NO OF PAGES: 151 SUB CAT I: Miracles SUB CAT II: Midrash SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: This book draws from a wide range of sources, including the Bible, Talmud, Midrash, and Zohar, to present a fascinating survey of the role, meaning, and understanding of miracles in the Jewish tradition.NOTES: SUBTITLE:

I just read from beginning to end Ronald H. Isaacs' Miracles: A Jewish Perspective. It was a great read and gave me a quick overview of the topic. However I think the primary use of this book will be a reference guide, because it contains such a comprehensive list of miracles. The miracles are listed according to their source, thus the book's main body is divided into sections like miracles in the Bible, Talmud, philosophy, quotations, short stories, and prayerbook.

- The Biblical part is further subdivided to miracles demonstrating the wrath of G-d and then the Love of G-d, finally stories related to Elisha and Elijah.
- The Talmud part starts off with 7 specific extended quotes (all explained) positioning the roles of miracle within Talmudic thinking, then lists 37 individual stories and finishes of Elijah related examples.
- The Jewish philosophy part begins with the medieval period, describes nine rabbis' position on miracles (from Saadia Gaon to Moses Mendelssohn) and then devotes two pages to three 20th century thinkers (Rosenzweig, Heschel, Kaplan.)
- The next part includes 25 short quotes on six pages gathered from the Bible, Talmud and Midrash.
- The four short stories, each of them being two pages long, in the next part appear without sources cited.
- The last section, miracles in the prayerbook, takes specific prayers from Jewish liturgy (e.g. Modeh Ani, Asher Yatzar, Mi Kamocha, Amidah…), summarizes their content one by one and analyzes the miracle related points. I particularly liked that this part included blessings for seeing a rainbow, trees blossoming, creatures of unusual beauty, lightning, and hearing thunder.

Now that I covered the content of the majority of the book I need to point out the two short introductions. The first examines the question what a miracle is, or more precisely what ti was for the Jewish people throughout the ages. The analysis includes etymology of the Hebrew words for miracles, historical comparison and differentiation between hidden and revealing miracles. The second introduction introduces the differences between Christian and Jewish understanding of miracles. It does not go too deep into the former, because that is not the topic of this book, but provides quick list of 46 miracles of Jesus and the references in the New Testament.

The two things I most appreciated in this book were its expansive coverage and precise citing of the source. Not being an expert on the topic I cannot tell you whether the author left out any important miracle related writing from Jewish authors, but the list certainly seems comprehensive enough for me to start off the journey to learn more. As Isaacs devotes only a page or two at most to any giving miracle, it is very much a beginners' book. That is why I am so grateful for specifying the sources. I can go off and find out more about any of them. I admit, I am a bit dizzy, as jumped from one miracle/story/context to the next as I turned the pages. But if you want to have a generic overview of the Jewish perspective on miracles this is an excellent the first book to read. (If you want more there is a short bibliography of further reading at the back of the book.)