Hillel

Praise

“Rabbi, lecturer, ethicist, novelist, playwright, and author, Telushkin demonstrates his unusual versatility in this fifteenth entry in the Jewish Encounters series. . . . Telushkin’s lucid explanations are a model of clarity, enabling readers to better understand and appreciate the significant contributions of Hillel and their contemporary applications.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Joseph Telushkin’s portrait of the ancient Jewish leader Hillel jumps off the page with its contemporary resonances. Hillel’s lessons and sayings as a Talmud scholar have universal application for anyone interested in bringing dignity and peace to the world. In Hillel we find a master educator and a person of profound learning, spiritual depth, humility, and tolerance.”
—David Gregory, moderator, Meet the Press
 
“Here’s a book to start quite a little intra-Jewish conversation, and I, for one, will be eavesdropping with interest.”
—Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography
 
“The venerable and much-quoted Rabbi Hillel has a lot to teach us twenty-first-century Jews. Thanks to Joseph Telushkin’s book, we experience Hillel at his most optimistic, succinct, and radical, insisting on the primacy of righteous behavior, an arms-wide welcome for converts, the challenge and blessing of lifelong Jewish learning, and the importance of Jewish educators who love their students and studies in equal measure.”
—Anita Diamant, author of Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Families and Friends and president of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh