Torah IQ: The Great Torah Riddle Book
By David Woolf
SC/400 pp
I was
really excited to get a copy of David Woolf’s “Torah IQ: The Great Torah Riddle
Book.” David (and Fran!) Woolf have been a leading Toronto name in everything related
to tzedakah, chessed, and especially, kiruv, since before I was born. In fact,
my first ever time spending Shabbat overnight in a “stranger’s” home as a Jewishly/religiously "exploring" public-high school teenager was at the Woolf home, thanks to their daughter
Zahava who had befriended me and had gotten me further interested in Judaism than I had been.
So back to
the sefer. Torah IQ is a sefer full of riddles and brainteasers. Most of the
sefer follows the parshiot of the Torah. For every parsha there are about 20 brain
twisting, brain teasing, trivia questions. The answers are given on the next
page. Following the parsha section is a section on “General Torah Questions”. Following
that there is a section on “Halacha and Minhag” (my favorite!). There are a few
other miscellaneous sections, as well. The theme continues in all the
sections.
This sefer was
nothing like I had expected. Nothing. I expected entries like “Name Tzelophchad’s
five daughters,” “Where did Kalev pray before the spy mission?” and “Where is
Moshe buried?”, and the like. Boy was I wrong. There is nothing of the sort. The
questions R’ David asks are deep, challenging, and outright hard. The answers come
from the gamut of meforshim, rishonom and midrashim, and unless you're fluent in classics
like the Ba’al Haturim, Targum(s), Chida, Chassidic masters, Tanach, lesser-known mishnayot, then well, forget it. Don’t sign up for the live TV show Torah
IQ Jeopardy challenge. It ain’t happening. Other than in the Halacha/Minhag
section, I am at about a 30% correct answer rate on the parshiot I have browsed
since getting the sefer. And even having written over a dozen sefarim on halacha
and minhag, my score in the Halacha/Minhag section isn’t that impressive, either!
As such, I
have totally changed my perception of the sefer and how I will be using it. I
will not be using it as a Shabbat table teaser or conversation starter (though
you may find it perfect for this purpose), but rather, I will be using it as a “Shnayim
Mikra” companion to try and get more depth out of the weekly parsha. This stuff
is deep. The material is lesser known. It is “wow” type information and
knowledge.
Torah IQ is
an amazingly thorough and competent work. It might just be that the title (“Riddles”)
is misleading. The content is simply exhausting and all-encompassing. The
pearls, tidbits, factoids, and explanations are outstanding. I am exceptionally
impressed that such a sefer was written by a grandfather with no formal
rabbinic credentials to his name: proof that advanced Torah knowledge is within
reach of all. You just need to want it!
David’s personality
and background makes this very much a sefer “By the people, for the people”
type of work drastically different than the mainstream rabbinic sefarim we are
used to. It is a very attractive, well designed, informal work that makes you
want to spend more time with it. There is something for everyone.
Wow! Torah
IQ really is something special. Very impressed!
Available on Amazon and Book Depository worldwide
