We Were the Lucky Ones
Desperate times inspire bravery, creativity, resilience, and endurance.
Venice, The Jews and Europe: 1516-2016
Weighing in at more than five pounds and offering up more than 500 pages of text and illustrations, Venice, The Jews and Europe: 1516-2016 (Rizzoli) is a comprehensive and valuable resource for understanding the institution of the first Jewish ghetto, on the 500th anniversary of its establishment in Venice, Italy.
Judas
Amos Oz is one of Israel’s best known authors, and one of the most controversial. At 77, he is widely considered as the godfather of Israeli peaceniks. After fighting in the 1967 Six-Day War, he was the first Israeli to call publicly for the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the newly occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. “Even unavoidable occupation,” he wrote, “is a corrupting occupation.” His opposition to Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, led to his co-founding Peace Now in 1978.
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
According to the Bible, God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where they could eat freely from all but one of the trees. Entranced by a serpent, Eve disobeyed the divine prohibition to eat from the forbidden fruit and Adam soon followed.
The Mandela Plot
Adolescence, otherness, and Apartheid make a literally explosive cocktail in National Jewish Book Award winner Kenneth Bonert’s new novel, The Mandela Plot. Half hyperbolic adventure and half historical fiction, Bonert elevates his unlikely hero, Martin Helger, to almost mythic status, while reminding readers both of South Africa’s Jewish diaspora and the horrors of Apartheid.