I just read Dov Peretz Elkins' The Bible's Top 50 Ideas: The Essential Concepts Everyone Should Know, and I believe that it pulls together the greatest moral ideas of Scripture. In addition to my own thoughts, I found these wonderful affirmations of the book, which are even more laudatory - for example:

What Rabbi Elkins does in this one volume window in the heart of the world's greatest Book is truly amazing. His discussions are engaging, inspiring, comprehensive and scholarly. I have found his book to be exceptionally accurate, thorough and comprehensive. This is a veritable treasure. I cannot praise this wonderful book enough.

Prof. Shalom Paul, Chair, Department of Bible, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In his newest book, The Bible's Top Fifty Ideas, Dr. Dov Peretz Elkins has once again proved himself to be a sage for all ages. In this highly-readable "Guide to the Perplexed," the author poses fifty fundamental, provocative, and important questions about the Bible and then proceeds to answer them one by one with profound insight, elegant articulation, and a pervasive light touch. Congratulations to the author for a major contribution to the world of Bible readers. His reward should be vast sales, to be followed by a new round of significant questions and valuable answers.

Professor David Noel Freedman
Editor-in-Chief, The Anchor Bible Project
 
Dov Peretz Elkins is a gifted rabbi and teacher who has authored a number of books which are very popular among his colleagues. They will find this volume particularly appealing as they seek to share their love of Judaism with their students. It is a wonderful text, highly appropriate both for post-confirmation and adult education courses, as well as for individuals who are interested in the traditional Jewish value system. The citations from Rabbinic texts and traditional commentaries, coupled with his own insights and those of modern thinkers provide the reader with a fine introduction to fundamental Jewish teachings and how they may be applied in our time."

Dr. David L. Lieber, President Emeritus, University of Judaism

Dov Peretz Elkins continues to educate and inspire us all. His unique talents and knowledge allow him to present the most important values and concepts found in the Bible to a wide audience of persons in a characteristically intelligent and accessible manner. This book is a jewel.
 
Rabbi David Ellenson,
President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins brings his wealth of learning to bear on fifty key verses from the Torah. The method is an ancient one: posing crucial questions and scanning the tradition--from the Bible to the rabbis, to the medieval exegetes, to modern commentators--for insights, illuminations, even answers. Though his method is ancient, Rabbi Elkins' point of view is contemporary; he is well-informed by biblical scholarship and has a keen ear for dialogue between classical readers and modern ones. It's hard to imagine a book of Torah commentary both this substantive and this user-friendly. When word gets out, this book will be indispensable for all individuals and groups eager to get to the heart of the matter: what the Torah says, what it has meant, and what it continues to mean to us.

Esther Schor, Professor of English, Princeton University

An excellent idea, and a fine execution. Dr. Elkins examines the biblical verses that have most reverberated throughout Jewish history and life, and shows how these verses still speak to us today.

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author, Jewish Literacy and The Book of Jewish Values
 
I enjoyed reading this lively and engaging romp through the long and fascinating history of Jewish interpretation of some key biblical texts, to which Dov Elkins adds his own thoughtful voice. It will encourage students of the Bible to dig even deeper into Scripture!

Jacqueline Lapsley
Associate Professor of Old Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

Appropriately viewing the Hebrew Bible as an anthology, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, an extraordinarily gifted rabbi, scholar and teacher, has brought together a rich and suggestive tapestry of comment and reflection which accurately and artfully orchestrates the central themes of the Bible as they evolved since its composition and canonization. A great teacher does not simply inform, but brings students and readers into a dialogical relationship with the text being taught. Against the background of solid scholarship, Rabbi Elkins creates for the reader just such a dialogical relationship. This book represents a major achievement and will be invaluable both for individual readers and for younger adult and adult study groups.  
 
David M. Gordis, Ph.D.
President, Hebrew College, Newton, MA

For Jews, the transmission of Torah is our first duty and greatest joy. Among no other people has religious literacy been so prized. By expounding and interpreting critical Biblical passages so brilliantly, Dov Peretz Elkins has performed a great service for rabbis and teachers of Torah, who will seize upon this book, use it in their classrooms, and admire it for its scholarship, insight, and clarity. And he has helped the serious layperson as well, who will delight in the accessibility it provides to Judaism's most profound teachings.
 
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie
President, Union for Reform Judaism

By highlighting 50 key Torah verses, and expounding on their interpretations through the ages and their relevance today, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins re-emphasizes the Bible's centrality and its abiding wisdom. He also achieves what may perhaps have been one of his wider purposes: He reminds his readers of how much they have forgotten, or perhaps never learned, and sends us -- questing and energized -- back to the original.

David Horovitz, Editor, The Jerusalem Post

Rabbi Elkins' incisive and highly accessible explorations of key teachings
of the Hebrew Scriptures provide a useful new resource for Christians and Jews
alike. Christian clergy, Sunday school teachers and Bible study participants will
find here a rich vein of rabbinical insight into our shared sacred texts, informed by a
deep commitment to interfaith fellowship and a concern to speak directly and
straightforwardly to the human condition.

The Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, Dean of Religious Life, Princeton University

It's fun to learn the real meaning of Biblical texts. Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins is a great teacher.

Edward I. Koch, former Mayor, New York City

Dov Peretz Elkins has given us many wonderful gifts in his multitude of books - Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul; Jewish Guided Imagery; Enveloped in Light: A Tallit Sourcebook; A Treasury of Israel & Zionism: A Sourcebook for Speakers, Writers, Educators and Group Leaders; Moments of the Spirit: Quotations That Inspire, Inform and Involve; Moments of Transcendence [BTW the newest annual Supplement just came out last week]; A Shabbat Reader, Hasidic Wisdom (all of which can be purchased from his web site - www.JewishGrowth.org). His newest masterpiece is probably the best book he's done yet - and it's a perfect text for adult and teen education - The Bible's Top 50 Ideas: The Essential Concepts Everyone Should Know (with Abigail Treu). What Dov does in this magnificent study book is take 1% of the Torah (50 verses of the 5000+) and examines them with ancient, medieval and modern, Jewish and non-Jewish commentaries, and shows that these 50 ideas are the essence of the Tanakh. Get a copy - study it, teach it, preach it - what a gift!