I enjoyed this book enormously, he made me think as I read and I still ponder what he has to say months latter. Unlike so many religous writters who are in fact intellectual pygmies who got into religeon because they lacked the intellectual ability to do anything else ( or wanted to avoid militairy service) this man is a first class thinker. This man is a prince in a land of duds, sycophants, hacks and cretins.

There is much to be said about Yeshayahu Leibowitz. A tremendously learned and sharp- minded person , a scientific gadfly who seemed to kowtow to no authority, famous for daring to defy Ben- Gurion, a Jewish philosopher of importance, and a loveable curmudgeon whose anger and definiteness in speech had something delightful and playful about them. At the left - wing of Israeli politics he became the hero of secular 'peace-now' like people for his harsh criticism of Israeli government policy vis - a - vis the Palestinian Arabs. While his politics were not to my taste I had and have a genuine respect for his learning, and integrity. I think however that he made one critical mistake, one curse which went to far. I won't recall it but I will say it does to my mind , undermine his moral authority, and make his Biblical interpretation and Jewish philosophy less praiseworthy.
I remember watching on television many of the talks included in this collection. Leibowitz was always definite and sure in his opinions ( the Hebrew word 'paskani' really describes it best) I think his conception of the Jewish religion however was quite narrow. And the notion which he taught at every turn that the Halachic Jew's task is to simply hear and obey, without questioning or understanding always struck me as in total opposition to what other commentators said and the Oral Tradition demands. In any case anyone who reads this work will find insights of a first- rate mind a bit too much given to believing that what he and only he says has to be the only thing which is right.