basic biographies of these rabbis, from where they were born to the works they left behind, many of which continue to shape Jewish law today. I would like to take this opportunity to mention --not unique to the welcome addition of “Forgotten Giants”-- that today’s orthodox produced biographies can ...