Highlighting: “The Weekly Parsha Companion” by Rabbi Jack Abramowitz. Kodesh Press. 2025. Paperback, 324 pages. ISBN: 9798888940419.

The word “prolific” doesn’t sum up the prodigious output of this Torah author, editor and educator.

In his job as Torah content editor of the Orthodox Union, he regularly vets and posts 20 essays and shiurim a day by a wide range of authors. So you’ve probably already read a bunch of works he’s shepherded into the OU library of online learning without even knowing it.

Earlier in his career at the Orthodox Union, he served as director of national programs at NCSY, and in that role he wrote a series of well-received brochures, entitled “Torah on One Foot,” that summarized essential concepts in Judaism in an easy-to-read format and were designed for broad dissemination.

You can find many of his essays on OU Life, on thought-provoking topics such as “The Jewish N Word” and “I Am So Sick of Your Oxford Comma.” He also has 11 essays on aish.com, addressing both timeless topics and contemporary concerns such as “Orthodox Judaism in the Marvel Universe” and the imperative to “Say Hello to Your Barista.”

He succinctly answers questions that young adults might ask—such as “Do Jews Believe in Luck?,” “Does Judaism Allow You to Take Ozempic and Other Weight Loss Drugs?,” “Is There Any Jewish Meaning to a Blood Moon?” and many others—on the website Jew in the City (https://jewinthecity.com), whose aim is “making engaging and meaningful Orthodox Judaism known and accessible.”

Rabbi Abramowitz is the author of nine books, which include “The Nach Yomi Companion I: Nevviim (Prophets),” “The Nach Yomi Companion II: Kesuvim (Writings),” “Ask Rabbi Jack,” and Strauss, Spinoza, and a contributor to “Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith.”

Rabbi Abramowitz told The Jewish Link that two of his books have “a special place in my heart”—“The Complete Targum Onkelos: English Translation With Original Hebrew and Aramaic Text (Volumes I and II).” As he explained, during the pandemic he suffered a very bad case of COVID and spent six weeks in the hospital. As a segula for recovery, he committed himself to working on bringing greater attention to Onkelos’ works on the Torah and while in the hospital he wrote seven articles about Onkelos’ commentary, which were published on the OU website.

The author values Onkelos’ commentary because he draws on a mesorah he received, illuminates the meaning of pasukim in Torah, includes details that are missing in the text, and removes outdated anthropomorphisms. “He is an incomparable source,” said Rabbi Abramowitz, pointing out that Rashi cites Onkelos over 1,000 times.

Rabbi Abramowitz is excited to now add another book of Torah to his suite of publications—“The Weekly Parsha Companion.” Based on an earlier self-published work titled “The Shnayim Mikra Companion,” “The Weekly Parsha Companion” offers very succinct (as in, often less than half a page each) summaries of each aliyah in the Torah. This work is a remarkable resource for anyone seeking to quickly grasp the essential messages of a weekly parsha or who is searching to locate a topic in the Torah without skimming through each page.

Rabbi Abramowitz states in the author’s preface to his new book: “This is the book I never intended to write—twice (first as The Shnayim Mikra Companion and now as The Weekly Parsha Companion). Seriously, there’s a lot of stuff out there on the weekly parsha and I didn’t think I had anything all that special to bring to the table. (I’m still not entirely convinced that I do.) But a number of people made a comment referring to my Nach Yomi Companion series. ‘You did books on Neviim and Kesuvim,’ they said, ‘so you can’t leave us hanging!’ I had to admit that the argument had merit, so here we are.”

Asked to identify which author(s) he has been inspired by, Rabbi Abramowitz shared: “I was very influenced by the works of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, the author of ‘The Living Torah.’” Rabbi Abramowitz described his own hashkafa in writing: “I’m not giving chidushim to blow your mind. But I’m here to share the bottom line … it’s as I’m telling you, informally, what you missed in shiur the other day.”

Rabbi Abramowitz is blessed to receive the warm support of his wife, Alana, the pre-school secretary at Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway, and their three adult children in all his work. He hopes this new book will motivate readers to dive deeper in Chumash and spur them to more study.

Harry Glazer is The Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes reader feedback.