Karin Tulchinsky-Cohen

The Jewish Book of If Karin Tulchinsky-Cohen

For thousands of years, the Jewish people have been known for their ability to ask questions and even to answer a question with another question. Perhaps Cain's response to G!d served as the model: "Where is Abel your brother?" "Am I my brother's keeper?" The Passover Seder trains young Jewish children to ask four questions, but why stop at four?Not all Jewish questions begin with the word, "if", but some famous ones do. Hillel the Sage famously asked a triple "if" question: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?" (Ethics of the Fathers 1:14). Hillel's rhetorical question does not beg for an answer, but the questions included in this collection do. In modern times, Tevye the Milkman, wondered, "If I were a rich man..." We find that questions beginning with the word "if" lend themselves to delightful pondering. Whether the questions in this collection are answered around the Shabbat table, the Pesach Table, or no table at all, we hope that they offer some hearty Jewish food for thought and discussion.