Book picks similar to
The Love of Zion & Other Writings by Abraham Mapu


narration-of-ancient-fictionalities
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Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor's Son


Sholom Aleichem - 1894
    Through the workaday world of a rural dairyman, his grit, wit, and heart, his daughters' courtships and marriages, and the eventual menace of the pogroms, Sholem Aleichem reveals the fabric of a now-vanished world.Motl is the clear-eyed, spirited, mischievous boy who narrates Motl the Cantor's Son, a comic novel about his emigration with his family from Russia to America. It is a journey that mirrors a larger exodus, telling the story of the disintegration of traditional Jewish life and the beginning of a new chapter of Jewish history in America.

Tunnels


Rutu Modan - 2020
    Motivated by the desire to reinstate her father’s legacy as a great archaeologist after he was marginalized by his rival, Nili enlists a ragtag crew—a religious nationalist and his band of hilltop youths, her traitorous brother, and her childhood Palestinian friend, now an archaeological smuggler. As Nili’s father slips deeper into dementia, warring factions close in on and fight over the Ark of the Covenant!Backed by extensive research into this real-world treasure hunt, Rutu Modan sets her affecting novel at the center of a political crisis. She posits that the history of biblical Israel lies in one of the most disputed regions in the world, occupied by Israel and contested by Palestine. Often in direct competition, Palestinians and Israelis dig alongside one another, hoping to find the sacred artifact believed to be a conduit to God. Two time Eisner Award winner Rutu Modan’s third graphic novel, Tunnels, is her deepest and wildest yet. Potent and funny, Modan reveals the Middle East as no westerner could.

The Story of the Jews: A 4,000-Year Adventure--A Graphic History Book


Stan Mack - 1998
    The first "graphic history book" of its kind, The Story of the Jews celebrates the major characters and events that have shaped the Jewish people and culture, illustrating what it means to be Jewish. You will visit all the major Jewish happenings from biblical times to the twenty-first century--from Abraham and Sarah on the banks of the Euphrates to the Diaspora, intermarriage, and the State of Israel. Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, The triumph of King David, The creation of the Talmud, The rise of Christianity and Islam, The Crusades, The Inquisition, The Enlightenment, Life in the new Babylon (the United States), The birth of the state of Israel, And--of course--the world's first "Oy!"

The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser


Warren Kozak - 2004
    Always wearing an easy smile, Hasidic rabbi Haskel Besser spreads joy wherever he goes, enriching the lives of his many friends and congregants with his profound understanding of both Orthodox Judaism and humannature.With warmth and admiration, journalist Warren Kozak writes about the rabbi's extraordinary life—from his family's escape to Palestine in the late 1930s to his witnessing of Israel's rebirth in 1948, to his move to New York City, where he lives today.A rare window into the normally closed world of Hasidic Jews, The Rabbi of 84th Street is also the story of Judaism in the twentieth century; of the importance of centuries-old traditions; and of the triumph of faith, kindness, and spirit.

Textile


Orly Castel-Bloom - 2006
    While Mandy's husband Irad, a self-proclaimed genius, is off in America researching new innovations in flak jackets, and her son Dael, a sniper for the Israeli Army, returns to war, Mandy schedules yet another cosmetic surgery. This time she's getting new shoulder blades. But when the surgery goes awry, her rebellious daughter Lirit must take over the family business--and the family may never be the same.From the acclaimed author of Dolly City, Textile details the gradual disintegration of a family strained by distance and the corrosive effects of consumerism and militarism."With understated flair and stoic wit, Castel-Bloom uses the Gruber family to explore the themes of globalization, materialism, superficiality, and longevity, anchoring her story in a neighborhood and attempting to 'connect all this beauty and luxury to some kind of posterity beyond [the family's] grasp.'" --Publishers Weekly"Internationally acclaimed Castel-Bloom--whose Dolly City is listed by UNESCO's Collection of Representative Works--deftly weaves a web of intertwining character studies, each rich with detail and nuance. Against the backdrop of war and unrest, the strivings of a woman for independence gain international depth." --Kirkus

Love Life


Zeruya Shalev - 1997
    What begins as a story of a young married woman's turbulent affair with an older man rapidly devolves into a feverish, lyrical crash course in the anatomy of obsession. When Yaara meets Aryeh, her father's boyhood friend, she is instantly drawn to his impassive and archly assured presence. It is not long before she forsakes her devoted and well-meaning husband for the powerful, mysterious older man who seems to embody all that she lacks: will, strength, and the key to her parents' inaccessible pasts. They embark on a heated affair that soon spirals toward the destructive as Yaara finds that the things in Aryeh that attract her also repel her with equal intensity. With shocking immediacy, Shalev lays bare Yaara's struggle to navigate extreme terrain ranging from the sublime to the grotesque, the sacred to the profane, the liberating to the all-consuming. Love Life is cerebral, seductive, provocative, and profound.

Arik: The Life of Ariel Sharon


David Landau - 2013
    The life of Ariel Sharon spans much of modern Israel’s history. A commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948, Sharon participated in the 1948 War of Independence, played decisive roles in the 1956 Suez War and the Six-Day War of 1967, and is credited here with the shift in the outcome of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. After leaving the professional army, Sharon became a political leader and served in numerous governments, most prominently as the defense minister during the 1982 Lebanon War in which he bore “personal responsibility,” according to the state’s commission of inquiry, for massacres of Palestinian civilians by Lebanese militia. As a general and as a politician, he championed the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. But as prime minister, he performed a dramatic reversal: orchestrating Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Landau brilliantly chronicles Sharon’s surprising about-face, combining the immediacy of firsthand reportage with the analysis and independent insight of a historian’s perspective. Sharon suffered a stroke in January 2006 and remains in a persistent vegetative state. This biography recounts the life of the man who is considered by many to be Israel’s greatest military leader and political statesman, illustrating how Sharon’s leadership transformed Israel, and how his views were shaped by the changing nature of Israeli society.

The Liar


Ayelet Gundar-Goshen - 2019
    Serving customers ice cream all summer long, she is desperate for some kind of escape.But one afternoon, a terrible lie slips from her tongue. And suddenly everyone wants to talk to her: the press, her schoolmates, and even the boy upstairs. He is the only one who knows the truth, and he is demanding a price for his silence.Then Nofar meets Raymonde, an elderly immigrant whose best friend has just died. Raymonde keeps her friend alive the only way she knows how, by inhabiting her stories. But soon, Raymonde's lies take on a life of their own.Written with propulsive energy, dark humor, and deep insight, The Liar reveals the far-reaching consequences of even our smallest choices, and explores the hidden corners of human nature to reveal the liar, and the truth-teller, in all of us.

The Wine Widow (The Champagne Dynasty Family Saga Book 1)


Tessa Barclay - 1985
    A compelling tale of one woman’s triumphs and tragedies which you will not be able to put down. Young peasant girl Nicole Berthois works hard to support her family in a wine-making village in Champagne. Her life changes forever when she falls in love with handsome aristocrat Philippe de Tramont. The young lovers marry despite his mother’s objections, and Nicole’s strength and determination help her husband to follow his dreams. But then tragedy strikes; Philippe is killed and Nicole must struggle to raise their two small children as a young widow. She faces many challenges as she tries to win her mother-in-law’s approval, and build her husband’s legacy into a great champagne dynasty. But will illicit passions, war and a shocking family secret destroy all she has worked to achieve? ‘Tessa Barclay always spins a fine yarn. Her novels are gripping and entertaining.’ Wendy Craig ‘Filled with fascinating historical detail and teeming with human passions.’ Marie Joseph ‘A red hot contender for the Romantic Novelist of the Year Award.’ Daily Mirror From the publishers of Hardacre and Hardacre’s Luck. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries, Margaret Dickinson, Lyn Andrews and Helen Forrester. Tessa Barclay is the author of many much-loved family sagas and historical romance novels, including the Wine Widow trilogy, the four-part Craigallan series, and the Corvill Weaving saga – all coming soon in new paperback editions and as ebooks for the very first time. Tessa began her writing career after being educated at the Miss Jean Brodie school, and has since written over 100 books.

Duet in Beirut


Mishka Ben-David - 2002
    But after twelve years of service, Ben-David quit the Mossad and became an acclaimed novelist, describing life as a spy from within. A major best­seller in Israel, Duet in Beirut is Ben-David’s first book to appear in English. Ronen, an expelled Mossad agent, has disap­peared following a failed assassination attempt against the Hezbollah operative responsible for suicide bombings in Israel. Feared to be on an un­authorized mission, it is up to his former command­er, Gadi, to track Ronen down and stop him from causing harm both to himself and to his country. The physical and intellectual scuffle between the two men becomes one of deeper, moral inquiry. Written with a master novelist’s terse convic­tion, Duet in Beirut takes us inside a much-dis­cussed but little understood world. As revealing in its psychological acuity as it is in its portrait of life in the Mossad, Duet in Beirut is an essential thriller of espionage and political intrigue.

The Ambassador


Yehuda Avner - 2015
    You will do everything the Devil requires. Whatever it takes, you will maintain the transfer of Jews from Germany to Israel. Remember not to fear him. After all, he thinks it is you who is the Devil." 1937. In a fictional turn of historical events, the British Cabinet accepts the recommendations of the Peel Commission, establishing a Jewish State in the Land of Israel. Dan Lavi is a young diplomat sent by Ben-Gurion to serve as the country’s first ambassador to Berlin, in an effort to save as many Jews as possible under the controversial Transfer Agreement. Surrounded by the terror and atrocities of the Third Reich, Dan struggles to uphold good relations and diplomatic protocol with those who want him dead, to negotiate Nazi party politics and Allied pressures, to reconcile his love for his family with his loyalty to his country, and to stop the Final Solution – even if it costs him everything. Yehuda Avner’s political insight meets Matt Rees’s novelistic skill in this fast-paced counter-historical thriller about a diplomatic mission to the Devil.

Stella's Secret: A True Story of Holocaust Survival


Jerry L. Jennings - 2005
    But it is Stella’s voice, the amazing way that she tells her story, that makes this Holocaust story so unique, powerful and endearing. The reader listens to Stella’s stunning simplicity of expression, her use of Polish and Yiddish phrases, her humor, her all-so-frequent grammatical errors – and is charmed. It is a story that only Stella Yollin can tell, and it can only be told in Stella’s sweet and incomparable way.

Yasmine


Eli Amir - 2005
    The Palestinians are stunned and cannot comprehend their losses, whilst the Israelis are waking up to a new political reality - and their new responsibilities.Surprisingly for someone so young, Nuri Imari (whose family we encountered in The Dove Flyer) is appointed advisor on Arab affairs for the Israeli government. With little guidance, he is asked to help restore relations with their Palestinian neighbours and to restore some sort of normality to their life.He discovers a world he did not know, with complexities and loyalties he could never have imagined. He tries to steer a humane course but soon finds himself confronting bigotry and hatred on both sides.And then he meets Yasmine, a Palestinian woman recently returned from Paris.

Unexpected


J. Nichole - 2019
    Her attractions were just for her fantasies though, because she had no time for meeting guys, or dating, definitely not a relationship. But love doesn’t always come as we expect it. For Monica, it definitely didn’t. Nick wasn’t big and tall. But he was worthy of all her fantasies. He served her a glass of wine, and an eyeful of attraction. He believed in balance, all work and no play made for a meaningless life. Could he convince her that you make time for what you want in life—especially love?

To Take (Crimson Trails Book 1)


B. Love - 2017
    Leigha didn’t want to be a part of her town’s betrothal tradition, and she wanted to create her own path in life. After years of walking down the path of heartbreak, Leigha finally decided to come home and give her parents the chance to find her husband for her. When Christensen James moved to Crimson Trails four years ago his family had only one thing in mind – capitalizing on the location to bring in new business for their family. It wasn’t until they’d settled into their new lives in Crimson Trails that they learned of the tradition of arranged marriages. With Christensen being the ladies’ man that he is, he sees absolutely no point in agreeing to an arranged marriage… until he witnesses the love and happiness his sister finds because of it. Both Christensen and Leigha have been given the title ‘wild child’, and neither of them believe their parents will be able to match them with the loves of their lives, but after their first encounter with each other their minds begin to change. Even with their love blooming, Leigha’s painful past hovers over their present, and if she doesn’t get it under control it may ruin both of their futures. Please note: “To Take: Crimson Trails Series” is an ongoing novella series spinoff from “To Take: A Novella.” Each story will feature a completely different couple, and the couples do not connect in any way besides being in the same town. The series can be read in any order. There will be no cliffhangers. Book one has 25,000 words and does feature the younger sister of Haylo, the main character from “To Take: A Novella”, but you do not have to read it to understand and enjoy book one of this series.