Books


Are You There, God? It’s Me, Rachel!

By Beth Schwartzapfel

Although Judaism is front and center in Deborah Heiligman’s coming of age novel ‘Intentions,’ at the core of the story are questions of faith with which all teenagers grapple.Read More

Our Favorite Heretic

By Allan Nadler

The array of uses and misuses of Baruch Spinoza, perhaps Judaism’s most-famed heretic, is testimony to the boundlessness of the human imagination.Read More

A Curmudgeon’s Guide To Jewish History

By Eddy Portnoy

As Harvey Pekar reached the end of his life, the Jewish issue evidently came to interest him a great deal not only in a personal way, but also in a broader historical sense.Read More

No Straight Path From Dogma to Dissent

By Benjamin Ivry

Vasily Grossman took a complex path from syncophancy to dissidence under Soviet anti-Semitic oppression. A new biography takes an unsparing look at his career.Read More

The Liberation of Helène Aylon

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen

Helene Aylon grew up Orthodox in Brooklyn’s Boro Park, became a rebbetzin and then a feminist artist. A new memoir traces her remarkable journey.Read More

Stopping To Think About the Roses

By Ilan Stavans

There was a time when Latin American writers felt compelled — maybe the word is “constrained” — to focus their work on Latin America. Andrés Neuman takes a more global approach.Read More

Thoughts That Move in Space

By Jake Marmer

‘N18’ is a collection of Hank Lazer’s so-called ‘shape-poems,’ works in which the handwritten layout is at least as important as the actual words that comprise the verses.Read More

Life in British Mandate Palestine

By Jerome A. Chanes

‘Out of Palestine’ is a truly fascinating discussion of a period that is still incompletely and insufficiently understood: the last years of the British Mandate in Palestine.Read More

Hasidic Tales and Prayer-Poems

By Rachel Barenblat

The sheer number of names, rebbes, dynasties and towns may overwhelm readers of ‘A Hidden Light.’ To author Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, each one is an intimate friend.Read More

Unlikely Chronicler of Jewish Neighborhood

By Gary Shapiro

Clayton Patterson is an unlikely candidate to launch a history of the Jewish Lower East Side. He’s not Jewish, has a biker’s beard and runs the New York Tattoo Society.Read More




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  • PHOTOS: Hundreds of protesters marched through lower Manhattan yesterday demanding an end to American support for Israel’s operation in #Gaza.
  • Does #Hamas have to lose for there to be peace? Read the latest analysis by J.J. Goldberg.
  • This is what the rockets over Israel and Gaza look like from space:
  • "Israel should not let captives languish or corpses rot. It should do everything in its power to recover people and bodies. Jewish law places a premium on pidyon shvuyim, “the redemption of captives,” and proper burial. But not when the price will lead to more death and more kidnappings." Do you agree?
  • Slate.com's Allison Benedikt wrote that Taglit-Birthright Israel is partly to blame for the death of American IDF volunteer Max Steinberg. This is why she's wrong:
  • Israeli soldiers want you to buy them socks. And snacks. And backpacks. And underwear. And pizza. So claim dozens of fundraising campaigns launched by American Jewish and Israeli charities since the start of the current wave of crisis and conflict in Israel and Gaza.
  • The sign reads: “Dogs are allowed in this establishment but Zionists are not under any circumstances.”
  • Is Twitter Israel's new worst enemy?
  • More than 50 former Israeli soldiers have refused to serve in the current ground operation in #Gaza.
  • "My wife and I are both half-Jewish. Both of us very much felt and feel American first and Jewish second. We are currently debating whether we should send our daughter to a Jewish pre-K and kindergarten program or to a public one. Pros? Give her a Jewish community and identity that she could build on throughout her life. Cons? Costs a lot of money; She will enter school with the idea that being Jewish makes her different somehow instead of something that you do after or in addition to regular school. Maybe a Shabbat sing-along would be enough?"
  • Undeterred by the conflict, 24 Jews participated in the first ever Jewish National Fund— JDate singles trip to Israel. Translation: Jews age 30 to 45 travelled to Israel to get it on in the sun, with a side of hummus.
  • "It pains and shocks me to say this, but here goes: My father was right all along. He always told me, as I spouted liberal talking points at the Shabbos table and challenged his hawkish views on Israel and the Palestinians to his unending chagrin, that I would one day change my tune." Have you had a similar experience?
  • "'What’s this, mommy?' she asked, while pulling at the purple sleeve to unwrap this mysterious little gift mom keeps hidden in the inside pocket of her bag. Oh boy, how do I answer?"
  • "I fear that we are witnessing the end of politics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I see no possibility for resolution right now. I look into the future and see only a void." What do you think?
  • Not a gazillionaire? Take the "poor door."
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