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Book Reviews 161 your behaviors and the life you choose to lead...." Regretfully, this attempt to compose a modern musar book modeled after medieval musar, books such as Ma 'alot Ha-Middot, does not succeed. Its apparent goals of continuity and authenticity seem contrived. Hebrew chapter titles are "forced." Both the tone of discussion and the use of "trigger words" like "change," "growth," "process," "attitude" (all found on a single page, p. 5) are more reminiscent of American "selfhelp " books than ofmedieval or more recent works of musar. Surprisingly, sources for the tripartite division ofthe book are never acknowledged. (Indeed, this rubric was used by Seymour Cohen and me in How To Be a Jew: Ethical Teachings ofJudaism [Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1992].) Short textual excerpts from classical and modern Jewish writings often seem almost randomly chosen, in that they do not seem to reflect a deep familiarity with the range, depth, and subtleties of Jewish ethicalliterature--either classical or modern. The clear relevance of Ma 'alot Ha-Middot for our times is glossed over, e.g., on issues of Jewish ethical behavior in a socio-economically privileged community. In addition; there are certain glaring factual mistakes, e.g., equating Rosh Hodesh (New Month) with the kabbalistic observance of Yom Kippur Katan, when the latter is actually observed the day before the former. Glaringly absent from the list of virtues discussed is the most central of all Jewish virtues, namely, study of the Torah. Despite is various shortcomings as a musar book, Striving Toward Virtue does succeed asa "self-help" book for those desiring to improve the moral quality oftheir lives. And, perhaps, this was the authors' goal all along. Byron L. Sherwin Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies Aspects of Jewish Life in the Netherlands: A Selection of Writings of Leo Fuks, edited and with an introduction by Renate G. Fuks-Mansfeld. Assen, Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 1995. 220 pp. n.p.I. One ofthis century's most outstanding scholars ofDutch Jewish history was a librarian from Kalisz, Poland, Leo Fuks (1908-1990). From 1946 to 1971 Fuks was Keeper of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, one of Europe's most impressive collections of Judaica and Hebraica. On the fifth anniversary ofhis yahrzeit, his wife-herself a significant scholar of Judaica, Renate Fuks-has assembled a sampling of eight of his essays and added a bibliography of his writings, as well as a brief biography. Many of these essays wee translated into English especially for this anthology, while many others were gathered 162 SHOFAR Fall 1997 Vol. 16, No.1 from festschrifts and Dutch journals, which are not well known. Among Fuks' most important revelations was his 1954 discovery in Cambridge's university library of the oldest known (1382) Yiddish language manuscript. "Jewish Libraries in Amsterdam in 1640" includes a listing ofthe 167 books owned by Amsterdam's three important Sephardic congregations. The Fukses are well known for their extensive research on Judaica printing in the Netherlands, which was the capital ofHebraica publishing for many years. More information will appear on this in their forthcoming History ofHebrew Typography in the Netherlands. A related essay is on "Menasseh ben Israel as a Bookseller," which takes the reader through the bibliographic detective work, from purchasing books in Lublin to selling Hebraica to the Swedish crown. Fuks' informative footnotes provide documentation and much interesting information amassed from a lifetime of study. Another essay examines the role of Eastern European Jews in Holland, from the seventeenth century until 1940. His history of their political and cultural organizations is fascinating and sensitively crafted. His portrait ofthe interwar years is most palpable has he was a participant in many of these activities. Other essays deal with a Swedish proselyte and his flight to Holland, seventeenth-century litigation among Amsterdam's Sephardic Jews, and other treasures pulled together from Dutch archives. This book makes excellent academic or leisure reading and is an excellent tribute to such an important scholar of Jewish print culture. Andrew B. Wertheimer Woodman Astronomical Library University of Wisconsin-Madison Greek Jewry in the Twentieth Century, 1913-1983: Patterns of Jewish Survival in the Greek Provinces before and after the Holocaust, by Joshua Eli Plaut. Cranbury, NJ...

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