General disclaimer for my reviews:

I have been a child of the Elohim of The Holy Scriptures (The Bible) for approximately 25 years, to date, and only recently I have come to realize just how much my trust in, devotion to, fear and worship of and love for Him and His Messiah (Yahushua/Jesus) has permeated every corner of my being, in this period of time. The realization that this bias of mine, for Him, His Word and the people He first chose to reveal Himself to, i. e. the Jewish people, may, very well, irritate, annoy or even offend some dooyoo members, who do not, at all, share my convictions, have caused me to write this disclaimer.

With this disclaimer, you are now aware of my specific bias, which are, so obviously, entrenched in my reviews. If you suspect that, by reading any one or more of these, you will become unduly irritated or the like, you have all the freedom in the world to just ignore it and move on to some other review; there are so many very good ones in this community. I give you the following assurances as His child . . . I will never ever be offended or, otherwise, hold it against anyone, whosoever, who makes any negative or, even derogative (may Elohim forbid!) comment about me, the Jewish people, my beliefs or, even, the Elohim I serve. Even if I should know that a specific member avoid my reviews, like the plague, because of who I am in Him, I will continue to rate said member's reviews on a fair and consistent basis, just like everybody else's.

---- Some background to the reading of . . . The Sacrifice of Tamar, and the eventual decision to do a review on it. ----

If you are one of those who have read my first book review on dooyoo, where I reviewed the book . . . Brothers, by Michael Bar-Zohar, you would have also read the first section on "My reading preferences". If you are now confused about why on earth I would ever have read a book like this one, never mind doing a review on it, I do not blame you, but perhaps I can explain . . .

At the age of about 24 (I am now 47) I found myself in what I believed at the time to be a desperate situation in a town I, kind of, adopted as a "temporary home base", for a while, approximately 70 odd km's away from where I grew up, as a child. I had no job at the time, and it soon became clear to me that no one was really too interested to employ me.

All I had on my name was a small amount of money, a place to stay for a very limited time, the clothes on my back, and, of course, . . . my belief in this Elohim (G-d) of The Scriptures, nil else. One day I found myself at the central shopping centre of this town. After being turned down again, this time for the most mundane of jobs, I moved away to some secluded corner, sat down there, and just began to weep. . . In between all my tears, I, somehow, managed to utter the words . . . What do you want of me, my Father?

After wiping my face clean with my shirt sleeves (I know . . . its disgusting, but I had nothing else on me to do it with, at the time), I thought that I might as well have a walk through the shopping centre I now found myself at. The first store I saw there was a bookshop, so I entered it. I looked around for a moment, noticed the shelf with the best sellers on it, and went straight to it. The very first book I saw there was . . .

The Sacrifice of Tamar by Naomi Ragen.

I can still clearly remember what I thought, i. e. ". . . if this is You, Elohim, if this is Your answer to my current situation, . . . You must surely be joking!! This is for women, I am a man! How on earth can this ever help me, in my situation, how?"

Anyway, being the fairly self conscious person that I am, the last thing I was going to do was to start an argument with Elohim, however silent, (in cases like these a person's lips actually move . . . I kid you not!) in the middle of a busy bookshop. I was already depressed, I certainly had no intention of being labeled as crazy, on top of the former, . . . so I just decided to purchase this book. Amazingly, or is it?, . . . I had just enough money on me to conclude the transaction.

I finished reading the book in two days. My depression was gone, and I felt and knew, for sure, that Elohim (blessed be He) had, somehow, miraculously healed me of something or other; to this very day I still do not know exactly what, and neither is this at all important.

---- The author ----

Naomi Ragan was brought up in New York, but has lived in Jerusalem, Israel for the last 20+ years. The characters in her books are vividly portrayed and alive, so to speak. I love her writing; there is something in it that simply works very well, difficult for me to say exactly what it is, though . . .

---- Details of book ----

Available from: www.amazon.co.uk . . .
At the price of: $ 11.21 (new paperback)
381 pages
Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN 0-00-649359-9

---- The story ----

As the wife of a rising young Rabbi in one of Brooklyn's ultra Orthodox communities, Tamar Finegold is happy and fairly content with life, until her entire, well insulated world comes crashing down on her, when she is raped by an intruder in her sister's flat, in broad daylight.

She, moreover, knows that her husband will make love to her that very evening and that she dare not tell him the truth of what had happened to her. She also knows better than to confide in anyone else from their super pious community, because the latter could never survive the unbearable stain of a scandal such as this, on it's, otherwise, spotless copy book. How can she bear this terrible burden alone? What on earth is she to do?

Before anything, at all, improves in her life, Tamar Finegold will find out just how difficult and unpopular it can be to unreservedly do (not merely teach) what is right, straight and honourable in the world we are living in.
If I say any more, I will, very likely, say too much, which will spoil it for you, the potential reader, so, therefore, I am going to move straight onto my next category, i. e.

---- Some additional thoughts, and what I believe to be . . . a valuable application for life, one can learn from reading this book ----

As you read this incredible story, it is almost impossible to stand aloof of what Tamar experience on a daily basis, after her rape. If this book brought me, a man, inner healing, I am convinced that it will bring much healing to any woman who reads it, whether the latter believes she actually needs it or not. I believe a woman has the potential to enter even deeper into, and because of the latter, benefit more from, this narrative, than a man, simply because the author is also a woman, who naturally understands better how to communicate what Tamar Finegold goes through, after her rape, to those of her own sex.

Finally, I would like to conclude this review with this application for life, I mentioned above. I want to mention it, if you will allow me, because I firmly believe that it has everything to do with the specific subject matter (a pregnant mother's decision as to whether to abort the new life growing within her, or not) of this unique book.

The content of this application is in NO WAY ever meant to condem or even to criticize any woman, whosoever, who has already had an abortion in the past or may still decide to have one in the immediate future. We are not here to judge one another's actions, ever; only Elohim will judge our every action, and thank goodness, His judgements are/will be perfect . . . He says so in His Word.

The application comes in the form of a little story . . .

There was this Jewish Rabbi who had a very good friend, but a time came when the latter moved away and so their ways parted. Years later the Rabbi was walking down the street in which he lived, and thought he recognized his old friend approaching from the other direction. "Is that you, my old friend", he asked? "It is, indeed, I", his friend answered. "I have recently moved back to our town." "So, how are you, friend?", the Rabbi asked him. "I am fairly well, but it would not hurt if I was a bit richer", the friend answered. The Rabbi answered him thus: "How do you know it will not hurt, perhaps it will hurt."

Let us quickly examine what is going on here. What exactly is the Rabbi's friend saying to him? Well, he is quite clearly saying that . . . it will be better for him, if he was richer. Now, what exactly is the Rabbi saying, in response to his friend's answer? Well? Between the lines of his actual words he is saying that . . .

There is no way on earth that his friend can know this for sure! Know what? . . . That he will not, somehow, get hurt by having more money or possessions, of course, and by implication, he is also saying that . . . ONLY Elohim knows the future.

It should now be clearer to you why I mentioned the above with regard to the subject matter of . . . The sacrifice of Tamar, but if it isn't, consider the following . . .

One of the most frequently heard arguments of pregnant mothers, and those who support them, today, in favour of abortion, is this: "If I keep this child, I will destroy his/her life, as well as my own." Perhaps there is a young pregnant girl, whom you, the reader of this review, know, who is thinking about aborting her unwanted, unborn child, at this very time . . .
Perhaps you can, in a soft, uncondemnatory manner (this is utterly important!) tell her to . . .

1) Reflect upon, and apply this Rabbi's answer to his friend, to her situation, right now, . . . and realize that . . . there is no way that she can know for sure what Almighty Elohim has planned for that life growing within her, and for that matter, for herself, in the future. She can not know that her unborn child and/or her own life will be destroyed, should she decide to keep the former, or if this incredible Author of LIFE (Elohim, blessed be He) may not, rather, choose to bless or prosper one or both of them in the near or distant future.

Even though man may dream about it, for us humans there is not, and never will be, such a thing as . . . getting tomorrow's newspaper, today (i.e. , knowing the future) in this life, . . . and any "flesh and blood" whosoever, who, therefore, makes this claim, is, . . . simply, a liar, and will be known as such, rather sooner than later. ONLY Elohim knows the future.

2) Go out, buy this book, and read it, before making any final decision. It will not disappoint!

Well, I do realize that this was, perhaps, somewhat more than the average book review, but for those of you who have made it to the end, I thank you kindly!

Mayan820