Covenant & Conversation: Exodus: The Book of Redemption

I opened this book up chomping at the bit to get started. I had just finished the author’s book on Genesis, which was the first book I have read by Rabbi Sacks and learned so much that I could hardly wait to see what was in store next. I am not Jewish, but I am a Yeshua follower. There is something to be learned by everyone in this book. The life lessons are meant to teach how to live life according to God’s way, not how to participate in a religion. The way the author weaves pearls of knowledge, connecting different texts of Scripture together that I never would have was astonishing. Rabbi Sacks is a gifted and brilliant author, who uses his God-given gifts to bring glory to God and show his readers how to live a life that will do the same.There is much to learn in this second book of the Covenant & Conversation Series, focusing on Exodus. The insights provided by the author are sometimes remarkable, sometimes profound and sometimes cause for soul-searching. He writes with the ability for any layperson to understand, although with his education, experience, intelligence and training he could easily write at a far higher level. As someone who is not an academician or Jewish, I appreciated the writing at my level of understanding. I have the entire series and will soon be starting the next book based on Leviticus. I know there will be much to learn, and I look forward to what Rabbi Sacks has to teach me.

If you are familiar with Rabbi Sacks Z"L you don't need a review. If you're not, do yourself a favor and buy, and READ, this book.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991-2013. In 2009 he started the series of which this is the second book. It takes the Torah reading for each week and give a commentary for each parsha. Broken up into three portions, each commentary is readable and scholarly.This is a book to be read slowly and thoughtfully, as Rabbi Sacks brings ancient peoples and events to life. The book of Genesis has many entertaining stories and people, but Exodus is the real beginning of the Hebrew people. Dominated by the personage of Moses, we follow the travails of the Hebrew people from their life in Egypt to the banks of the Jordan as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.Rabbi Sacks has a gift for make difficult passages understandable and applicable to everyday life.

For a book that offers so much, you woukd think the reader would have to wade through a plethora of theological dogma. Not so, Rabbi Sacks writing style, while very deep and informative flows with the ease and grace of a true spiritual leader, one who truly cares and loves being a Rabbi and above all a devote Jew. He takes you by the hand and walks you through each book of Exodus. The experience is like a thrill ride, one instance your with Moses receiving the law only to experience the golden calf. At each step he breaks down what is relly going on, for non Jews like myself reading Rabbi Sacks has removed the mystery of the unknown. Now I read the Bible with joy of knowledge. Emerse yourself.

For a person curious about our real Jewish heritage fulfilled in Jesus this is a must read to help connect Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Johnathan Sachs is easy to read, well thought out, with lots of reference materials to go even further into Bible exploration Whatever church you go to as a Christian or a Christ believer, Johnathan Sachs makes our beliefs deeper by a greater explanation in depth of the Bible. The whole Exodus experience is explained so well with better understanding of the Hebrew culture.

This is a wonderful insight into not only Exodus but into God from a classical Jewish perspective. Very valuable for Jews or Christians. Insightful and encouraging. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to see what God is restoring to His people in the days in which we live. Whether Messiah comes the first time or the second, this book will touch your heart with a sensitivity to be the people who will welcome Him.If you're a follower of Jesus (Yeshua), either Christian or Messianic, you will find some "gaps" where a knowledge of Jesus as Messiah would fit right in and give understanding of what it seems Dr. Sacks is (yet) unaware of. Even so, this is a valuable work and I recommend it highly. Very readable. I have highlights on almost every page.

I don't write many reviews because I'm not the best at articulating profound ideas. This is one of the main reasons I can't get enough of Rabbi Sacks Covenant and Conversation series. I have been going through withdrawals without the book on Deuteronomy. Please Rabbi Sacks finish it soon!In the end, I recommend this book to both the skeptic and the religious alike. Rabbi Sacks is brilliant in the way he is able to teach deep moral principles of Tanakh in a way that is gripping and easily understood.

Rabbi Sacks is such a great writer. He breaks down the story of Genesis with simplicity and clarity. I really enjoy that he gives the various interpretations from different Rabbis (and interpreters) and sites his references at the end of each chapter. This is the first book in a series of the five books of the Torah and is written to be read a little at a time and discussed. I am reading this with some other people have enjoyed it throughly along with learning new meanings of the writings. I plan to get the other four in the series.

Bought this after reading and deeply enjoying Rabbi Sacks’ volume of essays on the weekly readings (Parsha) of Genesis. I wasn’t disappointed. This volume of essays on Exodus is magnificent and illuminating, and Sacks has a wonderful way of bringing the text to speak to modern times. As a Christian minister, I’d say that Rabbi Sacks’ insights are invaluable. Looking forward reading his volume on Leviticus.

As with his companion volume of essays for the Book of Genesis, these essays are an excellent companion to the study of the Book of Exodus. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them and feel an even keener sense of loss that Rabbi Sacks is no longer with us. May his memory be a blessing. I am sad that I never got the chance to meet him and learn directly from his wisdom.

Every chapter left me feeling "I could accept this and consider any need for personal restraint would involve a minor adjustment on my part and would be infinitely worth while because of the lasting all-round benefit both to me and to the community in which I would like to live." To the question "Why" the "Answer" is obviously, "because this would work,and Time has shown, around the world and in my long life, that nothing else does." This book is about the blessing that would follow a personal and communal life lived in obedience to the Old Testament Law given by the God of Israel and backed by the New Testament in the teaching of Jesus, who said that to love the lord God first and foremost and to love one's neighbour as oneself is the "first and second law" we should live by.

Brilliant insight from Rabbi Sacks, as always.

I am surprised that AMAZON USA does not carry this quality of the books in this series and I am thankful for AMAZON UK.This is an exceptional series that is difficult to surpass!This book causes one to ponder the Jewish Nation some 3,000 years ago and many of the same ethical, moral and other similarities today that has the same relevance, today!The same question is can we learn from history and Rabbi Sacks' insights!If one wants a book that raises many questions with the answers to be determined by the reader.