The Fragile Dialogue: New Voices of Liberal Zionism
Last month, Jews around the world woke up to the news that a group of Reform Jewish leaders in Jerusalem for the ordination of the 100th Israeli Reform rabbi was treated harshly by security guards as they carried Torah scrolls onto the plaza in front of the Kotel, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.
Eternal Life
It’s hard to think of an author who more skillfully blends secular and religious themes than Dara Horn. Since the 2002 publication of her first novel, In the Image, she has emerged as one of the most important Jewish literary voices of the 21st century. Her stories often intertwine narratives from multiple time periods and involve historical figures and notable events. Her first novel since 2013, Eternal Life, takes its? time jumping into the realm of immortality novels.
Pirkei Avot: A Social Justice Commentary
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Ancestors) stands out among the 63 tractates of the Mishnah as a treatise devoted to ethical exhortation and guidance. Some scholars claim it was originally a manual directed at rabbi-judges.
The Lions' Den: Zionism and the Left from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky
Sometimes a book arrives at a necessary moment, a moment in which it can become part of the public conversation and help set the stage for political arguments to come. The Lions’ Den: Zionism and the Left from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky is such a book.
...And Often the First Jew
Rabbi Stephen Fuchs and his wife, Victoria, had a choice to make, a choice that would transform their lives. Should they cut all ties with Germany, where their parents were born and survived the Holocaust, or should they begin a positive dialogue with Germans?
The Art of Leaving: A Memoir
Ayelet Tsabari’s beloved father died suddenly shortly before her tenth birthday. She cites this traumatic event as the reason for her quest to find a permanent home and to find herself – the life journey she describes in this compelling memoir.
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
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah -- Tazria: Healing the Spirit
In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Tazria, we learn about tza'ra'at, or leprosy. The weekly Mi Shebeirach prayer asks for healing, and we view prayer and visiting as part of the healing process. But is healing the same thing as a physical cure?