Book Reviews

A house filled with chutzpah is an unsafe home. The world is an especially frightening place these days; when you parent in unity, the whole environment feels good. The child will not have to look to the wrong outlets for love.

That feeling of freedom after years of emotional and physical torture can be felt even more fully when reading Bodek’s Zaidy’s War: Four Armies, Three Continents, Two Brothers. One Man’s Impossible Story of Endurance. He tells the shocking true story of his grandfather’s fight for survival during World War II.

The author’s treatment of Yom Kippur is surprising. Rather than define the day in its more familiar sense, as a day of atonement, Rabbi Fohrman focuses on the language around the fact that Aharon’s sons die as a result of their sin at the beginning of the parsha.

I greatly enjoyed studying all of these works, and I especially enjoyed reading them together. Each offers something important that the others do not, and each is an outstanding example of a different subgenre within contemporary halachic/Talmudic literature.

The source of each quote, paraphrase or inspiration in each chapter is cited in a lengthy appendix at the end of the book. And the sources extend beyond the usual ones, even to Rambam's extensive medical writings and letters.

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.

The first thing to say about this book is that it is a fantastic, fun, interesting read. I cannot wait to share this with my preteen son.

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.

A rollicking story with a happy ending, children aged 6-12 will understand that they have a choice when faced with any difficult situation.

Her book, or rather her slim booklet of around 20 pages, does not come to teach, prescribe or preach how Jewish prayer should look. Plenty of other books have been written for that purpose.

Not only are these 30 plus stories amazing because of the lengths that a Jew will go to say Kaddish with a minyan wherever he happens to be, but the Hashgacha Pratit that enables him to do so is clearly miraculous.

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

Within the context of Shabbos and each festival, Muskat-Brown discusses many important issues such as education, parenting, relationships, and lifestyle and, more importantly, gives us points to ponder and discuss.

Rabbi Bezalel Naor has masterfully taken Rav Kook's commentary and made it readable and comprehensible to the English reading audience in The Legends of Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah with the Commentary of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook.

The fact that some of Rabbi Brevda’s followers turned to chassidus did not bother him; in fact, he even encouraged them. He said that one can learn from everyone. There is no one right way.

The Hebrew font is definitely clear and readable, but I do wish the endnotes would have been included on the Hebrew side as well.

Philosophical and humorous, intellectual and spiritual, Gruen discusses many important topics of the day, both personal and universally relevant, as she muses over the changes in her life and the changes in the world and how they overlap.

If we are to consider what the future will bring, we must take account of the reception history of this work not only in its early decades but also in more recent years.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is the Hippocratic Oath of parenting: just try not to make things worse.

In this readable and engaging book, Pilichowski has 101 brief essays of 2-3 pages that explain the many aspects of Zionism. A critical point that he makes is that Zionists don't need to justify their existence.

We all want to be happy. Not only because it’s a great mitzvah, but because we enjoy being happy. No one wants pain, worry, affliction, despair or despondency in their lives.

Even after the reader sits back contentedly on the couch with a smile, mystery solved, he is left with much more than a typical fast-paced kid’s read because the book contains very gripping and relevant information about the historical events and sites on which the stories are based.

The book offers a compelling and accurate description of the challenges the Zionists faced between 1945–1949

Each chapter focuses on a unique aspect of temple service and how it relates to a unique aspect of our daily prayers.

Ettinger wants to tell a broader story than that, however, including not just questions of the Israeli Rabbinate but also more broadly of rabbinic authority in Orthodox Judaism.

It is appropriate that Rabbi Kelemer, who seemed bigger than life in his piety, modesty, and sensitivity, should be commemorated by someone who writes such that alliteration, personification, onomatopoeia, and metaphor are all present in one sentence.

Other topics discussed in this section are bat mitzvahs, women and prayer, Jewish divorce, and Torah education for women.

It offers an insightful exploration into the intricate realm of tzimtzum, providing invaluable snippets of historical context that enrich the understanding of its diverse integrations across various contexts.

What makes the book unique is that while he may have been a shochet, he was also a fantastic storyteller, which makes this such an interesting read.

This is Rabbi Alt’s seventh book and it comprises 70 meticulously crafted essays, eloquently articulating the Torah's viewpoint regarding death and the afterlife, and the eternal value of a mitzvah in this world and the next.