Customer Reviews (1)

a few good stories
Louis Ginzberg was one of the leading scholars of Jewish history in the early 20th century- apparently brilliant but prickly, according to this book.This biography [by his son] gave me a fairly good feel for the man himself- but I didn't learn as much about his beliefs and work as I had hoped.

Having said that, this book does have some interesting stories - some illuminating, some just amusing.A few examples:

*When Ginzberg first visited the U.S. in the early 1900s, he had Shabbat dinner at the house of a Reform rabbi in New York.The main course was lobster [a forbidden food according to the Torah].Today, Reform rabbis tend to be at least somewhat more respectful of tradition.

*Today, critics of egalitarianism in non-Orthodox synagogues assert that as a result of equal religious obligations, women tend to take over the rabbinate and synagogue leadership.Ginzburg made the same argument (referring to Reform) in 1919: "The often heard remark that Reform put the women into the synagogue is correct, if by it we want to state the fact that it drove the men out of it so that only women remain there."

*Ginzburg and his German-born wife spoke German at home with his children until the U.S. entered World War I - evidence that immigrants haven't always followed the "English only" policy that today's nativists demand.

*Numerous cute jokes told by Ginzburg.One of the best: a German price was touring Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (the state capitol) with the governor.Since Harrisburg is a small town, the governor had some difficulty finding interesting things for the prince to see.So the governor stopped at a nondescript state office building, and told the prince, "More money was stolen in the erection of that building than of any other building in the world!" Another one: when a local rabbi retired and received a generous pension, Ginzburg was asked whether such a pension was appropriate.His response: "If Rabbi S___ received $20,000 a year when he preached, he is surely entitled to more, not less, if the congregation is henceforth to be spared his sermons!"

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