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Orders are fulfilled by Amazon.com Net proceeds are donated to tzedakah Visit our Tzedakah Page Tzedaka.ORG penny harvest Siddur Audio heeb magazine bar mitzvah disco the Hasidic rebel blog about his dislikes in the Hasidic world Matt Messinger Casting American Jewish World Service Dry Bones Urban Kvetch Jewish Council on Urban Affairs Elat Chayim New Shul Scottsdale Shalom Center Tikkun Leil Shabbat Times Fool Association of Jewish Librarians Jewish Values site Avhana.co.il Avodah Beach Hillel Assoc of Jewish Libraries Bikkurim - Jewish incubator Cambridge Minyan Workmen's Circle/Arbiter Ring Tehillah Riverdale DC Minyan Darkhei Noam Gawker.com gizmodo Hazon Tzedek Hillel IKAR Isabella Freedman JCRC Boston Jdub Records Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action Jewish Community Action SchmoozeDance 2005 SchmoozeDance 2006 schmoozedance 2007 Jewish Funds for Justice Selah Cohorts Jewish Labor Committee Jewish Organizing Initiative JewLicious JewSchool Jews for Racial and Economic Justice Jewish Social Policy Action Network Jspot- Jewish Justice spot Jews United for Justice Kavana Seattle Moishe/Kavod House Boston Hadar Kol HaKfar Kol Tzedek West Philly Kol Zimrah Mazon Minyan Tehillah Cambridge Mitziut Chicago Nashuva LA network 2020 PANIM Panim Hadashot DC Park Slope Minyan Progressive Jewish Alliance Rabbis for Human Rights - North America Riverway Project Boston Storahtelling Synagogue 3000 Tekiah Tikkun Ha-Ir wonkette delete Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies JEWISH LITERARY REVIEW South Jerusalem Blog by Gorenberg and Watzman		Welcome to our pages of Summer Book Suggestions. For our Home Page, Please visit MyJewishBooks.com SOME SUMMER 2008 BOOK READINGS May 06, 2008: MICHAEL CHABON reads from YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S.... B&N Union Sq NYC 7PM May 09, 2008: AARON COHEN reads from BROTHERHOOD OF WARRIORS. B&N Farmers Mkt Los Angeles 7PM May 18, 2008: Jews and Power. A Festival of Ideas. Nextbook.Org The Times Center, NYC $20 featuring Avivah Zornberg, Leon Botstein, Stephen Greenblatt, Paul Berman, Aaron David Miller, Dagmar Herzog, Stuart Klawans, Shalom Auslander, Rebecca Goldtsein, Sara Ivry, Cynthia Ozick, Ruth Wisse, and more. 11Am - 5 PM May 18, 2008: Rabbi Phillip Lieberman, PhD speaks at the Everett Institute on the Judeo Muslim Connection. 92nd St Y, NYC 92y.org June 03, 2008: Lisa Loeb performs from her CD, Camp Lisa. BN, Tribeca NYC 2PM June 04, 2008: Nathan Englander reads at BN, Tribeca NYC 7PM June 11, 2008: Tania Grossinger reads from Growing Up at Grossinger's at BN, Greenwich Village NYC 730PM June 16, 2008: Nam Le reads at BN, UWS 82nd NYC 7PM July 02, 2008: Joshua Rubenstein reads from The Unknown Black Book, BN, Tribeca, NYC 7PM July 07, 2008: Robert Thurman, PhD reads from Why The Dali Lama Matters, BN, Tribeca, NYC 7PM July 09, 2008: New York's Best Emerging Jewish Artists. Museum of Jewish Heritage NYC July 23, 2008: Daniel Silva reads from Moscow Rules, BN, Lincoln Center, NYC 7PM July 29, 2008: Congressman Robert Wexler reads from Fire Breathing Liberal. At the Sixth & Eye Synagogue. Wash DC. Sixthandi.org July 30, 2008: Congress House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, grandmother to Jewish kids, reads from Know Your Power. At the Sixth & Eye Synagogue. Wash DC. Sixthandi.org August 01, 2008: Marwan Muasher speaks on The Arab Center. Politics and Prose. Wash DC August 13, 2008: Daniel Mendelsohn reads at BN, Lincoln Center NYC 7PM If you want to contribute to help the people of Myanmar / Burma, please visit the Joint Distribution Committee or American Jewish World Service, at jdc.org and ajws.org Thanks SOME REPEATS FROM MAY 2008 Golda by Elinor Burkett May 2008, HarperCollins The first female head of state in the Western world and one of the most influential women in modern history, Golda Meir was a member of the tiny coterie of founders of the State of Israel, the architect of its socialist infrastructure, and its most tenacious international defender. Her uncompromising devotion to shaping and defending a Jewish homeland against dogged enemies and skittish allies stunned political contemporaries skeptical about the stamina of an elderly leader, and transformed Middle Eastern politics for decades to follow. A blend of Emma Goldman and Martin Luther King Jr. in the guise of a cookie-serving grandmother, Meir was a tough-as-nails politician who issued the first prescient warnings about the rise of international terrorism, out-maneuvered Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger at their own game of realpolitik, and led Israel through a bloody war even as she eloquently pleaded for peace. A prodigious fundraiser and persuasive international voice, Golda carried the nation through its most perilous hours while she herself battled cancer. In this masterful biography, critically acclaimed author and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Elinor Burkett looks beyond Meir's well-known accomplishments to the complex motivations and ideals, personal victories and disappointments, of her charismatic public persona. Beginning with Meir's childhood in virulently anti-Semitic Russia and her family's subsequent relocation to the United States, Burkett places Meir within the framework of the American immigrant experience, the Holocaust, and the single-mindedness of a generation that carved a nation out of its own nightmares and dreams. She paints a vivid portrait of a legendary woman defined by contradictions: an iron resolve coupled with magnetic charm, an utter ordinariness of appearance matched to extraordinary achievements, a kindly demeanor that disguised a stunning hard-heartedness, and a complete dedication to her country that often overwhelmed her personal relationships. To produce this definitive account of Meir's life, Burkett mined historical records never before examined by any researcher, and interviewed members of Meir's inner circle, many going on record for the first time. The result is an astounding portrait of one of the most commanding political presences of the twentieth century-a woman whose uncompromising commitment to the creation and preservation of a Jewish state fueled and framed the ideological conflicts that still define Middle Eastern relations today. Click the book cover to read more. N O W I N P A P E R B A C K The Yiddish Policemen's Union A Novel by Michael Chabon Spring 2008, Harper From Publishers Weekly. Starred Review. Chabon's storytelling, in this alternate history of a world where Jews were settled in Alaska after World War II, is vivid enough, with inventive metaphors packed in like tapestry threads, but Peter Riegert's versatile voice makes the invented society even more tangible. Told through the eyes of Meyer Landsman, a police detective investigating a murder, the novel occurs in a strange time to be a Jew, as several characters ruefully put it: the special Jewish district will soon be controlled by Alaska again. In a bonus interview on the last disc, Chabon relates his desire to write about a place where Yiddish was an official language. The book is shot through with Yiddish phrases and names, which melodically roll off Riegert's tongue. He gives Landsman and his tough but warmhearted partner Berko similar yet distinct gruff voices that contrast well with the effeminate-sounding sect leader and the Southern-accented Americans who come to start the land reversion process. Riegert's pacing increases the enjoyment of this expertly spun mystery. Click the book cover to read more. CITY OF THIEVES A Novel by David Benioff May 2008, Viking David Beniott (Friedman), novelist and screenwriter, Dartmouth grad and husband to Amanda Peet, has written the Russia based novel based on the stories of his grandfather. Or so he says... but this is ALL PART OF THE FICTION Lev Beniov, 17, is arrested during WW2 in Leningrad for looting a dead German soldier. Rather than execute Lev, Colonel Grechko sends him on a quest to find a dozen eggs which will be used to make a wedding cake for the colonel's daughter. And so the adventure begins. Lev Beniov considers himself "built for deprivation." He's small, smart, and insecure, a Jewish virgin too young for the army, who spends his nights working as a volunteer firefighter with friends from his building. When a dead German paratrooper lands in his street, Lev is caught looting the body and dragged to jail, fearing for his life. He shares his cell with the charismatic and grandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges. Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt to find the impossible. A search that takes them through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and the devastated surrounding countryside creates an unlikely bond between this earnest, lust-filled teenager and an endearing lothario with the gifts of a conman. Set within the monumental events of history, City of Thieves is an intimate coming-of-age tale with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men. Click the book cover to read more. THE STORY OF A VERY JEWISH HOSPITAL Hospital Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God andD iversity on Steroids by Julie Salamon May 2008. Penguin Most people agree that there are complicated issues at play in the delivery of health care today, but those issues may not always be what we think they are. In 2005, 700-bed Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, unveiled a new state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar cancer center. Determined to understand the whole spectrum of factors that determine what kind of medical care people receive in this country, bestselling author Julie Salamon spent one year tracking the progress of the center and getting to know the characters who make the hospital run. Located in a community where sixty-seven different languages are spoken, Maimonides is a case study for the particular kinds of concerns that arise in institutions that serve an increasingly multicultural American demographic. Granted an astonishing "warts and all" level of access by the hospital higher-ups, Salamon followed the doctors, patients, administrators, nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, and cleaning staff. She explored not just the action on the ground-what happens between doctors and patients-but also the financial, ethical, technological, sociological, and cultural matters that the hospital community encounters every day. She draws out the internal and external political machinations that exist between doctors and staff as well as between hospital and community. And she grounds the science and emotion of medical drama in the financial realities of operating a huge, private institution that must contend with issues like adapting to the specific needs of immigrant groups that make up a large and growing portion of our society. Salamon exposes struggles of both the profound and humdrum variety. There are bitter internal feuds, warm personal connections, comedy, egoism, greed, love, and loss. There are rabbinic edicts to contend with as well as imams and herbalists and local politicians. 25% of the patients are Orthodox Jews. All-male Hatzolah ambulance drivers try to cajole doctors to see their patients first and thus provide a more profitable service to their ambulance patients. At times it seems as if the hospital works for Hatzolah and not the other way around. Other patients speak more than 67 immigrant languages, including Spanish and Urdu, Chinese and Russian. One undocumented Chinese immigrant patient stayed in the hospital for eight months with cancer, racked up $1 Million in uninsured bills, and was able to block every attempt by the hospital to discharge/move him. There are system foul-ups that keep blood test results from being delivered on time, careless record keepers, shortages of everything except forms to fill, recalcitrant and greedy insurance reimbursement systems, and the surprising difficulty of getting doctors to wash their hands. This is the dynamic universe of small and large concerns and personalities that, taken together, determine the nature of our care and assume the utmost importance. As Martin Payson-chairman of the board at Maimonides and ex-Time-Warner vice chairman-puts it: "Hospitals have a lot in common with the movie business. You've got your talent, entrepreneurs, ambition, ego stroking, the business versus the creative part. The big difference is that in the hospital you don't get second takes. Movies are make-believe. This is real life." And don't forget the "Mitzvah Man".. the extremely powerful state assemblyman with power over allocations. Click the book cover to read more. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun A Memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin Spring 2008, Back Bay From Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. In this exquisitely written, deeply moving account of the death of a father played out against the backdrop of the collapse of the southern African nation of Zimbabwe, seasoned journalist Godwin has produced a memoir that effortlessly manages to be almost unbearably personal while simultaneously laying bare the cruel regime of longstanding president Robert Mugabe. In 1996 when his father suffers a heart attack, Godwin returns to Africa and sparks the central revelation of the book-the father is Jewish and has hidden it from Godwin and his siblings. As his father's health deteriorates, so does Zimbabwe. Mugabe, self-proclaimed president for life, institutes a series of ill-conceived land reforms that throw the white farmers off the land they've cultivated for generations and consequently throws the country's economy into free fall. There's sadness throughout-for the death of the father, for the suffering of everyone in Zimbabwe (black and white alike) and for the way that human beings invariably treat each other with casual disregard. Godwin's narrative flows seamlessly across the decades, creating a searing portrait of a family and a nation collectively coming to terms with death. This is a tour de force of personal journalism and not to be missed. Click the book cover to read more. The Red Leather Diary Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal (Hardcover) by Lily Koppel Spring 2008, Back Bay The author, Lily Koppel, a 22 year old Barnard graduate, was on her way to work as a Metro section clerk and evening celebrity reporter at The New York Times one morning when she saw a Dumpster filled with steamer trunks and other early 20th Century detritus from the Riverside Drive, Upper West Side of Manhattan apartment building. She stopped and started looking through the items on the way to the dump. She excavated and rescued from the Dumpster a discarded diary that brought to life the glamorous, forgotten world of an extraordinary young woman. For more than half a century, the red leather diary lay silent, languishing inside a steamer trunk, its worn cover crumbling into little flakes. Koppel rebirths the life of this young Jewish teenager (from ages 14 to 19). The journal paints a vivid picture of 1930s New York--horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress, an affair with a non Jewish Italian count, and poetry. From 1929 to 1934, not a single day's entry is skipped. Opening the tarnished brass lock, Koppel embarks on a journey into the past, traveling to a New York in which women of privilege meet for tea at Schrafft's, dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and toast the night at El Morocco. As she turns the diary's brittle pages, Koppel was captivated by the headstrong young woman whose intimate thoughts and emotions fill the pale blue lines. Who was this lovely ing�nue who adored the works of Baudelaire and Jane Austen, who was sexually curious beyond her years, who traveled to Rome, Paris, and London? But wait. This is not all. Koppel hired a PI to find out what happened to the diary's owner: Florence Wolfson. And she is ALIVE! Florence is found to be a ninety-year-old woman living with her husband of sixty-seven years. Reunited with her diary, Florence ventures back to the girl she once was, rediscovering a lost self that burned with artistic fervor. Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams. Click the book cover to read more. Assisted Loving True Tales of Double Dating with My Dad by Bob Morris May 2008, Harpers What would you do if your eighty-year-old father dragged you into his hell-bent hunt for new love? Bob Morris, a seriously single son, tells you all about it in this warm, witty, and wacky chronicle of a year of dating dangerously. A few months after the death of his wife, Joe Morris, an affable, eccentric, bridge-obsessed octogenarian, starts flapping about for a replacement. If he can get a new hip, he figures, why not a new wife? At first, his son Bob is appalled, but suspicion quickly turns to enthusiasm as he finds himself trolling the personals, screening prospects, and offering etiquette tips, chaperoning services, and post-date assessments to his needy father. Bob hopes that Joe will find a well-heeled lady-or at least one who is very patient-to get him out of his hair. But soon they discover that finding a new mate will not be as easy as they think: one date is too morose, another too liberal; one's a three-timer, another just needs an escort until Mr. Right comes along. Dad persists and son assists. Am I pimping for my father? he begins to wonder. Meanwhile, Bob suffers similar frustrations; trying to find love isn't easy in a big-city market that has little use for a middle-aged gay man with an attitude and a paunch. But with the encouragement of his father (his biggest fan and the world's "most democratic Republican") he prevails. In the end, this memoir becomes a twin love story and a soulful lesson about giving and receiving affection with an open heart. With wicked humor and a dollop of compassion, Bob Morris gleefully explores the impact of senior parents on their boomer kids and the perils of dating at any age. Click the book cover to read more. Dearest Anne A Tale of Impossible Love (Jewish Women Writers) by Judith Katzir. Translated by Dalya Bilu May 2008. Feminist Press CUNY Written by best-selling Israeli author Judith Katzir, Dearest Anne is a stirring record of an artist's coming-of-age during the 1970s and the story of a hidden, erotic love affair between a teenaged girl and her married teacher, Michaela. After reading Anne Frank's diary, young Rivi starts a series of writing notebooks that document the angst of growing up in rural Israel. The entries reveal how her crush on her literature teacher develops into a poignant and turbulent love affair that lasts for years before its scandalous end. Decades later, the grown Rivi, now a mother, wife, and established author, comes to terms with the forbidden love that shaped her future. Click the book cover to read more. i before e (except after c) by Judy Parkinson Spring 2008. Here is an amusing collection of ingenious mnemonics devised to help us learn and understand hundreds of important fact as children and can continue to resonate with us as adults. Featuring all the mnemonics you'll ever need to know, this fun little book will bring back all the simple, easy-to-remember rhymes from your childhood-once learned, fix the information in the brain forever-such as learning to count by reciting "One, Two, buckle my shoe, Three, Four, knock at the door." Packed with clever verses, engaging acronyms, curious-and sometimes hilarious-sayings that can be used to solve a problem or cap an argument. Take a trip back to the classroom, and rediscover the assortment of practical memory aids covering a range of different subjects, including spelling, time, mathematics, history, general trivia, and much more. The information is organized in short snippets by category such as: Remember North East South West by reciting Never Eat Slimy Worms or Naughty Elephants Squirt Water. Time and the Calendar: "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have 31 excepting February alone; And that has 28 days clear; With 29 in each leap year" * Think of a Number: Know the Roman numerals by remembering "I Value Xylophones Like Cows Dig Milk" World History: "In fourteen hundred, ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, And found this land, land of the Free, beloved by you, beloved by me" Click the book cover to read more. The author's father who died in 1994, was a meteorologist named Gal-Chen ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES BY RIVKA GALCHEN Spring 2008. FS&G PW: Starred Review. In this enthralling debut, psychiatrist Dr. Leo Liebenstein sets off to find his wife, Rema, who he believes has been replaced by a simulacrum. Also missing is one of Leo's patients, Harvey, who is convinced he receives coded messages (via Page Six in the New York Post) from the Royal Academy of Meteorology to control the weather. At Rema's urging, Leo pretends during his sessions with Harvey to be a Royal Academy agent (she thinks the fib could help break through to Harvey), and once Re- ma and Leo disappear, Leo turns to actual Royal Academy member Tzvi Gal-Chen's meteorological work to guide him in his search for his wife. Leo's quest takes him through Buenos Aires and Patagonia, and as he becomes increasingly delusional and erratic, Galchen adeptly reveals the actual situation to readers, including Rema's anguish and anger at her husband. Leo's devotion to the real Rema is heartbreaking and maddening; he cannot see that the woman he seeks has been with him all along. Click the book cover to read more. SOME HOT BEACH READS FROM THIS SPRING Also, check our Spring Suggestions by clicking Here. NOW YOUR CAN SEARCH OUR SITE, INSTEAD OF JUST SEARCHING AMAZON. TRY IT OUT... Search: search tips sitemap FLOWERS OF PERHAPS By Rahel Bluwstein / BY RA'HEL. Translated by Robert Friend. May 2008, Toby Press What may be most remarkable about the poetry of Rachel is that it has remained fresh in its simplicity and inspiration for more than 70 years. Now, because of Robert Friend's own ability as a poet and a temperment congenial with hers, his translations allow English readers to understand why Rachel is so highly esteemed. This classic is now reissued in a new bilingual edition, the original Hebrew poems appearing next to Friend's superlative translations. Click the book cover to read more. JUNE 2008 BOOKS Fire-Breathing Liberal How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress by Congressman Robert Wexler with David Fisher June 2008, Thomas Dunne Born in Queens in 1961, 6 term Florida Democrat Congressman Wexler provides an inside look at Congress, as well as a memoir and civics lesson. Lots of funny stories, too, about the campaign trail and what to do when the car emblazoned with your campaign posters runs over a dog. Click the book cover to read more. GROWING UP AT GROSSINGER'S BY TANIA GROSSINGER June 2008, Skyhorse From 1919 to 1986, Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel provided a summer retreat from the city heat for New York's Jews, and entertained the great, the near-great, and the not so great, Jews and Gentiles alike. A melting pot of the Borscht Belt, sports, and show-biz worlds, loyal visitors included Red Buttons, Rocky Marciano, Eddie Fisher, and Jackie Robinson. Tania Grossinger grew up there. In her fascinating insider's account of life in the hospitality industry, she sheds light on how hotel children keep up with the frenetic pace of life, and how they come to grips with the outside world (which intrudes now and again), sex (happening in every room), and, occasionally, their intellectual interests. Growing Up at Grossinger's is both a wonderful coming-of-age story and a sentimental reading of a chapter of the Jewish experience in America that has now closed. 25 b/w photographs. Click the book cover to read more. The Arab Center The Promise of Moderation by Marwan Muasher June 2008, Yale Marwan Muasher, a prominent Jordanian diplomat, has participated in high-level Middle East peace efforts for nearly twenty years. He served as Jordan's first ambassador to Israel and was also ambassador to the United States, spokesperson at peace talks in Madrid and Washington, minister of foreign affairs, and deputy prime minister in charge of reform. In this enlightening book he recounts the behind-the-scenes details of diplomatic ventures over the past two decades, including such recent undertakings as the Arab Peace Initiative and the Middle East Road Map. Muasher's insights into internal Arab politics and the successes and failures of the Arab Center (Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) are uniquely informed and deeply felt. He assesses how the middle road approach to reform is faring and explains why current tactics used by the West to deal with Islamic groups are doomed to failure. He examines why the Arab Center has made so little progress and which Arab, Israeli, and American policies need rethinking. Part memoir and part analysis, this book reveals the human side of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is an essential volume for all who share the hope that moderate, pragmatic Arab voices will be heard in today's vitriolic debates over how to achieve an enduring peace in the Middle East. Click the book cover to read more. Muhajababes by Allegra Stratton June 2008, Melville 66% of the residents of the Middle East are under the age of 26. Many are college educated. Many are overeducated and under employed. The author, 25, a BBC Producer, travels the area to interview these young adults and report on youth culture from Cairo to Beirut to Kuwait, Amman, and Dubai. She interviews pop stars, filmmakers, DJ's. gays, straights, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, sports people, veiled and unveiled, and more. What is up with the Islamic revival? Click the book cover to read more. Icon of Evil Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam by David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann June 24, 2008, Random House A chilling, fascinating, and nearly forgotten historical figure is resurrected in a riveting work that links the fascism of the last century with the terrorism of our own. Written with verve and extraordinary access to primary sources in several languages, Icon of Evil is the definitive account of the man who during World War II was called "the f�hrer of the Arab world" and whose ugly legacy lives on today. In 1921, the beneficiary of an appointment the British would live to regret, Haj Amin al-Husseini became the mufti of Jerusalem, the most eminent and influential Islamic leader in the Middle East. For years, al-Husseini fomented violence in the region against the Jews he loathed and wished to destroy. Forced out in 1937, he eventually found his way to the country whose legions he desperately wished to join: Nazi Germany. Here, with new and disturbing details, David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann show how al-Husseini ingratiated himself with his hero, Adolf Hitler, becoming, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, an "honorary Aryan," while dreaming of being installed Nazi leader of the Middle East. Al-Husseini would later recruit more than 100,000 Muslims in Europe to fight in divisions of the Waffen-SS, and obstruct negotiations with the Allies that might have allowed four thousand Jewish children to escape to Palestine. Some believe that al-Husseini even inspired Hitler to implement the Final Solution. At war's end, al-Husseini escaped indictment at Nuremberg and was harbored in France before being given a hero's welcome in Egypt. Icon of Evil chronicles al-Husseini's postwar relationships with such influential Islamic figures as the radical theoretician Sayyid Qutb and Saddam Hussein's powerful uncle, General Khairallah Talfah, and his crucial mentoring of the young Yasser Arafat. Finally, it provides compelling evidence that al-Husseini's actions and writings serve as inspirations today to the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations pledged to destroy Israel and the United States. Revelatory and unsettling, Icon of Evil reveals an essential character in the worst crimes of the modern era. It is an important addition to our understanding of the past, present, and future of radical Islam. Click the book cover to read more. Palestinian Walks Forays into a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh June 2008, Scribner This exquisitely written book records a sensitive Palestinian writer's love for the landscape of his country, over which he has hiked for many years. It reflects not only the intense beauty of that landscape, but also some of the terrible dangers that threaten it and its occupants. This is a book that is hard to put down because of the profound natural beauty that Shehadeh describes, and his manifest passion for his homeland." -- Rashid Khalidi. Click the book cover to read more. THE LAST JEWS OF KERALA THE 2,000 YEAR HISTORY OF INDIA'S FORGOTTEN JEWISH COMMUNITY BY EDNA FERNANDES June 2008, Skyhorse When a people die out, can their story survive? Two thousand years ago, trade routes and the fall of Jerusalem took Jewish settlers seeking sanctuary across Europe and Asia. One little-known group settled in Kerala, in tropical southwestern India. Eventually numbering in the thousands, with eight synagogues, they prospered. Some came to possess vast estates and plantations, and many enjoyed economic privilege and political influence. Their comfortable lives, however, were haunted by a feud between the Black Jews of Ernakulam and the White Jews of Mattancherry. Separated by a narrow stretch of swamp and the color of their skin, they locked in a rancorous feud for centuries, divided by racism and claims and counterclaims over who arrived first in their adopted land. Today, this once-illustrious people is in its dying days. Centuries of interbreeding and a latter-day Exodus from Kerala after Israel's creation in 1948 have shrunk the population. The Black and White Jews combined now number less than fifty, and only one synagogue remains. On the threshold of extinction, the two remaining Jewish communities of Kerala have come to realize that their destiny, and their undoing, is the same. The Last Jews of Kerala narrates the rise and fall of the Black Jews and the White Jews over the centuries and within the context of the grand history of the Jewish people. It is the story of the twilight days of a people whose community will, within the next generation, cease to exist. Yet it is also a rich tale of weddings and funerals, of loyalty to family and fierce individualism, of desperation and hope. Click the book cover to read more. Ten Days of Birthright Israel A Journey in Young Adult Identity by Leonard Saxe and Barry Chazan June 2008. New England Since 2000, nearly one hundred fifty thousand young adult Jews have participated in Birthright Israel, conceived to curb assimilation by shifting an entire generation of Diaspora Jews from a trajectory of noninvolvement with the Jewish community to one of identity and engagement. birthright israel is a free ten-day educational experience available to any young adult Jew between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six. Most of those who have received the "gift" to reconnect with their heritage have been from North America and demand for the program has far exceeded available slots. Dozens of organizations served as trip sponsors, from campus-based Hillels, to youth movements, to private educational tour companies. Each group implemented a carefully planned model of experiential education that involved exposure to ancient and modern history, as well as to the people of Israel. Key to the program is participation of Israeli peers who spend half or more of the trip with their Diaspora counterparts. Although Birthright Israel's focus is parochial, with an emphasis on Jewish identity, the program provides a fascinating social laboratory in which to understand young adults' religious/ethnic identity and the impact of educational experiences. As a study of ethnic identity formation in postmodern society, it illuminates important lessons about how intensive exposure to one's heritage can be a catalyst for identity formation, as well as how educational programs can be made more engaging and effective. With Leonard Saxe and Barry Chazan serving as tour guides and interpreters, this story and analysis of Birthright Israel unfolds in ten chapters that parallel the ten days of the trip. This structure showcases the experiences of the participants, bringing them vividly to life, and shows how the program's effects may well last far beyond the time they spend together in Israel. Click the book cover to read more. Atmospheric Disturbances A Novel by Rivka Galchen June 2008, FS&G From Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. In this enthralling debut, psychiatrist Dr. Leo Liebenstein sets off to find his wife, Rema, who he believes has been replaced by a simulacrum. Also missing is one of Leo's patients, Harvey, who is convinced he receives coded messages (via Page Six in the New York Post) from the Royal Academy of Meteorology to control the weather. At Rema's urging, Leo pretends during his sessions with Harvey to be a Royal Academy agent (she thinks the fib could help break through to Harvey), and once Re- ma and Leo disappear, Leo turns to actual Royal Academy member Tzvi Gal-Chen's meteorological work to guide him in his search for his wife. Leo's quest takes him through Buenos Aires and Patagonia, and as he becomes increasingly delusional and erratic, Galchen adeptly reveals the actual situation to readers, including Rema's anguish and anger at her husband. Leo's devotion to the real Rema is heartbreaking and maddening; he cannot see that the woman he seeks has been with him all along. Don't be surprised if this gives you a Crying of Lot 49 nostalgia hit. Click the book cover to read more. Modern Jews Engage the New Testament Enhancing Jewish Well-being in a Christian Environment by Michael J. Cook, Hebrew Union College June 2008, Jewish Lights An honest, probing look at the dynamics of the New Testament-in relation to problems that disconcert Jews and Christians today. Despite the New Testament's impact on Jewish history, virtually all Jews avoid knowledge of its underlying dynamics. Jewish families and communities thus remain needlessly stymied when responding to a deeply Christian culture. Their Christian friends, meanwhile, are left perplexed as to why Jews are wary of the Gospel's "good news." This long-awaited volume offers an unprecedented solution-oriented introduction to Jesus and Paul, the Gospels and Revelation, leading Jews out of anxieties that plague them, and clarifying for Christians why Jews draw back from Christians' sacred writings. Accessible to laypeople, scholars and clergy of all faiths, innovative teaching aids make this valuable resource ideal for rabbis, ministers and other educators. Topics include: The Gospels, Romans and Revelation- the Key Concerns for Jews; Misusing the Talmud in Gospel Study; Jesus' Trial, the "Virgin Birth" and Empty Tomb Enigmas; Millennialist Scenarios and Missionary Encroachment; The Last Supper and Church Seders; Is the New Testament Antisemitic? While written primarily with Jews in mind, this groundbreaking volume will also help Christians understand issues involved in the origin of the New Testament, the portrayal of Judaism in it, and why for centuries their "good news" has been a source of fear and mistrust among Jews. Click the book cover to read more. How Would God Vote? Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative by David Klinghoffer June 2008, Doubleday The latest political book from thrice circumcised Klinghoffer. With liberals and conservatives alike claiming the authority of the Bible as support for their views on social and moral issues, the need to understand what the Bible actually says has never been more pressing. In How Would God Vote?, ... David Klinghoffer illuminates the worldview set forth in his interpretation of the Bible and argues that, with some exceptions, the God of his reading of the Bible would support traditionally conservative principles and policies. Klinghoffer considers the ethical and moral heart of contemporary political debates-questions like immigration, gay marriage, abortion, care for the poor, war and peace, censorship, privacy, the place of religion in schools and the community, and much more. ......He believes that the Bible would welcome immigrants, be for gun control, and for affirmative action, but on other topics, he uses the Bible to support conservative attitudes. As for me, I will stick to my own reading of the Bible and rabbinical responsa and commentaries, but feel free to read this book for yourself. Click the book cover to read more. SHOe BOP By Marilyn Singer and Hiroe Nakata June 2008, Dutton Ages 4 - 8. A visit to the shoe store sets a young shopaholic dreaming in this read-aloud. How to choose just one pair of shoes? When a girl goes shoe shopping with Mom, there's no limit to her funky style, funny wordplay, and delightful daydreams. Will our heroine don cowgirl boots and ride off into the sunset? Or slip on glittery sandals to become the princess at a fancy ball? What about those snazzy sneakers, destined for a basketball star? This winning read aloud offers adorable, candy-colored illustrations and splendidly catchy poems, from odes to haikus to rhyming couplets, celebrating all of the exciting adventures-and fabulous fashion-of our confident, fun-loving girls. Click the book cover to read more. DICTIONARY OF JEWISH TERMS A GUIDE TO THE LANGUAGE OF JUDAISM BY RONALD L. EISENBERG, JD June 2008, Schreiber From the author of Streets of Jerusalem and The Jewish World in Stamps and The 613 Mitzvot, this dictionary provides a source of terms, concepts, expressions, and beliefs. Language is the cement that binds people together, gives them an identity, shapes their hopes and dreams and enables them to transmit their values and lore to future generations. This dictionary fills an overdue need. Click the book cover to read more. The 613 Mitzvot A Contemporary Guide to the Commandments of Judaism BY RONALD L. EISENBERG, JD June 2008, Schreiber The 613 commandments embodied in the Torah are presented in layman's language, easy to look up. Commentaries from the Mishnah and the Talmud to present day interpretations are included. A handy source for studying the mitzvot, and also an easy reference tool for looking up a specific mitzvah. Click the book cover to read more. ENDORSED by the Cantors' Assembly??? The Jews of Sing Sing by Ron Arons June 2008, Barricade Sing-Sing prison opened in 1828, and since then, more than 7,000 Jews have served time in the famous correctional facility. The Jews of Sing-Sing is the first book to fully expose the scope of Jewish criminality over the past 150 years. Besides famous gangsters like Lepke Buchalter, thousands of Jews committed all types of crimes--from incest to arson to selling air rights over Manhattan--and found themselves doing time in Sing-Sing. Click the book cover to read more. NOW IN PAPERBACK Last Days in Babylon The Exile of Iraq's Jews, the Story of My Family by Marina Benjamin June 2008, Free Press Marina Benjamin grew up in London feeling estranged from her family's exotic Middle Eastern ways. She refused to speak the Arabic her mother and grandmother spoke at home. She rejected the peculiar food they ate in favor of hamburgers and beer. But when Benjamin had her own child a few years ago, she realized that she was losing her link to the past. In Last Days in Babylon, Benjamin delves into the story of her family's life among the Jews of Iraq in the first half of the twentieth century. When Iraq gained independence in 1932, Jews were the largest and most prosperous ethnic group in Baghdad. They dominated trade and finance, hobnobbed with Iraqi dignitaries, and lived in grandiose villas on the banks of the Tigris. Just twenty years later the community had been utterly ravaged, its members effectively expelled from the country by a hostile Iraqi government. Benjamin's grandmother Regina Sehayek lived through it all. Born in 1905, when Baghdad was still under Ottoman control, her childhood was a virtual idyll. This privileged existence was barely touched when the British marched into Iraq. But with the rise of Arab nationalism and the first stirrings of anti-Zionism, Regina, then a young mother, began to have dark premonitions of what was to come. By the time Iraq was galvanized by war, revolution, and regicide, Regina was already gone, her hair-raising escape a tragic exodus from a land she loved -- and a permanent departure from the husband whose gentle guiding hand had made her the woman she was. Benjamin's keen ear and fluid writing bring to life Regina's Baghdad, both good and bad. More than a stirring story of survival, Last Days in Babylon is a bittersweet portrait of Old World Baghdad and its colorful Jewish community, whose roots predate the birth of Islam by a thousand years and whose culture did much to make Iraq the peaceful desert paradise that has since become a distant memory. In 2004 Benjamin visited Baghdad for the first time, searching for the remains of its once vital Jewish community. What she discovered will haunt anyone who seeks to understand a country that continues to command the world's attention, just as it did when Regina Sehayek proudly walked through Baghdad's streets. By turns moving and funny, Last Days in Babylon is an adventure story, a riveting history, and a timely reminder that behind today's headlines are real people whose lives are caught -- too often tragically -- in the crossfire of misunderstanding, age-old prejudice, and geopolitical ambition. Click the book cover to read more. JULY 2008 BOOKS HOLD ON TO YOUR SEAT FOR THIS ONE The Girl from Foreign A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Lost Loves, and Forgotten Histories by Sadia Shepard July 31, 2008, Penguin In this beautifully crafted memoir, a young Muslim-Christian woman travels to an insular Jewish community in India to unlock her family's secret history. Sadia Shepard grew up in a happily complicated family just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, her father a white Protestant from Colorado and her mother a Muslim from Pakistan. It was always a joyful home, full of stories and storytellers, where the cultures and religions of both her parents were celebrated and cherished with equal enthusiasm throughout her childhood. But Sadia's cultural legacy grew more complex when she discovered that there was one story she had never been told. Her beloved maternal grandmother was not the Muslim woman, Rahat Quraeshi, Sadia had always known her to be, but in fact was born Rachel Jacobs, a descendant of the Bene Israel, a tiny Jewish community whose members believe they are one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, shipwrecked in India two thousand years ago. What was complicated had become downright confusing; Sadia was now intimately linked to the faiths of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity and the customs of Pakistan, India, and the United States. At her grandmother's deathbed, Sadia promised to begin the process of filling in the missing pieces of her family's fractured mosaic, and with the help of a Fulbright scholarship, she set off for Bombay. Sadia's search to connect with the Bene Israel community led her to discover more about India's tumultuous history and the haunting legacy of Partition, and she was forced to examine what it means to lose one's place, one's homelands, and one's history. Weaving together humorous tales from her crosscultural childhood with an evocative account of a small Jewish community in transition, The Girl from Foreign is Sadia's poetic and touching attempt to reconcile with her past and help determine her future-when offered the choice, will she be able to decide between the religious and cultural identities that have shaped her? It is the stunningly written and unforgettably evocative story of family secrets, forgotten roots, forbidden love, and, above all, eye-opening self-discovery. Sadia Sadia Shepard is a documentary filmmaker whose work on the Bene Israel community of Western India includes a photo-essay and documentary film, made possible by a Fulbright Scholarship and grants from the Jeremiah Kaplan Foundation and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. Click the book cover to read more. My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life: An Anti-Memoir by Adam Nimoy July 2008, Pocket Last week, Adam Nimoy woke up in his beautiful house with his wife and kids in West Los Angeles. Today, he's waking up in a sleeping bag on an air mattress in a two-bedroom apartment with no furniture thinking, "How the hell did I get here?" A thirty-year battle with drug addiction, three career changes, one divorce, a major mid-life crisis, and countless AA meetings later, he tells his cautionary -- and very funny -- tale. In this frankly humble and hilarious anti-memoir, Adam Nimoy shares the incredibly wonderful, miserable truth about life as a newly divorced father, a forty-something on the L.A. dating scene, a recovering user, and a former lawyer turned director turned substitute teacher...in search of his true self. And, oh yeah, the wonderful, miserable truth about growing up the son of a former Yiddish theater actor (and pop culture Vulcan). In a city where appearing perfect is a way of life, Adam Nimoy doesn't mince words. He's been rushed by crazed Star Trek fans at a carnival, propositioned by his father's leading ladies, promised by his own teenage daughter that she never wants to see him again, and fired by famous television producers for his temper. Click the book cover to read more. Rebecca Horowitz A Puerto Rican Sex Freak by Edgardo Yunque July 2008, Overlook What happens when a beautiful young Jewish girl from Manhattan falls helplessly in love with a Latino Casanova whose mother insists that before the two can be married the bride-to-be must first convert to Puerto Rican? This is the story of how Rebecca Horowitz becomes Zoraida Delgado; and how, under the influence of that bastard boyfriend of hers, Charlie Maisonet, she manages to dismantle--and to discover surprising facets of--her own identity. Edgardo Vega Yunqu�'s newest novel is a delicious tribute to the foibles of ethnic love. . Click the book cover to read more. For your favorite JEW-BU Why The Dali Lama Matters His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World By Robert Thurman, PhD (Columbia) July 2008, Pocket His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an extraordinary example of a life dedicated to peace, communication, and unity. What he represents, and what he has accomplished, heals and transcends the current tensions between Tibet and China. Why the Dalai Lama Matters explores just why he has earned the world's love and respect, and how restoring Tibet's autonomy within China is not only possible, but highly reasonable, and absolutely necessary for all of us together to have a peaceful future as a global community. In the few decades since the illegal Chinese invasion of Tibet, Tibetans have seen their ecosystem destroyed, their religion, language, and culture repressed, and systematic oppression and violence against anyone who dares acknowledge Tibetan sovereignty. Yet, above it all, the Dalai Lama has been a consistent voice for peace, sharing a "Middle-Way" approach that has gathered accolades from the Nobel Peace Prize to the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. Modeling this peaceful resistance shows the world that nobody is free unless everybody is free -- and that a solution exists that can benefit all parties, not just one. And more than just his nation have taken notice. His inter-religious dialogues, honest, humble demeanor, and sense of compassionate justice sets him apart in a world at war with itself. When China changes policy and lets Tibetans be who they are, Tibet can, in turn, join with China in peaceful coexistence. Why the Dalai Lama Matters is not merely a book about Tibet or the Dalai Lama. It is a revealing, provocative solution for a world in conflict, dealing with the very fundamentals of human rights and freedoms. By showing the work that the Dalai Lama has done on behalf of his people, Thurman illuminates a worldwide call to action, showing that power gained by might means nothing in the face of a determined act of truth. Click the book cover to read more. Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva July 2008, Putnam The extraordinary new Gabriel Allon novel from the "gold standard" (The Dallas Morning News) of thriller writers. Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world's finest writers of international intrigue and espionage- "a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carr�" (Chicago Sun-Times)-and Gabriel Allon as "one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He's playing by Moscow rules now. This is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States. One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business: Kharkov is an arms dealer-and he is about to deliver Russia's most sophisticated weapons to al- Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11-and the clock is ticking fast. Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, Moscow Rules is at once superior entertainment and a searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the East-and Silva's finest novel yet. Click the book cover to read more. Beyond Tolerance Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America by Gustav Niebuhr July 2008, Viking A bracing rejoinder both to religious fanaticism and to recent books decrying religion. The United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world and the most religiously diverse collection of people in history. And even in this age of increasing religious violence, there is a growing movement of cooperation: thousands of devout worshippers who are willing to take a gamble on people of radically different faiths. In this insightful, deeply felt examination of the nature of community and religion, former New York Times religion reporter Gustav Niebuhr traces the roots of religious freedom in America and the setbacks and triumphs it has encountered along the way. From Hindus and Quakers in Queens to Catholics and Jews in Baltimore, to black Baptists and Catholics in Louisville, to Catholics and Buddhists in Los Angeles (and Congregationalists in Cape Cod who gave money and land to build a sysnagogue), Niebuhr focuses on the ways people build ties between groups. He looks at why this movement is a particularly American endeavor and how it can save us all. Beyond Tolerance is a handbook for religious cooperation in our fractured times. Click the book cover to read more. Close to Jedenew by Kevin Vennemann . Translated by Ross Benjamin July 2008, Melville It begins like a classic German fable: Children from the rural village of Jedenew, Poland, get together late at night to play together in the dark woods. But their game is to pretend they live in the imaginary world of the Jedenew that came before them-when it wasn't occupied by the Nazis, and their Jewish friends weren't mysteriously disappearing one by one. Kevin Vennemann's writing-already a sensation with the major publishing houses of Europe-is evocative of W.G. Sebald for its lyrical style and bold intelligence. The innovative simultaneous plot-consisting of the real and imaginative world of the children-has earned comparison to the piercing analogies of Kafka. But the accessible and absorbing narrative of Near Jedenew, as well as its beautifully lush prose, signals the emergence of one of the most original and masterful young writers to appear in decades. Click the book cover to read more. A PATH OUT OF THE DESERT A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East by Kenneth Pollack, Brookings Institute Saban Center July 2008, Random House The greatest danger to America's peace and prosperity, notes leading Middle East policy analyst Kenneth M. Pollack, lies in the political repression, economic stagnation, and cultural conflict running rampant in Arab and Muslim nations. By inflaming political unrest and empowering terrorists, these forces pose a direct threat to America's economy and national security. The impulse for America might be to turn its back on the Middle East in frustration over the George W. Bush administration's mishandling of the Iraq War and other engagements with Arab and Muslim countries. But such a move, Pollack asserts, will only exacerbate problems. He counters with the idea that we must continue to make the Middle East a priority in our policy, but in a humbler, more humane, more realistic, and more cohesive way. Pollack argues that Washington's greatest sin in its relations with the Middle East has been its persistent unwillingness to make the sustained and patient effort needed to help the people of the Middle East overcome the crippling societal problems facing their governments and societies. As a result, the United States has never had a workable comprehensive policy in the region, just a skein of half-measures intended either to avoid entanglement or to contain the influence of the Soviet Union. Beyond identifying the stagnation of civic life in Arab and Muslim states and the cumulative effect of our misguided policies, Pollack offers a long-term strategy to ameliorate the political, economic, and social problems that underlie the region's many crises. Through his suggested policies, America can engage directly with the governments of the Middle East and indirectly with its people by means of cultural exchange, commerce, and other "soft" approaches. He carefully examines each of the region's most contested areas, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and explains how the United States can address each through mutually reinforcing policies. At a time when the nation will be facing critical decisions about our continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, A Path Out of the Desert is guaranteed to stimulate debate about America's humanitarian, diplomatic, and military involvement in the Middle East. Click the book cover to read more. Fighting Words A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism by Ben J. Wattenberg July 2008, Thomas Dunne How did a nice, liberal Jewish boy from the Bronx come to be called a conservative? Ben J. Wattenberg has been at the center of American ideas and events since 1966, when he became a speechwriter for and aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson. Recruited out of the blue, Wattenberg worked closely with press secretary Bill Moyers and immersed himself in the world of high-powered Democratic strategy making. Eventually he served as an adviser to two Democratic presidential candidates and in the 1970s helped write the Democratic National Platform. But something funny happened on the way to the Great Society: Key players in the Democratic Party moved to the far left. Wattenberg was not happy with this situation, so he helped establish the Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM) and became one of the most outspoken voices in the so-called neo-con movement. Neo-conservatism, with its signature cause of promoting liberty around the world, is a philosophy often misunderstood, and the phrase neo-con is used frequently as an insult by those who fail to understand the concept. Wattenberg traces the emergence of the movement from its earliest roots among Cold War thinkers such as Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz and from among the ashes of pre-radical liberalism of the early 1960s, to ideological giants Scoop Jackson and Pat Moynihan, to Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Ronald Reagan. The author also discusses the proliferation of neo-con "think tanks," such as the American Enterprise Institute, as well as the surprising appearance of a neo-conservative platform in George W. Bush's administration, in which a number of Wattenberg's prot�g�s have played key roles. With his characteristic wit and on-target observations, the author recounts personal anecdotes featuring a rich cast of characters from Johnson to Reverend Jesse Jackson to Rudolph Giulani, as well as many others. Never lacking for opinions---he calls himself the "immoderator" of PBS's Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg---the author is here to set the record straight, and as the New York Times has said, "Wattenberg has the annoying habit of being right." Replete with stories never told before, Fighting Words is Wattenberg's firsthand account of the remarkable transformation of American politics over the last four decades. Click the book cover to read more. AUGUST 2008 BOOKS ASK FOR A CONVERTIBLE STORIES BY DANIT BROWN August 2008, Pantheon It is not easy for 13 year old Osnat Greenberg to fit in. Ann Arbor is nothing like Tel Aviv, and mid-eighties America is not what was expected. This is a collection of interconnected stories in which we first meet Osnat in middle school, when she moves to Michigan with her American father, Marvin, and Israeli mother, Efi. The book follows her for 20 years as she gets pulled to Israel and America. We meet Harriet, who holds her breath to practice for the next gas chamber; we meet people at temple lunches; there is Jeannie, who is ready to move to Israel to prove that sabra men are better at sex; and sven a second Marvin Greenberg. Click the book cover to read more. THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR ALL READING GROUPS AND MEMBERS OF HADASSAH. NO. SERIOUSLY EPILOGUE A MEMOIR BY ANNE ROIPHE August 2008, Harper Collins From the author of 1185 Park Avenue and Up The Sandbox, 13 other books, as well as all the great pieces in The Jerusalem Report. Comes a post widowhood memoir after 40 yrs of marriage. Wil she ever know another man so well as she did her husband? Will she ever hold hands at a movie or feel an arm across her banck? Will she remain untouched? Should she take a bottle of wine to her dinner date, a bottle that was purchased by her late husband? Why is she growing irritated by her self-absorbed friends? "Grief is in two parts," she writes. "First is loss. Then second is the remaking of life... This is a book about the second." Weaving between heartbreaking memories of her marriage and the pressing needs of her new day-to-day routine, Roiphe constructs an elegant literary pastiche, not of grief but of renewal. She begins her memoir just as the shock of her husband's death has begun to wear off and writes her way into the then unknown world of life after love. In beautifully wrought vignettes, Roiphe captures the infinite number of 'firsts' that lie ahead, from hailing a cab to locking and unlocking the door at night, to answering responses to a "singles ad" placed by her daughter. Click the book cover to read more. A Time to Every Purpose Letters to a Young Jew by JONATHAN D SARNA August 2008, Basic At the turn of the twenty-first century, the central question confronting Jewish leaders in America is simple: Why be Jewish? Jonathan D. Sarna, acclaimed scholar of American Judaism, believes that "Why be Jewish?" is the wrong question. Judaism, he believes, is not so much a "why" as a way-a way of life, a way of marking time, a way of relating to the environment, to human beings, to family, and to God. Judaism is experienced through doing-doing things Jewish, doing things for fellow Jews in need, doing things as a Jew to improve the state of the world. The more Judaism one does, the more one comes to appreciate what Judaism is. Using the Jewish calendar as his starting point (as in Jewish "Sacred Time", similar to the way George Wiegel wrote about Sacred Space), Sarna reflects on the major themes of Jewish life as expressed in a full year of holidays-from Passover in the spring to Purim eleven months later. Passover, for instance, yields a discussion of freedom; Shavuot, a discussion of Torah; Yom Kippur, the role of the individual within the Jewish community; Chanukah, issues of assimilation and anti-assimilation. An essential brief introduction-or reintroduction-to the major practices of Jewish life as well as the many complexities of the American Jewish experience, this book will be essential reading for American Jews and the perfect gift for the holiday season. It actually should be a letter to an AMERICAN JEW, since so many of the holidays take on special meanings in America. Passover is more poignant in America after the civil rights movement and ideas of American freedom, just as Hanukka has special meaning since Christmas is so big in North America. Sarna stresses how one must do Jewish and not just be Jewish, since Judaism is a religion of ACTION. Click the book cover to read more. How Beautiful It Is And How Easily It Can Be Broken Essays by Daniel Mendelsohn August 2008, Harper The title is from a stage direction in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, a drama about a fragile girl who is tragically in love with lovely breakable items. Like Greek theater, it combines beauty and tragedy, it is the potential for being broken, that illness and death will occur, that gives meaning to our lives. Mendelsohn is about confrontation and pain and not meldramatic, Hallmark-like mush. Mendelsohn opens with the Greek word "krino," which means to judge or arbitrate, or make judgements, or the power to judge and distinguish, and from which the words criterion, critic, criticize and even crisis are derived. This book is Fifteen years of essays or judgements by Mendelsohn, who easily mixes scholarship, erudition, tart wit, depth, and a conversational style as he discusses Pedro Almodovar, United 93, Troy, Brokeback Mountain, The Producers, Euripedes, Nathan Lane, Thucydides, 9/11 Movies, Pinter, Kill Bill, Angels in America, Lucia at the Met, Truman Capote, Middlesex by Eugenides and more. Segmented into 5 parts: Heroines, Heroics, Closets, Theater, and War. Click the book cover to read more. From Schlub to Stud How to Embrace Your Inner Mensch and Conquer the Big City by Max Gross August 2008, Skyhorse Knocked Up revealed that schlubs really can become studs-here's how! For years after college, Max Gross was a schlubby ne'er-do-well sporting an unwieldy Jewfro. He fought off double-chins and man-boobs. His style of dress was reminiscent of a stoned urban slacker. Young Max Gross truly was hapless in a big city. He was seemingly without luck or hope. He had bedbugs, a bad break-up, and an audit by the IRS that threatened to break his soul. But he had heart (as well as two nagging parents). When Gross saw the smash comedy Knocked Up, he realized his day might have arrived. All these years of being a world-class schlub would finally pay off. Thinking quickly, Gross wrote an article about the phenomenon and soon found true love. In this hilarious memoir-cum-guidebook, our curly-headed hero shares his story and offers suggestions on leaving home (the bedbugs and consequent breakup forced a move back to his parents' loving arms), losing weight (but not too much), dressing well, playing poker to fulfill the typical schlub obsession with being good at sports, and much more. Naturally, the quest to find the right woman is of critical importance, and Gross expounds on this thoroughly. Readers will come away from the book enlightened, informed, and laughing hysterically. Click the book cover to read more. Healing from Despair Choosing Wholeness in a Broken World by Elie Kaplan Spitz August 2008, Jewish Lights . Click the book cover to read more. Einstein Knew Physics, but he didn't know fashion. And as for politics... well... EINSTEIN ON ISRAEL His Provocative Ideas About The Middle East Crisis By Fred Jerome, Syracuse University August 2008, theeinsteinfile.com A collection of Einstein's essays, letters, and interviews on the Middle East, Zionism, and Israel. The CONTRADICT his image as a Pro-Zionist He was offered the Presidency of Israel, but Einstein was actually for a non religious state that would welcome Arabs and Jews. Click the book cover to read more. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A PROBLEM? BEING YOUNG AND ARAB IN AMERICA BY Dr. MOUSTAFA BAYOUMI, Brooklyn College August 2008, Penguin How are young Arabs making it in America, a country which sometimes views them as the enemy. The book introduces us to seven young Arab Americans living in Brooklyn: Rasha, Sami, Lina, Akram, Yasmin, Omar, and Rami. We meet Sami, an Arab American Christian, who navigates the minefield of associations the public has of Arabs as well as the expectations that Muslim Arab Americans have of him as a marine who fought in the Iraq war. And Rasha, who, along with her parents, sister, and brothers, was detained by the FBI in a New Jersey jail in early 2002. Without explanation, she and her family were released several months later. As drama of all kinds swirls around them, these young men and women strive for the very things the majority of young adults desire: opportunity, marriage, happiness, and the chance to fulfill their potential. But what they have now are lives that are less certain, and more difficult, than they ever could have imagined: workplace discrimination, warfare in their countries of origin, government surveillance, the disappearance of friends or family, threats of vigilante violence, and a host of other problems that thrive in the age of terror. And yet How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? takes the raw material of their struggle and weaves it into an unforgettable, and very American, story of promise and hope. In prose that is at once blunt and lyrical, Moustafa Bayoumi allows us to see the world as these men and women do, revealing a set of characters and a place that indelibly change the way we see the turbulent past and yet still hopeful future of this country.. Click the book cover to read more. Small Miracles of the Holocaust Extraordinary Coincidences of Faith, Hope, and Survival by Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal August 2008, The Lyons Press The Holocaust-perhaps the darkest period in human history-conjures up horrific images: death camps, torture, starvation, genocide on a grand scale. Yet there were some rays of light during this nightmarish time: inexplicable events in which human lives were spared, families were brought back together, and the human spirit and faith somehow endured-due to a chance occurrence at just the right moment. These uplifting twists of fate or "extraordinary coincidences," as they are known, have become the hallmark of the bestselling Small Miracles series, which has sold one and a half million copies over the last decade. In Small Miracles of the Holocaust-a magnificent hardcover work timed with the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht ("night of the broken glass")-authors Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal have collected over 50 remarkable Holocaust and post-Holocaust coincidences that defy the imagination and challenge credulity. Click the book cover to read more. The Holocaust by Bullets A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews by Father Patrick Desbois with a foreword by Paul A. Shapiro August 2008, Palgrave This modest Roman Catholic priest from Paris, without using much more than his calm voice and Roman collar, has shattered the silence surrounding a largely untold chapter of the Holocaust when Nazis killed 1.5 million Jews in Ukraine from 1941 to 1944." In this heart-wrenching book, Father Patrick Desbois documents the daunting task of identifying and examining all the sites where Jews were exterminated by Nazi mobile units in the Ukraine in WWII. Using innovative methodology, interviews, and ballistic evidence, he has determined the location of many mass gravesites with the goal of providing proper burials for the victims of the forgotten Ukrainian Holocaust. Compiling new archival material and many eye-witness accounts, Desbois has put together the first definitive account of one of history's bloodiest chapters. Deborah Lipstadt said of this book: "In Jewish tradition the greatest category of acts one can perform are those of 'loving kindness,' including taking care of the sick, welcoming the stranger, and sheltering the needy. The most treasured of these acts is taking care of the dead because, unlike the others, it cannot be reciprocated. Jewish tradition posits that it is then that the individual most closely emulates God's kindness to humans, which also cannot be reciprocated. Father Patrick Desbois has performed this act of loving kindness not for one person but for hundreds of thousands of people who were murdered in cold blood. He has done so despite the fact that many people would have preferred this story never to be uncovered and others doubted that it ever could be done. His contribution to history and to human memory, as chronicled in this important book, is immeasurable." Click the book cover to read more. Ambivalence Adventures in Israel and Palestine by Jonathan Garfinkel August 2008, Norton A memoir. With lofty ideals, spectacular ambivalence, and endearing naivet�, Canadian Jonathan Garfinkel explores Israel and Palestine by talking to ordinary people. Jonathan Garfinkel can't make up his mind-not about his girlfriend, or Judaism, or Israel. After hearing about a house in Jerusalem where Jews and Arabs coexist in peace, he decides it's time to venture there. In Israel, nothing is as he imagined it, and nothing is as he was taught. Garfinkel gives us the people behind the headlines: from secret assignations with Palestinian activists and an uninvited visit at an Arab refugee camp to Passover with Orthodox Jewish friends and finding the truth about the mythic coexistence house, Ambivalence is the provocative, surreal, and often hilarious chronicle of his travels. In this part memoir and part quest, Garfinkel struggles with the growing divisions in a troubled region and with the divide in his soul. Click the book cover to read more. Israel, Palestine and Terror Edited by Stephen Law August 2008, Continuum This book brings together the thoughts of 15 philosophers on one the Middle East. As we begin to realize the extent to which terrorism and the Israel/Palestine conflict--and the ways in which we handle them--are likely to determine the shaping of the West of the future, this short and accessible book introduces all the key issues from a philosophical perspective. Introduced by Stephen Law, Israel, Palestine and Terror presents an overview of a topical debate. It presents a range of political and philosophical views and perspectives to illuminate this contentious issue. Contributors include such leading Israel lovers as Noam Chomsky. Click the book cover to read more. The Wedding That Saved a Town by Yale Strom. Illustrated by Jenya Prosmitsky August 2008, Kar-Ben . Click the book cover to read more. The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague Now in PAPERBACK by Yudl Rosenberg (Author), Curt Leviant (Translator) August 2008, Yale This collection of interrelated stories about a sixteenth-century Prague rabbi and the golem he created became an immediate bestseller upon its publication in 1909. So widely popular and influential was Yudl Rosenberg's book, it is no exaggeration to claim that the author transformed the centuries-old understanding of the creature of clay and single-handedly created the myth of the golem as protector of the Jewish people during times of persecution. In addition to translating Rosenberg's classic golem story into English for the first time, Curt Leviant also offers an introduction in which he sets Rosenberg's writing in historical context and discusses the golem legend before and after Rosenberg's contributions. Generous annotations are provided for the curious reader. The book is full of adventures, surprises, romance, suspense, mysticism, Jewish pride, and storytelling at its best. The Chief Rabbi of Prague, known as the Maharal, brings the golem Yossele to life to help the Jews fight false accusations of ritual murder-the infamous blood libel. More human, more capable, and more reliable as a protector than any golem imagined before, Rosenberg's Golem irrevocably changed one of the most widely influential icons of Jewish folklore. Click the book cover to read more. THE BAGEL THE SURPRISE HISTORY OF A MODEST BREAD BY AMRIA BALINSKA August 2008, Yale A charming history of the Bagel, from 17th Century Poland's defeat of the Turks (1683) to Yiddish revivals to the Bagel Bakers Local union in NYC to American freezers. Click the book cover to read more. Surprised by God How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion by Danya Ruttenberg August 2008, Beacon A combat-booted religious awakening and a look at what it takes to develop a spiritual practice. At thirteen, Danya Ruttenberg decided that she was an atheist. Watching the sea of adults standing up and sitting down at Rosh Hashanah services, and apparently giving credence to the patently absurd truth-claims of the prayer book, she came to a conclusion: Marx was right. But as a young adult immersed in the rhinestone-bedazzled wonderland of late-1990s San Francisco, she found herself yearning for something she would eventually call God. And taking that yearning seriously, she came to find, would require much of her. Surprised by God is the memoir of a young woman's spiritual awakening and eventual path to the rabbinate. It's a post-dotcom, third-wave, punk-rock Seven Storey Mountain-the story of integrating life on the edge of the twenty-first century into the discipline of traditional Judaism without sacrificing either. It's also a map through the hostile territory of the inner life, an unflinchingly honest guide to the kind of work that goes into developing a spiritual practice in today's world-and why, perhaps, doing this in today's world requires more work than it ever has. Click the book cover to read more. SEPTEMBER 2008 BOOKS INDIGNATION by PHILIP ROTH September 16, 2008, Houghton Mifflin Against the backdrop of the Korean War, a young man faces life's unimagined chances and terrifying consequences. It is 1951 in America, the second year of the Korean War. A studious, law-abiding, intense youngster from Newark, New Jersey, Marcus Messner, is beginning his sophomore year on the pastoral, conservative campus of Ohio's Winesburg College. And why is he there and not at the local college in Newark where he originally enrolled? Because his father, the sturdy, hard-working neighborhood butcher, seems to have gone mad -- mad with fear and apprehension of the dangers of adult life, the dangers of the world, the dangers he sees in every corner for his beloved boy. As the long-suffering, desperately harassed mother tells her son, the father's fear arises from love and pride. Perhaps, but it produces too much anger in Marcus for him to endure living with his parents any longer. He leaves them and, far from Newark, in the midwestern college, has to find his way amid the customs and constrictions of another American world. Indignation, Philip Roth's twenty-ninth book, is a story of inexperience, foolishness, intellectual resistance, sexual discovery, courage, and error. It is a story told with all the inventive energy and wit Roth has at his command, at once a startling departure from the haunted narratives of old age and experience in his recent books and a powerful addition to his investigations of the impact of American history on the life of the vulnerable individual. Click the book cover to read more. I'd Bark But You Never Listen An Illustrated Guide to the Jewish Dog by Harold Kimmel Fall 2008, Red Rock Press From a top Hollywood humor writer comes this edgy collection of illustrated jokes revealing the innermost thoughts of independent-minded dogs. What marks the breed is a quirky mindset--given both to philosophical debate and picky pragmatism, not to mention personal pride: I'd fetch but it's embarrassing. The Jewish greyhound, foxhound or chosen mutt always has an excellent and very funny reason for leading his or her distinguished version of a dog's life. What makes a dog Jewish? A state of mind! The very funny mind of Hollywood comedy writer Harold Kimmel explores herein the loveable attitudes, neuroses and preferences of the Jewish dog. How does Kimmel know? Read this, and you'll know he knows. A dog doesn't have to be born Jewish. He or she could develop a certain way of viewing the world by having a Jewish owner--not that Jewish dogs have owners. So, maybe all a dog needs is a friend in sniffing distance who once ate Bar Mitzvah leftovers. If your dog is contemplative, she's probably Jewish. If your dog is full-grown but greets you with mournful puppy eyes, chances are you're a disappointment to him. Canines of the faith love to eat, shop and snorkel. They like dog spas. It's true that Jewish dogs worry but they also know how to have a good time. Step into the world of Harold Kimmel's poodles, spainels, dalmations, terriers and pointers--and see for yourself. Click the book cover to read more. MALE FLIGHT A Man's Responsibility A Jewish Guide to Being a Son, a Partner in Marriage, a Father and a Community Leader by Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler September 2008, Jewish Lights FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE.... American Judaism has a boy problem. After several thousand years in which women were relegated to the sidelines of worship and community leadership, scholars and denominational leaders now say that women are significantly outnumbering men in numerous key segments of non-Orthodox Jewish community life. At the Reform movement's seminary, 60 percent of the rabbinical students and 84 percent of those studying to become cantors are female. Girls are outnumbering boys by as much as 2 to 1 among adolescents in youth group programs and summer camps, while women outnumber men at worship and in a variety of congregational leadership roles, according to the Union for Reform Judaism. The evidence is everywhere. At Temple Sinai in Sharon, nine of the 11 members of this year's confirmation class were girls.... "After bar mitzvah, the boys just drop out," said Sylvia Barack Fishman, a professor of contemporary Jewish life at Brandeis University and the coauthor of a study on "Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life," which was publicly released last week..... The Brandeis study argues that "men's decreased interest in Jews and Judaism walks hand in hand with apathy toward creating Jewish households and raising Jewish children." "Men need to be encouraged to come back into the synagogue," said Stuart M. Matlins, editor in chief of Jewish Lights Publishing. The Vermont-based publisher has a long list of women's studies books, but this fall is publishing a guide for Jewish men, and next spring is publishing a modern men's Torah commentary. "The welcoming of women into leadership positions is something I have worked very hard on, but we don't want to lose the men.".... "Perhaps one factor is that men are devaluing something that is done by women, while another factor may be that men have less free time then they did a generation ago, and they're choosing to use that free time for child-rearing and family activities," said Rabbi Joseph Meszler, of Temple Sinai of Sharon. Meszler, the author of the Jewish Lights book on men's responsibilities coming out this fall, is an advocate of giving men a time to talk apart from women. He has relaunched his synagogue's defunct brotherhood, held a men's barbecue, and started men's study groups. "We need to reintroduce men to the synagogue, but on their own terms," Meszler said "You have to define the problem in order to solve it," said Rabbi Susan Abramson of Temple Shalom Emeth in Burlington. Abramson, the longest-serving female rabbi in Massachusetts, is not shy about gender issues - she has authored what she says is the world's first comic book series with a female rabbi superhero, Rabbi Rocketpower - but she is now concerned about the role of men. "Two or three years ago there were hardly any men on the temple board or as committee chairs, and we had a discussion that we need to get some men represented in the top layer of the synagogue, so we've brought them back," she said..... IN THIS BOOK, Rabbi Meszler explains how the Jewish man should be as a father, a son, a marriage partner (not a husband), and a community and synagogue leader. . Click the book cover to read more. RESURRECTING HEBREW BY ILAN STAVANS September 2008, Schocken Here is the stirring story of how Hebrew was rescued from the fate of a dead language to become the living tongue of a modern nation. Ilan Stavans's quest begins with a dream featuring a beautiful woman speaking an unknown language. When the language turns out to be Hebrew, a friend diagnoses "language withdrawal," and Stavans sets out in search of his own forgotten Hebrew as well as the man who helped revive the language at the end of the nineteenth century, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. The search for Ben-Yehuda, who raised his eldest son in linguistic isolation-not even allowing him to hear the songs of birds-so that he would be "the first Hebrew-speaking child," becomes a journey full of paradox. It was Orthodox anti-Zionists who had Ben-Yehuda arrested for sedition, and, although Ben-Yehuda was devoted to Jewish life in Palestine, it was in Manhattan that he worked on his great dictionary of the Hebrew language. The resurrection of Hebrew raises urgent questions about the role language plays in Jewish survival, questions that lead Stavans not merely into the roots of modern Hebrew but into the origins of Israel itself. All the tensions between the Diaspora and the idea of a promised land pulse beneath the surface of Stavans's story, which is a fascinating biography as well as a moving personal journey. Click the book cover to read more. Jewish Dharma A Guide to the Practice of Judaism and Zen by Brenda Shoshanna, Ph.D. September 2008, De Capo Lifelong Books like the Jew in the Lotus have helped to define the intersection of Jewish and Zen experience and custom. Now, in the first guide to the practice of both Judaism and Zen, Dr. Brenda Shoshanna, raised as an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn, a long-time practitioner and student of both, shares her insights with over one million people who identify as "JuBus," as well as Jews, Zen students, non-Jews, and everyone in the interfaith community who seeks understanding, meaning, and a life grounded in these authentic faiths. Each chapter of Jewish Dharma focuses on common issues that introduce disorder to our lives, using personal narrative, parables, quotations from both Jewish and Zen scriptures, anecdotes, and exercises. Specific guidelines and exercises help readers integrate both practices into their everyday lives-and thereby gain deeper understanding and happiness. Click the book cover to read more. Timeout Sports Stories as a Game Plan for Spiritual Success by Dov Moshe Lipman September 2008, Devora Positive Torah lessons for sports fans Click the book cover to read more. Whither Thou Goest The Jewish In-law's Survival Guide by Sorah Shapiro Fall 2008, Devora Here are successful strategies for surviving In-Laws and as an In-Law. Explores the most common points of friction between In-Laws, how to avoid them and how to overcome them. Includes 10 Tips For Getting Along With Your In-Laws and words of advice and solace from psychologists, lawyers, rabbis, and those with years of In-Law experience. If you're married you probably need this book. Click the book cover to read more. Why Faith Matters by Rabbi David J. Wolpe September 2008, HarperCollins Named the #1 Rabbi in America by Newsweek magazine, David Wolpe is the Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California, where he is a prolific leader, thinker, teacher, and author, but as a pulpit rabbi, he also has to remind congregants to not crowd the kiddush tables. He has also personally known illnesses. Previously he taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, The American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hunter College, and he currently teaches at UCLA. Rabbi Wolpe writes for many publications, including regular columns for the New York Jewish Week, beliefnet.com, as well as periodic contributions to the Jerusalem Post, The Los Angeles Times, and many others. He is an ethics columnist for Campaigns and Elections Magazine and a monthly book columnist for L.A. Jewish Journal. He has been on television numerous times, featured in series on PBS, A&E, as well as serving as a commentator on CNN and CBS This Morning. Rabbi Wolpe is the author of seven books, including the national bestseller Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times. Why Faith Matters is a personal faith journey and response to the new atheists. Faith traditions do not offer easy answers. It is not the opiate of simple minded people. Religion allows seekers and adherents to ask deeply challenging questions... Click the book cover to read more. A Jewish Woman's Prayer Book by Aliza Lavie, PhD, Bar Ilan University Late Summer 2008, Spiegel und Grau On the eve of Yom Kippur in 2002, Aliza Lavie, a university professor, read an interview with an Israeli woman who had lost both her mother and her baby daughter in a terrorist attack. As she stood in the synagogue later that evening, Lavie searched for comfort for the bereaved woman, for a reminder that she was not alone but part of a great tradition of Jewish women who have responded to unbearable loss with strength and fortitude. Unable to find sufficient solace within the traditional prayer book and inspired by the memory of her own grandmother's steadfast knowledge and faith, she began researching and compiling prayers written for and by Jewish women. The Jewish Woman's Prayer Book is the result-a beautiful and moving one-of-a-kind collection that draws from a variety of Jewish traditions, through the ages, to commemorate every occasion and every passage in the cycle of life-from the mundane to the extraordinary. This elegant, inspiring volume includes special prayers for the Sabbath and holidays and important dates of the Jewish year, prayers to mark celebratory milestones, such as bat mitzvah, marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth; and prayers for comfort and understanding in times of tragedy and loss. Each prayer is presented in Hebrew and in an English translation, along with fascinating commentary on its origins and allusions. Culled from a wide range of sources, both geographically and historically, this collection testifies that women's prayers were-and continue to be-an inspired expression of personal supplication and desire. Click the book cover to read more. Contemporary Israel Domestic Politics, Foreign Policy, and Security Challenges by Robert O Freedman, Baltimore Hebrew University September 2008, Westview Since its formation in 1948, and particularly since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin in 1995, Israel has experienced turbulent political change and numerous ongoing security challenges, including major party splits, collapsed peace talks with the Palestinians and Syria, nuclear threats from Iran, and even the specter of civil war as Israel withdrew from Gaza. This essential survey brings together Israeli and American scholars to provide a much-needed balanced introduction to Israel's domestic politics and foreign policy. Experts tackle this difficult subject in three parts: domestic politics, foreign policy challenges, and strategic challenges. Domestic topics include the Israeli Right and Left; religious, Russian, and Arab parties; the Supreme Court; and the economy. Part two discusses Israel's complicated and often fractious relationships with the Palestinians and the Arab world, as well as its improved relations with Turkey and India and continuing close relationship with the United States. Israel's second Lebanon war and existential threats to Israel, including the threat from Iran, are detailed in part three. This compelling and authoritative coverage provides students with the necessary framework to understand Israel's political past and present, as well as the direction it is likely to take in the future. Click the book cover to read more. From Krakow to Krypton Jews and Comic Books by Arie Kaplan September 2008, JPS Jews created the first comic book, the first graphic novel, the first comic book convention, the first comic book specialty store, and they helped create the underground comics (or "Comix") movement of the late '60s and early '70s. Many of the creators of the most famous comic books, such as Superman, Spiderman, X-Men, and Batman, as well as the founders of MAD Magazine, were Jewish. From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books tells their stories and demonstrates how they brought a uniquely Jewish perspective to their work and to the comics industry as a whole. Over-sized and in full color, From Krakow to Krypton is filled with sidebars, cartoon bubbles, comic book graphics, original design sketches, and photographs. It is a visually stunning and exhilarating history. Click the book cover to read more. See Also: Disguised As Clark Kent Jews, Comics, And the Creation of the Superhero by Danny Fingeroth (Author), Stan Lee (Foreword) Backstabbing for Beginners My Crash Course in International Diplomacy by Michael Soussan September 2008, Nation Not a Jewish Book, but interesting. The year is 1997, Michael Soussan, a fresh-faced young graduate takes up a new job at the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food Program, the largest humanitarian operation in the organization's history. His mission is to help Iraqi civilians survive the devastating impact of economic sanctions that were imposed following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. As a gaffe-prone novice in a world of sensitive taboos, Soussan struggles to negotiate the increasing paranoia of his incomprehensible boss and the inner workings of one of the world's notoriously complex bureaucracies. But as he learns more about the vast sums of money flowing through the program, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems. Soussan becomes aware that Saddam Hussein is extracting illegal kickbacks, a discovery that sets him on a collision course with the organization's leadership. On March 8, 2004, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed editorial, Soussan becomes the first insider to call for "an independent investigation" of the U.N.'s dealings with Saddam Hussein. One week later, a humiliated Kofi Annan appointed Paul Volcker to lead a team of sixty international investigators, whose findings resulted in hundreds of prosecutions in multiple countries, many of which are still ongoing. Backstabbing for Beginners is at once a witty tale of one man's political coming of age, and a stinging indictment of the hypocrisy that prevailed at the heart of one of the world's most idealistic institutions. Click the book cover to read more.