Organized by subject this is a collection of teachings and quotations from the Talmud the Bible rabbinical commentaries and ancient and modern religious and secular writings. Writers include Elie Wiesel Isaac Bashevis Singer Hebrew poet Hayim Bialik Cynthia Ozick Emile Zola Albert Einstein Bruno Bettelheim Gertrude Stein Irving Howe and Maimonides. In commentary that explains why these teachings remain meaningful to Jews today Rabbi Telushkin addresses such issues as relationships between people individuals and their quest for meaning what God wants from us the modern Jewish experience and Jewish values as they confront the Holocaust Zionism and Israel. Telushkins commentaries are especially helpful because of the myriad quotations from the Talmud. There are also antiSemitic quotations from Pharaoh and Haman the first two recorded antiSemites from Voltaire Hitler T. S. Eliot Ezra Pound H. L. Mencken Gen. Ulysses Grant Henry Ford Charles Lindberg and Louis Farrakhan to name a few. But there is much wisdom here. Jewsand even nonJewswill find the book a treasure. George Cohen Booklist