Three Brief Book Reviews

In the Fall 2025 issue of Jewish Action, I review the following three books:

• Jewish Customs: Exploring Common and Uncommon Minhagim by Rabbi Dr. Zvi Ron
• Al HaRishonim Ve’Al Ha’Acharonim by Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm
• Mastering the Mind: A Guide to Focused Learning and Torah Retention by Saul Clarke

Jewish Customs: Exploring Common and Uncommon Minhagim

We live in a time of rapid technological advancement and instant communication. Within the Jewish world, customs that once developed organically within isolated communities are now quickly shared, adopted or adapted across the globe. This social phenomenon makes it even more urgent to understand the origins and meanings of these practices. In Jewish Customs: Exploring Common and Uncommon Minhagim, Rabbi Dr. Zvi Ron, an educator living in Neve Daniel, Israel, provides a careful historical analysis of a wide range of Jewish customs, examining how they emerged and evolved over time. 

Rabbi Ron approaches the topic from a historical perspective. He traces the development of specific customs, seeking their earliest sources in rabbinic literature and responsa. Along the way, he explores the different possible causes and explanations for the custom. Because the original reason for a practice is almost always uncertain, he offers educated hypotheses about the possible religious, social or practical factors that may have given rise to it. His careful historical investigation and informed religious speculation offer insight on multiple levels into the customs we see today.  

For example, it is now common Ashkenazic practice for a bride to circle the groom seven times under the chupah. Rabbi Ron shows that the original custom of circling the groom, first mentioned as common in the fifteenth century, was to circle three times. Due to Kabbalistic influence, beginning in the eighteenth century, it became more common to circle seven times as protection from demonic forces. We even see the number of times change between earlier and later editions of Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried’s nineteenth-century Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, reflecting how the practice became widespread. Despite the custom’s obscure origin, contemporary interpretations have given it profound meaning about commitment and relationships. 

Continued at Jewish Action: link