The Kalinka Affair: A Father's Hunt for His Daughter's Killer


Joshua Hammer - 2012
    Suspicions of murder began to surround her stepfather, a German doctor named Dieter Krombach, but Bamberski could only hope the truth would prevail. But when the authorities gave up their pursuit, he knew he had to act. So against the odds, Bamberski embarked on an obsessive quest to capture and punish his daughter’s killer. In this riveting true story by Joshua Hammer, a father travels to the limits of law in search of justice.

Dysfunctional Family Values


Raegan Dennis - 2018
    The only issue was, somewhere along the line, life caused her to forget how to pray. Raised by a mother that despised her after the death of her grandmother, Mia lost all faith in the God that her grandmother taught her so much about. Kain came along at the right time and saved Mia from her mother's wrath. But when her woman's intuition starts sounding alarms she begins to see Kain for who he really is. Mia knew she could never trust her mother, but when she has to pull her trust away from Kain the heartbreak is unbearable. Secrets are revealed, the drama unfolds, and the only way Mia will get through this is to remember what her grandmother taught her.

See Under: Love


David Grossman - 1986
    Determined to exorcise the Nazi "beast" from their shattered lives and prepare for a second holocaust he knows is coming, Momik increasingly shields himself from all feeling and attachment. But through the stories his great-uncle tells him—the same stories he told the commandant of a Nazi concentration camp—Momik, too, becomes "infected with humanity." Grossman's masterly fusing of vision, thought, and emotion make See Under: Love a luminously imaginative and profoundly affecting work.

The Empty Chair: Finding Hope and Joy Timeless Wisdom from a Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov


Nachman of Breslov - 1994
    To others, his teachings shed light on some of the deepest mysteries. Here, is timeless wisdom, adapted by disciplines living in Jerusalem today, reaches out to us all: Never lose hope. Find joy and cause for happiness in everything that happens to you.

El Iluminado: A Graphic Novel


Ilan Stavans - 2012
    Was he pushed or did he jump? What are the documents that Rolando was willing sacrifice himself to protect from his family, the police, and the Catholic Church? And what does a colorful concha pastry have to do with any of this? In the midst of the investigation, Professor Ilan Stavans arrives in Santa Fe to give a lecture about the area's long-buried Jewish history. He's looking forward to relaxing afterwards with an evening of opera, but his presentation on "crypto-Jews" attracts unexpected attention, and soon Ilan is drawn into a desperate race to find the long-lost documents that might hold the key to Rolando's death. Ilan's detective work leads him to taco joints, desert ranches, soaring cathedrals, and, finally, deep into the region's past, where he encounters another young man: Luis de Carvajal, aka "El Iluminado," a sixteenth-century religious dissenter. In a tale of martyrdom that eerily echoes Rolando's, Carvajal fled Spain for colonial Mexico at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, searching for his religious heritage -- a hunt for which he, like Rolando, would pay the ultimate price. In El Iluminado, esteemed literary critic Ilan Stavans and author and illustrator Steve Sheinkin present a secret history of religion in the Americas, showing how thousands of European refugees have left a trail of ghostly footprints -- and troves of mysteries -- across the American Southwest.

Empathy for the Devil


JR. Forasteros - 2017
    How do we guard against them? We learn not only by following moral exemplars—we also need to look at the warnings of lives gone wrong. In this fictionalized narrative, JR. Forasteros reintroduces us to some of the most villainous characters of Scripture. He shows us what we can learn from their negative examples, with figures such as Cain, Jezebel, King Herod, Sampson and Delilah, and even Satan serving as cautionary tales of sin and temptation. Forasteros vividly tells their stories to help us understand their motivations, and his astute biblical and cultural exposition points out what we often miss about their lives. We soon discover that we might have more in common with these characters than we would like to admit. Take a fresh look at the scoundrels of Scripture, and find sound pastoral guidance here to walk the path of righteousness.

Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories


Tikva Frymer-Kensky - 2002
    Reading the Women of the Bible takes up two of the most significant intellectual and religious issues of our day: the experiences of women in a patriarchal society and the relevance of the Bible to modern life.

Fodor's Israel (Full-color Travel Guide)


Fodor's Travel Publications Inc. - 1984
    Our local experts vet every recommendation to ensure you make the most of your time, whether it’s your first trip or your fifth. MUST-SEE ATTRACTIONS from Nazareth to the Negev desert PERFECT HOTELS for every budget BEST RESTAURANTS to satisfy a range of tastes GORGEOUS FEATURES on the Dead Sea, Masada, Israeli wine VALUABLE TIPS on when to go and ways to save INSIDER PERSPECTIVE from local experts COLOR PHOTOS AND MAPS to inspire and guide your trip

The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness: Preparing to Practice


Rami M. Shapiro - 2006
    This inspiring, practical guidebook provides you with the tools you need to realize the divinity within yourself, recognize the divinity within others, and act on the obligation to manifest God's infinite compassion in your own life.Guided by Rabbi Rami Shapiro, you will explore Judaism's Thirteen Attributes of Lovingkindness as the framework for cultivating a life of goodness. Shapiro translates these attributes into practices--drawn from the teachings of a variety of faith traditions--that allow you to actualize God's glory through personal deeds of lovingkindness. You will enrich your own capacity for lovingkindness as you: * Harvest kindness through compassionate honesty * Make room in your heart for reality * Recognize the manifestations of God * Embrace the paradoxical truth of not-knowing * Be present in the moment * Do right by othersWith candor, with and honesty, Shapiro shows you that by choosing to act out of love rather than fear, with kindness rather than anger, you can transform how you perceive the world and ultimately lead a more complete spiritual life.

All Whom I Have Loved


Aharon Appelfeld - 1999
    Initially, Paul lives with his mother–a secular, assimilated schoolteacher, who he adores until she “betrays” him by marrying the gentile André. He is then sent to live with his father–once an admired avant-garde artist, but now reviled by the critics as a “decadent Jew,” who drowns his anger, pain, and humiliation in drink. Paul searches in vain for stability and meaning in a world that is collapsing around him, but his love for the earthy peasant girl who briefly takes care of him, the strange pull he feels towards the Jews praying in the synagogue near his home, and the fascination with which he observes Eastern Orthodox church rituals merely give him tantalizing glimpses into worlds of which he can never be a part.The fates that Paul’s parents will meet with Paul as terrified witness–his mother, deserted by her new husband and dying of typhus; his father, gunned down while trying to stop the robbery of a Jewish-owned shop–and his own fate as an orphaned Jewish child alone in Europe in 1938 are rendered with extraordinary subtlety and power, as they foreshadow, in the heart-wrenching story of three individuals, the cataclysm that is about to engulf all of European Jewry.

The Hebrew Goddess


Raphael Patai - 1967
    Lucidly written and richly illustrated, this third edition contains new chapters on the Shekhina.

The Legend of the Baal-Shem


Martin Buber - 1908
    Living in the first part of the eighteenth century in Podolia and Wolhynia, the Baal-Shem braved scorn and rejection from the rabbinical establishment and attracted followers from among the common people, the poor, and the mystically inclined. Here Buber offers a sensitive and intuitive account of Hasidism, followed by twenty stories about the life of the Baal-Shem. This book is the earliest and one of the most delightful of Buber's seven volumes on Hasidism and can be read not only as a collection of myth but as a key to understanding the central theme of Buber's thought: the I-Thou, or dialogical, relationship.All positive religion rests on an enormous simplification of the manifold and wildly engulfing forces that invade us: it is the subduing of the fullness of existence. All myth, in contrast, is the expression of the fullness of existence, its image, its sign; it drinks incessantly from the gushing fountains of life.--Martin Buber, from the introduction

The Big Book of Jewish Humor


William Novak - 2006
    "Where are you going?" says the first man."To Minsk," says the second."To Minsk, eh? What a nerve you have! I know you're telling me you're going to Minsk because you want me to think that you're really going to Pinsk. But it so happens that I know you really are going to Minsk. So why are you lying to me?"Four men are walking in the desert.The German says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have a beer."The Italian says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have wine."The Mexican says, "I'm tired and thirsty.I must have tequila."The Jew says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."

Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism


Howard Schwartz - 2004
    Drawing from the Bible, the Pseudepigrapha, the Talmud and Midrash, the kabbalistic literature, medieval folklore, Hasidic texts, and oral lore collected in the modern era, Schwartz has gathered together nearly 700 of the key Jewish myths. The myths themselves are marvelous. We read of Adams diamond and the Land of Eretz (where it is always dark), the fall of Lucifer and the quarrel of the sun and the moon, the Treasury of Souls and the Divine Chariot. We discover new tales about the great figures of the Hebrew Bible, from Adam to Moses; stories about God's Bride, the Shekhinah, and the evil temptress, Lilith; plus many tales about angels and demons, spirits and vampires, giant beasts and the Golem. Equally important, Schwartz provides a wealth of additional information. For each myth, he includes extensive commentary, revealing the source of the myth and explaining how it relates to other Jewish myths as well as to world literature (for instance, comparing Eves release of evil into the world with Pandoras). For ease of use, Schwartz divides the volume into ten books, Myths of God, Myths of Creation, Myths of Heaven, Myths of Hell, Myths of the Holy Word, Myths of the Holy Time, Myths of the Holy People, Myths of the Holy Land, Myths of Exile, and Myths of the Messiah.

A River Could Be a Tree


Angela Himsel - 2018
    The Himsels followed an evangelical branch of Christianity—the Worldwide Church of God—which espoused a doomsday philosophy. Only faith in Jesus, the Bible, significant tithing, and the church's leader could save them from the evils of American culture—divorce, television, makeup, and even medicine.From the time she was a young girl, Himsel believed that the Bible was the guidebook to being saved, and only strict adherence to the church's tenets could allow her to escape a certain, gruesome death, receive the Holy Spirit, and live forever in the Kingdom of God. With self-preservation in mind, she decided, at nineteen, to study at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. But instead of strengthening her faith, Himsel was introduced to a whole new world—one with different people and perspectives. Her eyes were slowly opened to the church's shortcomings, even dangers, and fueled her natural tendency to question everything she had been taught, including the guiding principles of the church and the words of the Bible itself.Ultimately, the connection to God she so relentlessly pursued was found in the most unexpected place: a mikvah on Manhattan's Upper West Side. This devout Christian Midwesterner found her own form of salvation—as a practicing Jewish woman.Himsel's seemingly impossible road from childhood cult to a committed Jewish life is traced in and around the major events of the 1970s and 80s with warmth, humor, and a multitude of religious and philosophical insights. A River Could Be a Tree: A Memoir is a fascinating story of struggle, doubt, and finally, personal fulfillment.