MyJewishBooks Online

Our Shelves
Click a Heading to
see our selections

Our AUGUST 2010 Update

Welcome to MyJewishBooks.com

Welcome to MyJewishBooks.com, where we list new and eclectic books of Jewish interest and sort them by publication date. All net proceeds go to tzedaka. Look at the hyperlinks to the left for books by season. Be sure to visit our Summer 2010, and Spring 2010 Books pages, oFrah's Jewish Book Club page, and all the rest. If you are brave, you can even peek at our page of FALL 2010 planned releases.

Thank you for visiting.

Mazel Tov to those named among the 36 Under 36 by New York Jewish Week. Maybe we will send them all a free book. Including Samuel Adelsberg, 23, Penn grad, who started LendForPeace.org; Micah Bergdale, 28, who helped to start Israel360; Sara Berman, 35, Columbia grad and Hebrew language charter school leader; Yael Buechler, 24, a JTS student who teaches Torah through the polish she uses on her fingernails (can she do the Haftorah with her toenails?); Craig Dershowitz, who started Artists 4 Israel and organized a trip to Israel, in which American artists — all non-Jews — painted bomb shelters in Sderot; and Alison Laichter, 29, and Yael Shy, 28, who started the Jewish Meditation Center in Brooklyn.

Want to know a secret? The top two non fiction best sellers on the NYT List are SH*T MY DAD SAYS and WAR. Well, the DAD in question is Sam Halpern, a retired, Kentucky born, physician and scientist in San Diego. He grew up on a tobacco farm. How many Jewish farm-boys in America do you get to read about? (and it probably wasn’t as bad a farm as the one depicted in the closing chapters of Philip Roth’s THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA. And in WAR, about a platoon of men in Afghanistan, a few of the soldiers in the books are of Jewish heritage and MOT’s.

QUESTION: Dear MyJewishBooks.com – I feel like driving around the country in a pick up truck and interviewing people about men’s apparel. Sort of similar to http://mistermort.typepad.com/ What book should I take along to read?

ANSWER: WE RECOMMEND:

PEEP SHOW
A NOVEL
BY JOSHUA BRAFF
June 2010, Algonquin
Joshua Braff, brother of actor Zach Braff, wrote THE UNTHINKABLE THOUGHTS OF JACOB GREEN, a few years ago, which I thought was one of the best and funniest Jewish novels of the decade. Now he has prepared a second novel for us.
A kid who likes photos… is it any wonder that his name is Arbus?
David Arbus will be graduating from high school in the spring of 1975. His divorced parents offer two options: embrace his mother’s Hasidic sect or go into his father’s line of work, running a porn theater in the heart of New York’s Times Square. He joins the family business. What else would a healthy seventeen-year-old with an interest in photography do? But he didn’t think it would mean giving up his mother and sister altogether. Peep Show is the bittersweet story of a young man torn between a mother trying to erase her past and a father struggling to maintain his dignity in a less-than-savory business. As David peeps through the spaces in the screen that divides the men and the women in Hasidic homes, we can’t help but think of his father’s Imperial Theatre, where other men are looking at other women through the peepholes. As entertaining as it is moving, Peep Show looks at the elaborate ensembles, rituals, assumed names, and fierce loyalties of two secret worlds, stripping away the curtains of both.
Click the book cover to read more.

QUESTION: Dear MyJewishBooks.com – I need a short book to read on the Jitney to East Hampton. One that will make me laugh so hard that everyone will notice me and want to date me. What book should I read on the bus?

ANSWER: You should take the train, but either mode, we recommend:

SH*T MY DAD SAYS
BY JUSTIN HALPERN
May 2010
Halpern, a star on Twitter.com, posts crazy things he says that his father, Samuel, says. Are the true? Edited? Who knows? Whatever they are, they are compiled in this book. At 28, Justin moved from LA back home with his parents home in San Diego. Once a day, Halpern, started to post a memorable quote that his dad, Samuel, had said the day before. More than 200,000 users subscribe to get their daily dose of Sam. Actually, 1.4 million now do. Many of the comments are quite profane. Sam Halpern, 73, retired, is frustrated by his three sons’ lives. Sam did not know he was an internet star. Growing up, Justin and his two brothers were pretty scared of Sam. They're still scared of him. He worked in nuclear medicine and cancer research for UCSD and is good at keeping secrets and keeping mum. He is the least passive aggressive person in the USA. CBS is developing a pilot based on the tweets of an angry old man. William Shatner is set to play the well-intentioned curmudgeon in the production based on Justin Halpern's Twitter account called "Stuff My Dad Says." Justin Halpern, who's co-penning the show about his cranky dad with long-time writing partner Patrick Schumacker, says he hopes the network lands on a name like "S#&% My Dad Says" -- bleeping the first word during spoken-word promotions. “Will and Grace's" Max Mutchnik and David Kohan are producing the show.
Let me ad this about the book. If your think it is just a collection of funny quote, you are wrong. A short chapter precedes each set of quotes, and focuses on Justin’s youth with his father and the family’s life. From Little league coaching to family dinners to doing quite poorly in math class to his parents finding his porn take in their bedroom VCR.. you get the picture… it is a slice of life memoir. It is hilarious and sweet, and I feel sorry for Sam for getting stuck with such a dweeb screw up, but nice, son

Note: If you are squeamish about reading that the author masturbated a couple of times and told his father about it, then you should avoid two of the chapters.

"I lost 20 pounds...How? I drank bear piss and took up fencing. How the fuck you think, son? I exercised."
"A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed."
"Nah, we don't celebrate it. Don't know who St. Valentine was, don't give a shit, and doubt he wants people screwing in his memory."
"STOP apologizing. You're sorry, he gets it, Jesus. You spilled a glass of wine, not fucked his wife."
"Sprain, huh? Did you go to medical school?... Well I did, so spare me your dog-shit diagnosis and lemme look at your ankle."
"No, I'm not a pessimist. At some point the world shits on everybody. Pretending it ain't shit makes you an idiot, not an optimist."
"Can we talk later? The news is on... Well, if you have tuberculosis it's not gonna get any worse in the next 30 minutes, jesus."
“Yes I got him a gift. He had a kidney stone. You piss a rock through your pecker, you deserve more than just a pat on the fucking back."
"You can watch the house while I'm gone. Just don't call me unless something's on fire, and don't screw in my bed."
On Justin getting married: "Pressure? Get married when you want. Your wedding's just one more day in my life I can't wear sweat pants."
On the longevity of the human race: "No. Humans will die out. We're weak. Dinosaurs survived on rotten flesh. You got diarrhea last week from a Wendy's."
On being a proud parent: "A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed."
On tailgating in traffic: "You sure do like to tailgate people. ... Right, because it's real important you show up to the nothing you have to do on time."
When Justin got to the final round of the Disney Screenwriting Fellowship and didn’t get it. His friends said, “You must be crushed!” His dad said, “You’re gonna fail much more than you succeed. It’s only when you’re not getting closer to your goal that you worry about.” It helped him get through that time
Click the book cover to read more.

Keep Your Wives Away from Them
Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires
Edited by Miryam Kabakov
May 11, 2010, North Atlantic Mifflin
Reconciling queerness with religion has always been an enormous challenge. When the religion is Orthodox Judaism, the task is even more daunting. This anthology takes on that challenge by giving voice to gender queer Jewish women who were once silenced—and effectively rendered invisible—by their faith. Keep Your Wives Away from Them tells the story of those who have come out, who are still closeted, living double lives, or struggling to maintain an integrated "single life" in relationship to traditional Judaism—personal stories that are both enlightening and edifying. While a number of films and books have explored the lives of queer people in Orthodox and observant Judaism, only this one explores in depth what happens after the struggle, when the real work of building integrated lives begins. The candor of these insightful stories in Keep Your Wives Away from Them makes the book appealing to a general audience and students of women’s, gender, and LGBTQ studies, as well as for anyone struggling personally with the same issue.
Contributors include musician and writer Temim Fruchter, Professor Joy Ladin, writer Leah Lax, nurse Tamar Prager, and the pseudonymous Ex-Yeshiva Girl.
Click the book cover to read more.

On April 4, the New York Times published a critical or controversial essay on Roman Vishniac which asserted that he created myths of shtetl life in his photos. A show of his works will be mounted in NYC in 2012. Want to see the essay? Click HERE.

Want to see the books? Click the covers to the right

Did you hear that YIVO has launched their free of charge ONLINE EDITION OF THE YIVO ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWS IN EASTERN EUROPE? The two volume set in 2008 retailed for $400. Now you can brose it for free. Visit it at YivoEncyclopedia.ORG

Chasnoff made a lot of enemies among Penn alumni when he made fun of his fellow Jews, but that is the life of a comedian. His book is not as bad as his Penn Gazette essay:

THE 188TH CRYBABY BRIGADE
A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah
A Memoir
BY JOEL CHASNOFF
February 2010, Free Press
Look at me. Do you see me? Do you see me in my olive-green uniform, beret, and shiny black boots? Do you see the assault rifle slung across my chest? Finally! I am the badass Israeli soldier at the side of the road, in sunglasses, forearms like bricks. And honestly -- have you ever seen anything quite like me? Joel Chasnoff is twenty-four years old, an American, and the graduate of Penn, an Ivy League university. But when his career as a stand-up comic fails to get off the ground, Chasnoff decides it's time for a serious change of pace. Leaving behind his amenity-laden Brooklyn apartment for a plane ticket to Israel, Joel trades in the comforts of being a stereotypical American Jewish male for an Uzi, dog tags (with his name misspelled), and serious mental and physical abuse at the hands of the Israeli Army.
The 188th Crybaby Brigade is a hilarious and poignant account of Chasnoff's year in the Israel Defense Forces -- a year that he volunteered for, and that he'll never get back. As a member of the 188th Armored Brigade, a unit trained on the Merkava tanks that make up the backbone of Israeli ground forces, Chasnoff finds himself caught in a twilight zone-like world of mandatory snack breaks, battalion sing-alongs, and eighteen-year-old Israeli mama's boys who feign injuries to get out of guard duty and claim diarrhea to avoid kitchen work. He is older and more mature than his comrades, he is a volunteer among conscripts. The life of a tank soldier in the event of war is very short. He finds out that although he is Jewish enough to die for Israel, the rabbinate determines he is not Orthodox or Jewish enough to marry in Israel (a shock to him and his fiancé)
More time is spent arguing over how to roll a sleeve cuff than studying the mechanics of the Merkava tanks. The platoon sergeants are barely older than the soldiers and are younger than Chasnoff himself. By the time he's sent to Lebanon for a tour of duty against Hezbollah, Chasnoff knows everything about why snot dries out in the desert, yet has never been trained in firing the MAG. And all this while his relationship with his tough-as-nails Israeli girlfriend (herself a former drill sergeant) crumbles before his very eyes. The lone American in a platoon of eighteen-year-old Israelis, Chasnoff takes readers into the barracks; over, under, and through political fences; and face-to-face with the absurd reality of life in the Israeli Army. It is a brash and gritty depiction of combat, rife with ego clashes, breakdowns in morale, training mishaps that almost cost lives, and the barely containable sexual urges of a group of teenagers. What's more, it's an on-the-ground account of life in one of the most em-battled armies on earth -- an occupying force in a hostile land, surrounded by enemy governments and terrorists, reviled by much of the world. With equal parts irreverence and vulnerability, irony and intimacy, Chasnoff narrates a new kind of coming-of-age story -- one that teaches us, moves us, and makes us laugh.
Click the book cover to read more.

Have a Little Faith
A True Story
By Mitch Albom
September 2009, Hyperion
First some background from the book. Mitch Albom was on track for Jewish scholarship. He studied Hebrew and Aramaic, Rashi and the RaMBaM. He knew Jewish texts and history. He went to Brandeis University and led Jewish youth groups. After graduation, his sports writing career began to blossom and he had a lack of need for Jewish study and practice. Then came marriage, and other events and he left his religious spirituality tucked away in a corner.
And now for the book
What if our beliefs were not what divided us, but what pulled us together? In “Have a Little Faith,” Mitch Albom offers a story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds--two men, two faiths, two communities. The book opens with an unusual request: an 82 year old rabbi from Albom's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy. Feeling unworthy, Albom insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Albom becomes involved with a Detroit pastor--a reformed drug dealer and convict--who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof. Moving between their worlds, Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and well-to-do, Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat. As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times. Although the texts, prayers, and histories are different, Albom begins to recognize a striking unity between the two worlds--and indeed, between beliefs everywhere.
In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Albom sadly fulfills the rabbi's last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself. The book is about a life's purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all. It is one man's journey, but it is everyone's story. Ten percent of the profits from this book will go to charity, including The Hole In The Roof Foundation, which helps refurbish places of worship that aid the homeless.

The Council of Dads
My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me
By Bruce Feiler
April 2010, William Morrow
Feiler’s cancer diary is at: http://brucefeiler.com/c/bruces-cancer-diary/
Bestselling author Bruce Feiler (WALKING THE BIBLE; WHERE GOD WAS BORN) was a young father of twin girls in Brooklyn NYC when he was diagnosed with cancer. He had made a living writing books about walking the Middle East, the Bible, and the life of Abraham; and profiled Nashville, Japan, and other places. He was pitching a new ten year project to walk America and American historical sites. But now, after a routine blood test, he found out that he had osteogenic sarcoma (the same disease Teddy Kennedy had as a kid, to which the Senator’s son lost past of his leg) in his left femur. Within the next year he would have neuropathy in his fingertips and would go through surgeries, chemotherapies, and more. The cancer was in the same place he broke his leg as a child in a bike-car accident (as a child after that accident, the young Bruce had to stay in bed in a body cast, so the family seder that year was in Bruce’s bedroom; the Afikomen was hidden under Bruce’s pillow)
Would Feiler end up with a limp just as the biblical Jacob did after wrestling an angel? Feiler had to take a year off - his lost year - to recover and lay fallow, as if he were the holy land in the Jubilee Year.
Feiler instantly thought he would not survive the cancer, he worried what his twin daughters' lives would be like without him. He wondered, "Would they wonder who I was? Would they wonder what I thought? Would they yearn for my approval, my love, my voice?"
(As you might recall from WHERE GOD WAS BORN, Feiler’s mother and father both had cancer.)
Three days later, after his diagnosis, he came up with a stirring idea of how he might give his daughters his voice should he succumb to cancer. He would reach out to six men from all the passages in his life, and ask them to be present in the passages in his daughters' lives should he not survive his battle with cancer and chemotherapies. And he would call this group "The Council of Dads."
"I believe my daughters will have plenty of opportunities in their lives," he wrote to these men. "They'll have loving families. They'll have each other. But they may not have me. They may not have their dad. Will you help be their dad?"
The chapters jump back and forth between his cancer journal entries, his search for the council of dads, and most excitingly, the story of his family, parents, and his paternal grandfather.
Cancer and illness, he finds, gives one the excuse or the mandate to be wholly honest, bare, and intimate and emotional.
I think most readers will find that although the book is COUNCIL OF DADS, the story is most engrossing when Feiler shares the course of his illness, and the lives of his wife, parents, in-laws, and grandfather.
Blurb: The Council of Dads is the inspiring story of what happened next. Feiler, a grad of Cambridge and Yale, introduces the men in his Council and captures the life lesson he wants each to convey to his daughters, Eden and Tybee,--how to see, how to travel, how to question, how to dream. Linda, his wife, their mother, was already entrepreneurial, so they did not need a business educator. He mixes these with an intimate, highly personal chronicle of his experience battling cancer while raising young children, along with vivid portraits of his father, his two grandfathers, and various father figures in his life that explore the changing role of fathers in America. This is the work of a master storyteller confronting the most difficult experience of his life and emerging with wisdom and hope. The Council of Dads is a touching, funny, and ultimately deeply moving book on how to live life, how the human spirit can respond to adversity, and how to deepen and cherish the friendships that enrich our lives.
Click the book cover to read more.

Son of Hamas
A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices
By Mosab Hassan Yousef and Ron Brackin
March 2010, SaltRiver, Tyndale Publishers
From the Inside Flap: Before the age of twenty-one, Mosab Hassan Yousef saw things no one should ever see: abject poverty, abuse of power, torture, and death. He witnessed the behind-the-scenes dealings of top Middle Eastern leaders who make headlines around the world. He was trusted at the highest levels of Hamas and participated in the Intifada. He was held captive deep inside Israel's most feared prison facility. His dangerous choices and unlikely journey through dark places made him a traitor in the eyes of people he loves--and gave him access to extraordinary secrets. On the pages of this book, he exposes events and processes that to this point have been known only by a handful of individuals... Mosab Hassan ("Joseph") Yousef is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding leader of Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist organization and responsible for countless suicide bombings and other deadly attacks against Israel. An integral part of the movement, Mosab was imprisoned several times by the Israeli internal intelligence service. After a chance encounter with a British tourist, he started a six-year quest that jeopardized Hamas, endangered his family, and threatened his life. He has since embraced the teachings of Jesus and sought political asylum in America. Ron Brackin has traveled extensively in the Middle East as an investigative journalist. He was in Bethlehem, Ramallah, Gaza, and Jerusalem during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. He was on assignment in Baghdad after the fall of Iraq and more recently with the rebels and refugees of southern Sudan and Darfur.
Tyndale writes: While the exclusive Son of Hamas story will appear in this Friday’s Haaretz Magazine, Yousef has a heavy schedule of press interviews in March 2010. In Son of Hamas, Yousef reveals new information about this dangerous terrorist organization and unveils the truth behind his own secret role. He also describes his journey to a new faith—one that instructed him to love his enemies. And he tells the story of the agonizing decisions that led him to walk away from his family, friends, and homeland. Click the book cover to read more.

COME ON PEOPLE!!!
YOU GOTTA DO A JEWISH VERSION OF THIS! I LEGO THE JEWISH HOLIDAYS, or I LEGO ISRAEL, or I LEGO SHABBOS…

I LEGO NY
BY CHRISTOPH NIEMANN
March 2010, Abrams
I LEGO N.Y. is an imaginative look at life in New York City constructed entirely out of LEGOs. Designer and illustrator Christoph Niemann was inspired to create a series of miniature New York vignettes out of his sons' toys after a few cold and dark winter days in Berlin. The former New Yorker then posted photographs of his creations along with his handwritten captions on his New York Times blog. Resident and honorary New Yorkers around the world responded enthusiastically to the clever and minimalist inventions, which captured both the iconic (the Empire State Building) and the mundane (man standing on a subway platform) in fewer LEGO pieces than one might think possible. This book includes all of the original images, plus thirteen new creations. The resulting collection is delightful in its simplicity and moving in its ability to capture the spirit of life in New York in so few strokes. [book]

Christoph Niemann is an award-winning illustrator and children’s book author
Click the book cover to read more.

People ask us… how many copies does a best selling Jewish book sell?
Well, that is hard to say, but take a look at some 2009 reported values
The Lost Symbol, a novel by Dan Brown: 5,500,000 copies
Going Rogue by Sarah Palin 2,600,000 copies
The Associate by John Grisham 2,100,000 copies
Under the Dome by Stephen King 900,000 copies
True Compass by Edward Kennedy y 870,000 copies
Arguing With Idiots by Glenn Beck 860,000 copies
** Have A Little Faith. A True Story by Mitch Albom 855,000
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton 850,000 copies
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton 700,000 copies
Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner 480,000 copies
** Sarah‘s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay 570,000 copies
** City of Thieves by David Benioff 333,000 copies
** The Defector by Daniel Silva 200,000 copies
** People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks 180,000 copies
Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin 150,000 copies
The Audacity to Win by David Plouffe 147,000 copies
** The Zookeeper‘s Wife by Diane Ackerman 105,000 copies

As you can see, for example, The Zookeeper’s Wife, the best selling “Jewish” book, sold 100K

BOB DYLAN
Prophet, Mystic, Poet
By Seth Rogovoy
December 2009, Scribners
"Even after almost fifty years, the language of Bob Dylan's songs remains full of uncharted territory. Seth Rogovoy is uniquely qualified to examine the connections between Dylan's songwriting and the Jewish liturgy, and Prophet, Mystic, Poet helps fill in one more piece of an endless and endlessly fascinating puzzle." -- Alan Light, former senior writer at Rolling Stone
Bob Dylan and his artistic accomplishments have been explored, examined, and dissected year in and year out for decades, and through almost every lens. Yet rarely has anyone delved extensively into Dylan's Jewish heritage and the influence of Judaism in his work. In Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet, Seth Rogovoy, an award-winning critic and expert on Jewish music, rectifies that oversight, presenting a fascinating new look at one of the most celebrated musicians of all time. Rogovoy unearths the various strands of Judaism that appear throughout Bob Dylan's songs, revealing the ways in which Dylan walks in the footsteps of the Jewish Prophets. Rogovoy explains the profound depth of Jewish content -- drawn from the Bible, the Talmud, and the Kabbalah -- at the heart of Dylan's music, anddemonstrates how his songs can only be fully appreciated in light of Dylan's relationship to Judaism and the Jewish themes that inform them.
From his childhood growing up the son of Abe and Beatty Zimmerman, who were at the center of the small Jewish community in his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, to his frequent visits to Israel and involvement with the Orthodox Jewish outreach movement Chabad, Judaism has permeated Dylan's everyday life and work. Early songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" derive central imagery from passages in the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah; mid-career numbers like "Forever Young" are infused with themes from the Bible, Jewish liturgy, and Kabbalah; while late-period efforts have revealed a mind shaped by Jewish concepts of Creation and redemption. In this context, even Dylan's so-called born-again period is seen as a logical, almost inevitable development in his growth as a man and artist wrestling with the burden and inheritance of the Jewish prophetic tradition.
Click the book cover to read more.

PER LA VITA
A CD IN GERMANY BY
von Bejarano & Microphone Mafia (Künstler)
Featuring Esther Bejarano
2010
Esther Béjarano joins MICROPHONE MAFIA to spread the message of tolerance in Germany and Europe through hip-hop. Born in 1924, she is among the last survivors of the Girl orchestra of Auschwitz. Béjarano was born as Esther Loewy as a daughter of the Head Cantor of a Jewish municipality. The father encouraged his daughter to get interested in music and Esther learned to play the piano. At age 15 she had to separate from her parents, in order to prepare for emigration to Palestine. This emigration was thrwarted by the Nazis. She carried out two years of hard labour in Neuendorf Labour Camp close to Fürstenwalde/Spree. On April 20, 1943 all members of the labour camp were deported to Auschwitz. There she had to drag stones until she joined the Girl orchestra of Auschwitz. In the orchestra, she played the accordion. The orchestra had the task of playing for the daily march of the gangs by the camp gate. She survived Auschwitz after escaping in March, 1945. She emigrated to Palestine and returned later to Germany. At the beginning of the 1980s, with her daughter Edna and son Joram, she created the musical group Coincidence. They sing songs from the ghetto and Jewish as well as anti-fascist songs. Béjarano lives today in Hamburg. She is a co-founder and chairman of the Auschwitz Committee and was awarded the Carl-von-Ossietzky medal. She holds the Cross of Merit, First class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Click the book cover to read more.

MAIMONIDES, SPINOZA, AND US
TOWARD AN INTELLECTUALLY VIBRANT JUDAISM
By MARC D. ANGEL, RABBI
December 2009, Jewish Lights
A challenging look at two great Jewish philosophers, and what their thinking means to our understanding of God, truth, revelation and reason. Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) is Jewish history's greatest exponent of a rational, philosophically sound Judaism. He strove to reconcile the teachings of the Bible and rabbinic tradition with the principles of Aristotelian philosophy, arguing that religion and philosophy ultimately must arrive at the same truth. Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) is Jewish history's most illustrious "heretic." He believed that truth could be attained through reason alone, and that philosophy and religion were separate domains that could not be reconciled. His critique of the Bible and its teachings caused an intellectual and spiritual upheaval whose effects are still felt today. Rabbi Marc D. Angel discusses major themes in the writings of Maimonides and Spinoza to show us how modern people can deal with religion in an intellectually honest and meaningful way. From Maimonides, we gain insight on how to harmonize traditional religious belief with the dictates of reason. From Spinoza, we gain insight into the intellectual challenges which must be met by modern believers.
Discover how Jewish theology became what it is today--and how it can affect the Jewish future. The views of Moses Maimonides and Baruch Spinoza, both foundation stones of Jewish theology and philosophy, may differ more than they coincide. But by revisiting their philosophical arguments, in vigorous debate with each other, we can come to a deeper appreciation of the role of reason--and of revelation--in Judaism. Theologian Rabbi Marc D. Angel, PhD, explores how these two great thinkers came to formulate what we know as Jewish theology and philosophy today, incorporating the influences of Torah, rabbinic sages, Greek philosophy, and pre-modern and modern science. He breaks down their philosophical arguments with relevant historical detail, making them more accessible to a wide audience. His analysis touches on many provocative but vital questions of enduring importance, including: Can the revealed truth of religion and the empirical truth of science be reconciled? What is the nature of God? Can it be described? Is Torah really the perfect, errorless word of God? Does God play an active role in human affairs? What is the ultimate source of Truth? How important is it to observe ritual? Can Judaism be fully embraced by non-Jews?
Click the book cover to read more.

START-UP NATION
THE STORY OF ISRAEL'S ECONOMIC MIRACLE
BY DAN SENOR AND SAUL SINGER
A Council of Foreign Relations Book
November 2009, Twelve
START-UP NATION addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel-- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK? With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor and Singer examine the lessons of the country's adversity-driven culture, which flattens hierarchy and elevates informality-- all backed up by government policies focused on innovation. In a world where economies as diverse as Ireland, Singapore and Dubai have tried to re-create the "Israel effect", there are entrepreneurial lessons well worth noting. As America reboots its own economy and can-do spirit, there's never been a better time to look at this remarkable and resilient nation for some impressive, surprising clues.
Dan Senor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has been on the front lines of policy, politics, and business in the Middle East. As a senior foreign policy advisor to the U.S. Government , he was one of the longest-serving civilian officials in Iraq. He has also served in Qatar and studied in Israel. A foreign affairs analyst for Fox News, Senor's pieces are frequently published by The Wall Street Journal. Saul Singer is the editorial editor of The Jerusalem Post, for which he writes a weekly column, and the author of Confronting Jihad: Israel's Struggle and the World after 9/11. For ten years, he served as a foreign policy advisor on Capitol Hill
Click the book cover to read more.

STOP!
You see the name Anne Rice below, and you think vampires and you skip over it
That is what I would do
But wait. Her newest novel is about Jews in England, in the 13th century, before 1290.
Like vampires, they are outcasts in the world of their times, and they tell their tale to Toby (sort of like "Interview with the Jew?")
Read more below...

ANGEK TIME
The Songs of the Seraphim
by ANNE RICE
October 2009, Knopf
Anne Rice returns to the mesmerizing storytelling that has captivated readers for more than three decades in a tale of unceasing suspense set in time past-a metaphysical thriller about angels and assassins. The novel opens in the present. At its center: Toby O'Dare-a contract killer of underground fame on assignment to kill once again. A soulless soul, a dead man walking, he lives under a series of aliases-just now: Lucky the Fox-and takes his orders from "The Right Man."
Into O'Dare's nightmarish world of lone and lethal missions comes a mysterious stranger, a seraph, an angel, Malchiah, who offers him a chance to save rather than destroy lives.
O'Dare, who as a youth was a talented player of the lute and who long ago dreamt of being a priest (but had to give it all up when his drunken mother killed his two siblings) but instead is a violent murderer seizes his chance.
Can this be his redemption? Can he aid the Jews at a time "when the Christmas pageants have ended and a time of troubles for the Jewry has begun."
He is carried back through the ages of time to thirteenth-century England, to Norwich, to dark realms where accusations of ritual murder have been made against Jews, where children suddenly die or disappear . . . In this primitive setting, O'Dare begins his perilous quest for salvation, a journey of danger and flight, loyalty and betrayal, selflessness and love.
Click the book cover to read more.

RECENT DVD'S

The Humbling
A novel
BY Philip Roth
November 2009, Houghton Mifflin
Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Philip Roth's startling new book, his 30th. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his sixties, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. His Falstaff and Peer Gynt and Vanya, all his great roles, "are melted into air, into thin air." When he goes onstage he feels like a lunatic and looks like an idiot. His confidence in his powers has drained away; he imagines people laughing at him; he can no longer pretend to be someone else. "Something fundamental has vanished." His wife has gone, his audience has left him, his agent can't persuade him to make a comeback.
Into this shattering account of inexplicable and terrifying self-evacuation bursts a counterplot of unusual erotic desire, a consolation for a bereft life so risky and aberrant that it points not toward comfort and gratification but to a yet darker and more shocking end. In this long day's journey into night, told with Roth's inimitable urgency, bravura, and gravity, all the ways that we convince ourselves of our solidity, all our life's performances-talent, love, sex, hope, energy, reputation-are stripped off.
NOTE: If reading about a green dildo sex toy will gross you out, then please avoid this novel.
NOTE 2: This book is devoid of a Jewish character and plot, overtly Jewish at least. Is Axler Jewish? Who knows? Of course, his agent probably is. Aren't all agents? But whether Axler is Jewish or not, and whether his farmhouse shotgun is circumcised or not, makes no diff. It is still a Roth novel
Click the book cover to read more.

NOW ON DVD
SEINFELD - THE COMPLETE SERIES:
AND
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, SEASONS 1 - 6

NOW IN PAPERBACK
NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER
HADASSAH BOOK AWARD WINNER
The paperback comes with a reading group guide and Author Q&A

SONGS FOR THE BUTCHER'S DAUGHTER
A NOVEL
BY PETER MANSEAU
June 2009, Free Press
Peter Manseau worked for several years at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst Mass., where he was surrounded by books and was able to gain inspiration for this novel. He is a Catholic who has written a mutli award winning Jewish book. He has written a story on the power of the translation, the translator, faith, and self-transformation.. It is the story of Itsik Malpesh, a Russian immigrant from the Moldovan city of Kishinev, who is 90 years of age, and the last living Yiddish poet in the US. He has a translator who is only 21. This is a rich mediation on the power of language and the inertia of true love, For his heart yearns for the butcher's daughter, Sasha Blinko.
. From Publishers Weekly: Known for Vows, his memoir of growing up the son of a former priest and nun, Manseau uses an alter ego to tell the story of fictional Yiddish poet Itsik Malpesh, born in the Moldovan city of Kishinev in 1903. Itsik's story is told through his Yiddish memoirs, which he helps a young American Catholic (working, like Manseau once did, as a Yiddish archivist) translate. Inspired by the image of Sasha, the brave butcher's daughter who was present at his birth, Itsik reaches America in young adulthood through haphazard luck, a taste for troublemaking and the inventiveness of a printer. Sasha continually inspires and confounds Itsik throughout his life, becoming an apt symbol for Yiddish humor, sorrow and idealism. As Itsik's darkly picaresque immigrant narrative unfolds, it competes with the translator's modern romance and with insights into the art of translation and the history of Yiddish. Occasional narrative missteps are not enough to undercut this rich, often ironic homage to Yiddish culture and language. Click the book cover to read more.

SEX, DRUGS, & GEFILTE FISH
The HEEB Storytelling Collection
Edited by Shana Liebman
Foreword by A. J. Jacobs
October 2009, Grand Central Publishing
Some fine Heeb refreshing. Other think it is merely a parody looking to shock readers, and without the shock value, it is worthless.
In this book, the best of Heeb is collected and edited
Scoring weed for your uncle...Hanging out with porn stars on Christmas Eve...Eating nachos with the Mossad...Observing the Dyke Days of Awe...Getting held up at a Weight Watcher's meeting...Spying on your naked Hebrew School teacher.
From Heeb magazine--the definitive voice of a proud, searching, and irreverent new generation of American Jews--this first-of-a-kind fast and fun showcase spotlights the hilarious and heartful raconteurial gifts of many of today's leading writers, comedians, actors, artists, and musicians. Laura Silverman, Michael Showalter, Andy Borowitz, Joel Stein, Ben Greenman, Darrin Strauss, and others navigate sex, drugs, work, youth, family, and, on the lighter side, body and soul. You'll never bleach your arm hair again.
Click the book cover to read more.

HOW TO BE A MENTSH
AND NOT A SHMUCK
BY MICHAEL WEX
September 2009, Harper
In a world where people want people to act with "common decency," comes a book that explores how to achieve this
This is a guide on how people should cooperate. Wise and hilarious, this is a book about happiness, your own and that of others. The principles outlined here will work for anyone, Jewish or not, who makes the effort to put them into practice. Drawing on the "wisdom of the ages," bestselling author Michael Wex shows readers how to figure out the right thing to do in any situation. First he describes the two words "mentsh" and "shmuck." The former refers most often to an adult who has learned to think of others first; the latter refers to someone who thinks he or she is someone special.
Click the book cover to read more.

NOW ON DVD
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - WHOLE SERIES
AND
THE FIRST PART OF GLEE - THE TV SERIES ON FOX
Where else can you find a TV singing dramedy that has so many Jewish characters?

DAY AFTER NIGHT
A NOVEL
BY ANITA DIAMANT
September 2009, Scribner
From the author of THE RED TENT, a new novel. PW: "Diamant's bestseller, The Red Tent, explored the lives of biblical women ignored by the male-centric narrative. In her compulsively readable latest, she sketches the intertwined fates of several young women refugees at Atlit, a British-run internment camp set up in Palestine after WWII. There's Tedi, a Dutch girl who hid in a barn for years before being turned in and narrowly escaping Bergen-Belsen; Leonie, a beautiful French girl whose wartime years in Paris are cloaked with shame; Shayndel, a heroine of the Polish partisan movement whose cheerful facade hides a tortured soul; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor who is filled with an understandable nihilism. The dynamic of suffering and renewed hope through friendship is the book's primary draw, but an eventual escape attempt adds a dash of suspense to the astutely imagined story of life at the camp: the wary relationship between the Palestinian Jews and the survivors, the intense flirtation between the young people that marks a return to life. Diamant opens a window into a time of sadness, confusion and optimism that has resonance for so much that's both triumphant and troubling in modern Jewish history." Click the book cover to read more.

NOW ON DVD
ANVIL - THE DOCUMENTARY ON THE CANADIAN JEWISH HARD ROCK DUO

A Book That Has Been In The News In the Past Few Weeks and had withstood the test of half a century:

Reveille for Radicals
by Saul Alinsky
Vintage
The Best scene from this book is when a group dressed as Nazis and Klan members and held up signs in support of the speaker QUIETLY.
First published in 1946 and updated in 1969 with a new Introduction and Afterword, this volume represents the fullest statement of the political philosophy and practical methodology of one of the most important figures in the history of American radicalism. Like Thomas Paine before him, Saul Alinsky, through the concept and practice of community organizing, was able to embody for his era both the urgency of radical political action and the imperative of rational political discourse. His work and writing bequeathed a new method and style of social change to American communities that will remain a permanent part of the American political landscape.. Saul Alinsky was born in Chicago in 1909 and educated first in the streets of that city and then in its university. Graduate work at the University of Chicago in criminology introduced him to the Al Capone gang, and later to Joliet State Prison, where he studied prison life. He founded what is known today as the Alinsky ideology and Alinsky concepts of mass organization for power. His work in organizing the poor to fight for their rights as citizens has been internationally recognized. In the late 1930s he organized the Back of the Yards area in Chicago (the neighborhood made famous in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle). Subsequently, through the Industrial Areas Foundation which he began in 1940, Mr. Alinsky and his staff helped to organize communities not only in Chicago but throughout the country. He later turned his attentions to the middle class, creating a training institute for organizers. He died in 1972, but his works I used by Democrats and Republicans nationwide to organize and get their messages out (and to disrupt).

And a book that will be famous for 15 minutes and then fade away:

Madoff's Other Secret
Love, Money, Bernie, and Me
by Sheryl Weinstein
August 2009, St Martin's Press
Sheryl Weinstein, former CFO of Hadassah, a member of their investment committee, a controller at Lincoln Center, and a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania has seen Bernie Madoff up close and personal for more than two decades. Not only did she invest her family's assets with Madoff, but she carried on a sexual affair with him for 20 years. Did she send Hadassah's endowment to his fund? Well, they did not allocate new funds to Madoff til after she left, according to the book. Madoff was groomed well, a big Jewish macher, a biggie on Wall Street, yet a sinister criminal who wiped out the life savings of so many people and institutions in a ponzi scheme. The book is quite grotesque, since it also discusses Madoff's penis which Weinstein, who was more accustomed to her husband and men with much larger penises (I mean, she did go to Penn, so what do you expect), was shocked when she saw that Madoff's erect penis was so small. Well, she writes, at least oral sex was easier. Should you buy this book and rewards her? I mean, she also did get screwed by Madoff and lose her family's assets, but it isn't worth reading and I just told you all you need to know about this book.

THREE OTHER ITEMS THAT HAVE BEEN IN THE NEWS:
Books by Robert Novak and Don Hewitt who were each raised in Jewish households as children; and William Safire; and a newly released CD, reissued after 50 years of Mambo style Jewish music, titled "Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos."
The CD includes "Beltz, Mein Shtetele Beltz" in Pachanga style, "Havah Nagllah" as a Cha-Cha, "O, Momme! Bin Ich Farliebt" as a Samba, "Die Greene Koseene" as a Merengue, "Papirossen" as a Mambo, and so much more

DO YOU REMEMBER "RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MEIN KOPF" IN YIDDISH... ?
HOW ABOUT THE LATIN MAMBO STYLE HAVA NAGILA?
OR THE BARRY SISTERS

AND YOU SHALL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF VINYL
THE JEWISH PAST AS TOLD BY THE RECORDS WE HAVE LOVED AND LOST
BY ROGER BENNETT AND JOSH KUN
November 2008, Crown
This is the tale of two men in search of their past and how they found an unexpected narrative through the faded liner notes and technologically passe medium of vinyl records. It took them eight years of eBay, garage sales, generous seniors and friends, to compile all the treasures of Jewish vinyl. Here is Johnny Mathis singing Kol Nidre, Charlton Heston reads the Old Testament, Fiddler on the Roof goes Latin, Theodore Bikel is Silent No More. Here is Neil Sedaka, the Barry Sisters, Barry Manilow, and Barbra. Nat King Cole and Cantors galore. Eydie Gorme (nee Sephardic born Gormezano). The Brothers Zim and Topol, Jewish mambo, Jewish Catskills, Belle Barth, Totie Fields, and Pearl Williams.
YOU WILL DIE when you see the record album covers. I owned so many! Such as Silent No More, David Ben Gurion, Never Again. I had them all. Sammy Davis Junior sings Jewish; Folksy Nina and yiddish favorites, NOWstalgia, Fred Katz and his Jammers, Si Zentner, Larry Best, Batman and Rubin, Max Asnas recorded live at the Stage Deli, Dave Tarras, Haifa Hi Fi, El Al promotional albums, the Malavsky Family Passover, Orchestra Harlow. And all along the way, we glean what it meant to be Jewish in the age of vinyl in America, with guest commentaries from Anna Powers, Oliver Wang, Norman Lear, Aimee Bender, Michael Wex, Lamont Dozier and even Sandra Bernhard. Click the book cover to read more.

JUST SAY NU
YIDDISH FOR EVERY OCCASION
WHEN ENGLISH JUST WON'T DO
BY MICHAEL WEX
September 2008, Harper Perennial
PW: This is not your bubbe's-or Leo Rosten's-Yiddish. Translator, novelist and performer Wex follows his witty and erudite Born to Kvetch with a colorful, uncensored guide to the idiomatic, use of Yiddish in such areas as madness, fury, and driving, mob Yiddish, insults and thirteen designations for the human rear (in declining order of politeness). Wex is knowledgeable about the biblical and Talmudic roots of some colloquial phrases; for example, he points out that tukhes (ass as he translates it) may be derived from Tuhkhes, one of the places where the Israelites sojourned on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. While most of Wex's discussions of words and phrases are brief, he provides lengthier sections on five key, highly nuanced Yiddish words: nu (Well?), shoyn (already, right away), epes (something, somewhat), takeh (precisely) and nebakh (alas). Wex's advice on the complex usage of these words can help even the greenest Yiddish speaker. The book could have given more attention to regional dialects and there are a few organizational quirks. Still, Wex offers both fun and instruction for the non-maven.
Click the book cover to read more.

KOSHER BY DESIGN LIGHTENS UP
Fabulous food for a healthier lifestyle
by Susie Fishbein (Author)
November 17, 2008, Mesorah
This sixth volume in Susie Fishbein's celebrated Kosher by Design cookbook series was crafted with your good health in mind! Kosher by Design Lightens Up is a gorgeous culinary guide, bursting with easy-to-do ideas for eating and feeling better. This cookbook teaches healthy cooking and food combining techniques, with special commentary by certified nutritional expert Bonnie Taub-Dix, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Assn. Susie says, These nutritious recipes are easy to integrate into your everyday menus. Anyone looking to migrate into a better way of eating and living will find delicious options here. Over 145 brand new recipes, Over 160 full color photos, Creative entertaining ideas, including oil olive tasting, a party spritzer station and more! Simple, healthy approaches to: cooking oils, sweeteners, whole grains, superfoods, smarter shopping, and more efficient kitchen gadgets. And Comprehensive cross-reference index .
While traditional kosher cooking invokes images of heavy, fatty Eastern European fare, Fishbein's cookbooks are a cosmopolitan tour-de-force. Lightens Up showcases international influences that are varied and inspired, including: Argentinean Bison Steak, Korean Beef Kim Chee Skewers, Merquez Sausage on Whole Wheat Couscous, Chicken Tikka Masala, Lebanese Salad, Mexican Citrus Salad, Thai Chicken Soup, Moroccan Spiced Vegetables, a Greek Frittata Ring, and Tangy Mediterranean Vegetables. With 21 different desserts, such as Baklava Bites and a Frozen Pumpkin Pie, Lightens Up proves that sweet and healthy can be complementary adjectives. Fishbein advises, "Most people find that if eating healthier involves a drastic change - the dreaded diet syndrome - they will not stick with it long-term. My concept is simple. Take small steps." Her own positive experience comes through in Lightens Up as she admits, "I have noticed that as I eat more whole grains and cut back on fats, sugars, and oils, I've developed new taste buds! The new flavors are refreshingly pure and satisfying." Click the book cover to read more.

NOT CRAFTY JEWS... BUT CRAFTING JEWISH

Crafting Jewish
Fun holiday crafts and party ideas for the whole family
by Rivky Koenig
November 2008, Mesorah
Crafting Jewish is a unique and beautiful book. It has been designed both for experienced crafters looking for creative and unusual ideas and For beginners just starting to discover the joys of crafts. This book has it all! Over 120 holiday and everyday projects, each with step-by-step instructions Stunning full-color photos of every craft Distinctive ideas for holiday get-togethers - many with delicious recipes Pictorial reference guide of crafting tools and product buying guide Full-size templates and comprehensive index
The entire family will love creating these marvelous, homemade crafts - and the warm and loving family traditions that you create at the same time, as you enjoy Crafting Jewish. Rivky Koenig is passionate about three things: family life, crafting, and preserving Jewish traditions. Not surprisingly, the upstate New York teacher, wife, and mother of five found a creative way to weave her enthusiasm into a single focus - Crafting Jewish: Fun holiday crafts and party ideas for the whole family. A delightful and visually appealing volume, Koenig's book appeals to novice and experienced crafters alike, offering more than 130 projects themed around Jewish holidays. A teacher of Literature, Language-Arts, and Social Studies, Koenig gained recognition for her tactile, hands-on approach to pedagogy, reinforcing subject matter through artistic and creative tasks. "It's well known that people learn more by doing than by hearing," she reflects.
Her foray into Jewish crafting began with a stint as director of a series of crafting workshops for a popular teens' summer camp in the Catskill Mountains. "I saw kids get turned on by the idea of handmade traditional crafts they could make at home with family and friends. As we created, we'd discuss the significance of the project to Jewish values and practices. These lessons stay with them for life." Click the book cover to read more.

The author of this book told me that many members of the Orthodoc Union use this book to score federal jobs. It is also a good primer for our readers who want to join the Obama Administration:

TEN STEPS TO A FEDERAL JOB
HOW TO LAND A JOB IN THE OBAMA ADMINSTRATION
BY KATHRYN TROUTMAN
Summer 2008,
This guide shows you what you must know and do to get a good federal job-with health insurance, retirement benefits, and a stable future. Inside this book, find how to translate your work experience and education into federal employment. Discover where to aim with the 10 hottest federal fields. Effectively present specialized experience, as needed. Expand your short private industry resume into a typical 4-page USAJOBS federal resume. Determine and use the right words that federal hiring authorities look for. Break the code on difficult KSAs and challenging self-assessment questionnaires

The Book of New Israeli Food
A Culinary Journey
by Janna Gur
Summer 2008,
From Publishers Weekly: Gur, founder and chief editor of Israel's leading food and wine magazine, Al Hashulchan Gastronomic Monthly, offers an enticing look at the evolution of Israeli cuisine. Part cookbook, part history, this collection with full-color photographs throughout paints a tantalizing and vivid portrait of the nation's culinary heritage and present-day gastronomy. Recipes include classics such as Falafel, Challah, Classic Jewish Chicken Soup, and Traditional Chopped Liver, as well as the less-familiar Figs Stuffed with Bulgur and Cranberry Salad, Citrus Semolina Cake, and Mina del Pesach (Passover Matzo Pie). Recipes are easy-to-follow and are grouped under salads, the street and the market, simple pleasures, grill, Shabbat and holidays. Detailed sections on the Israeli breakfast, olive oil, coffee, cheese and wine complement the recipes and give context to the important role these play in the Israeli diet. Additional information on open air markets, fishing in Israel and Israeli Shabbat add to the book's appeal. A section on special ingredients identifies the unusual, although most are easily obtained and will be at least somewhat familiar to most cooks. Beautiful and comprehensive, this book will become an immediate favorite with anyone with even a passing interest in Israeli cuisine. Click the book cover to read more.
Move over Eastern European Jewish cooking. Riga born, former El Al flight attendant and star of Israeli food has allowed one of her books to be translated into English, and it is filled with spices and vegetables, including shakshuka, falafel, FISH FALAFEL, bourekas, salads, more salads, mejadra, kubbe hamousta (Kurdish lemony soup), chreime (hot fish stew), pumpkin jam with spices, and more. She also includes holiday menus and recipes for Israeli holidays, including Rosh Hashana and Ramadan. Ramadan? YES RAMADAN! Why? Cuz not all israelis are Eastern European Jews.

The Bedwetter
Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee
By Sarah Silverman
Afterword by God
April 20, 2010, Harper
She reportedly got a 7 figure advance for this book. I hope she gives some to the UJA :)
Silverman says she convinced God to write her Afterword by trading it for sex.
Remember… bedwetting… they are just sheets. You can wash them, What is the big deal?
From Booklist: Comedian Sarah Silverman is an acquired taste. If you like orgasms, farts, and excrement, she is delicious. In her memoir, Silverman takes readers on a tour of the underground tunnel that is her mind, and believe me, it is as full of muck as the sewers of Paris. Only funnier. She comes by all this filth naturally. By the time she was three, her father had taught her every swearword known to man, and she quickly learned that spouting them on any occasion was adorable. (Also, yelling out statements like “I love tampons” in the grocery store was pretty cute, too.) But Silverman is not just writing this book to gross out her readers (though, honestly, that—and the money—is probably the main motivation). She is also writing to tell what it’s like to be an outsider: a Jewish girl growing up in New Hampshire; a woman comedian in a notoriously male profession; and a bed wetter of epic proportions. On the latter topic, she layers her outing with jokes and pathos, but it’s the e-mails between her and her editor that show the truth of the old adage that comedy is tragedy plus time. She wants the subtitle of this to be Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee. He insists on pee-pee. Like so much of this book, it’s an absurdist’s delight
Click the book cover to read more.

A Pigeon and a Boy
A Novel
by Meir Shalev, Evan Fallenberg (Translator)
October 2007. Schocken
From the internationally acclaimed Israeli writer Meir Shalev comes a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion. During the 1948 War of Independence--a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages--a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pigeon. The bird is carrying his extraordinary gift to the girl he has loved since adolescence. Intertwined with this story is the contemporary tale of Yair Mendelsohn, who has his own legacy from the 1948 war. Yair is a tour guide specializing in bird-watching trips who, in middle age, falls in love again with a childhood girlfriend. His growing passion for her, along with a gift from his mother on her deathbed, becomes the key to a life he thought no longer possible. Unforgettable in both its particulars and its sweep, A Pigeon and A Boy is a tale of lovers then and now--of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it. In a voice that is at once playful, wise, and altogether beguiling, Meir Shalev tells a story as universal as war and as intimate as a winged declaration of love. Click the book cover to read more.

Leveling the Playing Field
Advancing Women in Jewish Organizational Life
by Shifra Bronznick, Didi Goldenhar, and Marty Linsky, with Beverly Joel (Illustrator)
March 2008.
This guidebook is about how to create a particular kind of organizational change in a particular kind of organization -- advancing women and creating gender equity in Jewish organizations. If you believe that gender equity is vital to the health of Jewish communities and want to turn your beliefs into productive action, then this guidebook is for you. The strategies and tools in this guidebook will be relevant wherever you are positioned in your organization. The goals and tactics may vary depending on your formal and informal roles, but the opportunity for exercising leadership on gender equity is available to you whether you are sitting in the corner office or just getting started in your career. Published by a group that has long sought to advance the cause of gender equity in Jewish life, "Leveling the Playing Field" provides a how-to guide to gender equity for Jewish professionals and the organizations where they work.
As the JTA.org commented, "...It's not that women are absent from Jewish life. They fill the pews of liberal synagogues and make up most of the staff at Jewish organizations. More than half the new non-Orthodox rabbis and most of the cantors are women. Jewish summer camps and youth groups are overwhelmingly female. In fact the liberal movements, particularly the Reform, are struggling to bring their boys and men back into religious life. But the top echelons of Jewish communal life -- the executives of major Jewish organizations and the leaders of the large federations -- are still male...... The book... provides concrete steps that women -- and men -- can take to move their own Jewish organizations onto a more gender-equal footing, from building alliances to setting up inhouse mentoring programs for promising young employees. In addition, Advancing Women Professionals will provide mentoring support and a conversation kit to help people trying to effect such organizational changes.... Shifra Bronznick, one of three authors of "Leveling the Playing Field," says the will to change is more prevalent now, but the change has to come from below -- the men and women coming up within these organizations. "People are ready to be part of a change initiative," she says. "This book is aimed at giving them the tools." Bronznick, who wrote the book with Didi Goldenhar and Marty Linsky, is the founding president of the 8-year-old advocacy group Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community. She has spent years working on gender inequity issues, devoting much of the early 2000s trying to convince Jewish CEOs and communal leaders to take the problem seriously. ..."
Many of the steps outlined in the new book have been piloted by key Jewish organizations, working together with Advancing Women Professionals. The group collaborated on a United Jewish Communities gender equity project involving 14 federations and worked with regional directors of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism to create rabbinic search criteria aimed at hiring more women rabbis.
Click the book cover to read more.

[movers]

MYJEWISHBOOKS.COM CURRENT MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Have you seen us driving around in our new delivery car? Like it? Wave when we drive by you. We'll give you a ride.

The NY Post beat us to it. While every one was talking about a Yiddische Kopf, the Nypd Auxiliary was busy recruiting a Yiddische KOP. It is true that we at MyJewishBooks.com were already at work on scripts for
CSI: CROWN HEIGHTS, for
ADAM-18, and for
LAW AND ORDER: SHATNEZ SQUAD,
but now we will have to scrap those ideas. Sigh... Well, at least we are gladdened that this new cadet was influenced to 'protect and serve' by his Talmud studies and perhaps by copies of of

Criminal Kabbalah and
Mystery Midrash.

[Segway Human Transporter]

The Segway Human Transporter. Available on MyJewishBooks.com for less than $5000, not including about $99 for shipping. Only two allowed per person. Not for use on the Sabbath. Emissions free, powered by rechargeable NiMH battery packs. Fun to ride--a unique experience

Not all readers are Leaders. But all Leaders are Readers (Winston Churchill)

USE THE "SEARCH" FUNCTION BELOW to find any other books that interest you, or click the top frame to see the other books that Sefer Safari can offer.

Books Music Enter keywords...

© 2006 WebRing Inc.
Jewish Ring

[ Join Now | Ring Hub | Random | << Prev | Next >> ]
Search

http://www.MyJewishBooks.com -- Revised: July 2009, March 2007, August 2003, January 2002
Copyright © 1996 - 2009 MyJewishBooks.com

Admin@myjewishbooks.com

LE FastCounter

Disclaimer: We provide this data as a service to readers. We are not responsible for the results of the use or misuse of the data and/or the review of the works above. Amazon.com fulfills book orders.

Email Admin@MyJewishBooks.com
jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew I wonder if this will combat jew watch so that we can go to the top of googles rankings. hehehehe