Between Time and Eternity

Although I read this little book (under 200 pages) twenty years ago when it was assigned for a religious studies course in college, the image suggested in its title is still vivid and striking. Time and Eternity, says Neusner, are illustrated in the setting apart of the Sabbath from the other six days of the week, the Sabbath representing an intrusion of Eternity into Time, around which Time and secular pursuits are to be organized. From such illustrations, the author constructs an intellectual framework for organizing and understanding the essentials of Rabbinical Judaism. It's a very useful tool for introducing non-Jewish readers like me to contemporary Jewish thought and practice.