Product Description

Friends, family, love, God, death, faith.

These, and others, are deceptively simple words that we use all the time. Do we know what we mean when we use these important words? Do we know what other people mean when they use them? We seldom pause to reflect on these words or to make sure that we understand them, yet we continue to use them, so we misunderstand others and they misunderstand us.

Adin Steinsaltz examines some of the meanings of these powerful words. He transforms each word into a gem, turning it this way, then that, examining it to see more clearly its brilliant facets and what lies beyond them. He challenges us to think deeply about the connotations of these commonplace words, and in so doing, to see that there may be other ways of looking at things that we have taken for granted in our lives. Simple Words is a thought-provoking -- and surprising -- adventure that may change the way we think, speak, and act.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121655 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.com Review
"Simple words are by no means simple," states Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz in his introduction to Simple Words. This is certainly true of the words he has teased out from contemporary spirituality to expound upon here. Each chapter is dedicated to so-called simple words such as death, envy, masks, sex, good, and love. Steinsaltz uses familiar language and progressive thinking to offer a greater moral and spiritual understanding to these core concepts.

Although many of the selected words are age-old, the accompanying commentary feels fresh and contemporary. When writing about envy, Steinsaltz explores how this misunderstood emotion can be used to serve the higher good rather than lowly desires. And in addressing the idea of sex, he writes, "Jewish tradition ... does not see sex per se as sinful.... It is a pleasure that is derived from giving and being connected with another--both in the body and beyond the physical plane; it can become a most meaningful expression of love, of charity, of benevolence. Sexual desire, possibly the most powerful human desire, can become an expression of holiness." --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly
In the tradition of Harold S. Kushner (When Bad Things Happen to Good People, 1981), Jerusalem-based talmudic scholar Steinsaltz expounds upon simple words to embrace both Jewish and non-Jewish readers. Steinsaltz, well-known for his popular translation of the Talmud, here offers a homespun presentation of disparate subjects: words, nature, spirit and matter, faith, good deeds, sex, death, envy, Hollywood, masks, friends, family, love and God. Steinsaltz uses elementary language and anecdotal homilies to explain these topics for readers who may or may not be religious. Several of his observations are insightful, especially his argument that envy is not necessarily bad; it can lead to rivalry, which in turn can foster creativity and intellectual growth. Many times, however, "simple" descends into the simplistic, as when he overstates that Hollywood's dream world as depicted in foreign-run movies may have "played a more powerful role in destroying the Soviet regime than all the military vehicles of the United States." Overall, the chapters are a series of missed opportunities: while Steinsaltz notes that "the hidden wisdom of commonplace words is sometimes startling," for example, his opening discussion of words disregards the idea that language not only expresses our ideas but also helps to shape them. In his determination to demystify complex phenomena, Steinsaltz oversimplifies ideas that require a more nuanced, sophisticated approach. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Rabbi Steinsaltz, the impetus behind the monumental Steinsaltz Talmud (a translation of that work into English) and author of Biblical Images (1984) and many other works, offers meditations on the ``simple words and notions . . . we use [that] contain very complex ideas'': nature, friends, family, God, etc. The essays are a mixed bag, some stale, some spiked with indisputable insight. In ``Sex,'' Steinsaltz forcefully argues that to imbue lovemaking with questions of ownership is a distortion; leave ownership for food and money, says Steinsaltz, but focus on giving when you're in bed with your lover. And yet Steinsaltz's reflections on love are particularly unsatisfying. He defines love as a feeling, ``the emotion of attraction toward an objectthe beloved,'' rather than a choice, a commitment, a mode of living toward one's beloved. The reader is left wondering what Steinsaltz would suggest for those moments when the feeling has evaporated, replaced only by annoyance that our beloved bought the wrong brand of o.j. It is tempting to describe Simple Words as a Jewish version of Kathleen Norris's Amazing Grace, but there is little in these pages that is explicitly Jewish. Parsed another way: unlike Steinsaltz's earlier forays into Jewish mysticism or the Talmud, Simple Words should enjoy a wide, diverse readership. Nonetheless, it is food for thought that one of Israel's most revered rabbis has written a collection of essays in many ways indistinguishable from the musings of a Benedictine oblate. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A simple book about simple words
I had expected more from this book. Several of the words seem to be redefined in order to fit the author's preconceived notions. An easy read and some good things to think about. Overall, not too deep, though

Simple words with deep meaning
Rabbi Steinsaltz one of the great Torah teachers of our generations here takes fifteen different ' simple words' , words such as nature, friendship, faith and God , and provides insight into their meaning. In doing so he presents his own deeply religious way of seeing the world. This work can be of help and inspiration to all those who are seeking to understand the world in a more meaningful and hopeful way.

Simple things mean a lot...
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, perhaps best known for his multi-volume translation of and commentary upon the Talmud (currently being published in both Hebrew and English, as well as a few other languages), has put together a wonderfully simple, small, thought-provoking book of spiritual wisdom that promises the careful reader insight into new ways to think, feel, act, and be.

Steinsaltz has worked with Talmudic literature (to a very extensive and intimate degree), as well as Hasidic tales and liturgies, and having absorbed the teachings and spirit of this body of literature, has distilled it into simple, useful bits for reflection and illumination.

Deceptively simple words, which embrace huge concepts -- nature, good, family, friends, death, God, faith, love -- these are words we use all the time. But what do they really mean? 'Rabbi Steinsaltz explores some of the meanings of these powerful words that are so central to our lives. He transforms each word into a gem, turning it this way, then that, examining it to see more clearly its brilliant facets and what lies behind them.'

Perhaps the key to Steinsaltz's way of looking at these terms and concepts is to emphasise the fluid, malleable character -- these are not concepts that are set in stone; their meaning changes as our lives change, as our society changes -- the wisdom from the past must be used as a guide for understanding, but our lives in the present have validity too. That having been said, we owe our ancestors as well as our descendants a debt to carry on the line of tradition in some ways, lest we dishonour our ancestors and rob our descendants of their inheritance.

This is a difficult balance, not always the same for each person.

Steinsaltz also examines elements of our present culture in unique ways. In his chapter on Hollywood, he discusses Hollywood in terms of being a dreamworld, and a religion that deserves the appellation of being opiate of the masses. 'Being a very self-satisfied religion, Hollywood is not revolutionary; it is even anti-revolutionary. For one thing, Hollywood does not try to change norms, and certainly does not have the presumption to steer them; it merely reflects existing ones.... Hollywood glorifies the status quo, or at least promotes the dreams of Middle America as the best of all possible worlds, and thereby diminishes the possibility for change.'

Steinsaltz concludes by a frank and interesting discussion on God, in which he argues for a removal of limitations on God, and a greater understanding of just what it is we are saying when we use the word 'God'. God is, in present culture, often depicted in mostly poetic terms. 'Poetry is wonderful, but we should not expect God to conform to our images. Yet we do. For many people, the image of God is quite clear: a big, white-bearded man sitting on a throne very high in the sky. He has--at least figuratively--a stick in one hand, and a bag of candy in the other, bestowing each on His subjects.'

Alas, this is this picture of God most grow up with, and when they in their adolescence or adulthood jettison the image, they jettison God along with it, because they have not been taught more compelling ways to think about God.

Ultimately, this is a book (in great Talmudic style) of opening up the realm of questioning, rather than providing answers. In much the same way that a literate person, when confronting a page of writing in a foreign language, will recognise it as writing, and perhaps attempt to decipher it, a person with no literacy or no knowledge of the concept of writing will merely see designs or smudges on a page, and look no further. One has to have the framework for a question before one can answer it, and look for the meanings in the foreign writing.

A very simple book, a very short book (only 200 small-format pages), the wisdom in this book is timeless and invaluable for all, regardless of your religious (or non-religious) orientation.