Recognizing the importance of our understanding how Jewish law developed and how legal authorities arrived at their decisions, Rabbi Kolatch opens The Second Jewish Book of Why with an overview of Jewish legal development from biblical times to the present. He introduces us to the major interpreters of Jewish law, explores the relationship between law and custom, and explains the basic principles upon which much of Jewish practice is based.

While many answers struck me as complete, others did not. I was glad to learn why the philosopher Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated: because he "argued that God and Nature are one..." which, the Rabbi asserts, "ruled out belief ... in God's transcendence...[and] any interplay between God and man." I would have liked to learn how the Rabbi managed to conclude that "Spinoza was not terribly upset" in 1656, when his Sephardic community excommunicated him. Also, I would like to order Rabbi K's 6th book (now out of print), "Who's who in the Talmud." It followed his first Jewish Book of Why, published in 1981.

Fortunately, the indexing is excellent, as many fascinating tidbits are hidden. For example, I was thrilled to learn the origin of "Sephardim," the root of which is the Hebrew name for Spain, and Ashkenaz "being the Hebrew name for Germany." But this is buried in his answer to the question, Why is the term "Oriental Jew" sometimes confused with "Sephardic Jew"? The index in The Second Jewish Book of Why also includes its predecessor, which as of this writing, occupies the 8,370th place in popularity of purchases at Amazon.