About the Author

Jonathan Rosen is the author of the novel Eve's Apple. He created the Arts & Letters section of The Forward, which he edited for ten years. His essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The American Scholar, and several anthologies. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

"Rosen's wise and heartfelt book is a home page with links to infinity." --Anne Fadiman, author of Ex Libris "The Talmud and the Internet is a lyrical meditation about the quest to illuminate what has come before us in order to live wisely...(it) is a journey, not only between two worlds but among the great questions and the great souls who have considered life's purposes amid often horrifying evidence." --Nessa Rapoport, Los Angeles Times "We are moved and enlightened...Others have raised the felt contradictions between the tragic and luminous Jewish heritage and the ahistorical comforts and complacencies of American life. Few have managed to do so with such a mix of the searching, the modest and...with such charm." --Richard Eder, The New York Times

Rosen, author (Eve's Apple, LJ 4/15/97) and culture editor of the Forward, has written an engaging little book, originally intended, as he tells us, as an elegy for his grandmother. This is a reflection, a meditation, and a collection of stories, centering around or inspired by the Talmud. The author offers good insights into what being Jewish is like in modern America. He shows how his grandmothers, one of whom perished in the Holocaust while the other died at an old age in America, represent two different Jewish worlds. As Rosen admits, he does not discuss the Internet much, but it stands for the modern world of technology as the Talmud stands for tradition. Both bring different worlds, such as those of his grandmothers, together. The Talmud embraces a variety of ancient stories, traditions, and rabbinical positions on a multitude of topics; the Internet likewise encompasses almost innumerable web sites on almost every subject. Recommended for public and academic libraries and collections of inspirational reading. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/00.]DJohn Moryl, Yeshiva Univ. Lib., New York Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

"Rosen's wise and heartfelt book is a home page with links to infinity." --Anne Fadiman, author of Ex Libris "The Talmud and the Internet is a lyrical meditation about the quest to illuminate what has come before us in order to live wisely...(it) is a journey, not only between two worlds but among the great questions and the great souls who have considered life's purposes amid often horrifying evidence." --Nessa Rapoport, Los Angeles Times "We are moved and enlightened...Others have raised the felt contradictions between the tragic and luminous Jewish heritage and the ahistorical comforts and complacencies of American life. Few have managed to do so with such a mix of the searching, the modest and...with such charm." --Richard Eder, The New York Times