Title: A lightweight account of biblical Judaism -- Torah Lite
Review: The author tries to give an account of the Jews' contributions to civilization -- surely an ambitious task, walking in the footsteps of such giants as Heinrich Graetz or the modern Robert M. Seltzer. What Cahill ends up producing is a collection of Cliff Notes to the Hebrew Bible. He seems to inject some "authenticity" to his personal commentary by using the Hebrew names of most of his biblical heros -- although not all. His unfamiliarity with biblical Hebrew leads to some odd etymological speculation -- a delightful diversion for cognescenti, but misleading for everyone else. The reader should beware of any writer who claims to discuss the Hebrew Bible but relies -- like Cahill does -- entirely on a secondary reference work (The Anchor Bible Lexicon) to source his comments. This is a truly annoying book. Two stars are granted strictly for the entertainment value of this otherwise insipid puree.
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