Book picks similar to
Philosophy of Chabad (#2) by Nissan Mindel
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My Name Is Asher Lev
Chaim Potok - 1972
Asher Lev is an artist who is compulsively driven to render the world he sees and feels even when it leads him to blasphemy. In this stirring and often visionary novel, Chaim Potok traces Asher’s passage between these two identities, the one consecrated to God, the other subject only to the imagination.Asher Lev grows up in a cloistered Hasidic community in postwar Brooklyn, a world suffused by ritual and revolving around a charismatic Rebbe. But in time his gift threatens to estrange him from that world and the parents he adores. As it follows his struggle, My Name Is Asher Lev becomes a luminous portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant, a modern classic.
Dance Real Slow
Michael Grant Jaffe - 1996
Calvin eats dirt. He never actually swallows it, just places loose clumps onto his tongue and sucks, I think....He knows better, my son, but he is stillyoung and needs to be watched.So goes the poignant journey of discovery for Gordon Nash, a journey that began two years ago when his wife suddenly walked out on him, leaving him alone toraise their son. Calvin is now four, fragile yet stubborn, devoted to his pet, a dead Portuguese man-o-war he calls Mom. Faced daily with the struggle andjoys of raising this bright little boy, Gordon learns the vast reaches of his affection and the limits of his patience. He plumbs the deep well of rage within himself, to find there disturbing echoes of his own father. And he comes to understand that nothing is as important as this complex, imperfect love--a lesson he must turn to when his wife reappears one day, threatening to turn his and Calvin's world upside down once again
The Sacrifice
Adele Wiseman - 1956
It is a moving, almost biblical story of a father possessed by his hope for his only son; of a son who rebels against his father’s ideals, yet sacrifices himself to preserve what his father most prizes; and of a grandson who must reconcile the flaws in his inheritance.
The Girl on the Platform
Ellie Midwood - 2021
In the face of evil, she vowed to live by the truth--or die by it."Be brave. Don't run. Fight." With her eyes tightly shut, tears rolling from under her dark lashes, she felt his lips gently touch her burning cheek. The train on the platform whistled, and he disappeared into the steam.Nineteen-year-old Libby moves to Berlin to escape her suffocating family--but instead of offering freedom, the city is under siege by the Nazis. Jewish books are burned, storefronts smashed and every day innocent people vanish into thin air. Libby cannot--will not--turn a blind eye.When Libby meets Harro, she knows there's more to him than his dazzling smile and cornflower-blue eyes. The whip marks on his back, scars from the SS, tell his true story: he is a resistance fighter.Libby and Harro fall madly in love, devoted to each other and to tearing down Hitler's regime. Knowing they can make the greatest difference from the inside, Harro works for the Air Ministry, infiltrating government secrets.Together, they smuggle classified documents and hold clandestine meetings in the middle of the night, with blackout curtains and a single candle burning. Under the cover of darkness, they distribute leaflets, exposing the Nazis' hideous lies.In the frostbitten winter of 1942, Libby is certain the Gestapo is stalking them--their every move watched, their phone calls recorded. In the end, they must decide what is more important: to be free or to be brave? To survive or to stand up for the truth?Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Alice Network and The Lilac Girls will be utterly gripped by this heartbreaking page-turner. Based on a true story, this beautiful novel shows that even when our freedom is stolen, we still have a choice...Readers love Ellie Midwood: "AMAZING read! I loved this so much!... Sensational... One of the most inspiring love stories of all time... HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND. 100% 5 STARS!!" Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Commentary on the Torah
Richard Elliott Friedman - 2001
Richard Elliott Friedman, the bestselling author of Who Wrote the Bible?, integrates the most recent discoveries in biblical archaeology and research with the fruits of years of experience studying and teaching the Bible to illuminate the straightforward meaning of the text -- "to shed new light on the Torah and, more important, to open windows through which it sheds its light on us."While other commentaries are generally collections of comments by a number of scholars, this is a unified commentary on the Torah by a single scholar, the most unified by a Jewish scholar in centuries. It includes the original Hebrew text, a new translation, and an authoritative, accessibly written interpretation and analysis of each passage that remains focused on the meaning of the Torah as a whole, showing how its separate books are united into one cohesive, all-encompassing sacred literary masterpiece. This landmark work is destined to take its place as a classic in the libraries of lay readers and scholars alike, as we seek to understand the significance of the scriptural texts for our lives today, and for years to come.
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
Yossi Klein Halevi - 2018
Given our circumstances, "neighbor" might be too casual a word to describe our relationship. We are intruders into each other’s dream, violators of each other’s sense of home. We are incarnations of each other’s worst historical nightmares. Neighbors?Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor is one Israeli’s powerful attempt to reach beyond the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians and into the hearts of "the enemy." In a series of letters, Yossi Klein Halevi explains what motivated him to leave his native New York in his twenties and move to Israel to participate in the drama of the renewal of a Jewish homeland, which he is committed to see succeed as a morally responsible, democratic state in the Middle East.This is the first attempt by an Israeli author to directly address his Palestinian neighbors and describe how the conflict appears through Israeli eyes. Halevi untangles the ideological and emotional knot that has defined the conflict for nearly a century. In lyrical, evocative language, he unravels the complex strands of faith, pride, anger and anguish he feels as a Jew living in Israel, using history and personal experience as his guide.Halevi’s letters speak not only to his Palestinian neighbor, but to all concerned global citizens, helping us understand the painful choices confronting Israelis and Palestinians that will ultimately help determine the fate of the region.
The Great American Novel
Philip Roth - 1973
"Roth is better than he's ever been before.... The prose is electric." (The Atlantic)Gil Gamesh is the only pitcher who ever tried to kill the umpire, and John Baal, The Babe Ruth of the Big House, never hit a home run sober. But you've never heard of them -- or of the Ruppert Mundys, the only homeless big-league ball team in American history -- because of the communist plot and the capitalist scandal that expunged the entire Patriot League from baseball memory.
How Huge the Night
Heather Munn - 2011
But after his family moves to a small village in central France in hopes of outrunning the Nazis, he is suddenly faced with bigger challenges than the taunting of local teens. Nina Krenkel left her country to obey her father's dying command: Take your brother and leave Austria. Burn your papers. Tell no one you are Jews. Alone and on the run, she arrives in Tanieux, France, dangerously ill and in despair.Thrown together by the chaos of war, Julien begins to feel the terrible weight of the looming conflict and Nina fights to survive. As France falls to the Nazis, Julien struggles with doing what is right, even if it is not enough--and wonders whether or not he really can save Nina from almost certain death.Based on the true story of the town of Le Chambon--the only French town honored by Israel for rescuing Jews from the Holocaust--How Huge the Night is a compelling, coming-of-age drama that will keep teens turning the pages as it teaches them about a fascinating period of history and inspires them to think more deeply about their everyday choices.The Munns have written an engrossing historical novel that is faithful to the actual events of World War II in western Europe during the tumultuous year 1940. But How Huge the Night is more than good history; it is particularly refreshing because the reader sees the conflict through the lives of teenagers who are forced to grapple with their honest questions about the existence and goodness of God in the midst of community, family, and ethnic tensions in war-ravaged France.--Lyle W. Dorsett, Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism, Beeson Divinity School, Samford UniversitySeldom have the horrors of war upon adolescents--or the heroism of which they are capable--been so clearly portrayed. I loved this coming-of-age story.--Patricia Sprinkle, author of Hold Up the SkyThe book expertly weaves together the lives of its characters at a frightening moment in conflicted times. As we read of their moral dilemmas and of their choices, we too wonder, Would I do as these in the story have done?--Karen Mains, Director, Hungry Souls
To Pray as a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer Book and the Synagogue Service
Hayim Halevy Donin - 1991
Unexcelled for beginners as well as the religiously observant, To Pray as a Jew is intended to show the way, to enlighten, and hopefully to inspire.
Burning Lights
Bella Chagall - 1966
Bella's warm, humorous stories of her pious Jewish family are illustrated by 36 of her husband's pen-and-ink line drawings.
The Pinch
Steve Stern - 2015
The Pinch revolves around a single enchanted day containing years, during which the antics of a group of Jewish mystics threaten to ravage the life of general store proprietor Pinchas Pin with miracles, and his nephew Muni's ardor for an alluring tightrope walker collides with his passion for chronicling the wonders of North Main Street. Their stories, gleaned by a hapless bookseller from a fabulist history book, transform the fate of the neighborhood.
Fireproof Your Marriage Couple's Kit
Jennifer Dion - 2008
The Fireproof Your Marriage study integrates video clips from the movie FIREPROOF, along with key Scriptures, thought-provoking questions and devotionals. The Couple's Kit includes a six-session DVD and two Participant's guides. Also makes a great wedding or anniversary gift! Fireproof Your Marriage includes these six sessions: 1.) He Said/She Said: appreciating the God-designed differences between men and women. 2.) He First Loved Us: God's love for you and how it enables you to love others.3.) Love for a Lifetime: marriage as a lifelong covenant. 4.) Breaking Free: freeing yourself from temptations that can destroy a marriage. 5.) Forgiveness: offering and receiving forgiveness. 6.) A Better Way of Loving: unconditional love.
A Daughter of Two Mothers
Miriam Cohen - 2007
Open this book and you will step into the world of a generation gone, of pre- and post-war Hungarian Jewry, as young Leichu moves between two communities and their divergent lifestyles. This is a gripping story of separation and reunion, of pure faith and acceptance of G-d's will, and of triumph over despair.
Concealed
Esther Amini - 2020
She also grew up in a Persian-Jewish household, the American-born daughter of parents who had fled Mashhad, Iran. In Concealed, she tells the story of being caught between these two worlds: the dutiful daughter of tradition-bound parents who hungers for more self-determination than tradition allows.Exploring the roots of her father's deep silences and explosive temper, her mother's flamboyance and flights from home, and her own sense of indebtedness to her Iranian-born brothers, Amini uncovers the story of her parents' early years in Mashhad, Iran's holiest Muslim city; the little-known history of Mashhad's underground Jews; the incident that steeled her mother's resolve to leave; and her parents' arduous journey to the U.S., where they faced a new threat to their traditions: the threat of freedom. Determined to protect his daughter from corruption, Amini's father prohibits talk, books, education, and pushes an early Persian marriage instead. Can she resist? Should she? Focused intently on what she stands to gain, Amini comes to see what she also stands to lose: a family and community bound by food, celebrations, sibling escapades, and unexpected acts of devotion by parents to whom she feels invisible.In this poignant, funny, entertaining, and uplifting memoir, Amini documents with keen eye, quick wit, and warm heart how family members build, buoy, wound, and save one another across generations; how lives are shaped by the demands and burdens of loyalty and legacy; and how she rose to the challenge of deciding what to keep and what to discard.Praise for Concealed"In this beautifully crafted memoir, Esther Amini weaves a riveting portrait of her family life as the daughter of Iranian-Jewish immigrants in New York City.... It is a deeply personal tale, painfully honest and brilliantly told."--Susan Mailer, psychoanalyst and author of In Another Place"Concealed is a heart-wrenching...memoir by the daughter of...Iranian Jews who...never escape the emotional prison of their previous existence. You will cheer for her as you ponder the eternal question: how do we survive our families?"--Sally Koslow, author of Another Side of Paradise"Concealed is Esther Amini's remarkable account of growing up in a house where books and education are for boys and prearranged marriage is supposed to be her destiny....Lucky for us she grew up to be a writer...who has produced a wonderful memoir." --Patty Dann, author of Mermaids"A moving, honest and compelling memoir that unveils the little-known world of Persian-Jewish immigrants in America.... Amini's characters leap off the page right into your heart." --Ronda Spinak, Artistic Director, Jewish Women's TheatreEsther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, and Proximity. She was awarded Aspen Words' Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016 based on an early draft of this memoir. Her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women's Theatre, which name her Artist-in-Residence in 2019. Esther Amini lives in New York City with her husband. Concealed is her debut memoir.
Call It Sleep
Henry Roth - 1934
But in that dark Depression year, books were hard to sell, and the novel quickly dropped out of sight, as did its twenty-eight-year-old author. Only with its paperback publication in 1964 did the novel receive the recognition it deserves. Call It Sleep was the first paperback ever to be reviewed on the front page of The New York Times Book Review, and it proceeded to sell millions of copies both in the United States and around the world. Call It Sleep is the magnificent story of David Schearl, the “dangerously imaginative” child coming of age in the slums of New York.