Klagsbrun Voices of Wisdom
Francine Klagsbrun did for Jewish ethics what Arthur Hertzberg did for Judaism: compiled the definitive and authoritative compilation of writings. The full title of Hertzberg’s book is Judaism: The key spiritual writings of the Jewish tradition and it contains an introduction and integrated short quotes of the most important sources on people, G-d, Torah, holidays, land, doctrine and prayer. Klagsbrun’s compilation is titled Voices of Wisdom: Jewish ideals and ethics for everyday living. It covers
- You and yourself
- Relating to others
- Love, sex and marriage
- Family relationships
- Health and medicine
- Study, scholarship and superstition
- Work wealth, and philanthropy
- Government, law and authority
- Faith and freedom
- The value of life
- Death and the world to come
The main differences between Hertzberg’s and Klagsbrun’s volume beside their subject is their approach. Hertzberg integrated the quotes into one flowing coherent narrative, while Klagsbrun limited herself to short introduction for the book and each of its topics, followed by a cornucopia of quotes with exact citations. Each of the 11 many topics listed above is divided into dozens of subtopics. A detailed index helps to find relevant quotes on any subjects.
On hand the majority of the quotes are coming from a relatively limited set of sources: Tanakh, Mishnah, Talmud, and Responsa. On the other hand these sources put together would fill tens of thousand of pages. Klagsbrun did a great service to all of us by distilling these into a size that is easy to read and follow. Voices should be used a as reference book for any occasion when ethical considerations are part of a problem or conversation.
Leave a comment