Talking With God

TALKING WITH GOD is a powerful, overwhelming work of scholarship and dedication. Jo and I thank you not only for the book, but also for the enormous contribution you made to better understand the Bible and the Jewish tradition. We were deeply impressed further by your father’s message in his own handwriting, a message which endures permanently. We look forward to talking with you about your work and we salute you.

I think you have done a wonderful job with Talking with God. First of all, it is very well-written: accessible, easygoing, and able to make a complicated subject easy to follow. Jargon and obfuscation have practically become the hallmarks of the academic literature of my generation, and I can’t tell you how pleased I was to see such simple, clear writing. My dad used to love to tell how John von Neumann would say “bring the hay down to where the cows can get at it!”, and you have succeeded admirably.

Regarding your thesis, I thought you did an excellent job of presenting your major points, in a logical, thought-out manner. It’s a fascinating take on things, and I don’t see how your presentation can be thought of as anything but very well done.

I confess I didn’t spend as much time on the linguistics (and the appendices) as I did following the main points, but I can examine those at greater leisure, and I am sure they are of the same quality as the rest of the book.

One final point: the book looks terrific–great cover, layout, fonts, images–really first-rate.

I wish you every success with it!

I LOVE TO READ IT TOO, MAN OF GOD

I think the book is in many ways a magisterial work. Not being
an expert in any of the areas you cover, I can’t say whether it will garner
a positive reception or a cold one. Magisterial works often need time
before they are recognized, precisely because they depart so far from the
conventional wisdom. I am amazed by the range of ancient languages that you
manage to call on for parallels to Biblical Hebrew terms. I found especially
compelling the extensive discussion of radioactivity in connection with the
cloud and the ark as receptor as well as your explanation in this connection
of the urim and tumim and the ephod. The whole priestly cult as a defensive
operation is a new and challenging idea.