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Sarah Masters reviews the film

Talmud

Tucked into this historically dense and compelling documentary about the Talmud are delightful anecdotes that enliven the story of the “hidden face of the Torah,” the guide for Jewish conduct.

The narrator describes davening, for example, as “the oscillation of life,” the forward movement of rabbis and students signifying an “activation of understanding” and the backward movement of rabbis and students signifying a “closing that ensures memorization” of the interpretive text.

The film follows Jewish community migration through six centuries, as the Talmud survives numerous book burnings and morphs over time from an oral history to a published work, with interpretation of the Torah text as it is written and rewritten.

Much of the content focuses on the history behind the questioning methodology of the Talmud, interspersed with lively biographies of major Talmud scholars such as Maimonides. This “vast body of legal, mythic and philosophical texts, this mixture of religious commentary and debate, of history and science, and of anecdote and humor” comes alive under the direction of documentarian Pierre-Henry Salfati.

Talmud became available for the first time last week on DVD in English, French and German.

Completed: 2006
Running Time: 55 Minutes
Director: Pierre-Henry Salfati
Producer: Paul Saadoun

If you are interested in purchasing this film, go to www.hartleyfoundation.org and click on "Masterworks" on the home page. The cost of the documentary on DVD is $26.99.

Book Review

Chaplain George Burn reviews

When Sickness Heals: The Place of Religious Belief in Health Care

Dr. Siroj Sorajjakool, professor of religion, psychology, and counseling at Loma Linda University and Pastoral Counseling supervisor and Claremont School of Theology, has written a wonderful little gem of a book, that opens a window into the process by which people who are in the midst of suffering, develop, and are challenged to integrate new insights into their concept of self, the world, and their beliefs. Because he was raised as a child in Thailand, and is a counselor, I believe he brings a unique perspective to those who work in the arena of western religion, offering process rather than linear thinking, the search for meaning rather than imposed answers, and reality rather than myth.

His work addresses physical as well as mental illness, and suffering from a multifaceted and a multi-faith perspective and draws upon the writings of Paul Tillich, Carl Jung, Soren Kierkegaard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Raimondo Pannikar as well as others to illustrate.

I find his approach refreshing, his writing clear and concise, and his wisdom grounded with the practice of someone who has been in the trenches with people who are suffering. Dr. Sorojjakool helps to broaden the playing field of spiritual assessment, and reminds his readers that we are sojourners with those who suffer.

Sorajjakool,Siroj, When Sickness Heals: The Place of Religious Belief in Health Care, Templeton Foundation Press, Philadelphia, 2006), 149pp.

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