In 1985, the IDF radio station Galei Zahal gave the late scientist and philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz the chance to give a series of short talks on the Torah portion of the week. Accepting the Yoke of Heaven is a compilation of those transcripts, with some additions and clarifications to accommodate the change from speech to text.
Can anyone hope to offer profound new insights into an entire Torah portion in 12 or 13 minutes?
To Leibowitz's credit, he doesn't even try, limiting himself instead to almost off-the-cuff, apolitical remarks about some small aspect of the text that caught his attention.
Here is Leibowitz commenting on this week's parsha, Mishpatim: "It is commonly accepted among the naive, and sometimes among those who pretend to be naive, that the entire world of the oral Torah is nothing but the authorized interpretation of the written Torah. But in truth, that is not at all the position of halakhic, talmudic and rabbinic Judaism."
If there is a theme underlying these short, unscripted homilies, it is Leibowitz's conviction that the Jews' obligation to observe the commandments is an end in itself. As he points out in his talk on Vayikra: "a person does not assume the yoke of the Torah and mitzvot because God's voice reaches him, but God's voice reaches a person who accepts upon himself the yoke of the Torah and mitzvot. Faith is not given to man from the outside."
So don't look for enlightenment in this short volume. Read it instead whenever you have a few minutes you want to spend in the company of a fine mind "talking Torah."

The erudite Professor Liebowitz passed away in 1994, but he has left us with fresh thoughts on the weekly Torah portions. He was a Professor of Science at Hebrew University, having immigrated to Palestine in 1935 at the age of 31. His commentaries on the weekly parshat reveal his radical ideas on the nature of god and god's relationship to humans, he confronts the nature of prayer, and our concept of holiness in the world. He promotes the idea of compliance with the law for its own sake, and not for reward or punishment. For example, take his commentary on Parshat Noach and that the meaning Tower of Babel is to look at the world after the flood. Was it a world as evil as the pre-flood world? Was the dispersion of people after Babel a punishment? Maybe it wasn't a punishment? Maybe dispersion is a reward, allowing for a difference in thought and practice and decentralization. Maybe Babel was a story of conformity, centralization and totalitarianism. Dispersion ended this. This is a very fresh thought, no? Or take Parhsat Vayeshev, the story of Jacob and Joseph and Egypt, and the sentence "Joseph was BROUGHT DOWN to Egypt. Is it actually a story of free will and determinism, a story of antinomies and paralogisms. Leibowitz focuses on midrash and writings that define the word "dealing and deeds" as "making a false accusation." He delves into the idea of God bringing deeds into the world and upon man, and later places the blame on man for these deeds, and the idea that the strife between the brothers and the sale of Joseph was pre-ordained, since it was known that the Hebrews would be slaves in Egypt for 400 years. In his four page discussion of Parshat Korach, he ties this parshat to parasha of tzitzit, and the ending sentences of the Shema which is recited daily. Korach, Leibowitz writes, rebelled against Moses saying "for all the community, all of them are holy." But, Leibowitz continues, the tzitzit idea of holiness (which appears in the paragraph above the Korach story) differs from that of Korach. The tzitzit concept of holiness is one that should be strived for, it is a goal; while Korach believes it is something that is granted. Korach has absolved himself of responsibility, he boasts that he is a member of a holy nation, even though he is contemptible. Are the people holy or do they become holy through their actions and performance of certain tasks? Guess what, the ideas from Korach did not end when he was swallowed up by the Earth. It continues today. If you enjoy these ideas, buy the book and read it.

With the publication of Elpeleg's excellent biography, Hajj Amin al-Husayni is now the subject of six biographies in the English alone, as well as several in other languages. Why so much attention to a seemingly minor and failed figure now repudiated by his own people? Because, as Elpeleg shows, Hajj Amin established many of the basics of Palestinian nationalism which endure to this day-from the adoption of the 1916 Sharifian banner of as the Palestinian flag to the inveterate anti-Semitic tone of Palestinian politics. Elpeleg credits him, "more than any other figure," with turning a local conflict into a major regional crisis. More: Hajj Amin determined the lines of Palestinian politics that endure decades after his influence eroded: "There is almost nothing in the PLO doctrine, or in the national charters of the Palestine National Council, which had not already been conceived and given expression by Haj Amin." Despite his profound importance, the man is neglected by his heirs today, embarrassed as they are by his overt extremism, his failure, and his smell of evil (he joined the Nazi cause and succeeded in preventing Jews from escaping the Nazi death machine). Still, along with Yasir Arafat, he remains one of the two outstanding figures of Palestinian nationalism; thanks to Elpeleg's meticulous, comprehensive, and fast-moving account, we have a real sense who this figure was and how it was that he did uniquely much to poison relations between Jews and Muslims in Palestine.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1994

This book answers many possible questions regarding the Jewish Faith. It is easy to read and easy to understand. It covers terms, feasts, Biblical stories, and traditions.

Not the sort of thing one would read in one sitting of course, but it is an improvement over its musty predecessor, and is a handy guide for most questions about Judaism and things related. Doesn't have any obvious political bent (except for pluralism) that I could discern, which is helpful in research, and so it is about as objective a reference on Judaism that could be found. Also gets with the program with information on women in Judaism, etc., that the older edition lacked. The kind of the thing one might give to a Bar Mitzvah instead of a pen, or get for a home library.