Book Reviews

The work represents another valuable addition to contemporary Torah study and an enriching commentary for both the scholar and novice alike.

The Jewish Holiday Companion has articles for every Jewish holiday, and even contains entries for Yom HaShoah, Yom HaAtzma’ut, and Thanksgiving.

It’s not just that having children who love to read will buy you some well deserved quiet time – as every self-respecting teacher will tell you, getting kids to enjoy reading offers tremendous academic benefits that will serve them well, both in school and throughout their lives.

Abusive men are usually on their best behavior before marriage. But they do provide clues.

Several of the works in the second half of the book explore the finer details within the debate between Moshe and Pharaoh, providing meaning and background to the seemingly superfluous details noted alongside the biblical description of the plagues.

Why unpack that can of worms when it seems like the repository of our experiential faith has never been deeper and more sound?

While still a student in a small Midwest college she learns that her aunt in New York has passed away, resulting in her life turning topsy turvy.

Once you pick up To Mourn a Child, you will not be able to put it down, but not for the usual reasons. There is no suspense here, as we know from the outset the sad end of each story.

Although the book is a light, and not to be taken in anyway as a halachic, treatise, there are some poignant moments and you may just learn a thing or two.

Published originally in 1965, this reissue of a classic is now more relevant than ever. Jewish law legislates that a child is Jewish if the mother is Jewish, or one who had converted to Judaism according to specific halachic requirements. Jewish identity is thus not merely sociological and demographic (if Jews live in the land of Israel) nor ethnic (differences in customs, folkways, and liturgy and practice of Ashkenazi Jews vs. Sephardic Jews), but rather determined by a maternal hereditary religious blood covenant.

Often I open Haggadot and find depictions of the Makos or slavery that I find troubling for a young audience.

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.

In the 1880s, a substantial immigration of Jews poured into New York from all parts of Europe, Russia, and Galicia. They were eager to escape the hard life of poverty and lack of peace back home, but the reality in America was not as they had expected it to be. It was hard to find work; it was a struggle for mere existence.

So if you’re a patient who needs to know that you’re not alone, a mental health professional who wants to see what it’s like in the office of a psychiatrist working here in Jerusalem, or just about anyone who cares about the Jewish people, you’ll find the book quite relevant. This is 360 pages of pure gold.

Alone in Africa, by Avigail Sharer, is an original adventure story about three siblings named Nesanel, Penina and Chezky Feiner, who are, well, alone in Africa. Except they aren't entirely alone – they have animals and two battling African tribes to keep them company.

Once you pick up To Mourn a Child, you will not be able to put it down, but not for the usual reasons. There is no suspense here, as we know from the outset the sad end of each story. It is rather the searing emotional intensity of this book that will grab you and compel you to keep reading.

History is both broad and deep at the same time. One with a broad knowledge of the subject probably prefers more depth on a topic, while one with less background probably prefers something broader in its scope.

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.

An essential scholarly volume on the Shoah

Their memoirs capture these experiences through a Torah-faith point of view.

Of course it is disingenuous to tell a person from a non-rabbinic, non-rosh yeshiva home to make an effort.

The only real reservation I would have about this book is that there is sometimes what seems to be a confusion between what the Sages or midrashim say on the one hand and what the Tanach says on the other.

If you have heard any of her speeches, Rahav-Meir is very big on keeping it real and current. She writes that Judaism has so much to offer to the world, and the world wants to hear from the Jews.

Rabbi Krohn is a deeply emotional person and this comes through in his dedication of the book to three sterling Teachers of Torah who all passed away this year.

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

If all one does is pick up the book and flip through it to look at the photos and captions and charts such as these, they will gain a wide window into Jewish history, scholarship and life.

Our religion has a lot of rules – about eating, about the Sabbath, about how to relate to other people – but the point of all of them is to create a special relationship between us and Hashem.

The Oral Law helps in the proper understanding of the Written Law and the Written Law helps in the understanding of the Oral Law.

The Lion's Gate takes us from the dawn of the state in 1948, through intervening battles, to the lead-up to June 1967, and finally through the harrowing six days of fighting.

Of Medicine, Miracles, and Mindsets, is a first-person account of Rabbi Elie and Chaya Rochel Estrin and their child Yossi, written mostly from Rabbi Elie’s perspective.