Best of
Jewish

2015

All Who Go Do Not Return


Shulem Deen - 2015
    As a member of the Skverers, one of the most insular Hasidic sects in the US, he knows little about the outside world—only that it is to be shunned. His marriage at eighteen is arranged and several children soon follow. Deen's first transgression—turning on the radio—is small, but his curiosity leads him to the library, and later the Internet. Soon he begins a feverish inquiry into the tenets of his religious beliefs, until, several years later, his faith unravels entirely. Now a heretic, he fears being discovered and ostracized from the only world he knows. His relationship with his family at stake, he is forced into a life of deception, and begins a long struggle to hold on to those he loves most: his five children. In All Who Go Do Not Return, Deen bravely traces his harrowing loss of faith, while offering an illuminating look at a highly secretive world.

Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence


Jonathan Sacks - 2015
    If religion is perceived as being part of the problem, Rabbi Sacks argues, then it must also form part of the solution. When religion becomes a zero-sum conceit—that is, my religion is the only right path to God, therefore your religion is by definition wrong—and individuals are motivated by what Rabbi Sacks calls “altruistic evil,” violence between peoples of different beliefs appears to be the only natural outcome.   But through an exploration of the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, and employing groundbreaking biblical analysis and interpretation, Rabbi Sacks shows that religiously inspired violence has as its source misreadings of biblical texts at the heart of all three Abrahamic faiths. By looking anew at the book of Genesis, with its foundational stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Rabbi Sacks offers a radical rereading of many of the Bible’s seminal stories of sibling rivalry: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Rachel and Leah.   “Abraham himself,” writes Rabbi Sacks, “sought to be a blessing to others regardless of their faith. That idea, ignored for many of the intervening centuries, remains the simplest definition of Abrahamic faith. It is not our task to conquer or convert the world or enforce uniformity of belief. It is our task to be a blessing to the world. The use of religion for political ends is not righteousness but idolatry . . . To invoke God to justify violence against the innocent is not an act of sanctity but of sacrilege.” Here is an eloquent call for people of goodwill from all faiths and none to stand together, confront the religious extremism that threatens to destroy us, and declare: Not in God’s Name.

Oskar and the Eight Blessings


T.R. Simon - 2015
    It is both the seventh day of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve, 1938. As Oskar walks the length of Manhattan, from the Battery to his new home in the north of the city, he passes experiences the city's many holiday sights, and encounters it various residents. Each offers Oskar a small act of kindness, welcoming him to the city and helping him on his way to a new life in the new world.

Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel


Dan Ephron - 2015
    Killing a King relates the parallel stories of Rabin and his stalker, Yigal Amir, over the two years leading up to the assassination, as one of them planned political deals he hoped would lead to peace, and the other plotted murder.Dan Ephron, who reported from the Middle East for much of the past two decades, covered both the rally where Rabin was killed and the subsequent murder trial. He describes how Rabin, a former general who led the army in the Six-Day War of 1967, embraced his nemesis, Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, and set about trying to resolve the twentieth century’s most vexing conflict. He recounts in agonizing detail how extremists on both sides undermined the peace process with ghastly violence. And he reconstructs the relentless scheming of Amir, a twenty-five-year-old law student and Jewish extremist who believed that Rabin’s peace effort amounted to a betrayal of Israel and the Jewish people. As Amir stalked Rabin over many months, the agency charged with safeguarding the Israeli leader missed key clues, overlooked intelligence reports, and then failed to protect him at the critical moment, exactly twenty years ago. It was the biggest security blunder in the agency’s history.Through the prism of the assassination, much about Israel today comes into focus, from the paralysis in peacemaking to the fraught relationship between current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. Based on Israeli police reports, interviews, confessions, and the cooperation of both Rabin’s and Amir’s families, Killing a King is a tightly coiled narrative that reaches an inevitable, shattering conclusion. One can’t help but wonder what Israel would look like today had Rabin lived.

A Detail Of History: The harrowing true story of a boy who survived the Nazi holocaust


Arek Hersh - 2015
    He takes us into the tragic world imposed on him that robbed him of his childhood. The depth of the tragedy, strength of courage and power of survival will move you and inspire you.Contrary to assertions that the Holocaust years were a mere ‘detail of history’, Arek Hersh gives us a glimpse into the greatest catastrophe that man has ever inflicted on his fellow man.

Single Handed: A Heroic Story of Surviving the Holocaust, the Korean War, and Earning the Medal of Honor


Daniel M. Cohen - 2015
    The teenager endured its horrors for more than a year. After surviving the Holocaust, he arrived penniless in America, barely speaking English. In 1950, Tibor volunteered for service in the Korean War. After acts of heroism that included single-handedly defending a hill against an onslaught of enemy soldiers, braving sniper fire to rescue a wounded comrade, and commandeering a machine gun after its crew was killed, he was captured. As a POW, Tibor called on his experience in Mauthausen to help fellow GIs survive two and half years of captivity. Tibor returned from Korea in 1953, but it wasn’t until 2005—at age 76—that he was invited to the White House, where he received the Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush. It had taken over half a century for Tibor’s adopted homeland to recognize this Jewish immigrant for acts of valor that went “beyond the call of duty.” But when it did, the former Hungarian refugee became the only survivor of the Holocaust to have earned America’s highest military distinction. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and extensive interviews, author Daniel M. Cohen presents the inspiring story of Tibor “Teddy” Rubin for the first time in its entirety and gives us a stirring portrait of a true hero. INCLUDES PHOTOS

Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life


Harold S. Kushner - 2015
    Kushner has demonstrated time and again his understanding of the human spirit. In this compassionate new work, his most personal since When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Kushner relates how his time as a twenty-first-century rabbi has shaped his senses of religion and morality. He elicits nine essential lessons from the sum of his teaching, study, and experience, offering a lifetime’s worth of spiritual food for thought, pragmatic advice, inspiration for a more fulfilling life, and strength for trying times. With fresh, vital insight into belief (“there is no commandment in Judaism to believe in God”), conscience (the Garden of Eden story as you’ve never heard it), and mercy (forgiveness is “a favor you do yourself, not an undeserved gesture to the person who hurt you”), grounded in Kushner's brilliant readings of Scripture, history, and popular culture, Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned About Life is compulsory reading from one of modern Judaism’s foremost sages.Distilling the wisdom of an extraordinary career, this profoundly inspiring yet practical guide to well-being is truly the capstone to Kushner’s luminous oeuvre.

Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide


Michael B. Oren - 2015
    Oren’s memoir of his time as Israel’s ambassador to the United States—a period of transformative change for America and a time of violent upheaval throughout the Middle East—provides a frank, fascinating look inside the special relationship between America and its closest ally in the region.   Michael Oren served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013. An American by birth and a historian by training, Oren arrived at his diplomatic post just as Benjamin Netanyahu, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton assumed office. During Oren’s tenure in office, Israel and America grappled with the Palestinian peace process, the Arab Spring, and existential threats to Israel posed by international terrorism and the Iranian nuclear program. Forged in the Truman administration, America’s alliance with Israel was subjected to enormous strains, and its future was questioned by commentators in both countries. On more than one occasion, the friendship’s very fabric seemed close to unraveling.  Ally is the story of that enduring alliance—and of its divides—written from the perspective of a man who treasures his American identity while proudly serving the Jewish State he has come to call home. No one could have been better suited to strengthen bridges between the United States and Israel than Michael Oren—a man equally at home jumping out of a plane as an Israeli paratrooper and discussing Middle East history on TV’s Sunday morning political shows. In the pages of this fast-paced book, Oren interweaves the story of his personal journey with behind-the-scenes accounts of fateful meetings between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, high-stakes summits with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and diplomatic crises that intensified the controversy surrounding the world’s most contested strip of land.   A quintessentially American story of a young man who refused to relinquish a dream—irrespective of the obstacles—and an inherently Israeli story about assuming onerous responsibilities, Ally is at once a record, a chronicle, and a confession. And it is a story about love—about someone fortunate enough to love two countries and to represent one to the other. But, above all, this memoir is a testament to an alliance that was and will remain vital for Americans, Israelis, and the world.Praise for Ally   “The smartest and juiciest diplomatic memoir that I’ve read in years, and I’ve read my share. . . . The best contribution yet to a growing literature—from Vali Nasr’s Dispensable Nation to Leon Panetta’s Worthy Fights—describing how foreign policy is made in the Age of Obama.”—Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal  “Illuminating . . . [Oren’s] personal odyssey exemplifies the shift from a liberal and secular Zionism to a more belligerent nationalism.”—The New York Times“Provocative . . . Oren’s book offers a view into the deep rifts that have opened not only between Washington and Jerusalem, but also between Israeli and American Jews.”—Newsweek   “[Oren is] one of the most uniquely qualified judges of this ever more crucial special relationship.”—The Washington Times   “The diplomatic equivalent of a ‘kiss-and-tell’ memoir . . . informative and in parts entertaining.”—Financial Times   “The talk of Washington and Jerusalem . . . an ultimate insider’s story.”—New York Post

Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible


Jonathan Sacks - 2015
    Based on the understanding that no man is born a leader, the book explores the principles, and perils, of becoming one. Profound, eloquent, and deeply inspiring, Lessons in Leadership reveals the biblical secrets of influence, as relevant now as they were three thousand years ago.

The Complete Works of Primo Levi


Primo Levi - 2015
    Yet Levi’s body of work extends considerably beyond his experience as a survivor. Now, the transformation of Levi from Holocaust memoirist to one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers culminates in this publication of The Complete Works of Primo Levi. This magisterial collection finally gathers all of Levi’s fourteen books—memoirs, essays, poetry, and fiction—into three slip-cased volumes. Thirteen of the books feature new translations, and the other is newly revised by the original translator. Nobel laureate Toni Morrison introduces Levi’s writing as a “triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction.” The appearance of this historic publication will occasion a major reappraisal of “one of the most valuable writers of our time” (Alfred Kazin).The Complete Works of Primo Levi features all new translations of: The Periodic Table, The Drowned and the Saved, The Truce, Natural Histories, Flaw of Form, The Wrench, Lilith, Other People’s Trades, and If Not Now, When?—as well as all of Levi’s poems, essays, and other nonfiction work, some of which have never appeared before in English.

Leviticus:The Book of Holiness (Covenant & Conversation 3)


Jonathan Sacks - 2015
    Rabbi Sacks fuses Jewish tradition, Western philosophy and literature to present a highly developed understanding of the human condition under God's sovereignty.

The Grammar of God: A Journey into the Words and Worlds of the Bible


Aviya Kushner - 2015
    She knew much of it by heart—and was therefore surprised when, while getting her MFA at the University of Iowa, she took the novelist Marilynne Robinson’s class on the Old Testament and discovered she barely recognized the text she thought she knew so well. From differences in the Ten Commandments to a less ambiguous reading of the creation story to a new emphasis on the topic of slavery, the English translation often felt like another book entirely from the one she had grown up with.Kushner began discussing the experience with Robinson, who became a mentor, and her interest in the differences between the ancient language and the modern one gradually became an obsession. She began what became a ten-year project of reading different versions of the Hebrew Bible in English and traveling the world in the footsteps of the great biblical translators, trying to understand what compelled them to take on a lifetime project that was often considered heretical and in some cases resulted in their deaths.In this eye-opening chronicle, Kushner tells the story of her vibrant relationship to the Bible, and along the way illustrates how the differences in translation affect our understanding of our culture’s most important written work. A fascinating look at language and the beliefs we hold most dear, The Grammar of God is also a moving tale about leaving home and returning to it, both literally and through reading.

Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers


Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg - 2015
      The book of Numbers is the narrative of a great failure. What should have been for the Israelites a brief journey from Mount Sinai to the Holy Land becomes a forty-year death march. Both before and after the devastating report of the Spies, the narrative centers on the people’s desire to return to Egypt, to undo the miraculous work of the Exodus. At its heart are speeches of complaint and lament, expressing a profound existential skepticism. But by contrast, in the narrative of the book of Numbers that is found in mystical and Hasidic sources, the generation of the wilderness emerges as one of extraordinary spiritual experience, receivers of the Torah to the fullest extent, fed on miracles and nurtured directly by God: a generation of ecstatic faith, human partners in an unprecedented conversation with the Deity. Drawing on kabbalistic sources, the Hasidic commentators on the book of Numbers depict a people who transcend prudent considerations in order to follow God into the wilderness, where their spiritual yearning comes to full expression.   This view of the wilderness history invites us into a different kind of listening to the many cries of distrust, lament, and resentment that issue from the Israelites throughout the book of Numbers. Is there a way to integrate this narrative of dark murmurings, of obsessive fantasies of return to Egypt, with the celebration of a love-intoxicated wilderness discourse? The question touches not only on the language the Israelites speak but also on the very nature of human utterance. Who are these people? Who are we who listen to them? What effect does the cumulative trauma of slavery, the miracles of Exodus, the revelation at Sinai, have on a nation that is beginning to speak? In Bewilderments, one of the most admired biblical commentators at work today posits fascinating answers to these questions through the magnificent literary, scholarly, and psychological analysis of the text that is her trademark.

The Island of the Righteous (ebook)


Stefanos Livos - 2015
    Pantelis Kokkinis and his family live under the dark cloud of Italian occupation. As the horrors of the war draw nearer, reality for the Kokkinis family grows more and more fraught. Long-held secrets, raw emotions, and the fear of what’s coming leave them scrambling to hold their emotions in check and their family together.When Pantelis meets Violetta Dalmedikos, the beautiful daughter of a prominent local Jewish family, he is instantly smitten. Unfortunately, love between a Christian and a Jew is strictly forbidden.In 1943, the German commander demands a list with all the Jewish residents of the island. The Mayor and the Christian bishop hand in a list with only two names: theirs. Overnight, the Jewish population goes into hiding as Christian Zantiots make a great sacrifice. Pantelis and Violetta come closer, and a medieval treasure suddenly vanishes.80 years later, Pantelis’ grandson is looking for the treasure. What he unearths is a shipwreck, a manslaughter, and a truth he never expected.

Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home


Leah Lax - 2015
    Told in understated, crystalline prose, Lax begins her story as a young teen leaving her liberal, secular home to become a Hasidic Jew, then plumbs the nuances of her arranged marriage, fundamentalist faith, and Hasidic motherhood, as her creative, sexual, and spiritual longings shimmer beneath the surface.

The Secret of Chabad: Inside the world's most successful Jewish movement


David Eliezrie - 2015
    Today his 4,000 Shluchim-emissaries are everywhere. How was an army of Rabbis and Rebbitzens trained and encouraged to move to the four corners of the earth to fulfill their mission? How could they live so far from friends and family while dedicating their lives to the welfare of others, and at times risking their own safety and security? For the first time Rabbi David Eliezrie, a veteran Chabad Shliach in California and a major player on the national level, goes deep inside the organization to reveal the secrets of Chabad’s success. "The Secret of Chabad is probably the first book by a Chabad insider - and a major one at that - telling the incredible story of what has clearly become the most dynamic Jewish force in the contemporary world ... After reading the Secret of Chabad you will never see your local Chabad rabbi in quite the same way..." -- Dennis Prager

The Bridal Chair


Gloria Goldreich - 2015
    But her newfound independence is short-lived. In Nazi-occupied Paris, Chagall's status as a Jewish artist has made them all targets, yet his devotion to his art blinds him to their danger. When Ida falls in love and Chagall angrily paints an empty wedding chair (The Bridal Chair) in response, she faces an impossible choice: Does she fight to forge her own path outside her father's shadow, or abandon her ambitions to save Chagall from his enemies and himself? Brimming with historic personalities from Europe, America and Israel, The Bridal Chair is a stunning portrait of love, fortitude, and the sharp divide between art and real life.

Koren Pirkei Avot


Marc Angel - 2015
    The commentary by Rabbi Marc D. Angel includes ideas from traditional and contemporary thinkers and scholars, allowing the lessons of Pirkei Avot to resonate with readers of all levels of observance.

Ruth: From Alienation to Monarchy


Yael Ziegler - 2015
    Beyond providing an eye-opening reading of a familiar biblical book, the author creatively demonstrates that midrashic readings can reveal deep strata of textual meaning, and combines these insights with classical and contemporary scholarship to uncover the religious messages of this beautifully crafted story. In Ruth: From Alienation and Monarchy, modern techniques of literary analysis and rabbinic homilies merge to yield common insights into themes such as leadership, redemption, identity, and social morality.The Book of Ruth, with its focus on the exemplary behavior of Ruth and Boaz, stands at the crossroads between society’s downward trajectory during the era of the Judges and its ascent during the era of the monarchy. It teaches the timeless lesson of how two individuals can act in accordance with their own conscience and, through small acts of kindness and humanity, change the course of history and restore hope and unity to a nation.

Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience, & Spirit


Rachel Cowan - 2015
    Cowan and Thal explore a wide range of issues including: relationships with adult children and spouses, body image, romance and sexuality; living with loss, and cultivating well-being. With the same warmth, humor, and wisdom that draws thousands to their innovative workshops on aging, the authors deliver practical, real world suggestions, journaling exercises, meditations, and activities that dig deep and lead us to a better understanding of how to age well.

Tales from Outer Lands


Shira Glassman - 2015
    On the night before the royal Passover seder, Aviva has to outsmart the aliens who abducted her to cook for them because they had grown sick of their spaceship’s food replicators. Will she get home before Queen Shulamit wakes up and panics from her absence? Tune in for a kickass curvy brown bisexual woman rescuing herself!“Rivka in Port Saltspray” is a dark piece of fantasy/action about one of Rivka’s adventures during her years on the road before settling down in Perach as Shulamit’s captain. Trapped in a seedy port town because an innkeeper is holding her shapeshifting dragon-horse hostage until she can pay all the charges he invented, Rivka finally has a chance at some decent money when a wealthy but weak man hires her to rescue his fiancée. But she quickly learns there is more at stake. This story contains an important aromantic/asexual character, and the only romantic pairings mentioned at all are background and/or off-screen. Warning for violence.(Source)

The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women's Spiritual Leadership


Jill Hammer - 2015
    But women have played a role in Jewish religious leadership from the days of the Bible and even before. Miriam the Prophetess and Deborah the Judge are just the two most prominent of these women, most of whose names are lost to history. The Hebrew Priestess tells the stories of these women, often reading between the lines of the Bible and Talmud to rediscover the women that rabbinic editors tried to erase. The authors bring a unique vantage point: They are founders of the Kohenet Institute, which trains Jewish women as religious leaders - as Hebrew priestesses. They believe the spiritual gifts of Jewish women cannot be incorporated into Judaism unless women explore the Divine through their own lens. The Kohenet Institute offers an embodied, ecstatic earth-based approach to Jewish spiritual practice and leadership. The Hebrew Priestess weaves together a careful examination of historical antecedents of these new priestesses, along with the personal experiences of women who embarked on this new path of Jewish priestesshood. The Hebrew Priestess delineates 13 models of spiritual leadership - among them prophetess, weaver, drummer, shrinekeeper, midwife, mother, maiden, witch, and fool - and shows how each model was manifest in ancient times, its continuation through Jewish history, and how women in our day are following that path. Finally, it shows how you can incorporate part of that path into your own life. Ambitious, erudite, practical, and deeply personal, the Hebrew Priestsess offers a deep connection to Jewish history and to profound holy experiences today. "A very readable and much-needed book!" -Starhawk "An extraordinary and amazing work." -Alicia Ostriker "A book to savor." -Max Dashu "The articulation of my dreams and longings." -Rabbi Shefa Gold "Read this book, but don't stop there-live it as well!" -Rabbi Rami Shapiro"

After Abel and Other Stories


Michal Lemberger - 2015
    Vividly reimagined with startling contemporary clarity, Michal Lemberger’s debut collection of short stories gives voice to silent, oft-marginalized biblical women: their ambitions, their love for their children, their values, their tremendous struggles and challenges. Informed by Lemberger’s deep knowledge of the Bible, each of these nine stories story recasts a biblical saga from the perspective of a pivotal woman.Michal Lemberger’s nonfiction and journalism have appeared in Slate, Salon, Tablet, and other publications, and her poetry has been published in a number of print and online journals. A story from After Abel, her first collection of fiction, was featured in Lilith Magazine. Lemberger holds an MA and PhD in English from UCLA and a BA in English and religion from Barnard College. She has taught the Hebrew Bible as Literature at UCLA and the American Jewish University. She was born and raised in New York and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters.“Original and thought-provoking.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS“Lemberger imbues her characters with a consciousness that, although taking place in ancient times, seems contemporary, because she brings such empathy to her characters… It is this act of empathy that shines through…. an alternative dialogue that reminds us that it is the stories that we tell that are civilization’s true heritage.” — FORBES“Fresh and engaging.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY“Appeals to readers with even the most basic introduction to the Biblical canon, but especially those whose imaginations are piqued by the mystery of an untold story.” —JEWISH BOOK WORLD“Reminiscent of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent. . . . These beautifully written stories feel like meeting Eve, Lot’s wife, and many other compelling characters for the first time.” —LAUREL CORONA, author of The Mapmaker’s Daughter and The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi’s Venice“Stunning.” —MOLLY ANTOPOL, author of The UnAmericans“Gorgeous and captivating.” —DARA HORN, author of A Guide for the Perplexed and The World to Come“Marvelous.” —MICHELLE HUNEVEN, author of Off Course and Blame“What struck me most about these stories is their clear, assured confidence—as if Michal Lemberger had pulled apart some of the lines in the old story, spied a new story tucked in there way off in a corner, shimmied in a fishhook and pulled it out.” —AIMEE BENDER, author of The Color Master and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Hanukkah Cookies with Sprinkles


David A. Adler - 2015
    Sara learns about the Jewish tradition of tzedakah when she shares food with a hungry stranger.

The Twelve Tribes of Israel: History, Facts, and Prophecy


Jacob Freidman - 2015
    ***Special FREE GIFT Inside*** Discover the fascinating history of the twelve tribes of Israel with this easy to follow Biblical study guide.Trace the people of Israel back to the early beginnings and learn important facts and Biblical prophecy that has yet to unfold.Inside, you will discover: Each tribe's name in Hebrew The birth order of each of Jacob's 12 sons The meaning of each tribe's name The sizes of all twelve tribes Each tribe's camp position The tribal symbols Details of each tribe's land inheritance Biblical prophecies concerning the tribes of Israel ...and much more!

Divinity School


Alicia Jo Rabins - 2015
    Rabins creates a modern manual for living, a fearless investigation of how we learn to live in a human body both prism and flesh.

Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition


Benjamin D. Sommer - 2015
    Benjamin Sommer maintains that the Pentateuch’s authors intend not only to convey God’s will but to express Israel’s interpretation of and response to that divine will. Thus Sommer’s close readings of biblical texts bolster liberal theologies of modern Judaism, especially those of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Franz Rosenzweig. This bold view of revelation puts a premium on human agency and attests to the grandeur of a God who accomplishes a providential task through the free will of the human subjects under divine authority. Yet, even though the Pentateuch’s authors hold diverse views of revelation, all of them regard the binding authority of the law as sacrosanct. Sommer’s book demonstrates why a law-observant religious Jew can be open to discoveries about the Bible that seem nontraditional or even antireligious.

Lincoln and the Jews: A History


Jonathan D. Sarna - 2015
    Lincoln and the Jews: A History provides readers both with a captivating narrative of his interactions with Jews, and with the opportunity to immerse themselves in rare manuscripts and images, many from the Shapell Lincoln Collection, that show Lincoln in a way he has never been seen before.Lincoln's lifetime coincided with the emergence of Jews on the national scene in the United States. When he was born, in 1809, scarcely 3,000 Jews lived in the entire country. By the time of his assassination in 1865, large-scale immigration, principally from central Europe, had brought that number up to more than 150,000. Many Americans, including members of Lincoln's cabinet and many of his top generals during the Civil War, were alarmed by this development and treated Jews as second-class citizens and religious outsiders. Lincoln, this book shows, exhibited precisely the opposite tendency. He also expressed a uniquely deep knowledge of the Old Testament, employing its language and concepts in some of his most important writings. He befriended Jews from a young age, promoted Jewish equality, appointed numerous Jews to public office, had Jewish advisors and supporters starting already from the early 1850s, as well as later during his two presidential campaigns, and in response to Jewish sensitivities, even changed the way he thought and spoke about America. Through his actions and his rhetoric—replacing "Christian nation," for example, with "this nation under God"—he embraced Jews as insiders.In this groundbreaking work, the product of meticulous research, historian Jonathan D. Sarna and collector Benjamin Shapell reveal how Lincoln's remarkable relationship with American Jews impacted both his path to the presidency and his policy decisions as president. The volume uncovers a new and previously unknown feature of Abraham Lincoln's life, one that broadened him, and, as a result, broadened America.

Immigrants against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America


Kenyon Zimmer - 2015
    Kenyon Zimmer explores why these migrants turned to anarchism, and how their adoption of its ideology shaped their identities, experiences, and actions.   Zimmer focuses on Italians and Eastern European Jews in San Francisco, New York City, and Paterson, New Jersey. Tracing the movement's changing fortunes from the pre–World War I era through the Spanish Civil War, Zimmer argues that anarchists, opposed to both American and Old World nationalism, severed all attachments to their nations of origin but also resisted assimilation into their host society. Their radical cosmopolitan outlook and identity instead embraced diversity and extended solidarity across national, ethnic, and racial divides. Though ultimately unable to withstand the onslaught of Americanism and other nationalisms, the anarchist movement nonetheless provided a shining example of a transnational collective identity delinked from the nation-state and racial hierarchies.

What's Divine about Divine Law?: Early Perspectives


Christine Elizabeth Hayes - 2015
    What's Divine about Divine Law? untangles the classical and biblical roots of the Western idea of divine law and shows how early adherents to biblical tradition--Hellenistic Jewish writers such as Philo, the community at Qumran, Paul, and the talmudic rabbis--struggled to make sense of this conflicting legacy.Christine Hayes shows that for the ancient Greeks, divine law was divine by virtue of its inherent qualities of intrinsic rationality, truth, universality, and immutability, while for the biblical authors, divine law was divine because it was grounded in revelation with no presumption of rationality, conformity to truth, universality, or immutability. Hayes describes the collision of these opposing conceptions in the Hellenistic period, and details competing attempts to resolve the resulting cognitive dissonance. She shows how Second Temple and Hellenistic Jewish writers, from the author of 1 Enoch to Philo of Alexandria, were engaged in a common project of bridging the gulf between classical and biblical notions of divine law, while Paul, in his letters to the early Christian church, sought to widen it. Hayes then delves into the literature of classical rabbinic Judaism to reveal how the talmudic rabbis took a third and scandalous path, insisting on a construction of divine law intentionally at odds with the Greco-Roman and Pauline conceptions that would come to dominate the Christianized West.A stunning achievement in intellectual history, What's Divine about Divine Law? sheds critical light on an ancient debate that would shape foundational Western thought, and that continues to inform contemporary views about the nature and purpose of law and the nature and authority of Scripture.

The Best Boy in the United States Of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses


Ron Wolfson - 2015
    Powerful life lessons in a funny and moving portrait of family, community and spiritual discovery in America.

Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts


Marc Michael EpsteinBarbara Wolff - 2015
    Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers the first full survey of Jewish illuminated manuscripts, ranging from their origins in the Middle Ages to the present day. Featuring some of the most beautiful examples of Jewish art of all time—including hand-illustrated versions of the Bible, the Haggadah, the prayer book, marriage documents, and other beloved Jewish texts—the book introduces readers to the history of these manuscripts and their interpretation.Edited by Marc Michael Epstein with contributions from leading experts, this sumptuous volume features a lively and informative text, showing how Jewish aesthetic tastes and iconography overlapped with and diverged from those of Christianity, Islam, and other traditions. Featured manuscripts were commissioned by Jews and produced by Jews and non-Jews over many centuries, and represent Eastern and Western perspectives and the views of both pietistic and liberal communities across the Diaspora, including Europe, Israel, the Middle East, and Africa.Magnificently illustrated with pages from hundreds of manuscripts, many previously unpublished or rarely seen, Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers surprising new perspectives on Jewish life, presenting the books of the People of the Book as never before.

Joshua: The Challenge of the Promised Land


Michael Hattin - 2015
    Exhausted from their forty-year journey in the desert, the people must overcome earlier failures, confront hostile coalitions on the battlefield, struggle with the inimical cultural values pervasive in Canaan, and make the difficult transition from a nomadic to a settled way of life. Difficult as this may sound, there is yet one burning issue that overshadows the whole enterprise: What are the hallmarks of successful leadership? In Joshua: The Challenge of the Promised Land, Michael Hattin brings to life the biblical Book of Joshua, highlighting how the many complex issues faced by the people as they fought to possess their new land mirror and shed light on today’s reality. Hattin approaches the text as literary narrative, considering it from the perspectives of rabbinic midrash, medieval commentary, and modern scholarship. Eloquently and perceptively, he draws the reader into one of the defining periods in Jewish history, in which the new nation strives to forge a collective identity in their homeland.

Proust: The Search


Benjamin Taylor - 2015
    The result is a very subtle, thought-provoking book.”—Anka Muhlstein, author of Balzac’s Omelette and Monsieur Proust’s Library   Marcel Proust came into his own as a novelist comparatively late in life, yet only Shakespeare, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, and Dostoyevsky were his equals when it came to creating characters as memorably human. As biographer Benjamin Taylor suggests, Proust was a literary lightweight before writing his multivolume masterwork In Search of Lost Time, but following a series of momentous historical and personal events, he became—against all expectations—one of the greatest writers of his, and indeed any, era.   This insightful, beautifully written biography examines Proust’s artistic struggles—the “search” of the subtitle—and stunning metamorphosis in the context of his times. Taylor provides an in-depth study of the author’s life while exploring how Proust’s personal correspondence and published works were greatly informed by his mother’s Judaism, his homosexuality, and such dramatic events as the Dreyfus Affair and, above all, World War I. As Taylor writes in his prologue, “Proust’s Search is the most encyclopedic of novels, encompassing the essentials of human nature. . . . His account, running from the early years of the Third Republic to the aftermath of World War I, becomes the inclusive story of all lives, a colossal mimesis. To read the entire Search is to find oneself transfigured and victorious at journey’s end, at home in time and in eternity too.”

The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume Nine


Daniel C. Matt - 2015
    Written in lyrical Aramaic, this masterpiece of Kabbalah exceeds the dimensions of a normal book; it is virtually a body of mystical literature, comprising over twenty sections. The bulk of the Zohar consists of mystical interpretation of the Torah, from Genesis through Deuteronomy.The ninth volume of The Zohar: Pritzker Edition completes this running commentary on the Torah. Rabbi Shim'on and his Companions explore passages from the middle of the book of Numbers through the end of Deuteronomy. Among the remarkable sections is Rav Metivta, an account of a visionary journey by Rabbi Shim'on and some of the Companions to the Garden of Eden, where they discover secrets of the afterlife. Later in the volume appears the story of the Yanuqa (Child)—a wunderkind-and-enfant-terrible who amazes and teases, challenges and stumps the rabbis.Near the very end of the Zohar on the Torah comes the remarkable section known as Idra Zuta (The Small Assembly). This dramatic narrative describes the last gathering of Rabbi Shim'on and the Companions before his death. Here the master reveals profound mysteries of divine being, and then departs from this world to unite ecstatically with the Divine Feminine, Shekhinah. Before departing, Rabbi Shim'on invites all of the Companions to his wedding celebration above.

Shanghai Sukkah


Heidi Smith Hyde - 2015
    With help from his new friend Liang, Marcus sets out to build a unique sukkah in time for the harvest festival of Sukkot.

Seder Talk: The Conversational Haggada


Erica Brown - 2015
    Erica Brown, one should approach the Passover Seder with imagination as well as intellect. The Seder's grab-bag of esoteric rabbinic texts, prayers, symbolic foods, and strange farm-animal songs opens the door for commentary and conversation, inviting us to make the exodus story truly our own.SEDER TALK: THE CONVERSATIONAL HAGGADA features two books in one: an erudite, sensitive commentary on the Haggada text with conversation trigger points, and eight short essays for each day of the holiday. In her signature educational style, Dr. Brown includes art and poetry to engage the reader in the sensory emotions of Seder night in addition to thought-provoking questions and life-homework exercises for greater mindfulness, intention, and inner freedom. SEDER TALK introduces ideas from the Vilna Gaon, Stephen King, Rav Kook, the Hassidic Sfat Emet, the Harvard Business Review, and more, creating a springboard for fascinating conversation for all ages.

Lilith's Demons


Julie R. Enszer - 2015
    Jewish Studies. Women's Studies. In the Jewish tradition, Lilith's punishment for rejecting Adam and disobeying God is to give birth to one hundred demons at twilight every night. These demons travel the land, killing newborns and wreaking havoc, until the sun rises anew. Julie R. Enszer reimagines Lilith and her demons for her third collection, LILITH'S DEMONS (A Midsummer Night's Press, 2015), giving them their own voices to speak to women of the world. Recast as a contemporary embattled woman, Enszer's Lilith is fiercely independent and determined as well as vulnerable, exposed. Her demons bemoan their obligation to kill, carrying the weight of such actions every minute, every hour of their time on earth. These poems offer a new mythology for women, reclaiming what is useful from the old and boldly striking new territory where women and their demons can be powerful. No longer dependent on God or man, Lilith and her demons convey a contemporary feminist cosmology.

Genesis


Jack Clark - 2015
    The Code of Hammurabi, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…’ was the justification and the rallying call. A terrible act was done only to be covered up, hidden and buried for a quarter of a century.Now its secrets are gradually being unearthed. A brother searching for a long-lost pilot is making waves.A reporter with the scent of a story is asking questions.A Mossad director nearing retirement, desperate the keep the past buried is alerted to the involvement of a disgraced ex-Mossad operative, exiled by her own organisation.The Mossad’s Prodigal Daughter is tantalisingly drawn into the events committed before she was born with the promise that she could return to her homeland. With the reputation of her country at stake as well as her own future, can an old man persuade her to enter war torn Syria, to discover the truth and find the resurgent activity behind Operation Tears of Abraham. Krystian Romanova Krystian Romanova, a one-time Mossad operative, burned by the IDF on trumped up charges and exiled from her Israeli homeland. She makes a lucrative living amid the conflicts that still ravage the Middle East as a kidnap intermediary, a negotiator and, in extreme circumstances, a hostage rescuer. She, together with her partner and mentor John Scobie, a quiet and deadly ex SAS trooper, make a formidable team in a dangerous game. When she is called upon by an Israeli Professor with a tale of a brother abandoned and held Prisoner of War for a quarter of a century by the Syrians, she and Scobie are sceptical and reject his appeal for help. They both know that it is a matter of faith with the Israeli military that they will always get their people back.

Rising Moon: Unraveling the Book of Ruth


Moshe Miller - 2015
    Now, in a revolutionary new reading of the Book of Ruth, Rabbi Moshe Miller brings us a commentary that provides an entirely new perspective on this timeless tale. In Rising Moon, the reader will discover that beneath the seemingly simple surface of this fable-like story - the story of a princess of Moab, who leaves her homeland after suffering terrible personal losses and is then reduced to grinding poverty in a foreign land, only to discover love and become the mother of the royal house of her adopted country - the Talmud and Midrash trace a tangled web of primal issues: the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden; the ruinous jealousy of Cain; the painful break between Abraham and Lot over the limitations of hesed, the coercive nature of the giving of the Torah; and the mystery that is the mitzvah of yibum. And within this drama, the one fiber that binds together all the divergent characters and issues is love. Love forms the backdrop of this book of the Bible, presented here as a "play" in four acts, and it is the key to this story, which culminates in the unique love of Ruth and Boaz, the ancestors of the once and future king, David, whose very name, Rabbi Miller observes, means love! In Rising Moon the reader is promised a powerful, eye-opening interpretation of the Ruth story - what Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks calls "a bold, original, and deeply thought-provoking work."

The Color of Character


Glen Shuld - 2015
    So to Glen Feigman, there was no question that Dr. King’s speech would be the catalyst for a brighter future—one in which children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Now, in the year 2011, Glen is an out gay man living in the city of Chicago. But when he, along with his elderly mother, witnesses one of many violent attacks plaguing his hometown, he begins reflecting on his past and childhood—questioning everything he thought he knew about race, character, and the true nature of acceptance. Glen traces the influence of racial tension and pervasive prejudices throughout the 1970s, ’80s, and 2000s, including a shocking event that would forever change the way he viewed race relations. With eye-opening honesty and candor, The Color of Character is a coming-of-age tale that raises questions about the true state of race relations in America today.

Confrontation and Other Essays


Joseph B. Soloveitchik - 2015
    Soloveitchik, one of the most eminent Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century. These essays some collected here for the first time address both perennial questions of religious existence and dilemmas specific to the modern era. They cover topics such as individual and community; the necessity of personal sacrifice in religious life; the Jewish attitude to physical pleasure, emotion, intellect, and humility; prayer; redemption; Torah study; and interfaith dialogue. The essays serve as prime examples of the depth and insight that have earned Rabbi Soloveitchik's writings entry into the canon of Jewish and general religious thought.

Modern Israeli Cooking: 100 New Recipes for Traditional Classics


Danielle Oron - 2015
    She offers recipes with an incredible array of flavors, some you may not be familiar with but will want to make and eat. Her cooking has been compared to Yotam Ottolenghi. It is a vibrant, passionate culinary exploration inspired by the ancient food traditions of the region with a modern take. Each dish is clean, fresh and in a way, new again or at least uniquely Danielle's. The result is simply inspiring food that will excite food lovers from all over.

Scattered Among The Nations


Bryan Schwartz - 2015
    Those hardy survivors stayed, built a community, and founded one of the fascinating groups described in this book—the Bene Israel of India’s Maharasthra Province. This story is unique, but it is not unusual. We have all heard the phrase “the lost tribes of Israel,” but never has the truth and wonder of the Diaspora been so lovingly and richly illustrated. To create this amazing chronicle of faith and resilience, the authors visited Jews in 30 countries across five continents, hearing origin stories and family histories that stretch back for millennia. Sixteen chapters featuring photographs and stories of the world’s most isolated Jewish communities, from: - The hills of northeastern India, on the border of Myanmar - Sub-Saharan Africa, in Ghana, on the border of Ivory Coast - The last Jewish villages in Eastern Europe and Central Asia - Jews at the heart of the Amazon - Marranos coming out of hiding in Portugal and Mexico - Jewish gauchos and ostrich barons, in the Argentine pampas and the South African veld A foreword from Tudor Parfitt, and over 500 full color photographs and illustrations accompany these beautiful stories, and many more. The culmination of 16 years of collaboration between writers and photographers, Scattered Among the Nations is a stunning work of research and storytelling, and a rich visual documentation of the planet’s most isolated and unusual Jewish communities. Above all, it is a testament to the power of the Jewish people, and the connection that binds such different groups into one great tribe.

The Heritage: A Jewish Historical Fiction Novel


Jack Michonik - 2015
    Thousands of Jewish families are forced to flee poverty and anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe. Fate takes two families to the magical continent of South America, which opens its generous arms to them. Many surprises await the immigrants in the New World. In this exciting story of their lives from their early teens in the “shtetl” to leisurely musings of middle age, we see the hardships immigrants face in the long journey to America, the complex process of adaptation to an unfamiliar environment and the phenomenal development of their businesses. Parallel to the story of the main characters, another story emerges: that of the birth of a typical Jewish community within a Christian city. Translated from the original Spanish book, La Descendencia, The Heritage is peppered with reflections on religion and historical events of the time regarding the Jews and the state of Israel. Throughout the narrative, the author captivates us with a fascinating story of overcoming, human conflicts and addresses issues of assimilation and identity. Though not an autobiographical novel, it could be the story of the parents or grandparents of any Jew from Central or South America. The author preferred to use a fictional provincial capital of Latin American so that the reader can recognize the history of his or her own Jewish community, as all Jewish communities in Latin America came into being in an almost identical manner.

The Night, the Day


Andrew Kane - 2015
    But nothing in Martin's vast experience could prepare him for the evil hiding in Benoît's past. Martin's new girlfriend also has something to hide. As does Galit Stein, a Mossad agent obsessed with hunting down the world's most notorious Nazi war criminals.From the streets of Lyon, France - when the Vichy government helped the Nazis ship Jews to concentration camps - to the suburbs of New York City five decades later, The Night, The Day is a thrilling journey from darkness to light as these lives collide on a path of discovery, justice, love and redemption.In his riveting third novel, Kane has drawn upon years of research and a lifetime of personal conviction to deliver his most compelling work yet.

The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews


Historical Research Department of the Nation of Islam - 2015
    334 pages - 1,275 footnotes - More than 3,000 sources - Jewish journals, encyclopedias, newspapers & other publications - Jewish scholars & rabbis - Court records - Shipping records - Jewish wills - Runaway slave notices - Auction notices - Published sermons - Census data - Slave bills of sale - Tax records Full Index - Bibliography.

Forgiving Mariela Camacho


A.J. Sidransky - 2015
    Pete knew her better than that. Mariela Comacho was the love of his life. The road to the truth winds through the slums of the Dominican Republic, the cold streets of Soviet Moscow, the hot sands of the Judean Hills, and into the dark clubs of New York City's underworld. They learn that Mariela was not merely murdered, but was the most recent victim of an international serial killer--a phantom from Tolya's past--and Karin Kurchenko, nine months pregnant, could be in his cold-blooded crosshairs. Forgiving Mariela Comacho, the second book in the Forgiving series, is AJ Sidransky at his best. A fast-paced thriller with witty, gritty dialogue and thoughtful perspective, its pages are rich with the engaging elements that continue to draw readers to Sidransky's unique prose.

Heroic Children: Untold Stories of the Unconquerable


Hanoch Teller - 2015
    In Heroic Children, noted author Hanoch Teller vividly chronicles the incredible lives and experiences of nine survivors who were only children when they encountered the unimaginable turbulence and horrors of the Holocaust. Each story, each voice - though born of pain and suffering - is unique and ultimately triumphant in its own way. Heroic Children is filled with stories of courage, faith, sacrifice and survival, family devotion, the tenacity of hope in the face of evil, and the incomparable strength of Klal Yisroel. The heartwarming photographs of the nine survivors and their families, combined with Hanoch Teller's eloquent prose provide readers with an unforgettable reading experience.

False Facts and True Rumors: Lashon Hara in Contemporary Culture


Daniel Z. Feldman - 2015
    Combining erudite knowledge of rabbinic texts, philosophy, and psychology, Rabbi Feldman explores this uncharted territory of contemporary Jewish life. Among the questions addressed are: How can it be prohibited to convey facts that are true? How can the innocent be protected and society improved in the context of these laws? How do these laws affect areas such as dating and marriage, therapy, business interactions, and comedic performances? How are modern conceptions of privacy and confidentiality impacted? How has the culture of journalism, the Internet, and political campaigning affected, and been affected by, these laws? False Facts and True Rumors offers an essential guide for communicating in today's fast-paced world.

The Blind Angel


Tovia Halberstam - 2015
    These legends, as precious and rich as family heirlooms, were known to millions of Jews before the Holocaust. Preserved today in their original Yiddish by the Chassidic community, the tales capture a vibrant culture with animated characters, humor, wisdom, human struggle, and moral lessons. In The Blind Angel, Rabbi Halberstam’s son, Joshua Halberstam, renders these tales for a contemporary audience while maintaining the full charm, rhythm, and authenticity of the original tales. As the author retells his father’s stories, he opens a window to a world that is unfamiliar and intriguing to many. Readers will smile in appreciation of the rebbe’s wit, cherish a surprising Chassidic teaching, find themselves moved by a protagonist’s challenge, and delight in the sheer pleasures of storytelling.

Brandeis Modern Hebrew


Vardit Et Al Ringvald - 2015
    Its functional and contextual elements are designed to bring students from the beginner level to the intermediate level, and to familiarize them with those linguistic aspects that will prepare them to function in advanced stages. This volume reflects some of the main principles that have shaped the Brandeis Hebrew curriculum during the past decade. These include: • an emphasis on the learner’s ability to use the target language in all four skills areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing • an effort to contextualize each unit within a specific subject or theme • exposing the student to authentic and semi-authentic materials (texts written by native speakers) • exploring different elements from Israeli and Jewish culture in the language drills, reading passages, and in selections of sources from the Hebrew literary canon The text in this edition comprises a short introduction to the instructor, 11 units, supplementary Hebrew proficiency guidelines, and a vocabulary list. Audio-visual components for all reading passages are available online for download.

Geometries of Belonging


R.B. Lemberg - 2015
    Set in Birdverse, found in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

The Education of a Traitor: A Memoir of Growing Up in Cold War Russia


Svetlana Grobman - 2015
    From a very young age, she found herself living in two contradictory worlds: the private world of a Jewish family struggling to live a decent life in a society rife with shortages and anti-Semitism; and the public world of an oppressive totalitarian regime that brainwashed its citizens into believing that the Soviet Union was the best country in the world.Despite being constantly bullied and insulted by playmates, neighbors, and teachers, Sveta was a dreamer. In the confinement of her cramped apartment, with a book in her hands, she dreamt about doing something significant for her country to earn its love and respect. Yet as Sveta matured and learned about the persecution of her family and the tragic deaths of her Ukrainian relatives during WWII, she realized that the world around her was built on lies and corruption, and that she needed to be strong just to survive.Composed of a series of poignant and sometimes humorous stories, The Education of a Traitor is a luminous memoir that not only describes the experience of one Jewish child coming of age at the height of the Cold War, but also helps explain why millions of people chose to leave the Soviet Union when the Iron Curtain finally fell.

Best Bondage Erotica 2015


Rachel Kramer BusselL.C. Spoering - 2015
    Always a step ahead of the zeitgeist, this award-winning editor knows your private fetishes a lot better than you do. Now that 2 million readers are bondage curious, thanks to the runaway popularity of the Fifty Shades series, Rachel can help them explore their fantasies and realize their deepest desires.

Washing the Dead


Michelle Brafman - 2015
    Michelle Brafman’s astonishing compassion for all human frailty infuses this story about the need for truth and the promise of forgiveness.” —HELEN SIMONSON, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand“Heartfelt and genuine, Washing the Dead never betrays the complicated truths of family and tradition.”— DAVID BEZMOZGIS, author of Natasha and Other Stories and The Betrayers“Like a Jewish Anne Lamott, Brafman reels you in with warmth, depth and heart.” —SUSAN COLL, author of The Stager and AcceptanceThree generations of women confront family secrets in this exquisitely wrought debut novel that examines the experience of religious community, the perilous emotional path to adulthood, and the power of sacred rituals to repair damaged bonds between mothers and daughters.Michelle Brafman’s award-winning short stories and essays have appeared in the Washington Post, Slate, Tablet, Lilith Magazine, Bethesda Magazine and elsewhere. She teaches fiction writing at the Johns Hopkins University MA in Writing Program and lives in Glen Echo, Maryland with her husband and two children.

Human Nature & Jewish Thought: Judaism's Case for Why Persons Matter


Alan L. Mittleman - 2015
    These ancient resources can speak to Jewish, non-Jewish, and secular readers alike.Science may tell us what we are, Mittleman says, but it cannot tell us who we are, how we should live, or why we matter. Traditional Jewish thought, in open-minded dialogue with contemporary scientific perspectives, can help us answer these questions. Mittleman shows how, using sources ranging across the Jewish tradition, from the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud to more than a millennium of Jewish philosophy. Among the many subjects the book addresses are sexuality, birth and death, violence and evil, moral agency, and politics and economics. Throughout, Mittleman demonstrates how Jewish tradition brings new perspectives to—and challenges many current assumptions about—these central aspects of human nature.A study of human nature in Jewish thought and an original contribution to Jewish philosophy, this is a book for anyone interested in what it means to be human in a scientific age.

Naming God: Avinu Malkeinu-Our Father, Our King (Prayers of Awe)


Lawrence A. Hoffman - 2015
    Almost forty contributors from all Jewish denominations and from around the world wrestle with Avinu Malkeinu and the linguistic and spiritual conundrum it presents, asking, “How do we name God altogether, without recourse to imagery that defies belief?”

Danya: A Woman of Ancient Galilee


Anne McGivern - 2015
    But betrayals, family tragedies, and social restrictions crush her dream, forcing her to seek other ways to live meaningfully. Danya's arresting story is woven into the political, religious, and cultural conflicts of the tumultuous world of ancient Palestine, bringing to life the challenges facing a literate Jewish woman of these times. Danya's quest for a purpose in life, though unique to her, is nonetheless both universal and contemporary.This extensively researched, fast-paced narrative has its roots in the study of he historical Jesus. Readers will recognize some of Danya's companions as real figures from history and scripture.

The Commentators' Bible: Deuteronomy: The Rubin JPS Miqra'ot Gedolot


Michael Carasik - 2015
    With this fourth volume of the acclaimed English edition, the voices of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Nachmanides, Rashbam, and other medieval Bible commentators come alive once more, speaking in a contemporary English translation annotated and explicated for lay readers.  Each page of this volume contains several verses from the book of Deuteronomy, surrounded by both the 1917 and the 1985 JPS translations and by new contemporary English translations of the major commentators. This edition also includes introductory material, a glossary of terms, a list of names used in the text, notes on source texts, essays on special topics, and resources for further study.

The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Judaism


Jack Miles - 2015
    The volume features Jack Miles's illuminating General Introduction--"How the West Learned to Compare Religions"--as well as David Biale's "Israel among the Nations," a lively primer on Jewish history and the core teachings of Judaism.

What Every Christian Needs to Know about Passover: What It Means and Why It Matters


Evan Moffic - 2015
    Now popular speaker and writer Rabbi Evan Moffic brings an understanding to the Last Supper that will forever change how Christians celebrate Communion and prepare for Easter. Beginning with the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history, Rabbi Moffic shows how these inform the roots of Christianity as he weaves together history, theology, Jewish practice and observances. Then he provides the background and resources for Christians seeking to experience an authentic Jewish Passover Seder and integrate it into their own preparation for Easter. Rabbi Moffic brings an informed and ancient perspective, explaining and bringing to life the source of so many of our modern Christian practices.By exploring and explaining the ritual and story surrounding the Jewish Passover, Rabbi Moffic shares with Christians the wisdom and inspiration of the Hebrew Bible--what Christians call the Old Testament--in a way that increases appreciation and understanding of the culture in which Jesus lived and taught. For contemporary Christians desiring to enrich their understanding of the faith they practice today, this book offers deeper understanding of their spiritual heritage shared with Judaism.

The New Passover Menu


Paula Shoyer - 2015
    Her dishes will set you free, combining all the nostalgic pleasure of family favorites with 65 contemporary creations sure to please a new generation of creative cooks. Covering both seder nights and all eight days of the holiday, Shoyer redefines Passover dining with an updated and global menu that includes Banana Charoset, Peruvian Roast Chicken with Salsa Verde, Moroccan Spiced Short Ribs, Sweet Potato Tzimmis, Eggplant Parmesan, and Frittata with Broccoli and Leeks. And don't forget the desserts (many gluten-free) that are Shoyer's speciality, including Triple Chocolate Biscotti, Opera Cake, and Pear Frangipane Tarts. To streamline your planning, there are eight full menus to use as is or to mix and match, along with suggestions for other meals. Passover has never been so easy or delicious!

The JPS Bible Commentary: Song of Songs


Michael Fishbane - 2015
    It is religious lyric par excellence. But what is its true meaning? Is it an expression of human love and passion, pure and simple? A celebration of the covenant between God and Israel? Or something else? The latest volume in the Jewish Publication Society’s highly acclaimed Bible Commentary series, Song of Songs provides a line-by-line commentary of the original Hebrew Bible text, complete with vocalization and cantillation marks, alongside the JPS English translation. Unique to this volume are four layers of commentary: the traditional PaRDeS of peshat (literal meaning), derash (midrashic and religious-traditional sense), remez (allegorical level), and sod (mystical and spiritual intimations). Michael Fishbane skillfully draws from them all to reveal the extraordinary range of interpretations and ideas perceived in this beloved biblical book. A comprehensive introduction, extensive endnotes, a full bibliography (traditional and modern), and additional explanatory materials are included to enhance the reader’s appreciation of the work. This original, comprehensive commentary on the Song of Songs interprets historical, critical, and traditional sources drawn from the ancient Near East, the entire spectrum of Jewish sources and commentaries, and modern critical studies.

A Time to Heal: The Rebbe's Response to Loss & Tragedy


Mendel Kalmenson - 2015
    Whether responding to a widow struggling to explain her husband's death to her children, or to a community whose school was the target of a terrorist attack, the Rebbe, provided support and solace to individuals and communities experiencing loss and tragedy, guiding them toward the hope for a brighter future.

How Free Will Works: The Blueprints to Take Charge of Your Life, Health, and Happiness


Dovid Lieberman - 2015
    More valuable still, this groundbreaking achievement explains how free will intersects with, and impacts on, these forces — which give us the practical and near-magical ability to maximize opportunities, sidestep unnecessary hardship and heartache and transform our emotional, spiritual, and physical health.As the dazzling design and sweeping influence of free will emerges, we move in a world that offers us a different experience, and it will become increasingly difficult — if not inconceivable — for us to ignore the one truth that will become so patently obvious: we control the quality of our lives.Plus, more than 100 pages devoted to willpower secrets! Master the strategies to exert self-control in any area of life!Dovid Lieberman, Ph.D., is a noted speaker and award-winning author with a renowned insight into the human condition. His 11 books, which have been translated into 26 languages and include two New York Times bestsellers, have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Blending the wisdom of Torah with the psychological process, Dr. Lieberman’s writings and lectures captivate both scholar and layman alike, and are enjoyed by people at all levels and from all backgrounds.

Gender Equality and Prayer in Jewish Law


Ethan Tucker - 2015
    This book opens the reader’s eyes to the wealth of Jewish legal material surrounding gender and prayer, with a particular focus on who can lead the prayers in a traditional service and who can constitute the communal quorum—or minyan—that they require. With honesty, transparency, and rigor, Gender Equality and Prayer in Jewish Law is a powerful resource for grappling with these complex questions. The authors not only explore this specific issue in depth, but they also model how we can mine the Jewish legal tradition for its underlying values, enabling its complex sources to serve as effective guides for contemporary communal decision-making.

Vilna My Vilna


Abraham Karpinowitz - 2015
    Segal Translation Award for a Book on a Jewish Theme, 2016 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Yiddish Translation, and Selected for Honorable Mention for the Sophie Brody Medal for achievement in Jewish literature, Abraham Karpinowitz (1913-2004) was born in Vilna, Poland (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania), the city that serves as both the backdrop and the central character for his stories. He survived the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and, after two years in an internment camp on the island of Cyprus, moved to Israel, where he lived until his death. In this collection, Karpinowitz portrays, with compassion and intimacy, the dreams and struggles of the poor and disenfranchised Jews of his native city before the Holocaust. His stories provide an affectionate and vivid portrait of poor working women and men, like fishwives, cobblers, and barbers, and people who made their living outside the law, like thieves and prostitutes. This collection also includes two stories that function as intimate memoirs of Karpinowitz's childhood growing up in his father's Vilna Yiddish theater. Karpinowitz wrote his stories and memoirs in Yiddish, preserving the particular language of Vilna's lower classes. In this graceful translation, Mintz deftly preserves this colorful, often idiomatic Yiddish, capturing Karpinowitz's unique voice and rendering a long-vanished world for English-language readers.

The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism


Jon D. Levenson - 2015
    In biblical and rabbinic literature, the obligation to love God appears as a formal commandment. Yet most people today think of love as a feeling. How can an emotion be commanded? How could one ever fulfill such a requirement? The Love of God places these scholarly and existential questions in a new light.Jon Levenson traces the origins of the concept to the ancient institution of covenant, showing how covenantal love is a matter neither of sentiment nor of dry legalism. The love of God is instead a deeply personal two-way relationship that finds expression in God’s mysterious love for the people of Israel, who in turn observe God’s laws out of profound gratitude for his acts of deliverance. Levenson explores how this bond has survived episodes in which God’s love appears to be painfully absent—as in the brutal persecutions of Talmudic times—and describes the intensely erotic portrayals of the relationship by biblical prophets and rabbinic interpreters of the Song of Songs. He examines the love of God as a spiritual discipline in the Middle Ages as well as efforts by two influential modern Jewish thinkers—Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig—to recover this vital but endangered aspect of their tradition.A breathtaking work of scholarship and spirituality alike that is certain to provoke debate, The Love of God develops fascinating insights into the foundations of religious life in the classical Jewish tradition.

Farmer Kobi's Hanukkah Mattch


Karen Rostoker-Gruber - 2015
    Kobi's well maaa-nnered goats, donkey, and sheep know eggz-actly how to play host, and they give Polly, Kobi's Hanukkah guest, a gracious hee-haw welcome.But when Polly doesn't like playing dreidel with sheep, singing Hanukkah songs with geese, or being near any of Kobi's animal family, what will happen next?

A Call from Spooner Street


Carol Ascher - 2015
    Long days on Spooner Street with her ailing and difficult father and his beloved German books enable Marlene to let go of old bitterness and rekindle her love for him. When her son, Noah, returns from Africa for a last visit with his grandfather, he instigates a deeper honesty, love, and forgiveness among all three Rosens.

Proust: The Future's Secret


Benjamin Taylor - 2015
    As biographer Benjamin Taylor suggests, before writing In Search of Lost Time, his multivolume masterwork, Proust was a literary lightweight, but, following a series of momentous historical and personal events, he became—against all expectations—one of the greatest writers of his, and indeed any, era.   This insightful, beautifully written biography examines Proust’s artistic growth and stunning metamorphosis in the context of his times. Taylor provides an in-depth study of the author’s life while exploring how Proust’s personal correspondence and published works were greatly informed by his mother’s Judaism, his homosexuality, and such dramatic historical events as the Dreyfus Affair and, above all, the First World War.

The Elucidated Tomer Devorah


Shmuel Riachi - 2015
    

See me: Elul poems


Rachel Barenblat - 2015
    Here are 29 poems, one for each day of Elul, which aim to open the reader up to awe, reflection, and the spiritual experience of being truly seen.

Women's Divination in Biblical Literature: Prophecy, Necromancy, and Other Arts of Knowledge


Esther J. Hamori - 2015
    The Hebrew Bible reveals a variety of traditions of women associated with divination. This sensitive and incisive book by respected scholar Esther J. Hamori examines the wide scope of women’s divinatory activities as portrayed in the Hebrew texts, offering readers a new appreciation of the surprising breadth of women’s “arts of knowledge” in biblical times. Unlike earlier approaches to the subject that have viewed prophecy separately from other forms of divination, Hamori’s study encompasses the full range of divinatory practices and the personages who performed them, from the female prophets and the medium of En-dor to the matriarch who interprets a birth omen and the “wise women” of Tekoa and Abel and more. In doing so, the author brings into clearer focus the complex, rich, and diverse world of ancient Israelite divination.

What's in a Flame?: A Jewish Regency Story


Libi Astaire - 2015
    Ezra Melamed teams up with an unlikely pair: General Well’ngone and the Earl of Gravel Lane, the leaders of a gang of young Jewish pickpockets. In this short Jewish Regency mystery story set during the Sukkos holiday of 1812, a sukkah (booth) is vandalized on the first night of the Jewish holiday -- but nothing is stolen except a dozen candles. Why would anyone steal candles and leave behind the much more valuable silver candlesticks? The solution to this seemingly trivial puzzle is more surprising than even Mr. Melamed imagined. The ebook edition includes both the short story What's in a Flame? and an excerpt from the second volume in the Jewish Regency Mystery Series, The Moon Taker.

The Smart One: A Grandfather's Tale


Ken Goodman - 2015
    As families flee the Debaltseve in Eastern Ukraine in 2015, Ken Goodman’s The Smart One: A Grandfather’s Tale takes us back to families fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe at the turn of the Twentieth Century. It is a compelling story of Jewish migration to America, which begins in Smorgon, now in Belarus, a former Soviet Republic, but at the time Smorgon was in Vilnius, a district of Lithuania, and a part of the Russian Empire. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout with fine line drawings by Ray Martens. The Smart One: A Grandfather’s Tale begins in 1901 and ends in 1906 and is told to us by little Duvid Mendel Gutman, who was Ken Goodman’s father. The story is filled with conflict over the political changes taking place, as well as the love and generosity of the people Duvid encounters, including the gypsies and Jews who live in the woods with their dancing bears to protect them. With Duvid to guide us we participate with his family in Sukkos, Shabbos, Chanukah, Purim, Passover and the High Holidays. By his side we witness the strike for a 12 hour day on May Day 1904 and the Revolution in Smorgon in 1905, and we feel with him and his family the heart wrenching distress at what happened to members of his family who participated in the workers’ resistance movement to the social injustice they were forced to endure. “To understand who we are as Americans,” Ken Goodman writes, “we need to understand who we were and where we have been.” The Smart One: A Grandfather’s Tale does just that. It is a book to be read aloud at Chanukah and Passover, and at Yom Kippur, but also at other times by families of different religious and cultural traditions, who share with Duvid Mendel Gutman and his family an indomitable human spirit and hope for the future.

When G-D Asks Me; When God Asks Me


Devorah Kalani - 2015
    First hand account of the magic, and miracles of the Holyland. Come walk with me as I reveal the heart of Israel.Forget what you think you know about the middle east, the Holyland, terrorism. This is a fresh man ...er woman on the ground perspective. Religious, yet raw telling of the day to day tribulations of Jews trying to settle in Israel's historic heartland.Our dog team was a special band of brothers. We lived a unique time in a unique place. At no time in my life have I had so many arguments with so many people that ended with, "Get a Torah." We spilled blood, sweat and tears on this chosen land. We laughed and fought more than just a lot, but we were all there for the same reason: to protect Jews in the land of Israel.When God asks me what I did when my brothers and sisters were being stabbed, raped, shot, bombed, and stoned in His land; I can say, "I went to the West Bank and . . ."

The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom


Natan Slifkin - 2015
    This volume contains some thirty chapters covering everything from the fearsome to the furry—for example, lions, leopards, bears, hippopotami, hyraxes and hares. Rabbi Slifkin combines Torah erudition with wide-ranging knowledge of zoology and natural history to explain an abundance of sources regarding the identity, laws, symbolism and significance of these animals in Jewish thought and observance.The book is spectacular, with full color photographs on virtually every page. Stunning images of animals in their natural habitat make this large-format book as appropriate for the coffee table as for the library or classroom. With its engaging style and beautiful photography, The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom is sure to become the definitive resource on this topic.

Tiferet Yisrael: Translation and Commentary—Volume 1: Introduction and Chapters 1–9


The Maharal of Prague - 2015
    While several attempts have been made to translate or abridge the Maharal’s Torah, the complexity of his thought has defied standard translation methodologies. This edition of the Tiferet Yisrael (the Splendor of Israel) seeks to present the Maharal’s thought in all its majesty and to enable beginners and scholars alike to grasp the overall structure of the Maharal’s concepts through the addition of innovative summaries and graphical aids. In the work, the Maharal contemplates questions of Jewish life, such as How can there be ritually observant Jews who behave immorally? What is the reason for performing Mitzvot (commandments)? Is there any relevance or meaning to performing Mitzvot if one doesn’t understand God’s reasons for commanding them? What is the path to self-fulfillment? The translation is lucid and faithful, with in-line comments to guide the reader in exploring the Maharal’s depths.

Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World


David Seidenberg - 2015
    David Mevorach Seidenberg challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature is not only possible, but that it also leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides, and Kabbalah. Deeply grounded in traditional texts and fluent with the physical sciences, this book proposes not only a new understanding of God's image but also a new direction to restore religion - to its senses and to a more alive relationship with the more than human, with nature and with divinity.

Toward Sinai: Omer Poems


Rachel Barenblat - 2015
    The Omer is counted for seven weeks between Pesakh and Shavuot. There is one poem for each day of the counting of the Omer.

The Social Justice Warrior's Guide to the High Holy Days


Dane Kuttler - 2015
    This incredible book contains more than 40 prose poems to complement the liturgy of the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.​A must for Jews, activists, queers, and anyone who's ever found themselves on the margins of a religion who's looking for a meaningful, irreverent, poetic way in.

Passover Haggadah


Jennifer Betham-Lang - 2015
    J. Betham-Lang and Roger Lang provides a complete Passover resource to run your Seder. The Haggadah is comprehensive enough for a long Seder (or abbreviated as well) and easy to read at the same time. This Haggadah is printed in color; thus, it has images that help with the setup and delivery of the Seder and it has Hebrew, transliterated Hebrew, and English. The Haggadah follows a traditional Jewish Seder and integrates elements of the Apostolic writers. This resource is available in hardback, soft-cover, and e-book as well.

A Woman Called Moses: A Prophet for Our Time


Jean-Christophe Attias - 2015
    He is depicted there in a surprising way: with and against God; with and against his people; bringer of the Tablets of the Law, which he breaks; a stuttering prophet, guide to a Promised Land entry to which remains forbidden to him, and dead in an unknown tomb... Highly confusing for those who imagine a Moses carved out of a single block. By way a series of possible portraits - including one of a female Moses - Jean-Christophe Attias follows the metamorphoses of the Hebrew liberator through ages and cultures. Drawing on rabbinical sources as well as the Bible itself, he examines the words of the texts and especially their silences. He discovers here a fragile prophet, teacher of a Judaism of the spirit, of wandering, and of incompleteness. Receive and transmit. Listen, even when the message is confusing. Insistently question, especially when there is no answer. And always, remain free. This seems to be the Judaism of Moses. A Judaism that speaks to believers and others - to Jews, of course, but also far beyond them, inviting its hearers to have done with tribal pride, the violence of weapons, and the tyranny of a special place.

Exiles in Sepharad: The Jewish Millennium in Spain


Jeffrey Gorsky - 2015
    Jeffrey Gorsky vividly relates this colorful period of Jewish history, from the era when Jewish culture was at its height in Muslim Spain to the horrors of the Inquisition and the Expulsion.Twenty percent of Jews today are descended from Sephardic Jews, who created significant works in religion, literature, science, and philosophy. They flourished under both Muslim and Christian rule, enjoying prosperity and power unsurpassed in Europe. Their cultural contributions include important poets; the great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides; and Moses de Leon, author of the Zohar, the core text of the Kabbalah.But these Jews also endured considerable hardship. Fundamentalist Islamic tribes drove them from Muslim to Christian Spain. In 1391 thousands were killed and more than a third were forced to convert by anti-Jewish rioters. A century later the Spanish Inquisition began, accusing thousands of these converts of heresy. By the end of the fifteenth century Jews had been expelled from Spain and forcibly converted in Portugal and Navarre. After almost a millennium of harmonious existence, what had been the most populous and prosperous Jewish community in Europe ceased to exist on the Iberian Peninsula.

More Money than God


Richard Michelson - 2015
    It is Michelson’s sense of humor and acute awareness of Jewish history, with its ancient emphasis on the fundamental worth of human existence that makes this accessible book, finally, celebratory and life-affirming.

Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City


Andrew F. Smith - 2015
    The Big Apple--a telling nickname--is the city of 50,000 eateries, of fish wriggling in Chinatown baskets, huge pastrami sandwiches on rye, fizzy egg creams, and frosted black and whites. It is home to possibly thedensest concentration of ethnic and regional food establishments in the world, from German and Jewish delis to Greek diners, Brazilian steakhouses, Puerto Rican and Dominican bodegas, halal food carts, Irish pubs, Little Italy, and two Koreatowns (Flushing and Manhattan). This is the city where, ifyou choose to have Thai for dinner, you might also choose exactly which region of Thailand you wish to dine in.Savoring Gotham weaves the full tapestry of the city's rich gastronomy in nearly 570 accessible, informative A-to-Z entries. Written by nearly 180 of the most notable food experts-most of them New Yorkers--Savoring Gotham addresses the food, people, places, and institutions that have made New Yorkcuisine so wildly diverse and immensely appealing. Reach only a little ways back into the city's ever-changing culinary kaleidoscope and discover automats, the precursor to fast food restaurants, where diners in a hurry dropped nickels into slots to unlock their premade meal of choice. Or travel tothe nineteenth century, when oysters cost a few cents and were pulled by the bucketful from the Hudson River. Back then the city was one of the major centers of sugar refining, and of brewing, too--48 breweries once existed in Brooklyn alone, accounting for roughly 10% of all the beer brewed in theUnited States. Travel further back still and learn of the Native Americans who arrived in the area 5,000 years before New York was New York, and who planted the maize, squash, and beans that European and other settlers to the New World embraced centuries later.Savoring Gotham covers New York's culinary history, but also some of the most recognizable restaurants, eateries, and culinary personalities today. And it delves into more esoteric culinary realities, such as urban farming, beekeeping, the Three Martini Lunch and the Power Lunch, and novels, movies, and paintings that memorably depict Gotham's foodscapes. From hot dog stands to haute cuisine, each borough is represented. A foreword by Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver and an extensive bibliography round out this sweeping new collection.

How to witness to Jews about Jesus...what Christians need to know


Bernard Levine - 2015
    Why did I leave the Jewish religion to follow Jesus? What are the strange traditions of the Jews? How do you witness to Jews about Jesus? Let the mysteries be unveiled and the truth be told!

Hebrew Wars: A Military History of Ancient Israel from Abraham to Judges


Cam Rea - 2015
    However, there are a handful of books dedicated to the military topic from a secular view, including Chaim Herzog and Mordechai Gichon’s Battles of the Bible, T.R. Hobbs A Time for War: A Study of Warfare in the Old Testament, Martin Sicker’s The Rise and Fall of the Ancient Israelite States, and Richard A. Gabriel’s The Military History of Ancient Israel, just to name a few. What this book will attempt to demonstrate is that if we read between the lines of the Biblical text, we will find convincing answers to some of the harder questions versus what many believe or are skeptical of concerning the wars and battles documented in the Bible. By focusing on the leaders, such as Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, to name a few, and reviewing their politics, strategies, tactics, and weapons, starting with Abraham all the way to the end of the book of Judges, we will be able to separate myth from reality. In doing so, we will discover a rich, painful, and vast military history, of which most are unaware.

Succos Inspired: Discovering Depth, Joy and Meaning


Rabbi Moshe Gersht - 2015
    Coming on the heels of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, many Jews erect their Sukkahs and go through the rituals without fully exploring the meaning and power behind them. Rabbi Moshe Gersht s ground-breaking work brings this holiday of unity and community into focus with thoughtful research and perspective, giving you an opporunity to experience a truly inspired Succos.