Book Reviews

Several of the poems have Jewish subjects, but still touch on universal themes, such as freedom and unity.

While Rabbi Dalfin is himself a Lubavitcher, he admirably attempts to be evenhanded and to allow the facts to speak for themselves.

Nechama was a dedicated and tireless teacher who spent decades creating and disseminating her gilyanot (worksheets).

Her buried records have never been retrieved but it is strongly believed that her efforts prevailed and that those who were rescued by her survived the Holocaust.

With raw candor and authenticity, Bracha shares her painful struggles, as she seeks to understand the meaning of life and the inconsistencies of the feminist movement that she supports.

The single devastating element that unified his patient clientele was that they had all been diagnosed with some form of pediatric cancer.

The Talmud teaches that all Israel are responsible for one another. Risa writes that the terrorists attacked Chaim with a knife to his head because he was a Jew -- therefore the Jewish people had to take special care of him.

The Rav astutely notes that the story of Esther tells us in the most lively, realistic fashion, with a tinge of refined yet biting sarcasm, about paradoxical, absurd events, which are both tragic and comical at the same time.

One thinks of family as an all-embracing sanctuary – a safe haven and a refuge from the outside world. But this is rarely the case.

She becomes a typical American girl and suppresses all her Holocaust memories, never discussing them even with close friends.

It quotes stories and lessons from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, The Rav, Rav Kook, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and many other luminaries.

The reader is able to suspend their prior knowledge and remain engaged with the text, a testament to Gruen’s writing skills.

Halevy was a man of myriad talents. Be it a noted author, significant talmid chacham, master of kabbalah, gifted speaker and more.

It's hard to read a book and get up and move simultaneously. But this book, more than any other, did get me to get up and move.

This book is, "The riveting and untold story of the intelligence task force that launched a dynamic new front in the war on terror. A thrill ride with one of the most important Israeli start-ups of them all."

Although the manuscripts of the Rebbe’s writings were brought to Israel many years ago, this publication reveals extensive new information on the details surrounding their burial and discovery.

Here is a text that first and foremost encourages questions and exploration, knowing full well that the Torah does not shy away, and never has, from any challenge that comes its way.

In the preface, Rabbi Menachem Genack writes that halacha, in the Rav’s analysis, transforms eating by means of a new institution, the se’uda.

How many people know the lineage of King Antiochus, known formally as Antiochus IV Epiphanes?

Assaf A. Voll has written one of the most comprehensive books on the history of the Palestinian People.

The Rav argues that for Rambam, a great deal of man’s striving to understand God is related to trying to understand His deeds and imitating them.

Torah-based sources can be powerful tools for overcoming anxiety.

Weinreb shares with us his personal triumphs and tribulations, and lessons from his many travels across the Jewish world.

Despite not having any religious identity, Mrs. Teitler recalls that she and her younger sister were both beaten up at the trailer parks where they lived for being Jewish.

One of the more forceful and vital chapters is towards the end of the book when Rabbi Bleich discusses vaccinations.

We learn, for example, that his paternal uncle rabbi Shmuel Schneerson awarded his nephew rabbinic ordination;;

Rabbi Lichtenstein’s analysis of the events, especially the dialogues between them, serves as a lesson for our people’s leaders to read, and emulate in the many years to come.

Rabbi Blech projects this example of optimism as a most important component to the liberation of the Exodus.

Yosef, the biblical figure, has been the center of numerous contemporary works detailing his historical and religious importance to our faith, thus making a dramatization of his life at this time of year on the Jewish calendar all the more important.

Now approaching the program’s 67th year, the National Jewish Book Awards celebrate Jewish literary achievement in a wide range of genres and form, honoring writers in 20 different categories each year.