Harvey Warren Meirovich. A Vindication of Judaism: The Polemics of the Hertz Pentateuch. Foreword by Ismar Schorsch. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1998, xvi, 304 pp.

Abstract

Anyone who was personally privileged to meet the late J. H. Hertz, as was this reviewer from time to time in his student days, could not fail to be conscious of being in the presence of greatness. Short in natural height, he was a man of impressive stature. A commanding personality, he was easily the most outstanding individual ever to occupy the exalted position of chief rabbi of the British Empire (1913–46). He was courageous, energetic, eloquent, and determined, and he left an indelible impression on English-speaking Jewry. He bequeathed enduring, living monuments in the form of his Book of Jewish Thought (1917), his Commentary on the Torah and Haftorahs (1929–36), and his Commentary on the Prayer Book (1942–45), apart from numerous essays and addresses. As the Torah writes of Moses, “his hands were steady until the setting of the sun” (Exod. 17:12).