Originally published in the National Jewish Monthly, May 1979. Hasidic Prayer by Louis Jacobs. Schocken Books. 195 pp. $3.95. In most of the major cities of the United States and in a good many college towns, Hasidim, sometimes in full dress, ... Continue Reading ➨
Reviews of Louis Jacobs’s books
This section contains a selection of book reviews written by a broad range of authored, including academics and rabbis, offering critical comments on the works of Rabbi Louis Jacobs.
Jack Riemer – Review of ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt’ in San Diego Jewish Times
Originally published in San Diego Jewish Times, 6th January 2000. “Jacobs Affair” Is Chronicled in New Book Beyond Reasonable Doubt, by Louis Jacobs, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, London, England, distributed in America by ISBS, ... Continue Reading ➨
Maurice Edelman, M.P. – Types of Ecstasy
Tract on Ecstasy. By Dobh Baer of Lubavitch. Translated from the Hebrew with an introduction and notes by Louis Jacobs. Vallentine, Mitchell. 25s. Ecstasy, like death, is a private experience, whatever its company, and to communicate its nature ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Tract of Ecstasy’ in Zionist Record and S.A. Jewish Chronicle
Originally published in Zionist Record and S.A. Jewish Chronicle, 10th January 1964. TRACT ON ECSTACY: By Dobh Baer of Lubavitch: Translated from the Hebrew with an introduction and notes; by Louis Jacobs. Vallentine Mitchell, London: 25/-. The ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Tract on Ecstasy’ in World Jewry
Originally published in World Jewry 45:6, January 1964. Tract on Ecstasy. By Dobh Baer of Lubavitch. Translated from the Hebrew by Louis Jacobs. Vallentine, Mitchell. London. 25s. This remarkable Sefer by the son and disciple the founder of the ... Continue Reading ➨
The Teachings of the Lubavitcher
Originally published in Jewish Affairs, November 1964. While Charles Wesley was teaching Methodists in eighteenth-century England to sing of “love’s ecstatic height,” of “the glorious joy of unspeakable” and “the beatific sight,” which for him ... Continue Reading ➨
‘Moderate Book’
Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle. A critique of Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs’s philosophy, as expressed in his book, We Have Reason to Believe, is made in a four-page article in the June issue of Prism, an Anglican monthly. The writer, ... Continue Reading ➨
The Times Literary Supplement – Tract on Ecstasy
Originally published in The Times - Literary Supplement, 14th May 1964. Dobh Baer of Lubavitch: Tract on Ecstasy. Translated by Louis Jacobs. 195pp. Vallentine, Mitchell. 25s. Dr. Jacobs here translates for the first time into any European ... Continue Reading ➨
Lawrence Cohen – Review Column
Hopefully this column will focus on some of the gems on the shelves in the library. This month I would like to draw your attention to one new book and one recently re-issued. Rabbi Louis Jacobs has just published a marvellous introduction to the ... Continue Reading ➨
William Frankel – The Impact of ‘We Have Reason to Believe’
Originally published in Masorti Matters, Summer 1998. 40 years ago William Frankel published Rabbi Louis Jacobs’ most controversial work. It led to The Jacobs Affair and gave birth to the Masorti movement in Britain. In 1954 Rabbi Louis Jacobs ... Continue Reading ➨
Fred Morgan – Heart and Head
Originally published in The Expository Times 104:3 (December 1992). Of the two books under review, Chaim Nussbaum’s Semblance and Reality: Messianism in Biblical Perspective (Ktav [1991], $16.95, pp. 156. ISBN 0-88125-385-5) and Louis Jacob’s ... Continue Reading ➨
Michael Harris – Traditional Alternatives: Orthodox reservations about the theology of Rabbi Jacobs
Originally published in Jewish Qarterly 53:3 (2006). From an Orthodox perspective, the most controversial aspect of the theology of Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs is his denial of the traditional view of the divine authorship of the whole of the ... Continue Reading ➨
Joel Yor – Truth in Faith: a review of Louis Jacobs’ ‘Principles of Jewish Faith’
Truth in Faith by Joel Yor PRINCIPLES OF THE JEWISH FAITH: An Analytical Study. By Louis Jacobs. Basic, N.Y. xii & 473 pp. $9.50. At the heart of the tempestuous controversy that has been raging within Great Britain’s Jewish community in ... Continue Reading ➨
Shalom Coleman – Dr. Jacobs’ Search For a “Middle Way”
This review was cut from a newspaper. A handwritten note reads "AJN - 1.1.1965". DR. JACOBS’ SEARCH FOR A “MIDDLE WAY” Controversial English rabbi and scholar, Dr. Louis Jacobs has recently published a book “Principles of the Jewish Faith - An ... Continue Reading ➨
Brenda Forster, ‘Critique: Louis Jacobs’ A Jewish Theology’
Editor's note: This essay was written by a student in December 1986 - probably as a course paper. The name of the student has been removed, for privacy reasons. The teacher's notes, handwritten at the end of the essay (and transcribed here), suggest ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of ‘Principles of the Jewish Faith’ by Samuel Sandmel
Originally published in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Principles of the Jewish Faith: An Analytical Study. By Louis Jacobs. New York: Basic Books, 1964. 473 pp. $9.50. What Rabbi Jacobs, a scholar of depth and probity, has done ... Continue Reading ➨