Featured Post

Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!

(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...

May 11, 2015

book review: Eilu V'Eilu by Rabbi Ari Enkin

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: Eilu V'Eilu: Halachic Insights & Responsa, by Rabbi Ari N. Enkin


Eilu V'Eilu, by Rabbi Ari Enkin, published by Mosaica Press, is, by my count (I might be wrong), the 7th book by Rabbi Enkin in this series of books on halachic insights and responsa. Eilu V'Eilu is true to the style of the rest of the books in the series, and provides an interesting learning experience.

Eilu V'Eilu is a series of articles written exploring a variety of interesting halachic topics, with halachic decisions and comments taken from a wide variety of sources. The footnotes are extensive and eye opening. Rabbi Enkin is a master at drawing from a broad array of sources, and the footnotes are clearly indicative of that.

Eilu V'Eilu, I think, is slightly different than the other books. I think I picked up on a slightly different approach. While the previous books were more decisive on the various topics discussed, Eilu V'Eilu seems to present more discussion and quotes more sources in the actual text rather than just in the footnotes. Especially interesting is a few articles in which Rabbi Enkin draws upon the famous halachic classes of Rabbi Zilbershtein to resolve the issues presented in those topics. Rabbi Zilbershtein is famous for his halachic discussion and psak of interesting and unusual cases, and it seems to me to be a good fit with Rabbi Enkin's style of selecting interesting topics and finding interesting sources and opinions.

Another difference is the non-halachic topics at the end of the book. Rabbi Enkin has a section of  selected topics discussing Talmudic principals, and another section discussing a selection of contradictions in Shulchan Aruch.

While the additional, less-halachic, sections are interesting, the vast majority of the book is articles on the halachic topics. Rabbi Enkin presents discussions on topics such as the use of solar heated water on Shabbos - among other interesting Shabbos-related topics, a variety of halachic topics that are yomtov oriented, such as meat during the Nine Days, Torah study on Tisha b'Av, smelling the Etrog, and others.There are topics on prayer, on lifecycles events, food, monetary law, and much more.

Topics of particular interest to me included the articles on glatt kosher, as well as his article comparing the psak of the Aruch Hashulchan vs the Mishna Brura. kosher imitation foods, tzaar baalei chaim issues such as with foie gras, among others.

Eilu V'Eilu is another book by Rabbi Ari Enkin that should be read especially by anybody interested in halacha, but also by anybody who wants to learn more and be enriched about interesting topics in an enjoyable way.

buy Eilu V'Eilu on Amazon.com



NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.



------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...