If Not Now, When?

Rabbi Teluskin's biography of Hillel, Hillel: If Not Now, When, is a book that is at once profoundly Jewish but also universal in its scope. Teleuskin shows us how a 1st century rabbi can have direct influence over our lives in the 21st century without stretching the comparisons to the point of absurdity. Through Hillel, Teleuskin says fresh and insightful things about halakah in the modern world, and especially the issue of conversion. Judaism has been long wary of converts, and Teluskin makes an excellent argument for a lenient attitude toward them, making acceptance of converts a Torah true practice.