Rachel Fell McDermott is professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College, Columbia University. Daniel F. Polish teaches in the philosophy and religion department at Marist College.
A Hindu-Jewish Conversation: Root Traditions in Dialogue is one of the most significant books to emerge in recent times in the rising discipline of Hindu-Jewish Studies. It represents a significant contribution to this emerging field, offering an examination of a wide range of topics and a rich diversity of perspectives within both traditions. This volume underscores significant affinities in a wide variety of topics such as image worship, heroes and holy people, women, devotion, theodicy, sacred geography and the land, caste and untouchability and lived encounter between the two religions. As such, this study aspires to encompass a wider range of issues within the Hindu-Jewish encounter; it is grounded in extensive bibliography which makes it much more authoritative, is an excellent resource for classrooms but also speaks in accessible language for the non-specialist. Rachel McDermott and Daniel Polish are to be congratulated for this achievement, highly recommended. --Ithamar Theodor, Zefat Academic College