Book picks similar to
Laws of Pesah by Eliezer Melamed


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Annie of Albert Mews


Dee Williams - 1993
    Knowing how hard Lil's life is, Annie willingly helps her out, lending her dresses and make-up and, when Annie is asked out on a smart date by the landlord's son Peter Barrett, suggesting Lil come along to make up a foursome. But it is a shock when Lil gets on famously with Peter's swanky friend Julian whilst Annie feels much less sure of the smooth Peter. Soon Lil is busy earning money from pub singing spots set up for her by Julian, and Annie, no longer needed by her friend, feels more isolated than ever. It is then that she notices shy Will Hobbs from Fisher's engineering works. Before long Annie and Will are engaged, with plans for a home of their own in Surrey. But a dreadful accident at Fisher's and the looming shadow of World War II mean that life for Annie of Albert Mews is not so predictable - or secure - as she once thought it was ...

String Theory: The Parents Ashkenazi


Dara Horn - 2014
    Then she meets Roger Ashkenazi, a mathematician studying fractals and starting to question his own atheist ideas. Their insights into the world’s repeating patterns cannot prepare them for the coming disaster of their marriage—or its impact on their daughters, one an average child and the other a genuine genius. The rivalry between Judith Ashkenazi and her wildly successful sister Josie, who invents a software program to catalog every kind of memory, will fuel the page-turning plot of Dara Horn’s critically acclaimed novel A Guide for the Perplexed.String Theory takes its readers to the farthest edges of knowledge and the limits of freedom, on a journey from doubt to faith and back again. In its double helix of free will and fate, it anticipates the terrifying consequences, borne out in A Guide for the Perplexed, of asking children to fulfill their parents' dreams.

Jewish Holidays


Michael Strassfeld - 1993
    . . with a greater devotion and joy."--Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler

Converting to Judaism: How to Become a Jew (an Introduction to Judaism and Being Jewish)


Rachel Zahl - 2014
    Regularly priced at $4.99. Read on your PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet or Kindle device. So, you want to convert to Judaism? That’s great! You have to understand, though, that Judaism is not only a religion but is also a way of life. Jews consider themselves as one big family. Hence, to have a proper perspective about everything, you’ll have to mentally orient yourself that you’re trying to find a way in as a productive member of that Jewish family. You should also brace yourself for a long struggle ahead of you because converting to Judaism is not a walk in the park. This book will provide you with an excellent introduction to Judaism as well as what to expect during your conversion process, including lots of great tips and pointers that will help along the way. Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn... The Basic Beliefs of Judaism Important Practices of Judaism Celebrated Jewish Holidays Steps on How to Become a Jew Pointers for Converts Much, much more! Download your copy today! Tags: convert to Judaism, converting to Judaism, conversion to Judaism, how to become a jew, becoming a Jew, become a Jew, I want to become a Jew, I want to convert to Judaism, how to convert to Judaism, introduction to Judaism, being Jewish, how to be Jewish, Judaism beliefs, practice Judaism, practicing Judaism, how to become a Jew, Jewish convert, converting to Jew, convert to become a Jew, Jewish beliefs, Jewish customs, Jewish traditions, Jewish calendar, Jewish holidays, Jewish rituals, how to be Jewish, Jewish religious beliefs, becoming Jewish, Jewish celebrations, Jewish customs and traditions, Jewish baptism, Jewish practices, Jewish information, Jews religion, Jews, Jew, Judaism, Jew religion, becoming a Jew, Jews and Judaism, Jews culture, become a Jew, what is Judaism, Judaism beliefs, torah, Jewish commandments, introduction to Judaism, Jewish religion, Jewish religious beliefs, religion of Judaism, convert Judaism, converting questions, converting religion, converting religions, how to convert to Judaism, how to convert

Choosing Judaism


Lydia Kukoff - 1983
    By sharing her own story, Lydia Kukoff creates a remarkable work about what it means to make this significant choice. Years after her own conversion she continues to question, grow, and learn, and encourages others to do the same.

Entering Jewish Prayer: A Guide to Personal Devotion and the Worship Service


Reuven Hammer - 1994
    More than a "how-to" guide, this resource deals with basic issues for the modern worshiper, the historial compilation of the Siddur, and much more.

Bertrand Court


Michelle Brafman - 2016
    Linked through bloodlines and grocery lines, they respond to life's bruises by grabbing power, sex, or the family silver. As they atone and forgive, they unmask the love and truth that hop white picket fences. Michelle Brafman is the author of the novel Washing the Dead. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Slate, Tablet, the Washington Post, Lilith, the the minnesota review, and elsewhere. She teaches fiction writing at the Johns Hopkins University MA in Writing Program and lives with her family in Glen Echo, Maryland.

Lovingkindness


Anne Roiphe - 1987
    Annie Johnson has worked hard to raise her daughter, Andrea. She is shocked, therefore, when 22-year-old Andrea calls from Israel and announces that she has joined an extreme right-wing Orthodox Jewish group and will be seeking an arranged marriage.

By Light of Hidden Candles


Daniella Levy - 2017
     Five hundred years later, Alma Ben-Ami journeys to Madrid to fulfill her ancestor’s final wish. She has recruited an unlikely research partner: Manuel Aguilar, a young Catholic Spaniard whose beloved priest always warned him about getting too friendly with Jews. As their quest takes them from Greenwich Village to the windswept mountain fortresses of southern Spain, their friendship deepens and threatens to cross boundaries sacred to them both; and what they finally discover in the Spanish archives will force them to confront the truth about who they are and what their faiths mean to them. At times humorous, at times deeply moving, this beautifully written and meticulously researched book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of Inquisition-era Spain, Sephardic Jews, or falling in love. "Engaging characters, a 500-year-old family mystery, and romance — what more could a reader want? I had a hard time putting it down!" — Maggie Anton, award-winning author of the Rashi’s Daughters trilogy “A well-researched and engaging debut — By Light of Hidden Candles is an enchanting read!” — Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of multiple-award-winner Even in Darkness

Kingdom of the Damned: Rebellion in Judea


James Mace - 2014
    the Roman province of Judea exploded in rebellion. Far from being a revolution of unified peoples, the various Jewish factions of Sadducees, Zealots, Sicarii, and Edomites are in a state of civil war; as anxious to spill the blood of each other as they are to fight the Romans. The Judeans find hope when the Romans commit a serious tactical blunder and allow their forces to be ambushed and nearly destroyed in the mountain pass of Beth Horon. Following the disaster, Emperor Nero recalls to active service Flavius Vespasian, the legendary general who had been instrumental in the conquest of Britannia twenty-three years before. In the northern region of Galilee, a young Judean commander named Josephus ben Matthias readies his forces to face the coming onslaught. A social and political moderate, he fears the extremely violent Zealot fanatics, who threaten to overthrow the newly-established government in Jerusalem, as much as he does the Romans. Soon Vespasian, a tactical and strategic genius who had never been defeated in battle, unleashes his huge army upon Galilee. His orders are to crush the rebellion and exact the harshest of punishments upon those who would violate the Peace of Rome. Lacking the manpower and resources to face the legions in open battle, Josephus knows he will need plenty of cunning, ingenuity, and, perhaps, even the intervention of God Himself, lest the once proud Kingdoms of Judah and Israel should become a kingdom of the damned. **This is the re-release of a title that was previously called, "Kingdom of the Damned: Rebellion in Judea". Please note that the content of the book has not been changed.**

The Skeptic and the Rabbi: Falling in Love with Faith


Judy Gruen - 2017
    Having grown up in the zeitgeist that proclaimed, "If it feels good, do it," was she really ready to live the life of "rituals, rules, and restraints" that the Torah prescribed? The Skeptic and the Rabbi is a rare memoir with historical depth, spirituality, and intelligent humor. Gruen speaks with refreshing honesty about what it means to remain authentic to yourself while charting a new yet ancient spiritual path at odds with the surrounding culture, and writes touchingly about her family, including her two sets of grandparents, who influenced her in wildly opposite ways. As she navigates her new life with the man she loves and the faith she also loves--surviving several awkward moments, including when the rabbi calls to tell her that she accidentally served unkosher food to her Shabbat guests--Gruen brings the reader right along for the ride. Reading this wry, bold and compelling memoir, you'll laugh, you'll cry, and when you're finished, you may also have a sudden craving for chicken matzo ball soup--kosher, of course.

Too Jewish


Patty Friedmann - 2010
    But suddenly, snobberies he couldn’t even have guessed at are set in motion. It seems Letty’s prominent Jewish parents hate him for being…too Jewish!At first this strikes him only as petty and small-minded, but he has no idea how much hatred his scheming mother-in-law can wring from the situation. She knows, for instance, that he had to leave behind his beloved mother, and she uses his mother’s life and memory as a lever against him, eventually causing him physical and mental problems that threaten his family’s well-being in every possible way and thwart him at every turn.Thus, Bernie and Letty’s daughter Darby is born into the strangest of mixed marriages, torn, as her mother is, between loyalty to her grandparents and to her father. Even she, at her tender age, wonders whether Letty’s love—and her own–can save Bernie from the secret pain and guilt of surviving the Holocaust. And from the machinations of his cruel mother-in-law.This bittersweet love story is told in three novellas, each from the point of view of one member of the Cooper family. From Bernie we learn the immigrant’s story, of a young Jew making it out of Germany just as Hitler invades Poland and Europe shuts down. Speaking little English, he makes his way across America, and he finds Letty in New Orleans. In the second novella, Letty picks up where Bernie leaves off, and we see this is no ordinary rich girl, but rather an unspoiled, curious, generous-spirited young woman who sees Bernie for who he is and falls in love despite all the obstacles thrown up by her parents. When Darby picks up the story in the third novella, everything is in place for a comfortable ending–or a tragedy Darby bears the legacy of her father’s deep sadness and her mother’s need to fit into New Orleans’s peculiar social structure.

The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis


Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg - 1995
    With amazing literary sensitivity, Zornberg ingeniously breathes new life into Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Rachel, and Joseph. The author's vibrant spirit, charming personality, and infectious enthusiasm for the Bible draw the reader into the search for meaning where real life and the biblical story intersect. The Beginning Of Desire imaginatively interweaves biblical, rabbinic, and literary sources into a colorful tapestry that is both intellectually stimulating and personally uplifting.One of the Jewish biblical scholars scheduled to appear on the Bill Moyers PBS special on Genesis, Avivah Zornberg employs an amazing repertoire of literary sources to engage the audience and illuminate the text. Delivering her erudition in a pleasantly lyrical style, the author shares her experience of God with the world. It is an intimate, personal, and revealing encounter no one should miss.

Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs


Beth Ricanati - 2018
    This is the surprise that physician-mother Beth Ricanati learned when she started baking challah almost a decade ago: that simply stopping and baking bread was the best medicine she could prescribe for women in a fast-paced world. Braided chronicles a journey of a thousand challahs and one woman’s quest for wellness and peace.

Seasons of Our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays


Arthur O. Waskow - 1982
    Circling the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashanah to Tisha B'Av, this lively, accessible guide includes rituals, recipes, songs, prayers, and suggestions for new approaches to holiday observance.