"A religious roadmap for all of us, God-seeking or not" - Daily Beast
"An impressive vision of how to attain the good society" - Publishers Weekly
"A book of truth and beauty" - Yossi Klein Halevi, author of
At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden
"A book of genuine wisdom" - David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College
Finalist for the 2010 National Jewish Book Award
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THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
How Our Most Ancient Moral Text
Can Renew Modern Life
Scribner, September 2010
Media Inquiries: Contact Kate Lloyd at 212-632-4951 or [email protected]
The Ten Commandments are one of the most widely recognized religious texts in the world, yet few of us can name all ten, and fewer still know what they really are trying to teach us. When they first appeared in ancient Israel, they were a key element of the Old Testament. Today, they’re largely overlooked in discussions of how best to live one’s life.
Now, by taking a careful look at both the Commandments’ biblical context and the ancient Jewish traditions of interpreting them, we can learn how the Ten Commandments relate to our hectic, modern existence by unlocking their original meaning, showing how they provide ten major statements about human life, integrity, love, the family, wisdom, property, and community—values that place the individual human being at the center and emphasize the power of humanity to better the world. The result is a vision of a good society that is every bit as striking and relevant today as it was in millennia past, and that may go a long way to helping us overcome the sharp divides that continue to fracture our society.
Praise for THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
"Hazony’s redemptive—and optimistic—book provides a religious roadmap for all of us, God-seeking or not."
-- The Daily Beast
"Drawing on the Bible and classical rabbinical commentaries on the Bible, David Hazony adds his own insights to illuminate the central significance the Ten Commandments possess for modern life. In this broad ranging work, Hazony addresses the most existentially pressing issues of human concern--community, integrity, relationships, values, repair of the world--and judiciously mines these central biblical directives for the guidance and inspiration they provide for human life both personal and communal. This is a book of genuine wisdom."
--David Ellenson, President Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion
"David Hazony accomplishes the seemingly impossible: He manages, after three thousand years of commentary, to extract new, even startling meaning, from the Ten Commandments. He has written a book of truth and beauty that avoids pieties and renders these half-remembered injunctions profoundly relevant to our lives today."
--Yossi Klein Halevi , author of At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew’s Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land
"One of the greatest of Jewish literary arts is that of spinning brilliant and relevant disquisitions out of terse ancient texts, and David Hazony is a master at it. An exegesis of the Ten Commandments is precisely the book that needed to be written right now, and we are lucky that Hazony was around to write it."
--Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time
"In this, his first book, Hazony uses the biblical text as a point of departure for 10 wide-ranging essays, examining each commandment as a contribution to constructing the good society. He calls this effort the "spirit of redemption," which requires individuals to help make the world better. While he sticks to the text, he also imaginatively roams far afield, broadening our comprehension of the commandments.... Hazony has succeeded in extending the Ten Commandments to an impressive vision of how to attain the good society."
--Publishers Weekly
"A humane moral vision that will sustain redemptive action in an oppressive world... Hazony finds in the Ten Commandments not a reason for discouragement because of our inevitable individual failings but, rather, a source for renewal of vibrant communities. A timely reappropriation of ancient moral wisdom."
--Booklist (Starred Review)
"Hazony is particularly effective in drawing out the wider implications of the commandments, making them seem vital to the present time... Persons with an interest in the Old Testament will find this a thoughtful and helpful book."
--Library Journal
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For media inquiries, or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Lloyd at 212-632-4951 or [email protected]
