FALL 2002 RECOMMENDED JEWISH BOOKS

FALL BOOK READINGS

Sept 09, 2002: Daniel Asa Rose will be reading from the paperback edition of "HIDING PLACES: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust" (Three Rivers Press) at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South (20th Street off Park Avenue South) at 6 p.m
Sept 09, 2002: Stephen Lewis reads HOTEL KID: A TIMES SQUARE CHILDHOOD NYC Astor Place B&N
Sept 09, 2002: And God Cried, Too: A Kid's Book of Healing and Hope read by Rabbi Marc Gellman B&N Jenkintown PA
Sept 10, 2002: Mindy Ribner displays KABBALAH MONTH BY MONTH Livingston NJ B&N
Sept 12, 2002: Jewish Tales of Mystic Joy read by Yitzhak Buxbaum NYC Bayside NY B&N
Sept 17, 2002: ABRAHAM read by Bruce Feiler. NYC Union Square B&N
Sept 18, 2002: Harem read by Dora Levy Mossanen B&N Santa Monica CA

September 18, 2002: Night of the Murdered Poets: A Memorial. The National Yiddish Book Center and the Eldridge Street Project collaborate in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the execution by Stalin's secret police of thirteen Jewish writers 12 Eldridge Street, New York, NY. call 212 219-0903. 6:00 p.m.

Sept 19, 2002: Golden Land: The Story of Jewish Migration to America read by Joseph Telushkin NYC 82nd and Bway B&N
Sept 24, 2002: The New Rabbi: A Congregation Searches for Its Leader read by Stephen Fried NYC 82nd and Bway B&N

September 25-29, 2002: New York is Book Country, New York City

Sept 26, 2002: And God Cried, Too: A Kid's Book of Healing and Hope read by Rabbi Marc Gellman B&N Deerfield IL
Sept 26, 2002: The New Rabbi: A Congregation Searches for Its Leader read by Stephen Fried 18th and Walnut Philadelphia B&N

Sep 26, 2002: The Isralei poet Ronny Someck (The Fire Stays In Red) will read at JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St, 8 PM
Sept 26, 2002: Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy read by Jane Leavy B&N Park Slope Brooklyn NY
Sept 26, 2002: Arab and Israeli poets: Taha Muhammad Ali and Aharon Shabtai, speak at UNC Asheville NC.
Sept 27, 2002: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt.3w read by Gabriel Brownstein B&N 82nd and Bway NYC
Sept 27, 2002: Riding the Bus with My Sister read by Rachel Simon B&N Princeton NJ
Sept 29, 2002: Longitudes and Attitudes read by NYT Columnist Thomas L Friedman B&N Bethesda MD

Sept 30, 2002: Summerland: A Novel read by Michael Chabon B&N Burlington MA

Oct 1, 2002: Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument between Two Great Philosophers read by David Edmonds and John Eidinow B&N 82nd and Bway NYC
Oct 1, 2002: Arab and Israeli poets: Taha Muhammad Ali and Aharon Shabtai, speak at SUNY Albany.
Oct 1, 2002: In Her Shoes read by Jennifer Weiner B&N Lincoln Center - NYC
Oct 2, 2002: Summerland: A Novel read by Michael Chabon B&N 82nd and Bway NYC
Oct 3, 2002: Arab and Israeli poets: Taha Muhammad Ali and Aharon Shabtai, speak at University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Oct 7, 2002: A Shtetl Under Two Moons: Kazimierz on the Vistula in Yiddish and Polish Literature. YIVO, NYC 7 P.M.
Oct 7, 2002: Finding God in the Garden: Backyard Reflections on Life,Love,and Compost read by Rabbi Balfour Brickner B&N 82nd and Bway NYC
Oct 9, 2002: JCC Rough Cut: Writers on the Edge. KGB Bar. 85 E 4th St NYC. 7:30 PM featuring Sandi Wisenberg and Lauren Grodstein Wisenberg (The Sweetheart Is In; Holocaust Girls)
Oct 10, 2002: And God Cried, Too: A Kid's Book of Healing and Hope read by Rabbi Marc Gellman B&N Huntington NY
Oct 13, 2002: Professor Tikva Frymer-Kensky speaks at Anshe Emes(Chicago) on her book “Reading The Women of the Bible (July 2002)” (See Summer 2002 pages)

Oct 16, 2002. 8:00 PM JCC-Manhattan. Letty Cottin Pogrebin reads from her work of fiction “Three Daughters”. (Three Daughters; Ms) with editor Susan Weidman Schneider (Lilith)
Oct 17, 2002: A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis read by David Rieff B&N Astor Pl NYC
Oct 17, 2002: Summerland: A Novel read by Michael Chabon B&N Edina MN

Oct 18, 2002: Autograph Man read by Zaide Smith B&N Union Sq NYC

Oct 19, 2002: RABBIS. Photos of Geroge Kalinsky, speaks at NORTHSHIRE Books in Manchester Vermont

Oct 22, 2002: Alan King's Great Jewish Joke Book , signing by Alan King B&N 5th and 48th, 12 Noon NYC
Oct 22, 2002: Lost Souls: Finding Hope in the Heart of Darkness read by Rabbi Niles Elliot Goldstein B&N Astor Place NYC

October 23rd. 2002: Great Jewish Books at Symphony Space. Leading Broadway actors read selections from Tevye the Dairyman and The Pagan Rabbi, two books on the National Yiddish Book Center's list of the 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature. call 212 864-1414. 8:00 p.m.

Oct 23, 2002: Lost Souls: Finding Hope in the Heart of Darkness read by Rabbi Niles Elliot Goldstein B&N Brooklyn NYC
Oct 30, 2002: Blues in The Night, read by Rochelle Krich B&N Encino CA

Nov 5, 2002: Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg at The Center for Jewish History, NYC, 8 PM
Nov 7, 2002: Leonard Nimoy (former Yiddish actor, Spock, photographer, poet) at B&N, 81st/Bway, NYC, 7 PM
Nov 8, 2002: Leonard Nimoy and his “Shekhina” photos at ICP/43rd, NYC, 6 PM
Nov 10, 2002: George Salton, author of The 23rd Psalm reads at the NY Museum of Jewish Heritage, 2pm
Nov 12, 2002: Leonard Nimoy and his “Shekhina” photos at HUC, 4th St, NYC, 6 PM
Nov 12, 2002: The Meaning of America in the Autobiography of Ab. Cahan. YIVO, NYC 7 P.M.
Nov 13, 2002: JCC Rough Cut: Writers on the Edge. KGB Bar. 85 E 4th St NYC. 7:30 PM featuring Gabriel Brownstein (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Jill Bialosky (House Under Snow)
Nov 20, 2002: Jeffrey Nathan prepares from Adventures in Jewish Cooking, B&N Livingston NJ, 7:30 P.M.
Nov 20, 2002: Bruce Feiler signs ABRAHAM, B&N Alpharetta GA, 12 Noon
Nov 21, 2002: George Kalinsky and Rabbi Potasnik discuss George’s book. RABBIS, B&N Court Street Brooklyn NY, 7 P.M.
Nov 24, 2002: Debra Mostow Zakarin reads “Happening Hanukkah” 116 N Roberston LA 11:30 AM Los Angeles
Nov 24, 2002: Rochelle Krich reads “Blues in the Night” 14564 Hawes St, Whittier CA 10AM
Nov 25, 2002: Elie Wiesel reads from After The Darkness. National Press Club, Washington DC 12:30 PM.
Nov 26, 2002: George Kalinsky discuss his photography book. RABBIS, B&N Manhasset NY, 8 P.M.
Nov 27, 2002: Letty Cottin Pogrebin reads from her novel, Three Daughters, B&N 82nd/Bway NYC 7:30 PM
Nov 27, 2002: George Kalinsky discuss his photography book. RABBIS, B&N Manhasset NY, 8 P.M.

Dec 1, 2002: Faye Moskowitz reads “Peace in the House: Tales From a Yiddish Kitchen. Politics and Prose, Washington DC 6:30 PM
Dec 2, 2002: Lev Schreiber (who bought the film rights) reads from J. Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated at Symphony Space, 2537 Bway, NYC, 7 PM.
Dec 11, 2002: JCC Rough Cut: Writers on the Edge. KGB Bar. 85 E 4th St NYC. 7:30 PM featuring Dara Horn (In the Image) and Nelly Reifler (See Through)




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ACROSS THE SABBATH RIVER. IN SEARCH OF A LOST TRIBE OF ISRAEL
by Hillel Halkin
August 2002. Houghton Mifflin. First, before starting this book, I recommend that you take a look at his two page guide to pronunciation, to better understand the Hebrew, Mizo, Thado, and Burmese words. Halkin, the well known translator of Hebrew books, posits that a little-known ethnic group living along the Indian-Burmese border is descended from the ancient Jewish tribe of Manasseh. The fate of the ten lost tribes of Israel has haunted Jewish and Christian imaginations throughout the ages. Hillel Halkin has long been intrigued by the subject. And why not? Many American Jews of a certain age dreamed of an aboriginal, strong, warrior Jew, the type who could win fistfights on the way to and from junior high school. And so, with some cash from Tina Brown’s The New Yorker magazine, Halkin embarked on a journey. In 1998, he accompanied a Jerusalem rabbi and dedicated lost-tribes hunter to China, Thailand, and northeast India, where the rabbi hoped to discover traces of the lost tribes. None were found, and Halkin went with a very healthy dose of skepticism. Most would look at Rabbi Eliahu Avichail as a well meaning crackpot. Whatever the Rabbi is, he makes for an interesting story, having traveled to Marranos in Portugal, Karens in Burma, Tatars in Dagestan, Kananites in Kerala, and “Indians” in Manipur and Mizoram. The book captures your tantalizing interest from its first paragraph; the Sabbath is approaching as Halkin and the rabbi are searching out the non-Chinese Chiang’s in Western Szechuan. After a variety of these adventures and misadventures, Halkin returned several times to the Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram. Are these people the victims of a mass cultural delusion, having accepted a myth to promote and reinforce their distinct cultural identity? Or are the actually descendants of some Bnai Menashe? Halkin became convinced that a little-known ethnic group, the Kuki-Chin-Mizo, living along the Indian-Burmese border is descended from the ancient biblical tribe of Manasseh. He isn’t a scholar, linguist, or ethnographer, but neither am I, and the story is still fascinating. Why do they have a song about crossing the Red Sea while living in Northeast India, a song they have sung prior to any missionaries showing up? Why do they have a god named Yah(za), a history of brit milah on the eighth day after birth, a Spring festival of unleavened bread (among rice eaters), and the use of the word “selah” (noch einmal)? One or two similar words do not make a linkage, but are they any less Jewish than someone who makes aliyah from the former USSR? These “Bnai Menashe” people became aware of their “jewish roots” when Christians tried to convert them in the 1950’s, and they read the bible and noticed so many similarities between their native religion and the Jewish rituals and biblical history. Halkin interweaves the biblical and historical background of this centuries-old quest with a captivating account of his own adventures. Piece by piece, as in a tantalizing detective story, he amasses the evidence that finally persuades him that he has demonstrated-for the first time in history-the existence of a living remnant of a biblical lost tribe, a control group.





STAYING ALIVE. A FAMILY MEMOIR
by JANET REIBSTEIN
September 2002. Three sisters, Janet’s two aunts and her mother (Mary, Fannie and Regina), succumbed to breast cancer, a scourge, a curse among Jewish women. Janet, a psychotherapist, elected to have her breasts removed to avert this genetic possibility, to be free of the curse. Would her cousins follow suit? The author is beyond breasts, a source of maternal bliss and sexual ecstasy, a psychic breakthrough for some women and their husbands and lovers. Some memoirs count time by marriages, births, and deaths. This book, counts time by illnesses. The achievement of this book is a remarkable study of illness, life, and dignity. Click to read more.







SHEKHINA
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LEONARD NIMOY
Fall 2002. Umbrage. 71 Year old Actor, Director, Yiddish speaker, singer, poet, and Philanthropist, Leonard Nimoy, has taken pictures to inquire into and capture the feminine side of god. Nimoy writes: Shekhina/ Pray for us now/ bound with scripture and shielded with shawl/ Armed with passion/ And loving care/ Pray for us now/ against suffering, turmoil, and injustice/ Pray for us now/ against the chaos of the dark/ This is his personal meditation and coffee table book of nude female photos; it is sexual desire and spiritual aspiration. It is filled with lots of Shins (both the calf and the Hebrew letter). Facing each photo is a quote from Jewish sources. Hmm… a unique book, but for me, it does not capture the spirituality or sensuality as much as I had expected. Click to read more and judge for yourself.









SUMMERLAND
a novel
by Michael Chabon.
September 17, 2002. Talk/Mir-A-Max Books. On the night of September 16th, we will break our Yom Kippur fasts, and on the morning of September 17th, having survived and having been hopefully written in the Book of Life for another year, we shall purchase Michael Chabon’s newest novel (bring back the Nathan stories, hehe). In Chabon’s first published books for children of all ages, this father of three creates a vivid fantasy world where baseball is king. Ethan Feld, age 11, and his father, a designer of blimps move to Clam Island, Wash, after Ethan’s mother dies. Clam Island (he lives on clams, he doesn’t eat treyf) is known for its almost constant rain, save for an area on its westernmost tip called Summerland by the locals which "knew a June, July and August that were perfectly dry and sunshiny." In the westernmost tip, Summerland, Ethan struggles to play baseball for the Ruth's Fluff and Fold Roosters. He isn’t any good. But who shows up? A mystical baseball scout (can 100 year old, Negro Leaguer, Ringfinger Brown, be Elijah the Prophet?). The scout recruits Ethan and escorts him through a gateway to a series of interconnected worlds that are home to magical creatures called ferishers (cousins to Suffolk Fairies, I suppose) and an evil, shape-changing overlord called Coyote. Ethan and two of his fellow teammates soon accept a mission to save these other worlds (plus the one they live in) from ultimate destruction at Coyote's hand. When his father's well-being is also threatened, Ethan's quest becomes all the more urgent. To succeed, Ethan and his friends must find a way to beat giants, ferishers and others in a series of games where striking out truly has apocalyptic implications.









Gossip:
Ten Pathways to Eliminate It from Your Life and Transform Your Soul
by Lori Palatnik, Bob Burg
September 2002. Simcha Press. Gossip is like a fired bullet-once you hear the sound, you can't take it back Evil speech can destroy friendships, break up marriages and ruin businesses. Gossip-negative talk, put-downs, rumors, accusations-not only hurts the person being talked about, it also hurts the person speaking and the person listening. In short, gossip has a negative impact on everyone. Yet, despite these negative consequences, gossip has been around since the beginning of humankind and continues to be a popular but destructive pastime. Throughout this timely and enjoyable book, you'll learn what the Bible and Jewish wisdom have to say regarding speech and how their teachings relate to our world today.









The Fourth Commandment:
Remember the Sabbath Day
by Francine Klagsbrun
September 17, 2002. The Fourth Commandment, a contemporary look at a cornerstone of Jewish life, explores the Sabbath’s origins and purpose, its basis in Jewish texts and traditions, and its meaning for the hurried lives we live today. Even people who have long observed the Sabbath will discover facets they know little about. Beautiful and evocative, the book takes readers on a journey into understanding this sacred day in its many manifestations. Acclaimed writer and lecturer Francine Klagsbrun draws on her extensive knowledge of Judaism and personal experience in applying the profound lessons of the Sabbath to life today. Using the Bible, Talmud, Kabbalah, commentaries, and legends, she probes such questions as “What does Sabbath rest entail?” “How do we let go of our work mentally and strive for holiness?” and “What does the Sabbath teach us about our relationship to nature and the environment?” She also examines the Sabbath from a female perspective, raising challenging questions about women’s roles in relation to it. With warmth and erudition, she explains the “dos” and “don’ts” surrounding the Sabbath, the symbols of the Sabbath table, and the highlights of the day. She began this project after the death of her parents; her mother’s last conscious act was the welcome the Sabbath queen, the shekhina, by kindling the Sabbath candles. Click the book cover to read more extensive reviews.









THE TWO O’CLOCK WAR:
The 1973 Yom Kippur Conflict and the Airlift That Saved Israel
by Walter J. Boyne, Retired Colonel USAF, Former Director of Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
September 20, 2002. St Martins Press. The story of why contingency plans are important to have and maintain. The US Air Force saved Israel in 1973. After attacks by Syria and Egypt against Israel, Nixon ordered a massive resupply effort using C-141’s and C-5’s. And this was during America’s war in Vietnam, and its face-off with the Iron Curtain. The resupply allowed Israel to achieve a victory. At one point, Nixon ordered the Strategic Air Command to Def-Con Level III, causing the Soviet Politburo to a debate of an utmost extreme.









THE ADVENTURES IN JEWISH COOKING
Companion to the PBS series, “New Jewish Cuisine”
by Jeffrey Nathan, Executive Chef of Abigael’s, 14 years at “New Deal,” and Executive Chef for Hain’s Celestial Group’s Kineret Kosher’s Chef Jeff Creations line of products. Former dishwasher and Navy cook.
September 10, 2002. What is it? Chopped Liver? You bet it is! Jeffrey Nathan. Is he a son of another great Jewish chef and author, Joan Nathan? Nope, his mom is Harriet Nathan. Jeffrey Nathan. The executive chef at New York City’s top kosher restaurant, Abigael’s. You mean the chef isn’t a woman named Abigael? Nope. Jeffrey Nathan. What does a former Navy cook know about kosher cooking? Plenty. Jeffrey Nathan. The most adventuresome, kosher celebrity chef? Yes! Growing up Jewish in an Italian neighborhood of Queens, NY, Nathan was exposed to unique dishes at home and at the neighbors. Having worked in kitchens since childhood, from Italian to Naval to Sephardic to “New Deal” wild-game, he knows a lot, and this CIA grad imparts it to the reader in breezy, interesting, chatty prose. Each recipe is tagged as Meat, Dairy, or Pareve, and is preceded by a few sentences about how it recipe was conceived. Highlights include: A chopped liver in which the onions are browned in brandy (a secret to using a food processor is taught); a Vegetarian Chopped Liver using apples and corn flakes in addition to the familiar green beans; and Latin American Cerviche, a Passover alternative to gefilte fish that uses salmon and red snapper cut on a bias and served with a crunchy salsa salad that incorporates matzo with mango, jalapeno, peppers, citrus, and tomatoes.
Speaking of gefilte fish, try the Gefilte Fish Terrine with Carrots and Beet Salads. Familiar with lox and cream cheese? Try his Smoked Salmon Cheesecake with a bit of roasted pepper vinaigrette (he explains how to roast the peppers). There are recipes for 16 soups and stocks, including, of course, a classic Chicken Soup, as well as a miso variation, and a Sephardic variation with Sofrito and Saffron. Tired of chickens? Try Salmon Corn Chowder or his (dairy) Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Do salads bore you? Among his 14 salads are Abigael’s House Salad with crunchy greens, almonds, and roasted Garlic (a lesson on roasting garlic); a Hungarian Slaw, an Asian Two Cabbage Slaw (napa and red) with soy and sesame oil; and a Challah Panzanella Salad, inspired by the day old Tuscan bread salads and pita based fattoush.
What? No Brisket? Of course, there is. Try his herb and cilantro infused Latin Beef Brisket with Chimichurri, BBQ Vinaigrette, and Sweet Potatoes. Did I mention his Apple Cider Brisket (3 onions, 3 cups of cider, molasses and more)? His son’s trip to Peru and a love of cumin crusted steak led to the recipe for Peruvian Steak with Red Grapes and Onions. His Lamb with Ratatouille and a Balsamic “syrup” are inspired. Syrian Lemon Chicken Stew “vibrates” like he said it will (better than the one they serve at Esca). Nathan’s poultry recipes include those with Orange-Soy marinades, paprikash, preserved lemons, pojarski, Yemenite, and raisin and asian styles. A kosher Jambalaya? Yes, he makes it with turkey and veal sausage. Eleven fish recipes are included. Try the Falafel-Crusted Salmon, and the Jamaican Jerk Salmon. Vegetables? Yes, Jews eat vegetables. Try the savory hamantaschen with a vegetable based stuffing; a vegetarian chili; ginger applesauce; a Portobello fajita; wild mushroom kugel; and potato dumplings provencale. Among the nearly dozen pasta recipes is one for a spicy mac and cheese kugel with 3 peppers. Side dishes include a mango-date haroset; smoked trout and scallion mashed potatoes; root vegetable tzimmes; Yemenite curry rice; and string bean puttanesca (a Jewish puttanesca? Her mother has no nachas). Breads include a unique Bialy Loaf and Yemenite Skillet Breads. The book closes with sample menus, measurements, and several desserts, including Jewish standards and a Passover Banana Cake and a Banana Soufganiot pudding. Click to read more.







THE JOURNEY HOME. DISCOVERING THE DEEP SPIRITUAL WISDOM OF THE JEWISH TRADITION
by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman
August 2002. Beacon Press. An exploration of the Jewish relationship to God and questioning of human purpose. Rabbi Hoffman (HUC) redefines Judaism as the system of connectedness by which we make sense of our lives. This is an important book to read during ELUL.. you can learn to map your life, map your reality to find shape and direction to your existence. Marc Chagall’s Asher window adorns the book’s front cover, and draws you in. What you find inside is a map to authentic Jewish wisdom. Is Judaism merely ritual and tradition? Is a seder about going throught the written etxt and tastings? Where is the spirituality? Can the mystical be added back to the sacred, the sterile, and the mundane? And, readers, Rabbi Hoffman isn’t talking about Cabala and New Age bullshit in which popularizers use Cabalistic equations that are meaningless, that are jabberwocky to those not grounded in medieval Jewish thought. This is authenticity. Chapters include Returning Home-Jewish Integrity; followed by the Spirituality of Metaphor; Stewardship; Discovery; Landedness; Translation; Suffering; and Community









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Down a Sunny Dirt Road by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain, of the Berenstain Bears
September 24, 2002. Ages 9-12. Random House. The autobiography of the creators of the children’s classics: The Berenstain Bears. Once upon a time, in Mrs. Sweeney’s first year drawing class at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art, a “lantern-jawed exotic” named Stan admired the drawing of a brown-haired, blue-eyed girl named Janice . . . and it was kismet! It also heralded the birth of one of the great collaborations in all of children’s literature. This enormously readable account tells of the early years before they met, their courtship (briefly interrupted by World War II), married life, and their first fateful meeting with Theodor Seuss Geisel–the editor-in-chief and president of Beginner Books.









THE NEW RABBI
A CONGREGATION SEARCHES FOR ITS LEADER
by Stephen Fried
August 20, 2002. Who got Einstein Office at Princeton? Oops, I mean, Who got Rabbi Gerald Wolpe’s Office at Har Zion? If an “etrog is a lemon on steroids”, then this book is Paul Wilkes’ “And They Shall Be My People” on Viagra. HAR ZION is one of the most prestigious, innovative (scholar-in-residence) and famous Conservative Jewish synagogues on the East Coast of the US, nestled in suburban Philadelphia. With 1400 family membership units, a budget of $4 Million, and a highly rated Heder, the tenure of the famed Rabbi Gerald Wolpe is coming to an end (he is the father of the other Rabbi Wolpe’s in Orlando and Los Angeles). The synagogue has had only three rabbinical leaders in its nearly 80 years of existence. This is the exciting, and I mean excitingly juicy, story of how Congregation Har Zion chose their next rabbi (no, there is no Lashon Ha-Ra). But wait.. you get more. Not only is it the story of a congregation and its evolution, but it is the story of Rabbi Wolpe’s thirty years on the pulpit. It is also a story of Kaddish. The author became interested in the synagogue while saying Kaddish for his father, at the age of 40. And Rabbi Wolpe became interested in the rabbinate in response to his own father’s untimely death, when Wolpe was eleven years old, and his mother’s unrelieved sorrow overt the death of 42 of her family members during WWII. (Rabbi Naomi Levy, above, also became interested in the rabbinate after her own father was murdered when she was a child). But back to the story… Rabbi Wolpe is retiring, and the search committee ends up spending three years to find a replacement. The Rabbinical Assembly becomes involved, and intrigue occurs at a local Flyers hockey game, when the committee hints at a job offer to the Assistant Rabbi Jacob Herber, which is contrary to the rules of the Rabbinical Assembly. Do you think a high powered, wealthy, Philadelphia lawyer is going to fear a pronouncement from the Rabbinical Assembly in New York? And what will Rabbi Wolpe’s reaction be to an offer to his assistant, instead of a national rabbinical leader? Along the way, we learn more about the Conservative movement, the lives of rabbis and boards, and the battle between the young and old members as to whether children should be “seen and not heard” or “seen and heard” in the main sanctuary. Note to file: Yes, some readers may wince at the mention of high holiday services being “fashion shows” to be seen at, but this is the real world, blemishes and all, and a congregation has the right to choose the leader that is right for it, whether s/he be a scholar, a schmoozer, or schmaltzy.







My Name Is Red
by Orhan Pamuk, Erdag M. Goknar (Translator)
Fall 2002. Paperback edition. At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers. The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery–or crime? –lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex and power. Written in 59 chapters, each of which is narrated by a main character, from the corpe of the dead man to a matchmaking Jewess.









American Skin:
Pop Culture, Big Business, and the End of White America
by Leon E. Wynter
August 2002. Crown. Whassuppppp? Whites act black, Blacks act white. Asians color their hair orange, and blacks color their hair blond. Jews where Afros or Jew-fros, and Yidcore rap is a growing success. Michael Jackson crossed over to pop and became white in the Eighties. Mean Joe Green threw his shirt to a white kid at the same time. Eminem and Elvis commercialized a black form. The author writes that Whiteness is in steep decline as the primary measure of Americanness. The new, true American identity rising in its place is transracial, defined by shared cultural and consumer habits, not skin color or ethnicity. And this unprecedented redefinition of what “American” sounds, looks, and feels like is not being driven by the politics of protest or liberal multiculturalism but by a more basic American instinct: the profit motive. While we fall short of true equality, we are opting to carry on that struggle together within a common American cultural skin. At its core American Skin is about the revolution that higher heat on American identity is bringing about: the end of ‘white’ America. We have always been, and will ever be, of one race—human—and of one culture—American."









ABRAHAM
A JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THREE FAITHS
by BRUCE FEILER
September 2002. Morrow. From the author of WALKING THE BIBLE (which has sold 250,000 copies). Feiler, who has written on his lives in Japan, the circus, England, and the Middle East, returns to Israel from Manhattan and explores the history and lore from the three faiths surrounding the patriarch of ABRAHAM, in order to know his legacy and his appeal. Is it any surprise? Feiler’s mother’s maiden name means “House of Abraham”, and the Bar Mitzvah parshat of both Feiler and his brother was “Lech Lecha”, in which Abraham is told by god to “go forth” and be himself. The Akkedah story is read at both Rosh Hashana as well as Eid al-Adha And obviously a father sacrificing his son (Isaac) is manifest in Christian liturgy as well. Feiler explores how the three monotheistic faiths invented stories around Abraham to reinforce their worldviews and to reflect their times, and then started to swap stories among themselves. This is not only informative, but quite fun to read. Feiler was planning to write about the Bible, but after September 11, 2001, he decided to focus on Abraham, the spiritual father of the Western monotheistic religions as a response to those who seek to divide them. He traveled to Israel in the Fall of 2001 and Hebron in December 2001 to complete the book. Will the three faiths one day embrace Abraham’s spirit? Click to read more.







Burnt Bread and Chutney:
Memoirs of an Indian Jewish Girl
by Carmit Delman (agent=Jennifer Rudolph Walsh)
September 2002. Carmit Delman is descended from the Bene Israel, an ancient community of Indian Jews. American-born, raised in Cleveland, she studied at a Jewish day school, Brandeis University and Emerson College. In the politics of skin color, Carmit Delman is an ambassador from a world of which few are even aware. Her mother is a direct descendant of the Bene Israel, a tiny, ancient community of Jews thriving amidst the rich cultural tableau of Western India. Her father is American, a Jewish man of Eastern European descent. It was bagel and chutney. They met while working the land of a nascent Israeli state. Bound by love for each other and that newborn country, they hardly took notice of the interracial aspect of their union. But their daughter, Carmit, growing up in America, was well aware of her uncommon heritage. Burnt Bread and Chutney is a remarkable synthesis of the universal and the exotic. Carmit Delman’s memories of the sometimes painful, sometimes pleasurable, often awkward moments of her adolescence juxtapose strikingly with mythic tales of her female ancestors living in the Indian-Jewish community. As rites and traditions, smells and textures intertwine, Carmit’s unique cultural identity evolves. It is a youth spent dancing on the roofs of bomb shelters on a kibbutz in Israel—and the knowledge of a heritage marked by arranged marriages and archaic rules and roles, such as never contradicting a man. It is coming of age in Jewish summer camps, upscale synagogues, with materialistic Queen Bee adolescent girls who make fun of her family’s financial position, and at KISS concerts—and the inevitable combination of old and new: ancient customs, conformity, and modern attitudes, Jewish, Indian, and American. When she moved to Israel, she found that it is even worse when it comes to racial strictures. Her reflections on Nana-bai, her relation, will make this a must read for most Jewish reading groups. Carmit Delman’s journey through religious traditions, family tensions, and social tribulations to a healthy sense of wholeness and self is rendered with grace and an acute sense of depth. Burnt Bread and Chutney is a rich and innovative book that opens wide a previously unseen world. Click to read more.







ONE PEOPLE, TWO WORLDS.
AN ORTHODOX RABBI AND A REFORM RABBI IN SEARCH OF COMMON GROUNDS
by Rabbi Yosef Reinman (o) and Rabbi Amiel Hirsch (r)
Yes, I know that the book doesn’t call either men Rabbi, since Rabbi Reinman said that he would not do a book if the cover called Rabbi Hirsch a “rabbi”, but I will call both rabbis
August 2002. Schocken. Two rabbis examine whether Reform and Orthodoxy are two branches of a common tree or offshoots that grow more distinct and separate. Each rabbi spoke for 20 months (January 21, 2000 – October 1, 2001), and learned more about each other's misconceptions of the other. The Editorial Director of this book at Schocken, Ms. Altie Karper, wrote that this book is "unprecedented" collaboration between two camps that usually try to delegitimize each other than engage each other. Both are articulate and learned, even brilliant, warm and loving. I, personally, was turned off at the beginning of the book by their language which I found false and forced. I was also perturbed at the beginning when the Orthodox rabbi mentioned how he, BORG-like, had to consult other rabbis for permissions and corroboration. But by the time I finished their 39 lengthy exchanges of mutual rejection I learned more about the two sides. Sometimes they agree; more often than not they disagree — and quite sharply, too. But the important thing is that, as they keep talking to each other, they discover that they actually like each other, and, above all, they say that they respect each other (with all due respect…). Their journey from mutual suspicion to mutual regard is an extraordinary one; from it, both Jews and non-Jews of all backgrounds can learn a great deal about the practice of Judaism today and about the continuity of the Jewish people into the future. Look for these two rabbis on the Jewish Book Fair circuit in Fall 2002.
A NOTE TO READERS. THE TWO AUTHORS WERE SUPPOSED TO GO ON A BOOK TOUR TOGETHER ACROSS THE USA FOR JEWISH BOOK MONTH. But in the last week of October 2002, Rabbi Reinman cancelled the 17 day, 17 city trip. Bowing to what some reported to be intense coercion, and pressure from leaders (“the advice of people older and wiser than I am”) in his Lakewood, NJ, haredi Orthodox community (threatened him with cherem/ostracism by The Moetzes Gedolei haTorah), he cancelled. The reactionary JEWISH PRESS wrote two editorials denouncing the book this Autumn (although they asked Schocken to place ads in the newspaper, what chutzpah).






Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
by Kinky Friedman
September 2002. Simon & Schuster. It's a case of missing kid and missing kitty when Kinky Friedman, private dick extraordinaire and animal lover nonpareil, attempts to find a young, autistic New York boy and a three-legged Texas cat named Lucky, both of whom have disappeared. Something is rotten in both the states of New York and Texas, and Kinky takes it upon himself to locate not one, but two of God's creatures who have gone astray. Dylan Weinberg is an eleven-year-old boy with a rare form of autism -- a pint-sized stock-market wizard who can only utter one word, "Shnay." He's on a multitude of medications, and one night his father wakes up to find Dylan perched over his bed like some preteen zombie, clutching a pair of scissors and cutting up the sheets. Since that evening, two weeks ago, Dylan has been missing, and the cops have no leads -- and apparently not much interest. That's why, in an absolute last-resort maneuver, the family has called in Kinky to the rescue. ….. In New York, Rambam has no clue where Dylan might be, but he is becoming increasingly sure that Julia is the Jewish answer to his romantic prayers. Kinky warns him to put the wedding plans on hold and track down Hattie Mamajello, Dylan's former nanny, but it's too little too late when Hattie is pushed off a subway platform and killed. The confusion generated by these two disparate cases is enough to drive a dick to drink -- which Kinky is happy to do -- but he's still got a missing kid and a missing kitty on his cigar-stained hands to locate before (a) Rambam whisks Julia off to Vegas for a quickie wedding and (b) Cousin Nancy calls in the FBI, the CIA, and the Mossad to find her Lucky. Click to read extensive reviews.



A TIME FOR EVERY PURPOSE UNDER HEAVEN
THE JEWISH LIFE-SPIRAL AS A SPIRITUAL PATH
by Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow and Phyllis Ocean Berman
September 2002. Farrar Straus & Giroux.
First of all, they introduce the word, G!d to the Jewish lexicon.
God told Abraham, Lech Lecha, find yourself, move from isolation to community. What some know as the life-cyle, others call the life-spiral, the Jewish rhythm of life and rituals of birth- bris- weaning- menstruation- adulthood- work- intimacy- marriage- divorce- parenting- mentoring- relationships- aging- death, etc. To these events, the husband and wife Ocean’s add rituals, including the adult bar/bat mitzvah, the seder of womanhood, the Jewish Drivers License. Lots of ideas, lots of rituals, all grounded in Jewish Rabbinics and traditions. The book moves from a new "covenant of washing" -- the ritual act of parents washing a newborn daughter's feet to celebrate her arrival -- to an examination of how ketuvot, or marriage contracts, could be revised to affirm the commitments partners today need to make with each other, to ceremonies that celebrate the transformations of midlife, to enriching the rituals of grief in order to walk mourners through their own next spiral in the path of their lives









OUT OF THE BLUE
A NARRATIVE OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
by Richard Bernstein and the Staff of The New York Times
September 11, 2002. Holt/Times Books. A gripping and authoritative account of the September 11th attack, its historical roots, and its aftermath . Few news stories in recent memory have commanded as much attention as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but no news organization rivaled The New York Times for its comprehensive, resourceful, in-depth, and thoughtful coverage. This effort may well emerge as the finest hour in the paper's distinguished 150-year history. Following the lives of heroes, victims, and terrorists, Bernstein weaves a complex tale of a multitude of lives colliding in conflagration on that fateful morning. He takes us inside the Al Qaeda organization and the lives of the terrorists, from their indoctrination into radical Islam to the harrowing moments aboard the aircraft as they raced toward their terrible destiny. We meet cops and firefighters, and become intimate with some of the Trade Center workers who were lost on that day. We follow the lives of the rest of America-ordinary citizens and national leaders alike-in the hours and days after the attack. Finally, Bernstein chronicles the nation's astonishing response in the aftermath. No account of this singular moment in American history will be as sharp, readable, and authoritative as Out of the Blue.









Portraits 9/11/01:
The Collected "Portraits of Grief" from The New York Times
by Howell Raines, Janny Scott (Introduction), the New York Times, Emerson
2002. Holt/Times Books. Over 120 reporters from The New York Times participated in the writing of the paper's daily feature, "Portraits of Grief," some for only a couple of days and others for months. Poignant and personal remembrances, celebrating the lives of the World Trade Center victims. Few aspects of The New York Times's coverage of September 11 and of all that has followed have attracted as much comment as "Portraits of Grief." A page or two in the B section every day for 15 weeks, the series profiled the lives lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center and has become a story in itself, becoming required reading for many, the world over. Beginning on Sept. 14, a half-dozen Times reporters began working from a stack of 100 missing person fliers collected from points around the World Trade Center site. They crafted profiles--stories containing short but signature details of the lives they strove to present. These portraits transcend race, class, and gender lines and tell of the old and the young, praising their individuality while at the same time cutting through their differences to capture the poignancy of their shared similarity: life cut short in an American tragedy. The stories have become a source of connection and consolation, a focus for the sorrow of readers both reeling from disbelief and searching for support. To paraphrase "Portraits" reporter Charlie LeDuff (WHO ONCE INSULTED ME AND CALLED ME A SLOW TYPIST!!), there's more than one Ground Zero--there are thousands of Ground Zeros. Portraits: 9/11/01, a collection of the over 1,800 profiles published in the Times, helps us visit them all. 2000 b/w photos






HIDDEN
A SISTER AND BROTHER IN NAZI POLAND
by FAY (ROSEN) WALKER (Deerfield Beach) AND LEO ROSEN (Monroe Twnshp, NJ and Boca) with Carren S. Neile
September 2002. Univ of Wisconsin Press. Faiga and Luzer Rosenbluth (Fay and Leo Rosen) were kids in Kanczuga Poland. Before the SS rounded up the Jews in town, they went into hiding. In alternating narratives, they recount their DIFFERENT but LINKED experiences. Faiga wandered as a peasant for 2 years, while Luzer hid in a barn. They were helped by righteous Poles, and feared the neighbors. And after the war, they were still not safe from some neighbors. A coming of age story set during the war. Click to read more.







BEST JEWISH WRITING 2002
BEST (or Most Significant) JEWISH WRITING 2002
edited by Michael Lerner
Jossey Bass. September 2002. Selections (32 essays, 12 poems, 8 excerpts of books) on Jewish identity, spirituality and culture, compiled by the controversial Lerner. Includes David Abram, Allen Appel, Uri Avnery, Michael Bader, Rabbi Nilton Bonder, Aryeh Cohen, David A. Cooper, Leonard Felder, Sylvia Barack Fishman, Shelly R. Fredman, Roger Gottlieb, Michael Gross, Leo Haber, Bonna Devora Haberman, Susan Hahn, Yossi Klein Halevi, Jill Hammer, Susannah Heschel, Loola Khazoom, Michael Kimmel, Binnie Kirshenbaum, Michael Lerner, Philip Levine, Jonathan Mark, Gail Mazur, Stanley Moss, Jacqueline Osherow, Alicia Ostriker, Amos Oz, Robert Pinsky, Judith Plaskow, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, the late Chaim Potok (OLD MEN AT MIDNIGHT), Tanya Reinhart, Adrienne Rich, Jonathan Rosen, Danya Ruttenberg, Grace Schulman, Richard H. Schwarz, Jerome M. Segal, Rami Shapiro, David Suissa, Jonathan Tel, Tova, Galina Vromen, Paul Wapner, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Wendy Wasserstein (SHIKSA GODDESS), Josh Weiner, C. K. Williams, Abraham Yehoshua, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, and David Zaslow. HEY AND GUESS WHAT?? Eleven of the 32 essays are reprinted from Tikkun Magazine.







HOLOCAUST
A HISTORY
by DEBORAH DWORK (Clark) and ROBERT JAN VAN PELT (Waterloo)
September 2002. Norton. A magisterial, dramatic account that reshapes the way we think and talk about the greatest crime in history. Unrivaled in reach and scope, Holocaust illuminates the long march of events, from the Middle Ages to the modern era, which led to this great atrocity. It is a story of all Europe, of Nazis and their allies, the experience of wartime occupation, the suffering and strategies of marked victims, the failure of international rescue, and the success of individual rescuers. It alone in Holocaust literature negotiates the chasm between the two histories, that of the perpetrators and of the victims and their families, shining new light on German actions and Jewish reactions. No other book in any language has so embraced this multifaceted story. Holocaust uniquely makes use of oral histories recorded by the authors over fifteen years across Europe and the United States, as well as never-before-analyzed archival documents, letters, and diaries; it contains in addition seventy-five illustrations and sixteen original maps, each accompanied by an extended caption. This book is an original analysis of a defining event and it destroys lots of myths, like the one about the King of Denmark donning a Jewish star in solidarity with Jews. Click to read more.







A BOOK OF LIFE. EMBRACING JUDAISM AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
September 4, 2002. Schocken. The three pillars: the study of Torah, prayer, and acts of loving-kindness. The fourth pillar was to read The Jewish Catalog. Now the fourth pillar will be to read this book and take it to heart. The former co-editor of the Jewish Catalog, past rabbi at Congregation Anschei Chesed in NYC, current Rabbi at the Society foir the Advancement of Judaism in Manhattan, and author of "Jewish Holidays', Strassfeld writes this book about creating a spiritual life with enriched values. For all the cycles of life – from waking in the morning to retiring at night, from the weekdays to Shabbat to Havdalah, from birth to death, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld presents traditional Jewish teachings as a guide to behavior and values. Rituals are described where they exist; and where rituals are sparse and nonexistent, he suggests new ones gleaned from his study and experience. Rabbi Strassfeld brings the principles of “insight MEDITATION” – a spiritual discipline based on kavanah or mindfulness, thus infusing the practice of Judaism with an enhanced awareness of God, of ourselves, and of our place in the world.







THE BOOK OF SARAHS
A MEMOIR of Race and Identity
by Catherine McKinley
September 2002. Counterpoint. This book will be compared to “Black White and Jewish” by by Rebecca Walker, about being biracial, black, Jewish, and gay, and finding your place. This book just drew me in , from its opening in a Masschusetts playground and a crying fest in Africa. Suffused with longing, this rueful, passionate memoir about an adopted woman's search for her birth parents explores themes of race and family. Catherine McKinley was one of only a few thousand African American and bi-racial children adopted by white couples in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Raised in a small, white Massachusetts town, she had a persistent longing for the more diverse community that would better understand and encompass her. She traveled to Rhode Island to go to a black power rally and feel part of a black world. In an era shaped by the rhetoric of Black Power and Black Pride, McKinley's coming of age entailed her own detailed investigation into her birth history, a search complicated by the terms of a closed adoption that denied her all knowledge of the circumstances of her birth. The Book of Sarahs traces McKinley's own time of revelations: after a five-year period marked by dead ends and disappointments, she finds her birth mother and a half-sister named Sarah, the name that was originally given to her. And then there was another Sarah, and a realization that her Jewish birth mother may have some “issues.” When she locates her birth father and meets several of his eleven OTHER children she begins to see the whole mosaic of her parentage--African American, WASP, Jewish, Native American--and then is confronted with a final revelation that threatens to destabilize all she has uncovered. At the center of the narrative is McKinley's angry passion for her two mothers and her quest for self-acceptance in a world in which she seems to herself to be always outside the bounds of social legitimacy.









Civility in the City:
Blacks, Jews, and Koreans in Urban America
by Jennifer Lee (UC-Irvine)
September 2002. Harvard. Irvine sociologist, Jennifer Lee, explores conflicts between Korean store owners and black residents and customers, and Jewish store owners and their black customers in New York City and Philadelphia. Transactions are pleasant and routine, and then tensions escalate. Why? See also Bitter Fruit by Claire Jean Kim. Click to read more.







I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,
starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night)

Brighten your day, no matter how structured, with a Jewish book.











FOUND: HITLER’S JEWISH OLYMPIAN
The Helene Mayer Story
by Millie Mogulof
September 2002. RdrBooks.com. A biography of “the Golden He,” Helene Mayer (1911-1953), born to a Jewish father and Christian mother in Offenbach, one of the greatest fencers of the 20th Century, a three time world champion and a recipient of a gold medal at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam for Germany. Sadly, she was no poster child. She defended Germany prior to the war, gave a Hitler salute in 1936, and never spoke out about the treatment of Jews until after the war (although maybe she feared for her family who were left in Germany), even though she was thrown out of her fencing club since her father was Jewish.









RABBIS
The Many Faces of Judaism:
100 Unexpected Photographs of Rabbis With Essays in Their Own Words
by George Kalinsky (Photographer), Milton Glaser (Introduction), Kirk Douglas and Joe “I am Grateful” Lieberman
Fall 2002. Rizzoli WOW… Now you can not only have a rabbi over for coffee, but have a coffee table book of Rabbis! But you know what?? This is FABULOUS. Better than Rebbe trading cards. RABBIS is a unique book about leaders in modern Judaism in Italy, Israel, Spain, Europe and North America. It features portraits of rabbis and essays in their own words. This is a drawback, since some rabbis discuss their lives and roles, while others shep, well not nachas, but their own agendas. Will you love them all?? Of course not. That’s why every two Jews have three shuls. Sometimes those who minister in the trenches are a little peculiar (fire uniforms, army reserves uniforms)… but there different strokes (and rabbis) for different folks. They all serve their communities’ needs, some large, some very small. Will your rabbi be envious if s/he wasn’t included? Probably. The Rabbis span from Alper (a comedian/rabbi) to Zecher and Zecher. There is a Sephardic “Angel” and a Kfar Chabad “Ashkenazi.” Rabbi Black is a singing cowboy in Albuquerque, while Rabbi Brooks ministers to African American Jews. Rabbi Yopsef Hadana, Chief Rabbi of Ethiopian Jews appears, as does Yitz Greenberg and Lynn Gottlieb. The cover is adorned by Rahamim Banin, a fundraising, kosher restaurateur and Chabad rabbi in Venice, Italy. He is captured in a gondola, while the camera captured Paltiel with his very pregnant wife before a large pic of their Rebbe. There are Borchardt of Agudath Israel and Borowitz of HUC; Hartman of Jerusalem and Hausman of Meah Shearim. . There are Balfour Brickner and Rachel Cowan of NYC, and Geller and Eger of California. Rabbi Goldstein is in his National Guard uniform, Garborcheik in his IDF uniform, Kass in his NYPD suit, and Potasnik in his FDNY garb. Rabbi Dorff is photographed from a hospital bed. Buchdahl, a Korean American rabbi in Scarsdale writes an excellent essay of discovery, as does Rabbi Tsuruoka. There are Tokayer and Waskow; and Simkha Weintraub is pictured as truly a man of the “cloth.” An unshy Tunishy follows a surfing Shifren; while father and son, and father and daughter teams of Hirsch’s, Marmur’s, Kreitman’s, Schneier’s, and Schindler’s appear. Rabbis Matalon and Bronstein are captured in debate, Saperstein is captured on Capitol Hill, Menticoff is jogging, while Niles Goldstein is photographed in his martial arts attire on a Manhattan rooftop. Kleinbaum and Kolodny precede Labeau and Maya Leibovichand. Upon closer inspection, the photos reveal secrets, whether it is a “770” here, a book “title” there, or a chosen background. Spanning the globe and the ideological spectrum, this book portrays today's Jewish leaders, and Judaism itself, in its diversity and dimensions. Keepers of the flame of Judaism, these are people who are working in the twenty-first century but are deeply aware of their religious legacy, from Sephardic to Ashkenaz, from learned to comic. The people here represent the rabbinate as the hard-to-define, impossible-to-categorize world that it is. Included are rabbis who are fixtures on talk shows, serious authors, scholars, the first woman rabbi, and the first Ethiopian rabbi. Their stories, in terms of their coming to grips with their spirituality and their Judaism, are brilliantly articulated, filling the book with inspirational messages and spiritual guidance for people of all faiths. George Kalinsky has been the official photographer at Madison Square Garden for more than thirty years. Click to read more.






Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World after September 11
by Thomas L. Friedman
September 2002. As the Foreign Affairs columnist for The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman is in a unique position to interpret the world for American readers. Twice a week, Friedman's celebrated commentary provides the most trenchant, pithy, and illuminating perspective in journalism. Longitudes and Attitudes contains the columns Friedman has published about the most momentous news story of our time, as well as a diary of his experiences and reactions during this period of crisis. As the author writes, the book is "not meant to be a comprehensive study of September 11 and all the factors that went into it. Rather, my hope is that it will constitute a 'word album' that captures and preserves the raw, unpolished, emotional and analytical responses that illustrate how I, and others, felt as we tried to grapple with September and its aftermath, as they were unfolding."








The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent
by Roane Carey (Editor), Tom Segev (Introduction), Jonathan Shainin (Editor). Introduction by Anthony Lewis
September 2002. New Press. Okay… clues….. Tom Segev edited it, Anthony Lewis wrote the intro… what do you think the book will contain? Okay, okay.. did I mention that Amira Hess ois a contributor? As is Shulamit Aloni, Meron Benvenisti, David grossman, Adi Ophir, and Uri Avnery? This contains 37 essays by Israelis speaking out for peace and reconciliation. The Other Israel is an urgent and passionate intervention by Israeli citizens challenging the continued occupation of Palestinian territory and the failed policies of Ariel Sharon's government. Against a backdrop of increasing violence on both sides, the book presents a broad range of dissenting voices that articulate practical, legal, and moral objections to the occupation. Among the topics covered are dissent within the Israeli armed forces, the brutality of recent Israeli military interventions, the inaccurate claims concerning Ehud Barak's "generous offer" to the Palestinians at Camp David, the shortcomings of the Israeli media in reporting the war accurately, the moral decline of Israel in its role as an occu-pying power, and the failure of Ariel Sharon to bring about either peace or security for Israeli citizens. The Other Israel questions what it means, here in America, to stand in solidarity with Israel: Are Israel's true supporters those who urge occupation and reprisal, or those calling for reconciliation and a just settlement? Needed now more than ever, this book challenges narrow American perceptions of public opinion in Israel, and will act as a catalyst in prompting vital debate about the future of Israel and the path to peace for all citizens of the Middle East. In addition to the ones I mention above, other contributors include: Avi Shlaim, Ilan Pappe, Gideon Levy, Neve Gordon, Shulamit Aloni, Baruch Kimmerling, Ami Ayalon, Ze'ev Sternhell, Gila Svirsky, Jeff halper, Michael Ben-Yair, Ian Urbina, Aviv Lavie, Sergio Yahni, Yigal Shochat, and others. Essays include “The Six Day War’s Seventh Day”; Politicus Interruptis; A Time of Occupation; A Journey to Beit Jalla; Tell The Truth Shimon; The Enemy Within; A War Looks Different Abroad; Red Line Green Line Black Flag; A Queue of Bombers; Hail Caesar; A Black Flag Hangs Over The Idea of Transfer (Segev); The Turning Point (Benvenisti); In Ramallah We Found Palestine (Sternhill); An Open Letter to Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Minister of Defense (Yahni); and An Open Letter to Col Aviv Kohavi (Gordon). .









THE REGAL WAY
The LIFE AND TIMES OF RABBI ISRAEL OF RUZHIN
by David Assaf, Tel Aviv University
August 2002. Stanford Univ Press A pioneering study of the nineteenth century Hasidic movement as shown through the life of one of the most controversial and influential Hasidic leaders, Rabbi Israel Friedman of Ruzhin (1796-1850). The dramatic episodes of his life, including his involvement in the MURDER of Jewish informers, his imprisonment in Russia, his escape to Austria, are echoed in this study of his role as leader of one of the largest and most opulent Hasidic counts. Part 1 recreates his childhood to his leadership of a Hasidic community. Part 2 focuses on his activities and fame, his adventures in Russia, and his final years in Austria. Part 3 analyzes aspects of his career and thought, with emphasis on his approach to materialism, wealth, and luxury. Part 4 describes in detail the royal Hasidic court of Rabbi Israel and his sons, its formation, buildings, economics, and administrative groupings.









CONVERSOS INQUISITION AND THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN
by Norman Roth (Professor Emeritus, Univ Wisc)
PAPER BACK EDITION SEPTEMBER 2002. Univ of Wisconsin Press. Professor Roth’s impressive telling of the lives of the Conversos. Click to read more.







WOUNDS NOT HEALED BY TIME
THE POWER OF REPENTENCE AND FORGIVENESS
Solomon Schimmel, Hebrew College
September 2002. How should we respond to injuries done to us and to the hurts that we inflict on others? Schimmel guides the reader through the meanings of justice, forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation. The religious traditions differ significantly as to when and whom to forgive. Is forgiving always more moral than refusing to forgive? Is it ever immoral to forgive? When is repentance a pre-conditiion for forgiveness, and what does repentance entail? Schimmel explores these issues and provides practical strategies to help us forgive and repent, preparing the way for healing and reconciliation between individuals and groups. Click to read more.







SAFE AMONG THE GERMANS. LIBERATED JEWS AFTER WORLD WAR II
by Ruth Gay
September 2002. Yale University Press. As Gay writes, after the war, the last flowering of Polish Jewry took place in the DP camps on German soil. This is the story of the Jews who tried to recreate their lives after WWII in Germany, and then the tens of thousands of Eastern European Jews who fled the former USSR in the 1990’s and recreated and regenerate “German Jewry,” from Hasidim to liberal Reform feminists. After the war, 1500 Jews were killed in attacks between 1945-1947, and by 1950, 20,000 Jews remained in Germany (8,000 were native born German Jews). The community, after the fall of the USSR now number 100,000. Click to read more.







AWAKENING LIVES. Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland before the Holocaust
Edited by Jeffrey Shandler, with an intro by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, et.al.
September 2002. Yale University Press. The autobiographies of 9 male and 6 female authors, written in the 1930’s, were selected for this volume from the hundreds stored at YIVO. Click to read more.







The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W:
by Gabriel Brownstein
September 30, 2002. Novel. Nine Salingeresque stories about New Yorkers and their marvelous eccentricities. This brilliantly inventive first collection captures the disparate lives of the residents of Manhattan's West 89th Street. Five stories are set in one apartment building, where young Davie Birnbaum watches his neighbors' lives unfold. The title story reworks F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," whose hero is born as an old man and ages in reverse; Brownstein's Button lives on the third floor, fading away toward infancy. In apartment 7E, a lawyer named Zauberman reenacts the life of Hawthorne's Wakefield: he abandons his family so that he can spy on them. Meanwhile, the proctologist in the penthouse plays Icarus and Daedalus with his misfit son. Click to read more.







QUEER JEWS
by David Shneer (Editor), Caryn Aviv (Editor)
September 2002. In their first collaboration, editors David Shneer and Caryn Aviv, have compiled a pioneering anthology of probing, insightful, humorous and soul-searching works by an impressive list of contributors including Christie Balka, Avi Rose, Joan Nestle, Leslea Newman, Jyl Lynn Felman, Steven Greenberg, Jane Litman and Sandi Dubowski. Liberal Judaism is at the forefront of advancing queer empowerment and visibility. The contributors explore the conflict between the desire to integrate into established Jewish communities and the comforts of creating separate spaces for queer Jews. They offer first-person, queer-Jewish perspectives on identity, institutions and culture, including the emergence of gay and lesbian synagogues, gay weddings, the struggle between being observant and being queer, adopting children and creating Jewish families, and homophobia and anti-Semitism. Each author brings forth a unique style to this collection. The essays are at times hilarious, at times touching, and always passionate about the issues at hand: Jill Nagle's essay takes readers through the experience of a Queer Naked Seder held at the Radical Faerie House, a three-story house complete with a dungeon in the lower level. Jill was cast as Miriam and "led the naked Jews out of the dungeon with my tambourine, up onto the deck, and through the parted waters of the giant hot tub." TJ Michels and Ali Cannon interview one another about their pilgrimages to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site where males and females pray separately, which poses some problems for a transgendering man and a transgendered butch. How and for what they pass is both exhilarating and painful-and completely surprising. Jyl Lynn Felman gives us her wildly entertaining review of two of the most important plays of the last decade-Angels in America and The Producers. Quite clearly, Felman suggests, Tony Kushner and Mel Brooks, one gay, one not, both Jewish, give us the newest cultural icon of the twenty-first decade: the Queer (male) Jew-he's the goyishe-gay whom's paranoid, culturally lost, and can sing a mean show tune! Oy Gay! Combining memoir, analysis and stories from the front lines, QUEER JEWS introduces a new generation of post-Stonewall writers, who together with well-known voices, present a dynamic portrait of change, progress and the road ahead. David Shneer is Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of Denver and former Director of Education at Congregation Sha'ar Zahav in San Francisco. Caryn Aviv is a sociologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who currently directs the Program for Collaborative Care at UCSF Breast Care Center







Bashert: A Granddaughter's Holocaust Quest
(Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography)
by Andrea Simon
September 2002. Based on interviews, memoirs, historical accounts, archival documents, and family anecdotes, Simon undertook what she describes as a "spiritual search" for her family members killed in the Holocaust. Obsessed by her grandmother's tales of life in the village of Volchin (in what is now Belarus), Simon visited there during a trip to Poland, Belarus, and Russia in 1997. She learned that in 1942, all 395 Jews remaining in Volchin were murdered by two Nazis with the help of the non-Jewish villagers. She learned, too, that 50,000 Jews were killed and buried in eight mass graves in Brona Gora, a forest between Brest and Minsk, from June to November 1942. Click to read more.







And God Cried/Too: A Kid's Book of Healing and Hope
by Marc Gellman, Harry Bliss (Illustrator).
September 2002. Ages 9-12. Little Angel Mike is an angel in training. He doesn't understand how God can let bad things happen in the world. Whether it's the tragic events of September 11, 2001, or the loss of a beloved pet, shouldn't God be able to stop the bad things? Big Angel Gabe is a wise old angel, and it's his job to help answer Little Angel Mike's tough questions and to guide him through the mystery of suffering and into a hopeful place. In a nonpreachy, accessible manner, the message of God's great compassion and our ability to bear even the greatest burdens is offered here with a gentle wisdom Click to read more.
Also, click here for information on his classic, “Does God Have a Big Toe?”







IN THE IMAGE
A NOVEL
by DARA HORN
September 23, 2002. Dara Horn, 25, a daughter of Short Hills, and a graduate student studying Yiddish and Hebrew literature, has written a first novel that is infused with a Yiddish spirit. A young woman's coming of age, a romantic love story, and a spiritual journey—each infused with the lessons of history, and rooted in Yiddish writing. In the Image is a first novel illuminated by spiritual exploration, one that remembers "a language, a literature, a held hand, an entire world lived and breathed in the image of God." Like A. S. Byatt's Possession, Dara Horn's novel seamlessly weaves its deeper preoccupations into a narrative thoroughly absorbing and satisfying. We follow Leora through the death of her friend, Naomi, in high school and on to college, career, and falling in love, while simultaneously tracing the story of Bill Landsmann, her lost friend's grandfather, back to Amsterdam, Austria, and New York's Lower East Side. Bill has befriended Leora and teaches her Jewish history; it is a way for him to keep alive the memory of Naomi. Leora runs from these Jewish tales, and finds herself a boyfriend who has rejected Judaism, only to have him, later, grow a beard and become religious. Oy. Each story is simply told and yet is also a foray into the nature of good and evil, of the significance of tradition and the law, of the presence or absence of God.
Sadly, I admit, the Yiddish references were lost on me. For example, I learned from The Forward, when a character’s wife is said to possess a “density of valor”, it is really a reference to Proverbs; while the description of a woman who “sits alone, desolate, like a widow”, is really a reference to Lamentations.







SANDY KOUFAX
A LEFTY’S LEGACY
by Jane Leavy
September 2002. Hapercollins. 256 pages. A social history of baseball and bio of Koufax. Sandy Koufax defined and distinguished himself by what he did on the baseball field and what he refused to do. He challenged batters and stereotypes. On the evening of September 9, 1965, he pitched a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs. Less than a month later, he achieved another kind of perfection by refusing to pitch the opening game of the World Series because it fell on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. He went to a synagogue instead. He is so principled, he boycotted News Corp properties and teams in 2003, after a News Corp publication said he was gay. He is a ballplayer, perhaps the greatest lefthander of all time. He is a symbol, the one thing he never wanted to be. He was the consummate pitcher: elegant, dominant, unsurpassed. He was also an original, perhaps the last athlete who refused to cash in on his fame. He remains unavailable, unassailable, unsullied. In over 400 interviews conducted with Koufax's friends, teammates, and opponents, Jane Leavy has created an unprecedented portrait of a man described by one former Dodger as the most misunderstood man in baseball.
This is one of the best non fiction works of 2002. Koufax had intense ambition, and was humble and principled. He was stoic in the face of increasing pain as he played. He developed pioneering insights into the art and physics of baseball pitching. Dodger’s manager Walter Alston resented Koufax and refused to use him on a regular basis. It was not until his seventh season that he was given a permanent place in the starting rotation. In 1966, at the age of 30, Koufax retired due to arthritis. .







An Orphan in History:
One Man's Triumphant Search for His Roots
by Paul Cowan, with an Afterword by his widow, Rabbi Rachel Cowan
September 2002. Jewish Lights reissues this classic book on Cowan’s yahrzeit. A reissue of the best selling autobiography of the late Village Voice writer, Paul Cowan, who renewed Congregation Ansche Chesed in Manhattan, and moved from Upper East Side prep school, catalog biz and rabbinical scion, to renewed Jew.







Jewish Themes in Spinoza's Philosophy
by Heidi M. Ravven (Editor), Lenn E. Goodman (Editor)
2002. Breaking new ground in the study of Spinoza's philosophy, the essays in this volume explore the extent to which Spinoza may be considered a Jewish thinker. The rich diversity of Spinoza scholarship today is represented here by a wide range of intellectual methods and scholarly perspectives-from Jewish philosophy and history, to Cartesian-analytic and Continental-Marxist streams of interpretation, to the disciplines of political science and intellectual history. Two questions underlie all the essays: How and in what measure is Spinoza's a Jewish philosophy, and what is its impact on the project of Jewish philosophy as a living enterprise now and for the future? The contributors' varied perspectives afford a highly nuanced vision of the multifaceted Judaic tradition itself, as refracted through the Spinozist lens. What draws them together is the quest for enduring insights that emerge from the philosophy of Spinoza .







My People's Prayer Book, Vol. 6 of eight
Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries—TACHANUN AND CONCLUDING PRAYERS
Edited by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman
SEPTEMBER 2002. Jewish Lights Publishing.
Hardcover - 240 pages Volume 6. Includes the Hebrew text, a modern translation, and commentaries from Marc Brettler, Elliot Dorff, David Ellenson, Ellen Frankel, Alysssa Gray, Joel Hoffman, Lawrence Hoffman, Lawrence Kushner, Daniel Landes, and Nehemia Polen.



Click here For Volume 5. My People's Prayer Book, Vol. 5 : 'Birkhot Hashachar' (Morning Blessings) Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries

Click here For Volume 4. My People's Prayer Book, Vol. 4 : Kriyat ha Torah

Click here For Volume 3. Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries--P'sukei D'zimrah (Morning Psalms)

Click here for Volume 2. Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries--The Amidah

Click here for Volume 1. Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries--The Sh'ma and Its Blessings



Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations
by Michael Sells, Haverford College
UNC is requiring incoming Freshmen to read this book. Many people have taken offense to this, maybe to hype their own careers or due to their narrow minded fear of non-Christian religions. We at MyJewishBooks.com therefore will highlight this book and recommend it to our readers. We’d also be happy to send some cash to UNC’s Hillel to sponsor a kiddush or a discussion of the sura’s and Jewish theology.
Approaching the Qu'rn is a translation of the early suras - the short, hymnic chapters at the end of the book. A major event in religious publishing, this book captures the complexity, power and poetry of the early suras and the majesty and intimacy of the distinctive Qu'rnic voice. Professor Sells (Haverford) seeks to capture the beauty of the Arabic, the idea of tense in Arabic that is missing from most English translations. (Hans Wehr, where are you? Hehehe.) It seeks to help u realize the Mohammed would say “remember Abraham, etc.” because the listener would know what was being discussed and the whole story didn’t need to be spelled out. These early revelations to Muhammad involve little of the political and legal detail found in the suras of his later career. Here they speak directly to every human being, regardless of religious confession or cultural background. Approaching the Qu'rn is also designed to be as accessible as possible, to offer the full lyric and literary experience to readers: Opposite each sura is a short commentary that explores some of the subtleties and context of the Qu'rnic passages; an annotated glossary explains key Qu'rnic concepts and Arabic terms with English translations; there is even a compact disc of recordings by renowned Qu'rnic reciters chanting the early suras.







OCTOBER 2002

The Autograph Man:
A Novel
by Zadie Smith
October 1, 2002. Random House. Zadie read a lot of Zohar and Zen, and transformed her thoughts into the character of Alex-Li. Alex-Li Tandem, a half-Chinese/half-Jewish autograph trader, sells autographs. When the book opens, he is a teen with his friends and father. His father dies. We meet him and his friends, Adam Jacobs and Jospeh Klein, 15 years later, on the yahrzeit for Alex-Li’s father. He is a 27 year old on a quest, but a small blip in a huge worldwide network of desire. His business is to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, and occasionally fake them—all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. He has issues with intimacy. But what does egotistical Alex want? Merely to write a book on what it means to be “Jew” and “Not A Jew”? Or to drink all the liquors in a pub in alphabetical order? Or Only the return of his dead father, the reinstatement of some kind of all-powerful, benevolent God-type figure (like the Zohar), the end of religion, something for his headache, three different girls (including girlfriend Esther), infinite grace, and the rare autograph of 1950’s movie actress Kitty Alexander. Kitty is sacred to Alex-Li. The Autograph Man is a deeply funny existential tour around the hollow things of modernity: celebrity, cinema, and the ugly triumph of symbol over experience. Alex hangs with another Jewish guy and a black Jewish guy. Through London and then New York, searching for the only autograph that has ever mattered to him, Alex follows the paper trail while resisting the mystical lure of Kabbalah (is Adam’s pot filled search for the shards and godhead similar to Alex-Li’s search for the elusive autograph?) and Zen, and avoiding all collectors, con men, and interfering rabbis who would put themselves in his path. Pushing against the tide of his generation, Alex-Li is on his way to finding enlightenment, otherwise known as some part of himself that cannot be signed, celebrated, or sold. Click to read more.







Invisible Kingdoms:
Jewish Tales of Angels, Spirits, and Demons
by Howard Schwartz, Stephen Fieser (Illustrator)
October 2002. Ages 4-8. Come to a world where angels, ghosts, and demons walk amongst the living and anything is possible. Here, in nine tales of the supernatural, invisible creatures take shape and roam the earth to aid or interfere in the lives of humans. A magic staff makes a man see ghosts, a handsome demon tricks a village girl into marriage, and an angel directs a young man through a dangerous venture -- in the guise of a goat! Howard Schwartz's vibrant retelling of mystical Jewish folktales id full of magic and wonder. The stories span many centuries and range in origin from Middle East to Eastern Europe. Weather you believe in angels, ghosts, and demons os for you to decide, but not before you enter these invisible kingdoms and step into a world where the impossible takes shape and anything can happen!






MITZVAH MAGIC
What Kids Can Do To Change The World
by Danny Siegel with Naomi Eisenberger
October 2002. Mitzvah projects for kids grounded in Jewish social justice. Click to read more







ONE CANDLE
by Eve Bunting, K. Wendy Popp (Illustrator)
October 2002. Ages 4-8. Joanna Cotler Books. Grandma makes a hanukkiah from a raw potato and threads. And so the story begins. Publishers Weekly writes, “On the first night of Hanukkah every year, Grandma recites her experience as a 12-year-old in Buchenwald, when she risked her life to steal a potato and margarine to improvise one Hanukkah light. The text feels somewhat forced until Grandma starts speaking, and then the audience will be gripped. Popp's (Sister Anne's Hands) uncannily lifelike, sympathetic group portraits, bathed in soft lighting that visually bridges them to sepia-toned flashback scenes of Buchenwald, evoke the abiding tenderness of family rituals respectfully observed. It would be a pity for the mistake on the cover (the candle is on the wrong side of the menorah here and several times in the interior art) to deter readers from the unusually moving story within” Note: OBSERVANT JEWS DO NOT eat Sour Cream with Brisket as mentioned in the book, and a Full Moon never occurs during Hanukkah, as pictured in the book.






Happy Hanukkah, Biscuit!
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Pat Schories (Illustrator)
October 2002. Ages 2-6. Let's light the candles, Biscuit! Biscuit tries to do everything that his friend does, but that silly puppy keeps getting into scrapes. He wants to be part of the Hanukkah celebration, too. Will he be able to give Sam the perfect Hanukkah present?






Happening Hanukkah: Creative Ways to Celebrate
by Debra Mostow Zakarin, Amanda Haley (Illustrator)
8/2002. Similar in format to Chronicle's Crafty Girl series, Happening Hanukkah: Creative Ways to Celebrate by Debra Mostow Zakarin, illus. by Amanda Haley, describes how to make various presents, from gift coupons (promising such services as breakfast in bed) to hand-painted sweatshirts. The author also provides instructions for making candy dreidels, lighting the menorah, and more. Ages 8-12.






D Is for Dreidel: A Hanukkah Alphabet Book
by Tanya Lee Stone, Dawn Apperley (Illustrator)
Summer 2002. D is for Dreidel / Just twist it and spin / If it stops on gimel / Shout "hooray," you win! / Children will love learning about Hanukkah in this dreidel-shaped alphabet book! Every page contains a letter of the alphabet along with sweet, rhyming text and words that correspond with that letter. And as an added bonus, at the end of the book is the complete story of Hanukkah! This is a fantastic introduction to the holiday!






Cultures of the Jews:
A New History
Edited by David Biale, Professor, UC-DAVIS
October 15, 2002. Scholastic. 1,200 PAGES
Biale writes, “Jewish self-definition bound up in a tangled web within the non-Jewish environment in which the Jews lived, at once conditioned by how non-Jews saw the Jews and by how the Jews adopted and resisted the majority culture’s definition of them. For all that Jews had their own autonomous traditions, their own identities throughout their history were inseparable from that of their Canaanite, Persian, Greek, Roman, Christian, and Muslim neighbors… Jewish identity cannot be considered immutable, the fixed product of either ancient ethnic or religious origins, but rather to have changed as the cultural context changed…. Is there or was there one Jewish people with one history? Culture would appear to be the domain of the plural: we might speak of Jewish cultures, instead of culture in the singular. And yet such a definition would be missing a crucial aspect of Jewish culture, the continuity of both textual and folk traditions throughout Jewish history and throughoput the many lands inhabited by the Jews…”
Publishers Weekly writes: This insightful collection of essays by today's leading Judaica scholars (such as Ilana Pardes and Isaiah Gafni) transports the reader from the nascent Jewish nation first emerging from bondage in Egypt through both its cultural and religious decline and efflorescence in [The Hellenistic Period] and the Middle Ages to modern-day Israeli and American Jewish culture. Divided into three sections, "Mediterranean Origins," "Diversities of Diaspora" and "Modern Encounters," the compilation provides an array of creative perspectives. Objects of material culture a map, an amulet, a ketubbah (a Jewish marriage contract) are used as lenses through which to examines various aspects of Jewish life in a given time and place; e.g., a menorah topped by an eagle symbolizing Polish sovereignty opens Moshe Rosman's study of Polish-Lithuanian-Jewish culture. The contributors assume that Jewish history did not develop in a vacuum, but that Jewish culture and religion were at times influenced by the surrounding cultures, and that Jews incorporated elements of what they saw around them while striving to refashion them as distinctly Jewish. Furthermore, if Jewish identity changed according to differing historical contexts, editor Biale (author of Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History) suggests, referring to Jewish culture in the singular is inadequate and oversimplified. The authors raise questions central to the understanding of Judaism and Jewish life, and propose answers that try to reconcile ideas with their historical realities. Intellectually stimulating, articulately written and extensively documented, this collection is sure to raise excitement in aficionados looking for something to whet their historical appetite.
Jacob Neusner, writing in The Jerusalem Post wrote: he accords a decent burial to the subject “Jewish history,” as a single, coherent, unitary, linear, continueous narrative. He identifies Jewish religion, embodied in the Torah (written and oral) as the single continuity. There are many Jewish cultures, all of them in dialogue with a coherent Jewish religion… His introductions are profound and penetrating at every poin, and he makes the book a coherent statement. Click to read more.







THE 23RD PSALM
A HOLOCAUST MEMOIR
by GEORGE LUCAS SALTON with Anna Salton Eisen
October 2002. Univ of Wisconsin Press. Palm Beach resident and former DoD engineer, George was born in Tyczyn, Poland. His lawyer father was forbidden to work after 1939, and they were forced into the Rzeszow Ghetto. His parents died at Balzec. George survived 10 death and labor camps, including Rseszow, Plaszow, Flossenburg, Colmar (France), Sachsenhausen, Braunschweig, Ravensbruck, and Wobbelin. At one point, in COLMAR, the people applauded the Jewish prisoners and hissed the Nazis! He marched into Colmar with 500 others in Spring 1944, and when they were liberated on May 2, 1945, by the 82nd Airborne, only 50 were alive. An amazing memoir. Click to read more.







Three Daughters
by Letty Cottin Pogrebin (Ms Magazine founding editor).
October 17, 2002. Pogrebin’s first novel. An ebullient novel about family secrets and the triumph of sisterly love. Driven by a legacy of lies, the shame of their own imperfections, and the impending chaos in each of their well-ordered married lives, the three Wasserman daughters struggle with themselves and one another to break their parents' silence and understand their past. Shoshanna, control freak and world-class problem solver, stands on the brink of a Big Birthday in the shadow of the Evil Eye (she should read The Sabbath by Heschel), trying to enjoy her happiness and overcome her fears while also engineering a double reconciliation between her estranged sisters, and between Leah and their rabbi father, Rabbi Sam Wasserman. Leah, a brilliant English professor and unreconstructed leader of the left, eloquent and foul-mouthed, a crusading feminist and a passionately conflicted wife and mother, grapples with the meaning of abandonment and the unfamiliar demands of her own roiling needs. She, the oldest, was born to Rabbi Sam and his crazy first wife, Dena. As he approaches age 90, can she reconcile with him on his trip to the USA from Israel? Rachel (a stepchild of Rabbi Sam, the daughter of his second wife, Esther), who has papered over her losses with an athlete's discipline, a fact fetishist's sense of order, and a pragmatism bordering on self-sacrifice, watches her carefully constructed world fall apart and in the rubble discovers the woman she was meant to be. Can she leverage her love of Torah and her father’s adoration into a late career in the rabbinate? Click to read more.







Levana's Table:
Kosher Cooking for Everyone
by Levana Kirschenbaum, Ann Stratton (Photographer)
October 2002. well.. if the chef of Abigael’s has a book and tv show, Levana should also. This cookbook, by the proprietor of the celebrated Levana Restaurant and Bakery in Manhattan, offers150 recipes and 20 menus that are simple, nutritious, beautifully presented, and 100 percent kosher. Traditional kosher fare, including food for the holidays and entertaining is featured, along with recipes that reflect the author's Moroccan, French, Asian, and vegetarian influences. 150 recipes, 30 color photographs. Click the book cover to read more.









Saffron Shores:
Jewish Cooking of the Southern Mediterranean
by Joyce Esersky Goldstein, with Leigh Beisch (Photographer)
October 2002. Celebrated chef and San Francisco based author Joyce Goldstein (Enoteca; Cucina Ebraica; and Sephardic Flavors) shares her extraordinary knowledge of unusual and delicious cuisines in such an approachable and joyful way that they quickly become part of the home cook’s repertoire. In Saffron Shores, she brings to the table the sensual aromas and exquisite flavors of the Southern Mediterranean in a celebration of its rich Jewish heritage. From Morocco comes a vibrant orange salad strewn with olives; from Algeria, a hearty tagine of chicken with quince; from Tunisia, a spicy eggplant puree; from Libya, a saffron and paprika infused fish soup-all are authentic, kosher, and a delightful introduction to a healthful, flavorful cuisine for the modern cook. A fascinating exploration of cultures and cuisine, lush with images. Including don't-miss treats like Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Honey, Baked Fish Stuffed with Almond Paste, and Cumin Flavored Meatballs with Onion Jam and Spicy Tomato Sauce. Click the book cover to read more.









Blues in the Night
by Rochelle Majer Krich
October 1, 2002. Click to read more.









Mazel Tov to the latest Nobel Laureate in Literature, announced October 10, 2002, Imre Kertész, a Hungarian novelist and Holocaust survivor with a small but devoted readership in Europe. The Swedish Academy, which presented the award on December 10, 2002, described his writing as, "upholds the tragic experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history… For him, Auschwitz is not an exceptional occurrence that, like an alien body, subsists outside the normal history of western Europe. It is the ultimate truth about human degradation in modern existence." Mr. Kertész, now 73, a secular Jew whose work has been shaped by the time he spent as a teenage prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was largely unknown even in Hungary until the collapse of Communism. In a recent interview, he said, “As Isaac Deautsher put it, I am a non Jewish Jew. I’m not a Zionist, I don’t live in Israel, I don’t speak Hebrew, I don’t know Jewish culture, I am not religious, I became a Jew through Auschwitz. It was an accident, but it was also fortunate. I got to know the real face of the century. My life became richer for it. If it were not blasphemy, I would say I was lucky to have known Auschwitz.”
Since the early 1990's, he has been acclaimed in Germany and has won a loyal following in Sweden and France. When he won the Nobel, right wingers in Hungary (a country that sent 600,000 of their Jews to die in death camps) said that next they hope a REAL Hungarian wins. Only two of his novels — "Fateless" (semi-autobiographical about his 3 days at Auschwitz and year at Buchenwald, in which he conveys the boy’s innocence of not realizing what is happening, adjusting to the changes at the camps, concerning himself with just daily survival and the desire not to be gassed.) and "Kaddish for a Child Not Born," (Northwestern University Press, a Holocaust survivor tells his wife that he does not want to bring a child into this world, and his marriage begins to fall apart) — have been translated into English. They are:


























What Shall I Do With This People?
Jews and the Fractious Politics of Judaism
by Milton Viorst
October 8, 2002. Free Press. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in 1995 by an Orthodox Jew provided the germ for this book. The author believes Rabin's killing was the product of unresolved religious conflict dating back centuries (remember the Hebrews versus Hebrews strife with Moses and the Golden Calf? Remember the Hanukkah fight between non Hellenist Jews and Hellenist Jews?) and that it emerged from Judaism's failure to solve the challenges imposed by modern times. Viorst says his objective "was to find within history some understanding of why the Jews of our own day often behave impossibly about matters crucial to the well-being, if not the survival, of the Jewish community." The lesson of Rabin's death, he concludes, may be that the Jews are running out of time and unless they give priority to mastering the art of living together, the State of Israel's duration may be as brief as the earlier Maccabean State that lasted for only a century. This timely and disturbing book--its title is a quote from the Book of Exodus-- should serve as a warning to end ideological dissension or face the inevitable consequences. Viorst's lucid review of Jewish history as a saga of dissension is most effective, though highly selective. His analysis and his presentation benefit from his impressive credentials as a journalist who worked for many years in the Middle East and who has written a dozen books. Viorst is no unbiased observer; he makes clear his strong opposition to Jewish religious extremism, thus inevitably contributing to the internal discord he so vigorously decries Click to read more.
CLICK here to read the first chapter for free.






FROM PARIS TO PEORIA
HOW EUROPEAN PIANO VIRTUOSOS BROUGHT CLASSICAL MUSIC TO THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND
R. Allen Lott
October 2002. A lively chronicle of the collision of cultures when five pianists visited America during the late 19th Century: Leopold de Meyer, Henri Herz, Sigismund Thalberg, Anton Rubenstein, and Hans von Bulow. Click to read more.







THE CHOSEN BODY
THE POLITICS OF THE BODY IN ISRAELI SOCIETY
by Meira Weiss, Hebrew University
October 2002. Stanford Univ Press. Zionism is Judaism with muscles: agriculture, land, and military power. No more passivity, bodybuilding tied to nation building. Thus the body was a part of Zionism. This book examines how the social and cultural paradigms of contemporary Israel are articulated through the body. How is health and perfection idealized into the chosen body for the chosen people, from birth top death. You will never look at a military funeral the same way again.









THE SELF RENEWING CONGREGATION
Organizational Strategies for Revitalizing Congregational Life.
by Dr. Isa Aron. Foreward by Dr. Ron Wolfson (Synagogue 2000)
Fall 2002. Jewish Lights. Concrete, praxctical information to transform and revitalize your spiritual community while tackling the issues of how to respond to new circumstances while honoring traditions, how to attract new members while not alienating old members, and how to develop a strong and responsive leadership. Filled with ideas and resources, with sample exercises, text study guides, and case studies from successful congregations. Click to read more.







A NEW PROMISED LAND
A HISTORY OF JEWS IN AMERICA
By Hasia Diner, New York University
October 2002. Now in Paperback. A history of Jews in America from the arrival of 23 Jews in 1654 to today . Click to read more.








Brave New Judaism:
When Science and Scripture Collide
by Miryam Z. Wahrman, PhD (Cornell)
October 2002. Brandeis University
With a shout out to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Wahrman investigates Science and Judaism and how the different denominations of Judaism respond to biotechnological advances. Clones, genetically modified foods, frozen embryos, stem cells, gene therapy: these are some of the new discoveries and scientific developments that are guaranteed to change our lives and our society forever. How does Judaism, an ancient religion, come to terms with such dramatic changes? This insightful book explores Jewish reactions to cutting-edge biological issues that continue to dominate the headlines. Does Jewish law permit production and use of stem cells, gene therapy, and human cloning? Is it permissible to produce and eat bio-engineered foods? How do assisted reproductive technologies affect the definition of parenthood and who is a Jew? Are there “Jewish genes” that define Jews as a unique group? Do Jewish disease genes stigmatize the Jewish people? Miryam Z. Wahrman addresses these and other questions by examining how Judaism interprets and responds to recent advances in biomedical science. Presenting bioethical principles derived from traditional Judaic sources, she shows how contemporary rabbis and Judaica scholars have interpreted these texts in light of radical new biotechnologies such as infertility treatments, genetic testing, sex selection, and bioengineered food. Taking into account Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform perspectives, she shows that different denominations can react to novel technologies in unpredictable ways. For example, there are numerous instances where Orthodox sources are more accepting of technology than the other branches of Judaism. Brave New Judaism offers a broad Jewish perspective on compelling issues, showing how Judaism has coped with current scientific inventions and technologies, and how Jewish law has creatively kept pace with the modern world. MIRYAM Z. WAHRMAN is Professor of Biology and Co-Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at William Paterson University of New Jersey, where she has also served as Chair of the Biology Department and as Director of General Education for the university.. Click to read more.








The Yom Kippur War
by Insight Team of the London Sunday Times
Revised paper edition October 2002. This is the dramatic, fully-researched and definitive account of the war that almost destroyed Israel: the Yom Kippur War. Launched by Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and his primary ally, Syria's President Hafiz al-Asad, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the sudden attack took the Israeli Defense Force totally by surprise. Here you will discover how such a colossal intelligence blunder -- one that almost caused the destruction of Israel -- happened. It is a story of incredible courage and bravery of the soldiers on both sides, of the high-stakes diplomatic battles waged by the UN, the United States, and the Soviet Union, even as troops and pilots from Israel and the nine Arab states attacking it shed their blood on the desert sands. Click to read more.








Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow
by Rabbi Arthur Green (Brandeis University, RRC)
October 2002. Jewish Lights. Arthur Green, distills his 40 year search for wisdom from the Jewish mystical tradition. Green explains how the ancient language of Kabbalah can be retooled to address the needs of our generation. Unlike other books on Kabbalah, he does this in a future-oriented context. Probing questions are designed to challenge – and potentially change – readers as they are encouraged to stretch to new ways of thinking with heart and mind. How is kabbalastic tradition relevant to today’s seeker? Are the ancient and mysterious symbols of any value to us in our very different world? How can kabbalah be used in spiritual quests?







WORDS TO OUTLIVE US
Eyewitness Accounts from the Warsaw Ghetto
by Michal Grynberg (Editor)
October 2002. The story of the Warsaw Ghetto told through twenty-eight (or 29) never-before-published accounts -- a precious and historic find. In the history of the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghetto stands as the enduring symbol of Jewish suffering and heroism. This collective memoir -- a mosaic (Zionists, secularists, traditionalists, socialists, communists) of individual diaries, journals, and accounts -- follows the fate of the Warsaw Jews from the first bombardments of the Polish capital to the razing of the Jewish district (1940-1943). The life of the ghetto appears here in striking detail: the frantic exchange of apartments as the walls first go up; the daily battle against starvation and disease; the stifling heat and dirt and stench; the moral ambiguities confronting Jewish bureaucracies under Nazi rule; the ingenuity of smugglers; and the acts of resistance. Written inside the ghetto or in hiding outside its walls, these extraordinary testimonies preserve voices otherwise consigned to oblivion: a woman doctor whose four-year-old son is deemed a threat to the hideout; a painter determined to complete his mural of Job and his trials; Helena Midler’s satirical BUNKER WEEKLY; a ten-year-old girl barely eluding blackmailers on the Aryan side of the city. Only 1% (or 5,000) of the 500,000 Jews sent to the Ghetto survived the war. Click to read mor