Gershon WinklerBesprekingen

Mr. Winkler believes and, at the end of his introduction giving a brief history of dybbuks and related entities in rabbinic and other Jewish literature, he quotes the Lubavitcher Rebbe: "There is no evidence that they do not exist, and therefore it is more scientific to believe reliable witnesses."

He uses his retellings of accounts of dybbuk possessions to teach proper behavior and to reach out to non-observant Jews.½

"The Golem of Prague" is primarily a rewriting of the stories of the Golem written by the son-in-law of the Maharal, the Rabbi who, according to the legend, created the Golem, using Kabbalah. As for the rewriting of these legends, Winkler does an acceptable job. His writing style is simple and plain - but the stories are all pretty simple. They are stories a 10 year old would have no trouble reading and comprehending. The stories are fun, but the writing needed to be stronger.

The remainder of the book is a series of essays on subjects such as miracles, Kabbalah vs. witchcraft, Torah's view of the occult, etc. I have to admit I gave up on reading these after a couple of essays. I don't know which denomination of Judaism Gerson Winkler belongs to, but I would guess some ultra-orthodox branch. While I am reading entertaining Jewish campfire stories of the man made from clay to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution, Winkler seems to be of the impression that he is writing a historical book. His beliefs in the magical powers of Kabbalah are so distant from my own beliefs that I stopped reading when his arguments became nonsensical.

NO OF PAGES: 231 SUB CAT I: Jewish Life SUB CAT II: Interpersonal Relationships SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: This book is about being in relationship-about how Judaism involves both doing and not doing religion within the living context of being in relationship with Self, God, and Others. It challenges us to be real with God and each other.NOTES: SUBTITLE: A Jewish Theology on Human Relationships