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To purchase any of these books online please click on the title of the book you would like to buy. Otherwise please email your order to info@vmbooks.com, or fax it to 0044 (0)20 8952 9242.
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 | We Have Reason to Believe
Fifth Edition
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
This book examines the basic beliefs of Judaism in light of modern thought. Its shape is traditional but not fundamentalist. This book, the main cause of the 'Jacobs Affair' in which the author's appointment to an Orthodox Rabbinic position was vetoed, suggests that the doctrine Torah Min Ha-Shamayyin (The Torah is from Heaven) needs to be reinterpreted so as not to be in conflict with modern knowledge. The controversy erupted again in the 1990s when Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks declared that those who hold views similar to the author's have severed links with the faith of their ancestors. This expanded fifth edition, with a Preface by William Frankel and a Retrospect of the ‘Jacobs Affair' by the author, will enable readers to follow the argument and make up their own minds. In a recent poll conducted by the (London) Jewish Chronicle, Louis Jacobs was chosen as the 'Greatest British Jew.'
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 | Helping with Inquiries
An Autobiography
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
This autobiography of one of the world’s leading Jewish religious thinkers and teachers, and the central participant in the dramatic ‘Jacobs affair’, begins with his early boyhood in a poor district of Manchester. The story covers his student life at Gateshead and London University, his trips overseas and the showbiz world of Hollywood – all of which enhances the book’s value as a historical source. For the first time, he provides an extended personal account of the ‘Jacobs affair’ of the 1960s, the bitter controversy over his theological writings which led to his being ostracised by many representatives of the Orthodox tradition from which he sprang.
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 | Judaism and Theology
Essays on the Jewish Religion
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Addresses some of the most burning questions but also provides surveys of contemporary Jewish religious life in the various communities and of the attitudes of Jewish thinkers to other religious faiths. For the first time a comprehensive account of Halakhic attitudes towards Christianity is presented. The differences in Jewish mystical thought and that of Christianity and other faiths are studied, along with the Jewish view of the relationship of faith to tradition compared with that of other religions.
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 | Jewish Preaching
Homilies and Sermons
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Rabbi Jacobs, with sixty years' experience of pulpit work to his credit, provides a number of homilies for each weekly portion of the modern sermon and for the chapters of Ethics of the Fathers. The text for the modern sermon is usually the sidra, the weekly portion, or, in the summer months the Talmudic book known universally as Ethics of the Fathers. Among the sermonic themes are contemporary problems, the religious and ethical needs of the individual, and, of course, the impact of the Holocaust and the State of Israel.
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 | Rabbinic Thought in the Talmud
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Provides four detailed understandings of the nature and scope of the Babylonian Talmud, outlining the state-of-the-art studies of the subject as well as some problems still awaiting solution, such as who were the actual editors of the Bavli and how they went about their work. This is followed by seven comprehensive examinations of the Talmudic method as seen from the complete unit of the Talmud, the Sugya. The concluding section of the books deals with Rabbinics, the works of post-Talmudic scholars who sought to bring the Talmudic discussions to life in the Jewish community.
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 | Their Heads in Heaven
Unfamiliar Aspects of Hasidism
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Sheds light on obscure corners of the Hasidic movement and the lives of the Rebbes. After a brief account of the history and rise of Hasidism in the eighteenth century to its restoration in the New World after the Holocaust, novel developments, some of them startling, are examined. The book surveys the whole question of the relationship of the Rebbe to his disciples, showing that it was not always beneficial. As a fascinating essay in the book demonstrates, the holy man could be a source of numinous power, bringing danger as well as goodwill.
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 | Ask the Rabbi
Questions and Answers on Judaism
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
The ‘Ask the Rabbi’ column in the Jewish Chronicle was an extremely popular weekly feature of the paper. During more than 25 years, over 1,000 lively questions and answers accumulated, of which this book is a selection arranged according to various themes.
It can now be disclosed that the author of the replies was Rabbi Louis Jacobs who, without refraining from expressing his own, occasionally controversial views, presented fairly the Orthodox position as well as that of Reform and Liberal Judaism where this differed from Orthodoxy. This book is a mine of information on the Jewish religion and is also suitable for delightful browsing.
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 | Seeker of Unity
The Life and Works of Aaron of Starosselje
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Rabbi Aaron Horowitz is generally acknowledged to be the most outstanding systematic exponent of the profound Habad theory of Hasidism. One of the most striking features of the book is the way it demonstrates that there is a close affinity between Habad thought and Far Eastern spirituality. Dr Jacobs has succeeded in bringing a vanished world to life for the modern reader.
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 | Studies in Talmudic Logic and Methodology
Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Advances some original suggestions which the author believes will throw new light on the literary composition of theTalmud and onTalmudic thinking. Although it is addressed in the first instance to expert Talmudists, the work will be of help and interest to the general reader whose aim it is to obtain a deeper appreciation of the art of Talmudic dialectics.
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 | Tract on Ecstasy
Dobh Baer of Lubavitch
Translated and Introduced by Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Professor Gershon Scholem, leading exponent of Jewish mysticism, has called this work by Rabbi Dobh Baer ‘a penetrating analysis of various forms and stages of mystical rapture and ecstasy’. This is the first translation into a European language of the Tract of Ecstasy. Dr Jacobs’ introduction lucidly expounds Dobh Baer’s work and also serves as a description of habad, the intellectual movement in Hasidism.
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