'Why was the Bible elevated over the Talmud as the central text of Jewish education?' Gold asks. She writes that while the Bible 'was seen as consonant with modern sensibilities' in the interwar period, the Jewish-specific Talmud was jettisoned to make room for a new cultural setting. Moreover, she argues that the advent of 'Bible stories' for Jewish children in the 1920s and 1930s—stories that often only superficially resembled the original biblical talesTells us a great deal about the changes that second-generation Jews were facing. Gold focuses on the Reform movement's broad attempts to fashion Bible stories that would teach children to be both Jewish and American, and her exegesis of the cultural messages of some of the retooled Bible stories is the most compelling part of this absorbing book.(Publishers Weekly) Gold has written a stimulating and original book that should be of interest to a wide audience. She sets her specific topic—children's Bibles produced int eh United States by Reform Jewish educators in the 1920s and 1930s—with an extended context that covers issues such as the place of the Bible within Judaism, the challenge of modernity to traditional faith, and various pedagogical approaches and their application.... Gold allows the material and its creators to speak for themselves.... This is a desirable acquisition for most public and academic libraries.(Choice) In her thoughtful and thorough book,...Penny Schine Gold explores how American Jews strove to adapt ancient Judaism to their new, modern democratic society.- Rabbi Debra Pine (History of Education Quarterly)
