Book Reviews

Mitchell First has given me something I never had and didn’t realize I was missing: a mature perspective on Shalom Aleichem.

I would recommend this book to any helping professional who works with people for insight into the power of listening to enable others to help themselves.

I hope this book will encourage parents to realize that they are the best parents for their children, and to enjoy the privilege of parenting and see it as a catalyst for their own growth, says Rebbetzin Eisenbach.

There is no right or wrong way to use this book. You can choose to start with the current month, or pick a month that focuses on an area that you’re interested in improving in.

Later on in the book, Levine discusses the topic of exaggeration in the Talmud, but he frames it with juxtaposition to the controversial musical legacy of Eminem.

While books like this are great introductory texts, the cursory overview of the topics, many of them which warrant numerous volumes on their own, can give the reader too far a superficial view of the topic.

The consistency of an old man’s failing memory, prompted by his daughter and grandson serves to underscore the accuracy of Martin Bodek’s account.

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.

This eye-catching new volume does not limit itself only to ritual parallels. The pictures and illustrations of the flora and fauna of the biblical text are extraordinarily informative.

You might think that this is a collection of essays, at first glance. Upon further examination, you realize that R. Naor is examining every aspect of the phrase souls of the world of chaos.

Lebens opens GJU with a discussion of conversion under Jewish law – even though this book is not addressed to non-Jews – to illustrate that commitment to Judaism begins, first and foremost, with a commitment to the Jewish people.

Once the reader understands the framing of this book, it is a gold mine.

The first Jews of Eastern Europe were of a distinct variety who spoke a Judeo-Slavic dialect known to scholars as Knaanic. This dialect was later rendered obsolete by the arrival German/Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazim, whose language became somewhat influenced by Knaanic, but also essentially caused it to fizzle out

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.

Having exhausted the possible correlations between the three holidays, Rabbi Lauer suggests that it is not the similarities among these three holidays that define them as a unit. Rather, it is the fact that these holidays are all components of a greater whole.

The Asher Yatzar book discussed the kavanos we should have while eating: food should serve as a function with which we should have the energy to serve Hashem.

Haunting dream-like illustrations, dialogue that crackles with tension, spare writing, all conspire to make you feel not ‘as if’ you’re there, but that you really are there...

While Grade never mentions who Rasseyner is, later research showed that the character is based on Rabbi Gershon Liebman, who headed up the group of Novardok-based yeshivas in France after World War II.

Coming a number of years after the previous volume, Lau’s series humanizes the Sages, giving information about the time period and place they lived in, character attributes gleaned from Mishna and both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds.

The stance on confidentiality – not sharing personal issues with others for advice – is a great example of how he can be absolutely right and this can damage the relationship OR speaking up is actually really important and a great way to get the name of a great therapist or access to help.

Phraseology aside, Part Two of From Boys to Men is full of useful information mainly geared toward adults with several sections of important information for teens clearly labeled within.

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.

The Maharal is classically celebrated for taking deep Kabbalistic and mystical ideas and bringing them down to Earth, composing them in a deep and beautiful style. He masks the traditional Kabbalistic terms in more the conventional Rabbinic Hebrew.

The author’s skill at portraying multiple layers of trauma gives this book great depth. We see the long-lasting effects of the shame imposed on family members for something they didn’t do.

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.

Children’s books are becoming more and more important. Children are left too much on their own with their multitude of screens. Children need parents who believe in them and encourage them, says Rubin.

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.

The stories are written in Rabbi Krohn’s inimitable style and their subjects range from Gedolei HaDor to “ordinary” men, women and children; from the shores of America to the epicenter of the Holy Land.

If you don’t want to read it cover to cover, you can flip through it. Find the question you are looking for as it becomes relevant to your situation or if a case is of interest to you.

Rabbi Klapper grounds our Orthodoxy in a commitment to a halachic process in which poskim and a community of faithfully observant Jews exercise joint responsibility over the shape of halacha.