RJ Blog

I read Herman Wouk’s new novel about Moses in a single sitting, a tribute both to his skill as a storyteller and the absence of any need to give much thought to the substance of the tale. I guess that, deep in his nineties, Wouk is entitled to the privilege of self-indulgence, but certainly The Lawgiver tells us much more about Wouk than it does about Moses, its purported protagonist. Ingeniously constructed as an assemblage of letters, emails, Skype transcripts, and diary entries as Wouk, who makes himself a leading character in his novel, juxtaposes his role as a consultant [...]

Interested in observing Shabbat in your home but not sure where to begin? These books and other resources can guide you in creating a meaningful home observance of Shabbat. If you already celebrate Shabbat in your home, tell us: What books or resources helped you get started?

by Ann Koffsky I am an illustrator and/or author of books for children, many of them for URJ Books & Music. Because I am a storyteller, I thought I would – you guessed it – tell the story of how my book Noah’s Swim-A-Thon came to be. Once upon a time, I lived in the suburbs with three young children. Come summertime, I had to get them out of the house, and I wanted them to go to summer camp. I became a lifeguard at Ruach Day Camp on Long Island, and alacazam! Every summer for the past 10 years, [...]

As someone who grew up reading Little Golden Books in which mommies and daddies take care of their obedient children, I love how Maurice Sendak’s stories, by contrast, dive right into the fray of real life—warts and all.  As a librarian, I also appreciate what a pioneer Sendak was and how his stories and illustrations broke barriers in children’s literature.  I love the edgy realness of his characters—and especially relate to bratty Pierre of I-don’t-care fame who reminds me of my young self answering my own mother.  Sendak’s kids are not gift wrapped with pretty paper or shiny bows.  Like [...]

by Erika Dreifus In 2006, Günter Grass’s confession that he’d been a member of the Waffen SS surprised me. But it didn’t depress me. It didn’t anger me. Grass seemed appropriately ashamed and regretful. I knew him to be an advocate for Germany’s recognition of its Nazi past. He wasn’t asking for my forgiveness, but he would have had it, anyway. I’d read the closing words of his 2002 novel, Crabwalk, as a regretful but accepting acknowledgment of the lasting reverberations of this past, for all of us. Those lines—“It doesn’t end. Never does it end.”—moved me so deeply that [...]

by Peter Shapiro The authors, Shimon Perez and David Landau, made it clear from the outset that their views on David Ben-Gurion as a man, his accomplishments and failures, as well as his vision for Israel could be considered biased. Perez, the current President of Israel, was his friend and worked with him for many years on issues about which they felt passionately, but on which they were not always in accord. Landau is a lifelong journalist and the former editor of Haaretz.  He was born in 1947, and was more critical of Ben-Gurion.  The authors concede that the book [...]

by Peter Shapiro Imagine, if you can, that you are one of the protagonists in Martin Fletcher’s novel The List. It might be Edith or Georg who fled Vienna one step ahead of the Gestapo, leaving family and friends behind. They met for the first time in Paris and once again eluded the Gestapo, finding their way to England. Or you might consider Edith’s cousin Anna who survived Auschwitz.  The men, women and children who came out of what Eli Wiesel described as “The Dark Night” were haunted by the same questions as were Edith, Georg and Anna: Why did [...]

by David Stein The story of  Ben-Gurion as related by Shimon Peres is part of a series titled “Jewish Encounters.”  Truly, the text is an encounter with a historic political and cultural figure. Unless one is schooled in Israeli history and politics, the name Ben-Gurion is known as a leading figure in the move toward statehood as well as the development of the modern state of Israel, The decisions made by Ben-Gurion are still contested and lived out daily by Jews around the world. As a first theme Peres presents a biography composed on personal encounters with Ben-Gurion as well [...]

by David Stein “Why don’t they want us? Why is there so much hospitality towards us”; asks Edith, a refugee from the Holocaust living in England.  How do we answer that question? When our homes and culture is destroyed where do we go? This question is the theme that ties together the Jewish Experience in England with the rise of the fascist movement in England, a movement which for a brief moment was almost successful in lobbying for Jewish refuges to be expelled from England.  – yes England, the country that warmly accepted Jewish refugees and yet denied the refugees [...]

by David SteinRead the review of this book in Reform Judaism magazine Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of The Cairo Genizaby Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole When I am travelling I enjoy visiting flea markets and neighborhood garage sales hoping to find a local treasure from objects others deemed as trash. Even if I don’t find an artifact, the knowledge I have gained about the area, the people who live and have lived there is a treasure.  Our lives are measured and described by the artifacts we leave behind.  Artifacts, the treasures and garbage of our lives define [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in Reform Judaism magazineSee other Significant Jewish Books Prior to reading Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of The Cairo Genizaby Adina Hoffman and Peter Coles if asked to define a geniza myresponse would have been: “a place to bury sacred text that containedthe name of God”. My narrow definition of a geniza may be applicabletoday but it was far from the mark when applied to ancient times intothe early twentieth century. The Talmud defines it as a place or meansof concealment, but is vague as to what and where the [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in Reform Judaism magazineSee other Significant Jewish Books David Grossman’s somber and haunting novel, To the End of the Land, explores the dark cloud of war that hangs over the heads of every Israeli family. The author is a Sabra born in 1954 who experienced many of his country’s most trying times. What is most poignant is that the plot line mirrors elements of his life. He began writing the book in May of 2003, six months before his oldest son’s military service ended. In 2004 he went on a thirty day [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in Reform Judaism magazineSee other Significant Jewish Books Deborah Lipstad transports her readers back in time to Jerusalem sixteen years after May 8, 1945  V-E Day and the end of the Shoah, and thirteen years after May 14, 1948 when Israel became an independent state. The specific starting date of her narrative is April 11, 1961, the first day of Adolph Eichmann’s trial. If asked today what you know about the Eichmann trial I would imagine the overwhelming response would be as follows: Adolph Eichmann was the principal architect and administrator of [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in Reform Judaism magazineSee other Significant Jewish Books It is 1978 and Israelis are still experiencing the emotional trauma and political unrest which resulted from its near annihilation in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In Russia Anatoly Sharansky was being tried on trumped up charges of treason. There Jews were persecuted for practicing their religion and were denied many basic human rights. These indignities applied also to Jews by birth who eschewed their religion. It was almost impossible to get a visa to leave the country and those who applied, as well [...]