Book Reviews

Pesach reminds us of the liberation from Egypt, but also commands us to live through its events as if we were there. Every generation and every Jew, no matter which community they belong to, can, in their own way, relate to the story of Pesach.

Nachas Ruach: Torah-based Psychotherapy and Tools for Growth & Healing is Dr. Naftali Fish's 309-page explanation of a treatment model utilizing Torah values for emotional and mental health. As noted on page 5, the Nachas Ruach Treatment Model tool is " validated by changing trends within the field of psychotherapy increased openness and motivation to discover or to develop alternative ways to understanding the nature of health and healing "

Tension reigned. They were watched by the Soviet security services. The KGB often would search their rooms and suitcases. They were threatened and warned and targeted in shuls.

Goldsmith himself went on his own “voyage of discovery” to the places where his grandfather and uncle landed and were sent.

This work contains three important essays on the essential questions of modern religious Tanach study.

My only criticism is that it isn’t longer. Maybe there’ll be a sequel.

For someone who has accomplished and written so much, what's left? I opened another book of Sherri's to see what I might find.

How do we approach the Jewish study of Tanach as a text with a universal message as well as a special message for the Jewish people?

Rabbi Schimmel’s greatest contribution, aside from his organization and clarity, is his discussion of the rabbinic mind.

Kaufman, a nonagenarian, still exercises every day and limits the time he spends sitting. He devotes a great amount of time to staying healthy, so that he lives a long life in which he can dedicate himself – body and soul – to serving G-d.

I believe that exposure to many of the concepts of Kabbalah would quell the questions of many of our youngsters and quench their thirst for something more spiritual.

From the reviewer’s perspective, being asked to review this booklet has given me the chance to engage in introspection as to my own relationship with Viduy.

It’s amazing how a Jew raised with minimal religion can still feel visceral discomfort when asked to pray in front of a Buddha or participate in a cremation ceremony. That growing feeling of disjointedness ever so slowly spurred Liane’s interest in her own heritage.

You will find commentary on the Torah explaining key takeaways from Avraham’s mission to leave his household, and taamei hamitzvot, explanations of the commandments... Yet you will also learn from G.I. Joe: “Knowing is half the battle.”

Quirks of Hebrew language, prayer and the festivals are opened up to reveal much more to us than we might have originally thought.

Not everyone can write or relate a dvar Torah, but everyone likes and can ask a riddle.

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.

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.

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

It’s almost pointless to try to summarize all of the fascinating information that Holzer’s research unearthed.

This book left me profoundly moved, and changed.

The rabbis understood that ha'aramah was a mechanism that could be used well or poorly.

I am from the generation that never saw or heard the Rav but lived in his shadow, feeling his recently departed presence in his students' lectures. My poverty in this sense pales in comparison to that of the next generation, who have only a distant notion of who this great man was and his sprawling impact.

The author begins by distinguishing between what he calls inner/sacred technology and external/profane technology.

As one reads the book, this panoramic methodology becomes clearer. He divides the book into 3 parts based on the most prominent ideas of Pesach and perhaps the goals of the seder: family, faith, and freedom.

Saltsman is a deeply spiritual person and a perennial optimist. She gains insight – and often finds humor – in the most mundane experiences.

Rabbi Kahn goes through a more than exhaustive array of sources. Yet, despite the breadth of his erudition, his conclusion is fittingly humble.

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

When reading Reb Dovid, you would think this biography is about a gadol hador from hundreds of years ago. Yet, this was our dor’s gadol.

Rabbi Halberstadt says at the start that he doesn’t think that the big question of this generation is Is the Torah true or not? Therefore, he doesn’t address this point.