Q&A: Which of your books do you recommend for study?
Which of your books do you recommend for study?
Question
Given your endless output of books, I have to ask: what is your most basic book / the one you most recommend reading? Assuming I’m not familiar with your teachings.
Thank you.
Answer
Hello Yochai.
It’s hard for me to answer. It depends what interests you. There’s philosophy, and Jewish law, and meta-halakha, and hermeneutic principles, and Talmudic logic.
Discussion on Answer
You can start with the quartet, beginning with Two Carts and a Hot-Air Balloon. That’s the philosophical foundation. In Truth and Stability it is presented somewhat differently, but the basic line is similar.
As someone who has read all of the Rabbi’s books, may he live long and well (except for the books on hermeneutics in English) — I recommend Two Carts and a Hot-Air Balloon: “Turn it over and turn it over, for everything is in it!” It’s simply a treasure trove! Life divides into two parts: before reading Two Carts, and after reading Two Carts…
While I’m at it, I’ll note the impatient anticipation for the new books on religious theology…
Thanks. Do you mean my books on Talmudic logic? They’re in Hebrew (they were only published in London, and at the end of each one there is an article in English).
Yes, you’re right. For some reason I remembered them as being in English (maybe because of the cover), and then I remembered that I did read one volume (possibly the one about time).
I also join Haim. As someone who has read all of the Rabbi’s books, the quartet is a monumental work that changed my life. It overflows with high-quality content, such that one reading is not enough to exhaust the great richness contained in it (more precisely—study; these are not books for casual reading, but books that require concentration and analysis).
In terms of style—after seeing complex philosophical topics (and even mathematical ones) presented so clearly and intelligibly to the ordinary reader, I find it hard when I read analytical works by other authors, who struggle to clarify and make things accessible the way it is done in the quartet.
Thank you very much, friends. I’m very glad to hear that my books are helpful. Many thanks.
In the area of philosophy and meta-halakha.