Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus' poem, "The New Colossus," affixed to the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903 (twenty-five years after her death), identifies this icon as the "Mother of Exiles." It took time for Lady Liberty to grow into this role.
Kabbalah: A Love Story
When is a predictable love story more than a predictable love story? When a teacher of mysticism like Rabbi Lawrence Kushner uses it as a parable.
The Secret Chord
It's a good bet that many Americans are doing some deep thinking about the qualities we seek in a leader. Do we value charisma over moral purity? Do we forgive personal flaws in deference to rank and power?
We Were the Future: A Memoir of the Kibbutz
The word “kibbutz” may suggest a healthy, outdoorsy lifestyle on a self-sustaining farm, a cooperative of hardy, dedicated men and women, living and working together, sharing their lives. Yael Neeman’s memoir, We Were the Future details a surprisingly different scenario.
L’Chaim: Pictures to Evoke Memories of a Jewish Life
The book is large and fits comfortably on a lap. The color photographs nearly fill each page. Each image depicts real people doing everyday Jewish things — a young girl eating matzah ball soup; a bubbe and her grandchildren lying in the grass; a man wearing tefillin, praying. The sentences are in large print; they are simple ("Mother says the blessing over the candles") and easy to read.
Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman
There is a photograph in my study of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands with me in a crowded Jerusalem hotel ballroom.
Gershom Scholem: Master of the Kabbalah
Professor Gershom Scholem (1897-1982) of the Hebrew University – arguably the greatest Jewish scholar of the 20th century – considered himself an archeologist. No, not the kind of person who digs into the history-laden soil of Israel, but rather one who delves into the Jewish religious tradition that Scholem described as “a field strewn with ruins."
How Hitler Was Made: Germany and the Rise of the Perfect Nazi
Does the world need yet another book about Adolf Hitler?
Hunting the Truth: Memoirs of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld
Even the fearless Gabriel Allon, Daniel Silva’s fictional Israeli intelligence agent, would be awestruck by the real life exploits of the Nazi-hunting husband and wife team of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld