RJ Blog

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 Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Books Homesick: A Novelby Eshkol Nevo If you appreciate the literary style and works of Amos Oz you will enjoy Homesick by Eshkol Nevo. The narrative’s locale is Mevasseret, a suburb of Jerusalem. In 1947 it was abandoned by the Arabs who were fearful of suffering the same fate as the Arabs massacred at Deir Yassin. It was the fall of 1995, Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated and there were ongoing hostilities in Lebanon. The principal characters all resided in or were in some way connected to [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Books Where Ever You Goby Joan Leegant Anton Chekov famously advised “it is not the role of the novelist to solve problems, only to present them correctly”. Anita Diamant indicated that “a novelist may take license with character development, but the attendant facts must be accurate or else the reader will lose trust in the narrative”. Joan Leegant has religiously adhered to those principles in her novel Wherever You Go as she has woven together three lives caught in the grip of a volatile and demanding [...]

by R. Peter ShapiroRead the review of this Significant Jewish Book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Book selections Palace intrigue, ethnic cleansing, murder, unrequited love, and the quest for new lands and their riches are all woven together in Michael James Kaplan’s novel By Fire and By Water. The story takes place in Spain during the mid 1480′s through the late 1490′s in the reign of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. In that time frame four world-changing events were simultaneously occurring: the establishment of the New Inquisition in Castile and Aragon, the reconquest of Granada, the expulsion of the [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Book selections Good for the Jews:A Novelby Debra Spark Debra Sparks has recast the story of Esther in modern day Madison, the home of the liberal University of Wisconsin The first letter of the names of the principal characters as well as their respective roles corresponds to those in the Story of Esther.  Ellen, like Esther, is an innocent young secular Jew who reluctantly stands up for her people. Mose (Mordecai) is the Jewish voice of conscience and alarm who encourages and convinces Ellen to act. [...]

by Rabbi Marci BellowsRead the review of this book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Book selections A Seat at the Tableby Joshua Halberstam I vividly remember learning how to read. Sometime around the age of 4 years old, I could suddenly make out the letters and words around me. I read constantly, and, as you would guess, my parents proudly encouraged me to read more and more. Most memorable is the statement that my father made as I began to feel more and more confident with my reading: “Now, there will be no secrets in the world, because you [...]

by Rabbi Marci BellowsRead the review of this book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Book selections Houses of Study – A Jewish Woman Among Booksby Ilana M. Blumberg One of my favorite activities to bring to a classroom of elementary school-aged religious school students is a deceptively simple art project: “Draw a Jew.” Easy, no? In fact, I encourage you to do so, even just in your own mind, as you read these words. What does a Jew look like to you? Even more interesting, what would you imagine if I said, “Draw a rabbi?” I am infinitely intrigued [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Book selections A Seat at the Tableby Joshua Halberstam “A Seat at the Table” is a metaphor for the Chassidic adage that no matter what one has done to stray from the teachings of Torah he or she will not be abandoned by their family. This is similar to the sentiment expressed in Robert Frost’s poem, “Death of the Hired Man“: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Mr. Zeitchik, a minor character, sets the tone [...]

by Peter ShapiroRead the review of this book in RJ magazineSee other Significant Jewish Book selections Houses of Study – A Jewish Woman Among Booksby Ilana M. Blumberg Jewish women for almost five thousand seven hundred seventy years have struggled with a tradition that moved them into a life of modesty, early marriage and motherhood. Formal education was forbidden to women, a point brought home in Maggie Anton’s three novels “Rashi’s Daughters I, II and III”. Women inherited wisdom by what was referred to as Binah, a mystical process where they acquired all the knowledge necessary to sustain their family’s [...]