"Steinberg takes Said's symbolic Jewishness as the starting point for a broader, fascinating excursion into the ideological thickets of German Jewish culture, identity, memory and history. In the process, he successfully demolishes some myths, while raising new and challenging questions about the meaning of the German Jewish past."—James Loeffler, Haaretz
— James Loeffler, Haaretz
"At once theoretically sophisticated and richly imaginative, Steinberg's 'constellating' of Jewishness and music could well have a substantial impact on discussions of Central European Jewish culture, where, as he emphasizes, there is a pressing need for new conceptual life."
— Paul Reitter, TLS
"Polemics thrive on disagreement, and Judaism Musical and Unmusical provides plenty to argue about. That is one of its strengths, along with its wide reach and its broad culture. Although it is made up of essays that were written for different occasions, it is a coherent book. It does not ask 'What is a Jew?' . . . Instead it discusses something by far more interesting: What it means to be a Jew, no matter how wordly one might be."
— David Kaufmann, Forward
"The book's potency lies in its overall resistance to classification and in challenging exiosting classifications; it plays with the inherent ambiguities that lie within the concepts of music and Judentum."
— Tina Fruehauf, MJOR