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Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History
Changing the Immutable focuses on how segments of Judaism's Orthodox society have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the past by covering up and literally cutting out that which does not fit their own world view. For reasons ranging from theological considerations to internal religious politics to changing religious standards, such Jewish self-censorship abounds, and author Marc B. Shapiro discusses examples from each category. His analysis is illustrated by a number of images of the original texts next to their censored versions, together with an explanation of what made them problematic and how the issue was resolved. Shapiro considers the concepts of history that underlie such changes, looking at how some Orthodox historiography sees truth as entirely instrumental. Drawing on the words of leading rabbis, particularly from the haredi world, he shows that what is important here is not historical truth, but a truth that leads to observance and faith in the Sages. He concludes with a discussion of the concept of truth in the Jewish tradition, and when this truth can be altered. Changing the Immutable also reflects on the paradox of a society that regards itself as traditional, but, at the same time, is uncomfortable with some of the inherited tradition, and thus feels the need to create an idealized view of the past. Shapiro considers this in context, detailing precedents in Jewish history dating back to talmudic times. Since the objects of censorship have included such figures as Maimonides, Bahya ibn Pakuda, Rashi, Naphtali Herz Wessely, Moses Mendelssohn, the Hatam Sofer, Samson Raphael Hirsch, A. I. Kook, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and J. B. Soloveitchik, as well as issues such as Zionism, biblical interpretation, and attitudes to women and non-Jews, Shapiro's book also serves as a study in Jewish intellectual history and how the ideas of one era do not always find favor with later generations.
*** "Just two weeks after its publication, Shapiro's book is the number-one bestseller on Amazon in its category - a notable accomplishment for an academic book that includes (untranslated) rabbinic rulings, talmudic texts, and medieval commentaries." -- New Jersey Jewish News, May 2015
*** "This is a fascinating book because Marc Shapiro is a professional historian, and to a historian nothing is more important than the facts, but he is also an Orthodox Jew, and so he understands that for an Orthodox Jew there are some values that trump the recording of the facts." -- Rabbi Jack Riemer, South Florida Jewish Journal, June 2015
*** "Shapiro's new book is a must read for all who want to understand how the current "slide to the right" is radically reforming Judaism to fit within the cacophonous landscape of contemporary values." -- Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, Jewish Journal, June 2015
*** "Shapiro's scholarship has been so important, in part because of Orthodoxy's own success at covering up inconvenient aspects of its past." -- Ezra Glinter, Forward, July 2015 (also published in Haaretz)
*** "One of the most popular and controversial writers in the Modern Orthodox world today, most famous perhaps for publicizing little-known - and often radical - positions in Jewish law and thought." -- Elliot Resnick, The Jewish Press, July 2015
*** "Shapiro takes the reader down a proverbial rabbit hole and into the underbelly of the ?aredi community, an Orwellian-like world of mind control by the clandestine suppression of ideas. Changing the Immutable is an outstanding work, meticulously describing the bubble of "artificial religious truth" surrounding ?aredi communities." -- Fred Reiss Ed.D., San Diego Jewish World, August 2015
*** "The book is a cri de Coeur, suggesting that truth should be a timeless commodity. Yet, the book has another, larger meaning. It outlines how Jewish tradition, a highly decentralized and in a modest way, a plastic entity, is shaped and changed." -- Susan M. Chambr, Jewish Book World, October 2015 [Subject: Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, History]
*** "Just two weeks after its publication, Shapiro's book is the number-one bestseller on Amazon in its category - a notable accomplishment for an academic book that includes (untranslated) rabbinic rulings, talmudic texts, and medieval commentaries." -- New Jersey Jewish News, May 2015
*** "This is a fascinating book because Marc Shapiro is a professional historian, and to a historian nothing is more important than the facts, but he is also an Orthodox Jew, and so he understands that for an Orthodox Jew there are some values that trump the recording of the facts." -- Rabbi Jack Riemer, South Florida Jewish Journal, June 2015
*** "Shapiro's new book is a must read for all who want to understand how the current "slide to the right" is radically reforming Judaism to fit within the cacophonous landscape of contemporary values." -- Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, Jewish Journal, June 2015
*** "Shapiro's scholarship has been so important, in part because of Orthodoxy's own success at covering up inconvenient aspects of its past." -- Ezra Glinter, Forward, July 2015 (also published in Haaretz)
*** "One of the most popular and controversial writers in the Modern Orthodox world today, most famous perhaps for publicizing little-known - and often radical - positions in Jewish law and thought." -- Elliot Resnick, The Jewish Press, July 2015
*** "Shapiro takes the reader down a proverbial rabbit hole and into the underbelly of the ?aredi community, an Orwellian-like world of mind control by the clandestine suppression of ideas. Changing the Immutable is an outstanding work, meticulously describing the bubble of "artificial religious truth" surrounding ?aredi communities." -- Fred Reiss Ed.D., San Diego Jewish World, August 2015
*** "The book is a cri de Coeur, suggesting that truth should be a timeless commodity. Yet, the book has another, larger meaning. It outlines how Jewish tradition, a highly decentralized and in a modest way, a plastic entity, is shaped and changed." -- Susan M. Chambr, Jewish Book World, October 2015 [Subject: Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, History]
360 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 10, 2015
This was an absolutely fascinating book. Shapiro's extensive research (and resources) shows in the sheer quantity of examples he brings and, while he never really writes them into a narrative, the chapter-long vignettes are clearly more important to him and, arguably, to us as readers. The chapters on R. Hirsch and R. Kook were the most interesting to me, although all the examples were just fascinating.
I found it almost strange that Shapiro writes the book as if its role is solely as...hmm, a historical record of tampering with the historical record rather than a subjective evaluation of the relative merits or disadvantages of doing so. There's a simmering sense of disapproval beneath the surface, evidenced as much by Shapiro's other works as by the writing of the book in the first place, but he never actually critiques the process of "changing the immutable" or makes suggestions as to its place in Judaism. I'm not sure what to do with that, other than perhaps mull it over.
I do wonder, though, whether this history in turn can legitimize the shift towards women's participation, friendliness towards LGBTQ, rethinking the way we engage in public ritual. If one can change a 19th century rabbi's opinion using that argument that, had the rabbi known then what we know now, he would had agreed with us...why not make that case for women rabbis (e.g.)?
It's worth thinking about - as so many things are - and might go part of the way towards explaining Shapiro's reticence to condemn a practice that, as an academic, seems inimical to proper research practices. Or I'm just projecting.
I found it almost strange that Shapiro writes the book as if its role is solely as...hmm, a historical record of tampering with the historical record rather than a subjective evaluation of the relative merits or disadvantages of doing so. There's a simmering sense of disapproval beneath the surface, evidenced as much by Shapiro's other works as by the writing of the book in the first place, but he never actually critiques the process of "changing the immutable" or makes suggestions as to its place in Judaism. I'm not sure what to do with that, other than perhaps mull it over.
I do wonder, though, whether this history in turn can legitimize the shift towards women's participation, friendliness towards LGBTQ, rethinking the way we engage in public ritual. If one can change a 19th century rabbi's opinion using that argument that, had the rabbi known then what we know now, he would had agreed with us...why not make that case for women rabbis (e.g.)?
It's worth thinking about - as so many things are - and might go part of the way towards explaining Shapiro's reticence to condemn a practice that, as an academic, seems inimical to proper research practices. Or I'm just projecting.
November 8, 2015
The side of Jewish history, where things weren't always the way it was taught to me, fascinates me. Tidbits of people, photos and texts not found in the mainstream, always drew me in, so this genre has intrigued me for a while.
Marc Shapiro's book is filled with such wonderful nuggets. He starts with present day examples of censoring in his preface, and leads us back in time. Organized by topic, we see that no text was too sacred to be safe from change. (Or was it because it was seen as sacred, that censor was thought necessary?) Whether it was deleted or changed by publishers, reprints, offspring, students, and sometimes even self censoring by the authors.
The book is an interesting collection, a hard copy blog, so to speak. The comments are sometimes quoted in the text and sometimes in the footnotes, but there's an (almost) active conversation going on in the book.
It's thorough, it's engaging and it's a book I would recommend in a heartbeat.
I found the end to be disappointing. There was no conclusive ending to the theme. Maybe because there is no conclusion. Censoring will continue in all of its forms, and with it, a genre of uncovering the trail to the original text.
Marc Shapiro's book is filled with such wonderful nuggets. He starts with present day examples of censoring in his preface, and leads us back in time. Organized by topic, we see that no text was too sacred to be safe from change. (Or was it because it was seen as sacred, that censor was thought necessary?) Whether it was deleted or changed by publishers, reprints, offspring, students, and sometimes even self censoring by the authors.
The book is an interesting collection, a hard copy blog, so to speak. The comments are sometimes quoted in the text and sometimes in the footnotes, but there's an (almost) active conversation going on in the book.
It's thorough, it's engaging and it's a book I would recommend in a heartbeat.
I found the end to be disappointing. There was no conclusive ending to the theme. Maybe because there is no conclusion. Censoring will continue in all of its forms, and with it, a genre of uncovering the trail to the original text.
October 5, 2016
Truth would seem to be an immutable value. But then someone asks you whether their shirt makes them look fat. Or what you should say to a bride on her wedding day. Or whether a people are prepared to accept that their leaders aren't in lockstep.
This book is an incredible breakdown of how truth has been and is viewed and manipulated by Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders through the centuries. That sounds pejorative, but it's not meant to be - Judaism, it turns out, in many ways has a nuanced perspective on the value of absolute truth. While this is well known in other religions, it hasn't been as clear in Judaism. Until now.
Read this book and decide for yourself whether the actions and decisions by so many religious leaders through the past 2,000 years has made Orthodox Judaism stronger, or weaker.
This book is an incredible breakdown of how truth has been and is viewed and manipulated by Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders through the centuries. That sounds pejorative, but it's not meant to be - Judaism, it turns out, in many ways has a nuanced perspective on the value of absolute truth. While this is well known in other religions, it hasn't been as clear in Judaism. Until now.
Read this book and decide for yourself whether the actions and decisions by so many religious leaders through the past 2,000 years has made Orthodox Judaism stronger, or weaker.
June 2, 2023
Book Review
Changing The Immutable
5/5 stars
"R'Schwab: We do not need realism, we need inspiration from our forefathers in order to pass it on to posterity."
*******
Of the book:
-283 pages of prose over 8 chapters, ≈35/ chapter
-Estimated 1450 bibliographic sources (5.1 citations per page)!
-Replete with examples of censorship (Photoshop, reformatting) of highly variable quality.
This is a serious scholarly text.
I did check two further things about this book:
1. The first is that I had a Big Rosh Kollel take a look at the sources and tell me whether or not they were mostly books or short responsa. He said that he thought there were mostly heavy books that comprised the bibliography.
2. The second is that I contacted the author directly and asked how he had time to read 1,450 books, and what he told me was: this is "not the type of book that somebody can directly research." He had already studied the sources in other contexts, and realized that there was enough information over some number of decades of study to write a book about in its own right. In this case, the censorship of Jewish texts.
I spoke to one of my teaching rabbis, and he endorsed the author as a "big Talmud chacham."
*******
It's really hard to put together a pithy description of all of the overarching themes here.
But, I will try.
Second order thoughts:
1. The takeaway message is that: If you wanted to build a mass movement and you had a choice between trying to be intellectually honest, versus creating a bunch of mythology in order to sustain your adherents...... I would say that the latter is emphatically the best choice.
Conservative Judaism did try to be intellectually honest ("Conservative Judaism," Neil Gillman), but they just were not able to keep their people. They are fading away into obscurity, and the best that I can say about Modern Orthodoxy is that it is at least stable (but aging)?
The Corrupt Haredim have created a historical narrative for their followers about a time that never existed. But, they do have a lot of babies! And they teach them what they believe.
2. It's meaningless AND overburdensome to try to determine what is "truth." (I really hate to give a nod to the postmodernists, but this book FORCES me to do just that.)
(p.25) Truth can be many things:
∆"Historical" (i.e., you go about the business of trying to find out what really did happen)
∆"Pragmatic"/"utilitarian"/"instrumental" (ie, the results justify whatever definition of "truth" there is; no problem to mix up biblical and rabbinic commandments, nor to lie to someone if it will modify their behavior in a way that you think is appropriate [p.247-8]).
∆ "Pedagogical" (think of all of those times when a Hasidic rabbi is giving a drasha involving a bunch of characters that never existed)
∆ "Moral" (i.e, if everybody decides what morality is, then you can make statements within that conceptual framework - - but the conceptual framework is completely arbitrary).
3. The rewriting of religious texts is something that happens so slowly that is imperceptible. If there are 18 editions of a book published, by the time a censor cuts out a little bit from each printing..... At the end of the day, you have something that is not quite the same as the original. (And we can only know this because the author searched through almost every edition of each book published.)
4. Conversion law has been many different things just in the past couple of centuries. These days, it is: a) provisional; b) reversible; c) excessively arduous/traumatic.
But it wasn't always that way!
If you go back just a century ago, It was believed that: a) a person could convert to Judaism knowing nothing about the religion; b) the conversion was valid as long as someone regarded himself as a member of the People of Israel (p.235).
Spillover Questions:
1. What is the point of study? All of these men sit around here in Kollel for YEARS on end in order to "understand" (gemara/halacha), but it's a wild goose chase: whatever people believe could change over time, and the people whose scholarship supported the disfavored position are/can/will be airbrushed out of history - - along with their scholarship.
It may well be that the statements "I know more than you"/"Ploni is such a big talmud chacham" have NO objective meaning.
2. Is it completely meaningless to try to objectively understand anything?
In my own study of how to read the Torah, I have learned that that the Torah was originally written in paleo Hebrew, and that there was a lot more gemination of letters than there is currently, and the fact that many Hebrew letters [ש/ת/ס]have been merged.
But, the memory of this information has been completely rewritten out of History and replaced with a bunch of Kabbalistic gobbledygook about the origin of the alphabet.
The bad news is that 90% of Black Hats believe the Kabbalistic version of events and the other 10% have actually picked up a history book.
3. Maybe too much of anything is not good. The author specifically talks about the extreme lengths that Haredim go through so that people don't even have to hear any word that could be vaguely sexual (to the point where they can't even put Breast Cancer Awareness Ads in their publications because it would require the use of the word "breast").
But just the same:
a. I have read more than a couple of autobiographies of sex workers and Haredim have shown up in every one of them. (Sex worker Kayley Sciortino, in "Slutever," recapitulates what every Israeli taxi driver already knows--predictably conflating "Hasidim" with "all Haredim.")
b. I have read comments from OTD gay people as well as observations by Deborah Feldman ("Unorthodox") that Haredi yeshiva'ot are a smorgasbord for gay/curious/"sexually expansive" guys (and also "sexually expansive" girls if you believe Reva Mann).
c. When I pick up the newspaper and read about the semi-monthly Haredi sexual abuse scandal, it's 90% of the time Boy-on-Boy Action for some reason--so, all of those euphemisms may not have helped all that much.
4. This rewriting of historical narratives goes both ways. Hasidim are mainstream these days, but during the time of R'Yaakov Emden and the Vilna Gaon, they were Public Enemy Number One.
Memorable Quotes:
1. (p.3, Simon Schwab): "We do not need realism, we need inspiration from our forefathers in order to pass it on to posterity."
2. (p.4, Yosef Chaim Yerushalmi): "Israel is told only that it must be a kingdom of priests and a holy people; nowhere is it suggested that it become a nation of historians.")
3. ("this is the halaka, but we do not teach it.") הלכה ואין מורין כן
4. (p.251). geneivat da'at. ("Leaving someone with a false impression.") גניבת דעת.
5. Antinomianism in Jewish (!!!) life? (p.228) Female Hasidic Rebbes ? (Maiden of Ludmir, ibid.)
Selected interesting points per chapter:
1. Truth is not absolute. It is instrumental and contextual. Distinction between necessary and true beliefs. The author mentions that his target are Haredim, and I guess it's because they take the most "liberties" with sources in order to support community growth.
2. Recapitulation of his book "The Limits of Orthodox Theology." Halachic truth≠pshat truth. If a cleric writes something down, there's no guarantee that future generations will not reinterpret/excise his positions. (And it doesn't even matter if the scholar is someone as big as Maimonides.)
3. What happens in the case that some Jewish people were doing something it a matter of fact way for several centuries that later poskim decided was not okay? (This author uses the controversy of Italian Jewish people drinking non-Jewish wine because of the vanishingly small probability that it had been used in idol worship; the author could just as easily have chosen the sturgeon controversy.) Of course, you can just delete any references to it in current/future texts. (p. 109: "These responsa should be omitted in order to protect Schick's honor, and that is what was done... 22 responsum from Schick that were not included with the responsa published after his death"; p.114: "Most common way is simply not to mention these opinions in halachic discussions.")
4. The case of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. He did a lot of good, but he had a lot of positions that other people were uncomfortable with. Hmm..... How to deal with this? I know! (p.123: "....the latter told Wolf that he was obligated to alter such passages as this, or to omit them entirely.... When Netzah reprinted the '19 Letters' in the late 1960s ... All criticism of Maimonides were cut out."). This chapter also seems to contain the majority of (badly) photoshopped images.
5. This chapter is the special case of Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel under the Mandate government. Of course, he wrote voluminously, and was a Zionist. Since Zionism is not yet popular in the Haredi world, this chapter is a study of how a prolific Chief Rabbi is excised from history. Books remove his haskamot. His name is no longer featured in the index of books. Eulogies that were written for him have all uses of his name expunged to where the obituary may as well have been written about Ploni.
6. If you go back to original printings from the 1600s, there are topless women all over the place. In the Mishneh Torah, for example. Some of these rulings are so shocking, that you just have to look them up. (Sefer Hasidim,176.) Rashi's commentary on Adam's, um, sexual proclivities before the arrival of Eve (p.200). A guy who believes that marital disputes can be resolved by beating his wife's ass only need to go back in time far enough to find a ruling that says he can. Maimonides. R'Eliezer Papo. The Rema (p. 207).
7. a. In these days of modern translations, messages in Hebrew and the local language (English, in this case) don't quite line up--and that's not an accident.
b. People of earlier times may have had warm relationships with people who later became bêtes noires. Moses Mendelssohn has become one such because of his movement of Haskalah, but he actually had a respectful relationship with the Chatam Sofer (p.219), but later writers deleted this.....R'Moses Hagiz was a good friend of an Xtian Hebraist, J.C. Wolff, but that got extracted, too
8. The truth is not important. ONLY Scholars/The Rabbinate do have the right to create pseudoepigraphic works as long as it is being advanced in a noble cause. Subheadings in this chapter include: When Can One Lie / False Attribution/The Problem of Where to Draw The Line/Other Examples of Lying For a Good Purpose/Lying as an Educational Tool / a Rabbinic Doctrine of the Noble Lie / Redefining Truth. The Zohar is a literary forgery (p.264), but a halachic case can be made as to why that's ok! (Remember this the next time someone starts up with an Sokal Hoax-style Kabbalah instead of cracking open a history book.)
Verdict: This is a great book, and I see why it is so expensive. (Still.) It's going to be kept on myself and reread at various points. "One of the harder things about being a normative, Orthodox Jew is trying to predict the past."
There's just so much information here that it could not be absorbed all in one reading--and to be honest, I'm surprised that this book could be written.
Changing The Immutable
5/5 stars
"R'Schwab: We do not need realism, we need inspiration from our forefathers in order to pass it on to posterity."
*******
Of the book:
-283 pages of prose over 8 chapters, ≈35/ chapter
-Estimated 1450 bibliographic sources (5.1 citations per page)!
-Replete with examples of censorship (Photoshop, reformatting) of highly variable quality.
This is a serious scholarly text.
I did check two further things about this book:
1. The first is that I had a Big Rosh Kollel take a look at the sources and tell me whether or not they were mostly books or short responsa. He said that he thought there were mostly heavy books that comprised the bibliography.
2. The second is that I contacted the author directly and asked how he had time to read 1,450 books, and what he told me was: this is "not the type of book that somebody can directly research." He had already studied the sources in other contexts, and realized that there was enough information over some number of decades of study to write a book about in its own right. In this case, the censorship of Jewish texts.
I spoke to one of my teaching rabbis, and he endorsed the author as a "big Talmud chacham."
*******
It's really hard to put together a pithy description of all of the overarching themes here.
But, I will try.
Second order thoughts:
1. The takeaway message is that: If you wanted to build a mass movement and you had a choice between trying to be intellectually honest, versus creating a bunch of mythology in order to sustain your adherents...... I would say that the latter is emphatically the best choice.
Conservative Judaism did try to be intellectually honest ("Conservative Judaism," Neil Gillman), but they just were not able to keep their people. They are fading away into obscurity, and the best that I can say about Modern Orthodoxy is that it is at least stable (but aging)?
The Corrupt Haredim have created a historical narrative for their followers about a time that never existed. But, they do have a lot of babies! And they teach them what they believe.
2. It's meaningless AND overburdensome to try to determine what is "truth." (I really hate to give a nod to the postmodernists, but this book FORCES me to do just that.)
(p.25) Truth can be many things:
∆"Historical" (i.e., you go about the business of trying to find out what really did happen)
∆"Pragmatic"/"utilitarian"/"instrumental" (ie, the results justify whatever definition of "truth" there is; no problem to mix up biblical and rabbinic commandments, nor to lie to someone if it will modify their behavior in a way that you think is appropriate [p.247-8]).
∆ "Pedagogical" (think of all of those times when a Hasidic rabbi is giving a drasha involving a bunch of characters that never existed)
∆ "Moral" (i.e, if everybody decides what morality is, then you can make statements within that conceptual framework - - but the conceptual framework is completely arbitrary).
3. The rewriting of religious texts is something that happens so slowly that is imperceptible. If there are 18 editions of a book published, by the time a censor cuts out a little bit from each printing..... At the end of the day, you have something that is not quite the same as the original. (And we can only know this because the author searched through almost every edition of each book published.)
4. Conversion law has been many different things just in the past couple of centuries. These days, it is: a) provisional; b) reversible; c) excessively arduous/traumatic.
But it wasn't always that way!
If you go back just a century ago, It was believed that: a) a person could convert to Judaism knowing nothing about the religion; b) the conversion was valid as long as someone regarded himself as a member of the People of Israel (p.235).
Spillover Questions:
1. What is the point of study? All of these men sit around here in Kollel for YEARS on end in order to "understand" (gemara/halacha), but it's a wild goose chase: whatever people believe could change over time, and the people whose scholarship supported the disfavored position are/can/will be airbrushed out of history - - along with their scholarship.
It may well be that the statements "I know more than you"/"Ploni is such a big talmud chacham" have NO objective meaning.
2. Is it completely meaningless to try to objectively understand anything?
In my own study of how to read the Torah, I have learned that that the Torah was originally written in paleo Hebrew, and that there was a lot more gemination of letters than there is currently, and the fact that many Hebrew letters [ש/ת/ס]have been merged.
But, the memory of this information has been completely rewritten out of History and replaced with a bunch of Kabbalistic gobbledygook about the origin of the alphabet.
The bad news is that 90% of Black Hats believe the Kabbalistic version of events and the other 10% have actually picked up a history book.
3. Maybe too much of anything is not good. The author specifically talks about the extreme lengths that Haredim go through so that people don't even have to hear any word that could be vaguely sexual (to the point where they can't even put Breast Cancer Awareness Ads in their publications because it would require the use of the word "breast").
But just the same:
a. I have read more than a couple of autobiographies of sex workers and Haredim have shown up in every one of them. (Sex worker Kayley Sciortino, in "Slutever," recapitulates what every Israeli taxi driver already knows--predictably conflating "Hasidim" with "all Haredim.")
b. I have read comments from OTD gay people as well as observations by Deborah Feldman ("Unorthodox") that Haredi yeshiva'ot are a smorgasbord for gay/curious/"sexually expansive" guys (and also "sexually expansive" girls if you believe Reva Mann).
c. When I pick up the newspaper and read about the semi-monthly Haredi sexual abuse scandal, it's 90% of the time Boy-on-Boy Action for some reason--so, all of those euphemisms may not have helped all that much.
4. This rewriting of historical narratives goes both ways. Hasidim are mainstream these days, but during the time of R'Yaakov Emden and the Vilna Gaon, they were Public Enemy Number One.
Memorable Quotes:
1. (p.3, Simon Schwab): "We do not need realism, we need inspiration from our forefathers in order to pass it on to posterity."
2. (p.4, Yosef Chaim Yerushalmi): "Israel is told only that it must be a kingdom of priests and a holy people; nowhere is it suggested that it become a nation of historians.")
3. ("this is the halaka, but we do not teach it.") הלכה ואין מורין כן
4. (p.251). geneivat da'at. ("Leaving someone with a false impression.") גניבת דעת.
5. Antinomianism in Jewish (!!!) life? (p.228) Female Hasidic Rebbes ? (Maiden of Ludmir, ibid.)
Selected interesting points per chapter:
1. Truth is not absolute. It is instrumental and contextual. Distinction between necessary and true beliefs. The author mentions that his target are Haredim, and I guess it's because they take the most "liberties" with sources in order to support community growth.
2. Recapitulation of his book "The Limits of Orthodox Theology." Halachic truth≠pshat truth. If a cleric writes something down, there's no guarantee that future generations will not reinterpret/excise his positions. (And it doesn't even matter if the scholar is someone as big as Maimonides.)
3. What happens in the case that some Jewish people were doing something it a matter of fact way for several centuries that later poskim decided was not okay? (This author uses the controversy of Italian Jewish people drinking non-Jewish wine because of the vanishingly small probability that it had been used in idol worship; the author could just as easily have chosen the sturgeon controversy.) Of course, you can just delete any references to it in current/future texts. (p. 109: "These responsa should be omitted in order to protect Schick's honor, and that is what was done... 22 responsum from Schick that were not included with the responsa published after his death"; p.114: "Most common way is simply not to mention these opinions in halachic discussions.")
4. The case of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. He did a lot of good, but he had a lot of positions that other people were uncomfortable with. Hmm..... How to deal with this? I know! (p.123: "....the latter told Wolf that he was obligated to alter such passages as this, or to omit them entirely.... When Netzah reprinted the '19 Letters' in the late 1960s ... All criticism of Maimonides were cut out."). This chapter also seems to contain the majority of (badly) photoshopped images.
5. This chapter is the special case of Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel under the Mandate government. Of course, he wrote voluminously, and was a Zionist. Since Zionism is not yet popular in the Haredi world, this chapter is a study of how a prolific Chief Rabbi is excised from history. Books remove his haskamot. His name is no longer featured in the index of books. Eulogies that were written for him have all uses of his name expunged to where the obituary may as well have been written about Ploni.
6. If you go back to original printings from the 1600s, there are topless women all over the place. In the Mishneh Torah, for example. Some of these rulings are so shocking, that you just have to look them up. (Sefer Hasidim,176.) Rashi's commentary on Adam's, um, sexual proclivities before the arrival of Eve (p.200). A guy who believes that marital disputes can be resolved by beating his wife's ass only need to go back in time far enough to find a ruling that says he can. Maimonides. R'Eliezer Papo. The Rema (p. 207).
7. a. In these days of modern translations, messages in Hebrew and the local language (English, in this case) don't quite line up--and that's not an accident.
b. People of earlier times may have had warm relationships with people who later became bêtes noires. Moses Mendelssohn has become one such because of his movement of Haskalah, but he actually had a respectful relationship with the Chatam Sofer (p.219), but later writers deleted this.....R'Moses Hagiz was a good friend of an Xtian Hebraist, J.C. Wolff, but that got extracted, too
8. The truth is not important. ONLY Scholars/The Rabbinate do have the right to create pseudoepigraphic works as long as it is being advanced in a noble cause. Subheadings in this chapter include: When Can One Lie / False Attribution/The Problem of Where to Draw The Line/Other Examples of Lying For a Good Purpose/Lying as an Educational Tool / a Rabbinic Doctrine of the Noble Lie / Redefining Truth. The Zohar is a literary forgery (p.264), but a halachic case can be made as to why that's ok! (Remember this the next time someone starts up with an Sokal Hoax-style Kabbalah instead of cracking open a history book.)
Verdict: This is a great book, and I see why it is so expensive. (Still.) It's going to be kept on myself and reread at various points. "One of the harder things about being a normative, Orthodox Jew is trying to predict the past."
There's just so much information here that it could not be absorbed all in one reading--and to be honest, I'm surprised that this book could be written.
July 24, 2025
Is it wrong to rewrite history? After all, it seemed to do well in many a communist country: “Milovan Djilas, the famous Yugoslav writer, memorably commented that the hardest thing about being a communist was trying to predict the past.” (page 10, eBook edition) Should we always ensure our historical figures look their best? Do we want to inspire or dishearten?
These are tough questions to ask and perhaps harder still to put into action. And even for myself—with open honesty, socially liberal, liberally Jewish, not a fan of ‘embellishments’, an abhorrer of ‘untruths’, and thus when it comes to things such as what I have been calling ‘Artscroll Judaism’ (or our author here calls probably more appropriately “Orthodox history”), I think it hurts more than helps. That Orthodox Judaism when it comes to even the most foundational beliefs I long thought was a monolith, but after reading The Dual Truth by Ephraim Chamiel (fun fact: the editor of the book series that is from is none other than the author of this book, Marc B. Shapiro), that mistaken assumption was soundly put to rest. “Does the rabbit hole descend further or end with a few 19th and early 20th century thinkers?” left a nugget in my mind that needed excavation.
But...but...is it wise to be so judgmental? Did I pick up a book that’s going to be nothing more than a poorly worded sensationalist polemic that engages in circular reasoning? Is Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History going to ‘Get Biblical’ on one type of Judaism that proof-positive has engaged in whitewashing? After all, before even the table of contents, we get a quick heads up with the infamous example of Hillary Clinton being removed from the famous command room group huddle picture when Osama Bin Laden was taken out. The sans Hillary picture was featured in a Haredi newspaper. Why remove the woman?
My goal—just like the author’s—in this review is to try to keep my own views at bay. In fact, as I write this when early on in the book, my objective is not to collect and later dissipate ‘gotcha!’ moments of Orthodox revisionism, but to also try to see perhaps if there are times when that may be appropriate (mild spoiler: there may be). However, I am a human and thus have biases. I can’t say I have succeeded, but I can say I learned there are more ways to look at the sides of one coin and most may have their merits.
A big take-away from the beginning is a worthwhile explanation as to why some Orthodox sources may whitewash: “In an interview with Elliot Resnick, R. Nosson Scherman, the general editor of ArtScroll, was asked about his company’s whitewashing of history. He replied: ‘Our goal is to increase Torah learning and yiras shamayim [fear of Heaven]. If somebody can be inspired by a gadol b’yisrael [outstanding Torah leader], then let him be inspired. Is it necessary to say that he had shortcomings? Does that help you become a better person?’” (footnote 9, page 82).
On one hand, good points are made; is it necessary to sully the image of a Talmid Chacham? But on the other, if I have in my hands “The Biography of so-and-so”, I do hope that it will inspire as well as enlighten. In other words, I do want to see what made the person into such a powerful, well-respected figure, but I also want to see them as human as well. Thus ‘biographies’ that take certain ‘liberties’ may have good intention, but seem little better than propaganda pieces. While the author does not mention it, a valid workaround to this is simply not to write a biography, but to write a book focused on their ideas, not the person’s life. Protecting the community from potentially going astray may be a valid concern if one’s community consists only of children, but when there are adults?
Changing the Immutable may have a title that screams “sensationalism!”. The reality, however, is anything but: this is an extensively footnoted 500 page book that even comes with receipts (before and after images of censorship). This is not a never-ending attack either on whitewashing among the ultra frum (though that of course plays a part) as early chapters turn the clock back centuries showing examples of some of the more controversial statements such as “R. Hayim of Volozhin records that the Vilna Gaon told him that in matters of halakhah one should not give up one’s independent judgement, even if that means opposing a ruling of the Shulḥan arukh. This was recorded by R. Hayim in a responsum, but when the responsum was finally published, some sixty years after his death, what the Vilna Gaon had said about disputing with the Shulḥan arukh was deleted.” (page 156)
There are many eye-opening moments to be found here and while the elephant in the room is the modern Haredi whitewashing of the past, the real “you gotta be kidding me” moment came well before then in the chapter all about Rabbi Kook, someone whom I thought was very respected in these circles has in fact been subjected to so much censorship, you’d really need to create a Kotel-sized wall putting up all the letters with their before/after ‘corrections’, the rabbis who friended him to only discard him later, his followers who supported him and then modified his output to protect his honor all while balancing the fact that he actually had somewhat positive things to say about Spinoza and even Jesus—yes, that Jesus. However, the true supposed heresy to top this all off was his belief that taking time off from studying Torah to more or less pump iron is not a bad thing:
“We dealt so much in soulfulness, we forgot the holiness of the body. We neglected physical health and strength, we forgot that we have holy flesh, no less than holy spirit. . . . Our return will succeed only if it will be—with all its splendid spirituality—also a physical return, which produces healthy blood, healthy flesh, mighty, solid bodies, bodies, a fiery spirit radiating over powerful muscles. With the strength of holy flesh, the weakened soul will shine, reminiscent of the physical resurrection.” (page 256)
While later rather than never, it should be noted Changing the Immutable while beginning with the case of a vanishing Clinton is almost entirely focused on past cases of “historical revisionism” (aka censorship) within Jewish works. On a timeline, the focus mostly stops after the mid 20th century (aside from the Clinton story and sporadic references to ArtScroll and their crayon-wielding editors). Thus, if you go into this book hoping for a modern tell-all about current day issues and examples of Haredi censorship, you may leave a bit disappointed. This is, as noted, a mostly academic, not sensationalist, take on a troubling phenomenon, not a polemic against black hats. It also in its final chapter takes a step back from its main focus and almost (but not quite, thankfully) concludes with an apologetic on the times when falsehoods may be an acceptable thing (most notably, ‘to preserve peace’ that as we have seen, may have been stretched beyond its breaking point).
My goal was to keep my own views at bay and obviously, that was a tall order. If my gloves were slipping in the review proper, they’re off now: Judaism need not—nor should not—and certainly historically as a whole has never been confined to the four amos of halakha. Attempting to cover up the past writings of great minds is more or less idolatry, worshiping a human ideal, not reality, not traversing above and below the bes that begins Bereshis, but transgressing it.
These are tough questions to ask and perhaps harder still to put into action. And even for myself—with open honesty, socially liberal, liberally Jewish, not a fan of ‘embellishments’, an abhorrer of ‘untruths’, and thus when it comes to things such as what I have been calling ‘Artscroll Judaism’ (or our author here calls probably more appropriately “Orthodox history”), I think it hurts more than helps. That Orthodox Judaism when it comes to even the most foundational beliefs I long thought was a monolith, but after reading The Dual Truth by Ephraim Chamiel (fun fact: the editor of the book series that is from is none other than the author of this book, Marc B. Shapiro), that mistaken assumption was soundly put to rest. “Does the rabbit hole descend further or end with a few 19th and early 20th century thinkers?” left a nugget in my mind that needed excavation.
But...but...is it wise to be so judgmental? Did I pick up a book that’s going to be nothing more than a poorly worded sensationalist polemic that engages in circular reasoning? Is Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History going to ‘Get Biblical’ on one type of Judaism that proof-positive has engaged in whitewashing? After all, before even the table of contents, we get a quick heads up with the infamous example of Hillary Clinton being removed from the famous command room group huddle picture when Osama Bin Laden was taken out. The sans Hillary picture was featured in a Haredi newspaper. Why remove the woman?
My goal—just like the author’s—in this review is to try to keep my own views at bay. In fact, as I write this when early on in the book, my objective is not to collect and later dissipate ‘gotcha!’ moments of Orthodox revisionism, but to also try to see perhaps if there are times when that may be appropriate (mild spoiler: there may be). However, I am a human and thus have biases. I can’t say I have succeeded, but I can say I learned there are more ways to look at the sides of one coin and most may have their merits.
A big take-away from the beginning is a worthwhile explanation as to why some Orthodox sources may whitewash: “In an interview with Elliot Resnick, R. Nosson Scherman, the general editor of ArtScroll, was asked about his company’s whitewashing of history. He replied: ‘Our goal is to increase Torah learning and yiras shamayim [fear of Heaven]. If somebody can be inspired by a gadol b’yisrael [outstanding Torah leader], then let him be inspired. Is it necessary to say that he had shortcomings? Does that help you become a better person?’” (footnote 9, page 82).
On one hand, good points are made; is it necessary to sully the image of a Talmid Chacham? But on the other, if I have in my hands “The Biography of so-and-so”, I do hope that it will inspire as well as enlighten. In other words, I do want to see what made the person into such a powerful, well-respected figure, but I also want to see them as human as well. Thus ‘biographies’ that take certain ‘liberties’ may have good intention, but seem little better than propaganda pieces. While the author does not mention it, a valid workaround to this is simply not to write a biography, but to write a book focused on their ideas, not the person’s life. Protecting the community from potentially going astray may be a valid concern if one’s community consists only of children, but when there are adults?
Changing the Immutable may have a title that screams “sensationalism!”. The reality, however, is anything but: this is an extensively footnoted 500 page book that even comes with receipts (before and after images of censorship). This is not a never-ending attack either on whitewashing among the ultra frum (though that of course plays a part) as early chapters turn the clock back centuries showing examples of some of the more controversial statements such as “R. Hayim of Volozhin records that the Vilna Gaon told him that in matters of halakhah one should not give up one’s independent judgement, even if that means opposing a ruling of the Shulḥan arukh. This was recorded by R. Hayim in a responsum, but when the responsum was finally published, some sixty years after his death, what the Vilna Gaon had said about disputing with the Shulḥan arukh was deleted.” (page 156)
There are many eye-opening moments to be found here and while the elephant in the room is the modern Haredi whitewashing of the past, the real “you gotta be kidding me” moment came well before then in the chapter all about Rabbi Kook, someone whom I thought was very respected in these circles has in fact been subjected to so much censorship, you’d really need to create a Kotel-sized wall putting up all the letters with their before/after ‘corrections’, the rabbis who friended him to only discard him later, his followers who supported him and then modified his output to protect his honor all while balancing the fact that he actually had somewhat positive things to say about Spinoza and even Jesus—yes, that Jesus. However, the true supposed heresy to top this all off was his belief that taking time off from studying Torah to more or less pump iron is not a bad thing:
“We dealt so much in soulfulness, we forgot the holiness of the body. We neglected physical health and strength, we forgot that we have holy flesh, no less than holy spirit. . . . Our return will succeed only if it will be—with all its splendid spirituality—also a physical return, which produces healthy blood, healthy flesh, mighty, solid bodies, bodies, a fiery spirit radiating over powerful muscles. With the strength of holy flesh, the weakened soul will shine, reminiscent of the physical resurrection.” (page 256)
While later rather than never, it should be noted Changing the Immutable while beginning with the case of a vanishing Clinton is almost entirely focused on past cases of “historical revisionism” (aka censorship) within Jewish works. On a timeline, the focus mostly stops after the mid 20th century (aside from the Clinton story and sporadic references to ArtScroll and their crayon-wielding editors). Thus, if you go into this book hoping for a modern tell-all about current day issues and examples of Haredi censorship, you may leave a bit disappointed. This is, as noted, a mostly academic, not sensationalist, take on a troubling phenomenon, not a polemic against black hats. It also in its final chapter takes a step back from its main focus and almost (but not quite, thankfully) concludes with an apologetic on the times when falsehoods may be an acceptable thing (most notably, ‘to preserve peace’ that as we have seen, may have been stretched beyond its breaking point).
My goal was to keep my own views at bay and obviously, that was a tall order. If my gloves were slipping in the review proper, they’re off now: Judaism need not—nor should not—and certainly historically as a whole has never been confined to the four amos of halakha. Attempting to cover up the past writings of great minds is more or less idolatry, worshiping a human ideal, not reality, not traversing above and below the bes that begins Bereshis, but transgressing it.
April 5, 2021
3.5 stars. Overall a good read. Shapiro puts together an impressively extensive body of research. There were many interesting tidbits in this book. However, I did not find his thesis to be entirely convincing. He compares orthodox censorship to Soviet Russia in the sense that they both try to rewrite the past. While Shapiro does reveal a fair amount of censorship, it does not seem to me that there is an overarching systematic agenda ala totalitarian state. Rather, there seems to me to be a more widespread unease with certain elements that leads to many instances of censorship (I do admit, however, that when it comes to Rav Kook that there is a more systematic attempt at censorship). Also, at points the book seems to just simply be enumerating slightly different instances of the same type of censorship and feels like going through a long list.
June 17, 2015
While this book was full of interesting information and material about censored and manipulated texts, there was little of analysis of what to do with the notion of censorship. I do recommend it for the research alone but I felt like there was more to be said.
July 19, 2015
Very important book.
December 24, 2017
This erudite work describes a variety of forms of what Shapiro describes as censorship- inaccurate translations of older works, deletion of inconvenient paragraphs from newer editions of a book, even doctoring of photographs. Such behavior has a variety of motives, some more sympathetic (to me) than others- such as
*Simply making someone invisible to history (for example, one haredi-oriented book doctoring photos to eliminate evidence that R. Soloveitchik supported haredi schooling; the author did not want readers to know that haredi rabbis were willing to associate with him)
*altering translations of the work of great rabbis by deleting remarks that seem reprehensible to anyone living in this century, or by deleting references to halachic opinions that were rejected by later rabbis;
*biographies that fail to discuss parts of a rabbi's work that don't fit with the author's views (for example, biographies of Samson Raphael Hirsch that don't discuss his support of secular work and learning)
*translations that mistranslate in order to avoid references to bodily functions or sex. (Interestingly, Victorian and early 20th-c. modern Orthodox works seem to be most aggressive in this regard).
Shapiro does not judge these "censors"; if anything, he bends over backwards not to, by citing every scrap of premodern Jewish rhetoric that seems to allow any sort of deception of religious purposes. I wish he had devoted a little more space to contrary views, since I think focusing on one side of an argument is generally misleading. In addition, I wish he had explained the social context of some of the more bizarre views he quotes- for example, oppression by other religions.
What most surprised me about this book is the level of animosity between some haredim and modern Orthodox rabbis; I find it easy to imagine haredim expunging evidence of non-Orthodox Jews or non-Jews doing something praiseworthy, but never thought that they would do the same to modern Orthodox and religious Zionist rabbis.
*Simply making someone invisible to history (for example, one haredi-oriented book doctoring photos to eliminate evidence that R. Soloveitchik supported haredi schooling; the author did not want readers to know that haredi rabbis were willing to associate with him)
*altering translations of the work of great rabbis by deleting remarks that seem reprehensible to anyone living in this century, or by deleting references to halachic opinions that were rejected by later rabbis;
*biographies that fail to discuss parts of a rabbi's work that don't fit with the author's views (for example, biographies of Samson Raphael Hirsch that don't discuss his support of secular work and learning)
*translations that mistranslate in order to avoid references to bodily functions or sex. (Interestingly, Victorian and early 20th-c. modern Orthodox works seem to be most aggressive in this regard).
Shapiro does not judge these "censors"; if anything, he bends over backwards not to, by citing every scrap of premodern Jewish rhetoric that seems to allow any sort of deception of religious purposes. I wish he had devoted a little more space to contrary views, since I think focusing on one side of an argument is generally misleading. In addition, I wish he had explained the social context of some of the more bizarre views he quotes- for example, oppression by other religions.
What most surprised me about this book is the level of animosity between some haredim and modern Orthodox rabbis; I find it easy to imagine haredim expunging evidence of non-Orthodox Jews or non-Jews doing something praiseworthy, but never thought that they would do the same to modern Orthodox and religious Zionist rabbis.
April 9, 2021
‘Changing the Immutable’ is an important book about censorship across Jewish literature and specifically the historical revisionism of the Haredi thought-leaders. It is a real eye-opener that can have quite a disillusioning effect because it pulls no punches and it reveals sources you'd prefer not to have known but for truth-seekers it is an essential read.
Shapiro demonstrates tremendous scholarship and extraordinary attention to detail with countless fascinating examples in each chapter. It's a very thorough work of research, heavy on substance and content but still very readable. Even the footnotes are filled with gems, revealing sources and intriguing anecdotes that are mind-boggling.
Difficult to pick favourite chapters because the whole book is brilliant but perhaps I found the sections which analyse the different reasons and motivations behind the different types of censorship to be particularly insightful. For example, R' Dessler's instrumental and utilitarian approach to the entire notion of Emet - 'Truth' is helpful in understanding the justification Rabbis had throughout the generations, but more so in recent times, to censor and falsify. I also thought dedicated chapters to R Hirsch and Rav Kook would be too much but it wasn't. Not as captivating as the rest of the book but it's understandable why Shapiro chose to pay so much attention on them.
Only real critique is the ending, I felt like it was missing a personal touch. Perhaps what the future looks like or what he thinks of this redefinition of truth and the consequences of such censorship. All in all an important book you should read if you have any interest in Jewish studies, the orthodox world and Haredi society.
Shapiro demonstrates tremendous scholarship and extraordinary attention to detail with countless fascinating examples in each chapter. It's a very thorough work of research, heavy on substance and content but still very readable. Even the footnotes are filled with gems, revealing sources and intriguing anecdotes that are mind-boggling.
Difficult to pick favourite chapters because the whole book is brilliant but perhaps I found the sections which analyse the different reasons and motivations behind the different types of censorship to be particularly insightful. For example, R' Dessler's instrumental and utilitarian approach to the entire notion of Emet - 'Truth' is helpful in understanding the justification Rabbis had throughout the generations, but more so in recent times, to censor and falsify. I also thought dedicated chapters to R Hirsch and Rav Kook would be too much but it wasn't. Not as captivating as the rest of the book but it's understandable why Shapiro chose to pay so much attention on them.
Only real critique is the ending, I felt like it was missing a personal touch. Perhaps what the future looks like or what he thinks of this redefinition of truth and the consequences of such censorship. All in all an important book you should read if you have any interest in Jewish studies, the orthodox world and Haredi society.
February 4, 2020
This book is a careful documentation of omissions and edits in the transmission of authoritative texts that inform Jewish tradition and practice. Arguments made by defenders of the practice are contrasted with the demands of textual purists. Defenders contend that the text serves to transmit faith more than fact; and that censored material should be reserved for scholars. There are interesting chapters on Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. The book is an excellent reference and a good read for those interested in questions of text and tradition.
October 30, 2024
Fascinating book, really well sourced and is a great starting place for deeper investigation for someone looking for greater nuance in their Yiddishkeit and is already raising serious questions themselves.
My concern is that he does not have a clear thesis and therefore it is difficult to understand his motivation in writing such a book.
My concern is that he does not have a clear thesis and therefore it is difficult to understand his motivation in writing such a book.
July 31, 2022
Everything by Marc B. Shapiro is great and meticulous, and this is no exception. Especially interesting is the chapter on Rav Kook.
March 30, 2025
Fascintaing topic, however, clunky writing makes it hard to follow.
August 3, 2025
An interesting book that illuminates thought behind how texts are handled in the orthodox community and the thought process behind it
August 11, 2015
This is a painful book to read.
Shapiro, at the end, makes a case for the justifiability within Jewish thought for omitting or changing the words of a scholar. But one of the primary arguments advanced for the truth of Torah is the honesty of those who came before, who were closer witnesses to it. When some things are changed, how can you trust that anything is unchanged? And when later editors remove opinions and writings that they don't agree with or find challenging, how can you trust the rav who comes along and says that his psak represents the Will of G-d? as opposed to human will.
Shapiro is careful with his accusations, is generous with his benefit of the doubt, is extensive with his examples, and documents everything he says with photographs of altered texts.
Shapiro, at the end, makes a case for the justifiability within Jewish thought for omitting or changing the words of a scholar. But one of the primary arguments advanced for the truth of Torah is the honesty of those who came before, who were closer witnesses to it. When some things are changed, how can you trust that anything is unchanged? And when later editors remove opinions and writings that they don't agree with or find challenging, how can you trust the rav who comes along and says that his psak represents the Will of G-d? as opposed to human will.
Shapiro is careful with his accusations, is generous with his benefit of the doubt, is extensive with his examples, and documents everything he says with photographs of altered texts.
August 30, 2016
A must-not-miss analysis of how a religion can change its own history in light of its values at the time. Marc Shapiro magistrally takes us through most of the chachamim and shows how subsequent editors unabashedly altered their writings to reflect what was or was not in favour. Rambam, Rashi, Yosef Caro, Harav Kook, Rabbi Nachman... All were at some time corrected by later editors.
Ending with a chapter about the need for truth - is it so bad to alter the truth -, this book will cool down much enthusiasm about how much we can trust that past wise men really were thinking as we do.
The consolation prize must be that any religion that alters its own records is a religion which is alive.
Ending with a chapter about the need for truth - is it so bad to alter the truth -, this book will cool down much enthusiasm about how much we can trust that past wise men really were thinking as we do.
The consolation prize must be that any religion that alters its own records is a religion which is alive.
July 12, 2015
Fascinating look at how truth has been loosely interpreted in publishing of rabbinical texts. Shows an incredible command of the field with huge number of examples. Leaves any moral conclusions about whether or not that is right to the reader, but does lead you in one direction. Mostly focused on haredi publishing, at least for recent examples. Would be nice to know how much similar issues show up in other cultures and fields, I wouldn't be surprised if it was common elsewhere too.
October 10, 2015
Very good, but for many long awaiting it, not exactly what we came to expect. More specific technical examples and personalities,less the larger societal and historical outplay we might have seen on Seforim Blog or his earlier works and lectures.
June 19, 2016
Solid piece of research on how Jewish texts are rewritten, edited or mistranslated in order to conform with Orthodox beliefs on a certain time and place.
Read
November 24, 2015Review by Susan M. Chambré for the Jewish Book Council.
February 7, 2016
Great book. I only took off a star for the commentary; I don't need Shapiro to tell me when to be horrified. I think the material speaks for itself.
June 26, 2016
Really 2.5 stars. The book was an impressive litany of examples and facts, but it lacked the in-depth analysis that would have made it more compelling as a work of scholarship.
November 6, 2016
excelent book a product of a hard investigation
December 30, 2015
Revolutionary. Brave. Thorough. A must read for anyone interested in modern Judaism.
January 26, 2018
A fascinating analysis of various episodes in Jewish history that might not be common knowledge. However, the overall structure of the book is a bit disjointed. It is slightly unclear until the final chapter on the laws of truth exactly what the author wishes to convey apart from vague examples of censorship here and there. Apart from that, I greatly enjoyed this well-sourced historical scholarship and was lead to reflect on contemporary Judaism.
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