Yaffa Ganz, Feldheim, 1988
This unusual book (unusual in content, shape and size) is a collection of information that anyone might need to have to hand about Judaism. It is suitable for adults, although will be useful for kids and is probably intended for alder children. It contains lists of ‘things’ one might wish to know, including detailed genealogies from Tenach, and an impressive section providing lists of key figures in Jewish history. These include the main figures of the Talmudic generations, later teachers, all the way through to the Rishonim and beyond, right until modern times. Other sections include ‘the holy books’, ‘the Mishkan, ‘Eretz Yisrael’, ‘the Hebrew language’, ‘brachot’, ‘the calendar’, as well as an interesting miscellany. I like the Ivrit section, providing some key vocabulary, as well as the miscellany, which includes, for example, ‘the 13 character traits of Rabbi Yisrael of Salant’, a good list of Biblical and Talmudic measures, the ten trials of Avraham and the ten martyrs of the Roman era. It’s a useful handbook, one that I have used on many occasions, when I can’t think of the last one of a list.
