Reviews

Testimony from Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander

I sincerely thank Dr. Pinchas Polonsky for asking for my approbation to his commentary Bible Dynamics. Unless he had done so I probably would have missed this very valuable work.

The most important part in many books is the Introduction, or Preface, which many people ignore, wanting to get to the gist of the text. But – as in this book – often the seminal ideas are expounded in the few pages devoted to the Preface.

One of the major lessons to be learned from Dr. Polonsky’s work is: there is always room for thought – new questions, new attempts to understand –and of course the understanding that no answer is certainly final or complete, every generation has – not the right to ask new questions, but the DUTY to do so.

Often, the correct answer to the questions may be that there is a mistaken assumption which is the basis for the question. That idea in itself is so important: If something seems questionable – formulate the question and then analyze it: often you may find the answer in the analysis of the question.

In every chapter, you will find original, daring, inspiring and intriguing insights.

King David remarked about his learning, in Psalms 119, verse 92: Had your Torah not been my enjoyment, I would have perished in my [intellectual/emotional] poverty.

Join King David, learn this commentary to enjoy, to delight in, to challenge your previous notions, to broaden your understandings – of Torah, of Humanity, perhaps, also – of yourself.

Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander

Pinchas Polonsky

Pinchas Polonsky (Russian: Полонский Петр (Пинхас) Ефимович, born 1958) is a Russian-Israeli Jewish-religious philosopher, researcher, and educator active among the Russian-speaking Jewish community. He has written original books and a number of translations of works on Judaism. During his underground activities in Moscow (1977–1987), he taught Judaism and was one of the founders of Machanaim. He lives in Israel, is an activist in the process of the modernization of Judaism and is a researcher on the topics of the late Rav Kook. Polonsky is the author of a commentary on the Torah under the title "Biblical Dynamics". Dr. Polonsky initiated EJWiki, an academic encyclopedia on Jewish and Israeli topics.

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