Some Good (and Great) Books I Have Read

During the Past YearWith Brief Descriptions, Mostly Citing the Jacket Covers

Fiction and Non-Fiction

Jewish and Secular

Many of these books are now available in the Kol Rinah library.I just ask that you let Nancy Greene know if you borrow one and that you bring it back within a

reasonable time. Otherwise, ask me if you wish to borrow any of these books.

Rabbi Mark Fasman

2012-135773

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Jewish FictionRamona Ausubel, No One Is Here Except All of Us: A Novel (Riverhead Books, 2012). “In

1939, the residents of the tiny Romanian village of Zalischik are counting on their isolation to protect them from the catastrophe sweeping Europe. When a mysterious stranger is washed up on the riverbank and the illusion of peace is shattered, the villagers are forced to acknowledge the precariousness of their situation. Their Jewish ancestors famously moved and escaped for thousands of years—across oceans, deserts, and mountains. Now, it seems, there is nowhere else to go. But even with danger imminent in every direction, the territory of imagination and belief is limitless. At the suggestion of an eleven-year-old girl and the washed-up stranger, the villagers decide to start the world over. Through sheer will and imagination, they will reinvent the world: deny any relationship with the known, and begin again from scratch. Destiny is unwritten. Time and history are forgotten. Jobs, husbands, a child are reassigned. And for years, there is boundless hope. But the real world continues to unfold alongside the imagined one, eventually overtaking it, and soon our narrator—the girl, grown into a young mother—must flee her village, move from one world to the next, to find her husband and save her children, and propel them toward a real and hopeful future. In rich, luxurious, surefooted prose, Ramona Ausubel has created a hugely ambitious story about the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history. Both the story of one girl’s coming of age and acceptance of her place within the world, and a parable about the power of belief, No One Is Here Except All of Us explores how we use storytelling to survive and to shape our own truths.”

Barry Fantoni, Harry Lipkin, Private Eye (Doubleday, 2012). “Harry Lipkin is a tough-talking, soft-chewing, rough-around-the-edges, slow-around-the-corners private investigator who carries a .38 along with a spare set of dentures. Harry may specialize in the sort of cases that cops can’t be bothered with, but he knows where to find good chopped liver for a fair price. He’s not the best P.I. in Miami, but at eighty-seven, he’s certainly the oldest. His latest client, Mrs. Norma Weinberger, has a problem. Someone is stealing sentimental trinkets and the occasional priceless jewel from her, someone she employs, trusts, cares for, and treats like family. The suspect list reads like the cast of Clue—the chauffeur, butler, maid, chef, and gardener. Behind the domestic decorum, all the staff members seem to have motive, access, and a lot more moolah than they should. With the stakes fairly low and blood pressure a little too high, Harry Lipkin must figure out whodunit before the thief strikes again. Set in the sunny environs of South Florida, where octogenarian retirees sometimes intersect with the boxers, gamblers, and gang members of Miami’s dark underbelly, Harry Lipkin, Private Eye is as sharp, funny, and irresistible as our unlikely hero.”

Daniel Friedman, Don’t Ever Get Old: A Mystery (Minotaur Books, 2012). “When Buck Schatz, senior citizen and retired Memphis cop, learns that an old adversary may have escaped Germany with a fortune in stolen gold, Buck decides to hunt down the fugitive and claim the loot. But a lot of people want a piece of the stolen treasure, and Buck’s investigation quickly attracts unfriendly attention from a very motley (and murderous) crew.” The lead character is 87 and Jewish. The action of the story takes place in Memphis and St. Louis. A fun read.

Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question: A Novel (Bloomsbury, 2010). “Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular former BBC radio producer, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer, and television personality, are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they’ve never lost touch with each other, or with their former teacher Libor Sevcik. Dining together one night at the aged Sevcik’s apartment—two recently widowed Jews and the unmarried Gentile, Treslove—the men share a sweetly painful evening, reminiscing on a time before they had loved and lost, before they had prized anything greatly enough to fear the loss of it. But as Treslove makes his way home, he is mugged outside a violin dealer’s window. Treslove becomes convinced that he was the victim of a misdirected act of anti-Semitism, and in its aftermath,

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his whole sense of self ineluctably changes in this funny and unflinching novel of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and the wisdom and humanity of maturity.” The New York Times comments: “Mr. Jacobson doesn’t just summon [Philip] Roth; he summons Roth at Roth’s best. This prizewinning book is a riotous morass of jokes and worries about Jewish identity, though it is by no means too myopic to be enjoyed by the wider world. It helps that Mr. Jacobson’s comic sensibility suggests Woody Allen’s, that his powers of cultural observation are so keen, and that influences a surprising as Lewis Carroll shape this book … Even in its darkest moments The Finkler Question offers many examples … the most pernicious and authentic strain of Jewish humor: the kind that’s so real it isn’t funny at all.”

Mordecai Richler, Barney’s Version (Vintage Canada, 1997). “Ebullient and perverse, thrice married, Barney Panofsky has always clung to two cherished beliefs: life is absurd and nobody truly ever understands anybody else. But when his sworn enemy publicly states that Barney is a wife abuser, an intellectual fraud and probably a murderer, he is driven to write his own memoirs. Charged with comic energy and a wicked disregard for any pieties whatsoever, Barney’s Version is a brilliant portrait of a man whom Mordecai Richler has made uniquely memorable for all time. It is also an unforgettable love story, a story about family and the riches of friendship.” What a terrific read this is! The Globe and Mail’s reviewer raved, “[A] triumph … at once hilarious, poignant, satiric and elegiac …. Barney’s 30-year marriage to Miriam, their mutual love, and the two sons and one daughter they produce … are the novel’s heart and soul…. They are treated with the utter persuasiveness – the sympathy, the irony, the unique blend of comedy and tragedy – that is Richler’s great strength and that characterizes the book in its entirety. Barney’s Version has an embarrassment of riches, material enough to furnish lesser writers with several novels, yet woven here into a wantonly generous, seamless whole.”

Howard Schwarz, Leaves from the Garden of Eden: One Hundred Classic Jewish Tales (Oxford University Press, 2009). “Just as Schwartz’s award-winning book Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism collected the essential myths of Jewish tradition, Leaves from the Garden of Eden collects one hundred essential Jewish tales. As imaginative as the Arabian Nights, these stories invoke enchanted worlds, demonic realms, and mystical experiences. The four most popular types of Jewish tales are gathered here—fairy tales, folktales, supernatural tales, and mystical tales—taking readers on heavenly journeys, lifelong quests, and descents to the underworld. King David is still alive in the City of Luz, which the Angel of Death cannot enter, and somewhere deep in the forest a mysterious cottage contains the candle of your soul. In these stories, a bride who is not careful may end up marrying a demon, while the charm sewn into a dress may drive a pious woman to lascivious behavior. There is a dybbuk lurking in a well, a book that comes to life, and a world where Lilith, the Queen of Demons, seduces the unsuspecting. Here, too, are Jewish versions of many of the best-known tales, including “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” and “Rapunzel.” Schwartz’s retelling of one of these stories, “The Finger,” inspired Tim Burton’s film Corpse Bride.” Mr. Schwartz was Kol Rinah’s Scholar-in-Residence for Selichot and will be presenting two additional talks in November.

Daniel Silva, The Fallen Angel (HarperCollins, 2012). “After narrowly surviving his last operation, Gabriel Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, has taken refuge behind the walls of the Vatican, where he is restoring one of Caravaggio’s greatest masterpieces. But early one morning he is summoned to St. Peter’s Basilica by Monsignor Luigi Donati, the all-powerful private secretary to his Holiness Pope Paul VII. The body of a beautiful woman lies broken beneath Michelangelo’s magnificent dome. The Vatican police suspect suicide, though Gabriel believes otherwise. So, it seems, does Donati, who calls upon Gabriel to quietly pursue the truth—with one caveat. ‘Rule number one at the Vatican,’ Donati said. ‘Don’t ask too many questions.’ Gabriel soon learns that the dead woman had uncovered a dangerous secret that threatens a global criminal enterprise involved in looting timeless treasures of antiquity. But there is more to this dark network than just greed. And unless Gabriel can prevent a mysterious operative from committing a devastating act of sabotage, the world will be plunged into a conflict of apocalyptic proportions….” This novel is written a dozen years after The Kill Artist [see below] and is much more pro-Israel than the earlier book. Some wonderful descriptions of both the Vatican and the Temple Mount.

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Daniel Silva, The Kill Artist (Penguin, 2000). “Immersed in the quiet, meticulous life of an art restorer, former Israeli intelligence operative Gabriel Allon keeps his past well behind him. But now he is being called back into the game—and teamed with an agent who hides behind her own mask…as a beautiful fashion model. Their target: a cunning terrorist on one last killing spree, a Palestinian zealot who played a dark part in Gabriel’s past. And what begins as a manhunt turns into a globe-spanning duel fueled by both political intrigue and deep personal passions….” One of Silva’s characters presents the Palestinian case against Israel in fairly stark language, but I do not believe that the author is really anti-Israel.

Milton Steinberg, As a Driven Leaf (originally published in 1939; reprinted in 1996, with a Foreword by Chaim Potok). “The magnificent work of modern fiction that brings the age of the Talmud alive, and explores the times of Elisha ben Abuyah, whose struggle to live in two worlds destroyed his chances of living in either.” This is a wonderful historical novel incorporating material from the Talmud and Greek literature. I re-read it this year and enjoyed it even more than when I read it before entering rabbinical school. This book explores the world that produced Rabbinic Judaism (the basis of all forms of Judaism today) and deals with struggles remarkably similar to those experienced by contemporary American Conservative Jews. Milton Steinberg was a Conservative rabbi and a strong supporter of Reconstructionist Judaism (a part of the Conservative Movement), as developed by Mordecai Kaplan.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, The Tales of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav: Retold With Commentary by Adin Steinsaltz (Maggid Books, 1979). “Rabbi Nachman’s stories are considered the peak of his creative life for their form, content, and profound, underlying ideas. Transcribed by Rabbi Natan (Sternharz) of Bratslav, Rabbi Nachman’s chief disciple, they are a mixture of intellectual and poetic imagination, fairy tales rooted in Kabbalistic symbolism and Biblical and Talmudic sources. The Tales of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav features select pieces from the original work together with Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s elucidating commentary to help the reader discover layer upon layer of meaning in this classic work.” I found that Rabbi Steinsaltz’s commentary helped me to understand the kabbalistic symbolism in these otherwise curious tales. I suppose I could have listed this book under “Jewish Non-Fiction” – but it is the stories themselves that are the primary focus of the book.

Herman Wouk, The Lawgiver (Simon & Schuster, 2012). “For more than fifty years, legendary author Herman Wouk has dreamed of writing a novel about the life of Moses. Finally, at age ninety-seven, he has found an ingeniously witty way to tell the tale in The Lawgiver, a romantic and suspenseful epistolary novel about a group of people trying to make a movie about Moses in the present day. The story emerges from letters, memos, e-mails, journals, news articles, recorded talk, Skype transcripts, and text messages. At the center of The Lawgiver is Margo Solovei, a brilliant young writer-director who has rejected her rabbinical father’s strict Jewish upbringing to pursue a career in the arts. When an Australian multibillionaire promises to finance a move about Moses if the script meets certain standards, Margo does everything she can to land the job, including a reunion with her estranged first love, an influential lawyer with whom she still has unfinished business. Two other key characters in the novel are Herman Wouk himself and his wife of more than sixty years, Betty Sarah, who, almost against their will, find themselves entangled in the Moses movie when the Australian billionaire insists on Wouk’s stamp of approval. As Wouk and his characters contend with Moses and marriage, and the force of tradition, rebellion, and reunion, The Lawgiver reflects the wisdom of a lifetime. Inspired by the great nineteenth-century novelists, one of America’s most beloved twentieth-century authors has now written a remarkable twenty-first-century work of fiction.” I found this a fun read, though there is very little about Moses himself (i.e., we don’t get to read the screenplay). But there is a lot of Jewish content.

Irvin D. Yalom, The Spinoza Problem: A Novel (Basic Books, 2012). “In The Spinoza Problem, Irvin Yalom spins facts and fiction into an unforgettable psycho-philosophical drama. Yalom juxtaposes the story of the seventeenth-century thinker Baruch Spinoza, whose philosophy led to his own excommunication from the Jewish community, with that of the rise and fall of the Nazi ideologue

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Alfred Rosenberg, who ordered his task force to plunder Spinoza’s ancient library in an effort to deal with the Nazis’ “Spinoza Problem.” Seamlessly alternating between Gold Age Amsterdam and Nazi Germany, Yalom investigates the inner lives of these two enigmatic men in a tale of influence and anxiety, the origins of good and evil, and the philosophy of freedom and the tyranny of terror.” The author is a psychiatrist and very much in agreement with Spinoza and Mordecai Kaplan’s Reconstructionist Theology. This novel presents a theology nearly 180° different from that in Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (see below).

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Jewish Non-FictionDavid Ben-Gurion, editor, The Jews in their Land (Doubleday/Aldus, 1966). This book is a

history of Israel from the Patriarchs to 1966. It is comprised of six parts: (1) Entry to Exile, 1200 B.C.E. to 587 B.C.E., by Professor Yohanan Aharoni; (2) The Prophets, by Dr. Eliahu Auerbach; (3) From the Babylonian Exile to the Bar Kochba Revolt, 587 B.C.E. to 135 C.E., by Professor Yehoshua Guttman and Dr. Menahem Stern; (4) From Bar Kochba’s Revolt to the Turkish Conquest, 135 C.E. to 1516, by Professor Benzion Dinur; (5) Under Ottoman Rule, 1517–1917, by Dr. Izhak Ben-Zvi; and (6) From the Founding of Petah-Tikva to the Present Day, 1878–, by David Ben-Gurion. It is filled with photographs and maps and diagrams.

Yirmeyahu Bindman, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto: His Life and Works (Jason Aronson, 1995). This volume chronicles the life of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, one of the greatest and most controversial of kabbalistic thinkers. Best known for his work Mesillat Yesharim—a treatise on the path man must follow to attain religious and ethical perfection—Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as the Ramchal, was a kabbalist, Hebrew poet, accomplished linguist, and leader of a group of religious thinkers who were primarily interested in the problems of redemption and messianism. Born in Padua, Italy, in 1707, Luzzatto was regarded as a genius from childhood, thoroughly knowledgeable in Bible, Talmud, Midrash, halakhic literature, and classical languages and literature. He also possessed an extensive knowledge of contemporary Italian culture. In 1727, while immersed in kabbalistic speculations, Luzzatto claimed to have heard the voice of a Maggid—a divine power inclined to reveal heavenly secrets to human beings. Henceforth, the revelations of the Maggid served to comprise future kabbalistic writings, only a few of which survived and were published. When word of Luzzatto’s teachings reached the leading rabbis of Italy, a vehement controversy followed and he was coerced into giving up his kabbalistic writings and refraining from teaching Kabbalah altogether. Eventually, Luzzatto was forced to leave Italy. He lived in Amsterdam for a number of years, writing on many subjects but never openly teaching kabbalah. In 1743 Luzzatto moved to Eretz Yisrael and lived there until 1746, when he and his family fell victim to a plague in Acco.”

Joel Chasnoff, The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah (Free Press, 2010). “Joel Chasnoff is twenty-four years old, an American, and the graduate of an Ivy League university. But when his career as a stand-up comic fails to get off the ground, Chasnoff decides it’s time for a serious change of pace. Leaving behind his amenity-laden Brooklyn apartment for a plane ticket to Israel, Joel trades in the comforts of being a stereotypical American Jewish male for an Uzi, dog tags (with his name misspelled), and serious mental and physical abuse at the hands of the Israeli Army. The 188th Crybaby Brigade is a hilarious and poignant account of Chasnoff’s year in the Israel Defense Forces—a year that he volunteered for, and that he’ll never get back. As a member of the 188th Armored Brigade, a unit trained on the Merkava tanks that make up the backbone of Israeli ground forces, Chasnoff finds himself caught in a twilight zone-like world of mandatory snack breaks, battalion sing-alongs, and eighteen-year-old Israeli mama’s boys who feign injuries to get out of guard duty and claim diarrhea to avoid kitchen work. More time is spent arguing over how to roll a sleeve cuff than studying the mechanics of the Merkava tanks. The platoon sergeants are barely older than the soldiers and are younger than Chasnoff himself. By the time he’s sent to Lebanon for a tour of duty against Hezbollah, Chasnoff knows everything about why snot dries out in the desert, yet has never been trained in firing the MAG. And all this while his relationship with his tough-as-nails Israeli girlfriend (herself a former drill sergeant) crumbles before his very eyes. The lone American in a platoon of eighteen-year-old Israelis, Chasnoff takes readers into the barracks; over, under, and through political fences; and face-to-face with the absurd reality of life in the Israeli Army. It is a brash and gritty depiction of combat, rife with ego clashes, breakdowns in morale, training mishaps that almost cost lives, and the barely containable sexual urges of a group of teenagers. What’s more, it’s an on-the-ground account of life in one of the most embattled armies on earth—an occupying force in a hostile land, surrounded by enemy governments and terrorists, reviled by much of the world. With equal parts irreverence and

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vulnerability, irony and intimacy, Chasnoff narrates a new kind of coming-of-age story—one that teaches us, moves us, and makes us laugh.”

Richard A. Freund, Digging Through History: Archaeology and Religion from Atlantis to the Holocaust (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012). “Digging through History follows historian and field archaeologist Richard A. Freund’s journey through some of the most fascinating archaeological sites of human history. Drawing on his rich excavation experiences, Freund shows readers what we can learn about past religious life and faith through artifacts discovered at each site, as well as the other elements that have given each site such strong “staying power” over time. After an introduction to the key concepts found in Digging through History, the book opens with a chapter devoted to the lost city of Atlantis. Freund outlines the mystery of the city and why it has fascinated us for so many years, then lays out a provocative case for having finally located the lost city, expanding upon the story chronicled in his National Geographic documentary titled Finding Atlantis. From Atlantis, the narrative moves on to explore questions surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls and archaeology in medieval Spain. The book concludes with a haunting exploration of the long-buried Holocaust camp Sobibor, using archaeology and geophysics to both document the atrocities that occurred there and show the enduring faith of those imprisoned at the camp and the survivors who managed to escape. Digging through History not only illustrates the dynamic relationship between material culture and recorded history in shaping what we believe but also illuminates some of the less tangible factors that have kept us fascinated by sites like Atlantis as the years pass.”

Rabbi Moshe Goldberger, Priorities in Tzedaka: Higher Forms of Giving (Judaica Press, 2007). “This Sefer is a practical guide to the mitzvah of tzedakah and how to prioritize the giving of tzedakah.” Sections include: The Obligation to Give Tzedaka, An Individual’s Tzedaka Priorities, Determining Maaser, How to Give and Become More Giving, The Giving Plan, and Useful Tools for Tzedaka Giving. This is a very accessible book – based upon the Jewish obligation to set aside 10% (up to 20%) for tzedaka each year. And the details matter. The American Jewish community is the most philanthropic group in the country. So we are very giving. But there are priorities in giving that should be considered as we set aside money for tzedaka.

Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story (Crown Publishers, 2010). “In this hilarious and ultimately moving memoir, comedians and real-life married couple Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn prove that in marriage, all you need is love—and a healthy dose of complaining, codependence, and pinot noir. After thirteen years of being married, Annabelle and Jeff have found “We’re just not that into us.” Instead of giving up, they’ve held their relationship together by ignoring conventional wisdom and fostering a lack of intimacy, by using parenting as a competitive sport, and by dropping out of couples therapy. The he-said/she-said chronicle of their intense but loving marriage includes an unsentimental account of the marriage odyssey that their family embarked upon after their infant son was diagnosed with VACTERL, a very rare series of birth defects. Annabelle and Jeff’s unforgivingly raw, uproariously funny story is sure to strike both laughter and terror in the hearts of all couples (not to mention every single man and woman who is contemplating the connubial state). Serving up equal parts sincerity and cynicism, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up is a laugh-out-loud must-read for everyone who has come to realize that being “in love” can only get you so far.” Jeff is Jewish, but virulently anti-religious. There are, nonetheless, a number of Jewish situations and references throughout the book. I often cringed while reading this (mostly at the crude language). But I also laughed and was occasionally moved.

David Hartman, Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest (Jewish Publication Society, 1976). “In this original study, notes scholar and theologian David Hartman discusses the relation between Maimonides’ halakhic writings and The Guide of the Perplexed—the connection is much closer than is generally supposed. Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest demonstrates that Maimonides’ total philosophic endeavor was an attempt to show how the free search for truth, established through the study of logic, physics, and metaphysics, can live harmoniously with a way of life defined by the normative traditions of Judaism. This pioneering work, originally published by JPS in 1976, earned Dr. Hartman a National Jewish Book Award for a book on Jewish thought.

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Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole, Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza (Schocken, 2011). “One May day in 1896, at a dining-room table in Cambridge, England, a meeting took place between a Romanian-born maverick Jewish intellectual and twin learned Presbyterian Scotswomen, who had assembled to inspect several pieces of rag paper and parchment. It was the unlikely start to what would prove a remarkable, continent-hopping, century-crossing saga, and one that in many ways has revolutionized our sense of what it means to lead a Jewish life. In Sacred Trash, MacArthur-winning poet and translator Peter Cole and acclaimed essayist Adina Hoffman tell the story of the retrieval from an Egyptian geniza, or repository for worn-out texts, of the most vital cache of Jewish manuscripts ever discovered. This tale of buried scholarly treasure weaves together unforgettable portraits of Solomon Schechter and the other heroes of this drama with explorations of the medieval documents themselves—letters and poems, wills and marriage contracts, Bibles, money orders, fiery dissenting tracts, fashion-conscious trousseaux lists, prescriptions, petitions, and mysterious magical charms. Presenting a panoramic view of nine hundred years of vibrant Mediterranean Judaism, Hoffman and Cole bring readers into the heart of this little-known trove, whose contents have rightly been dubbed ‘the Living Sea Scrolls.’ Part biography and mart meditation on the supreme value the Jewish people has long placed on the written word, Sacred Trash is above all a gripping tale of adventure and redemption.”

Dov Indig, Letters to Talia (Gefen, 2012). “Letters to Talia describes the rich cultural worlds of a yeshiva student and a kibbutz girl who succeed in creating a dialogue of understanding and compassion. Their distant outlooks meet in a meaningful and touching dialogue that reveals how much common ground they share despite their divergent worldviews. Letters to Talia is an exceptional, engaging book that brings hope to those seeking a serious dialogue and real understanding between the religious and secular in Israeli society today.” The first sentence of the book is: “Dov Indig was killed on October 7, 1973, in a holding action on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War.” These are remarkable letters between a hesder yeshiva student and the daughter of a secular kibbutznik who he met in the army. Dov was only 22 at the time of his death. He became famous as the hero of the novel by Rabbi Haim Sabato, Adjusting Sights (Rabbi Sabato was one of his friends in yeshiva).

Joseph Lowin, Hebrew Talk: 101 Hebrew Roots and the Stories They Tell (EKS Publishing, 2004). “Each essay in this extraordinary collection takes the reader into the heart of the Hebrew language, where the spoken words of daily life merge with history and imagination. Author Joseph Lowin draws from a wide range of sources—Biblical and Rabbinic texts, contemporary authors, and a diverse collection of Israeli Hebrew: newspapers, advertising slogans, slang and graffiti. His exploration of Hebrew roots, shorashim, produces a semantic commentary that is at once profound and practical, insightful and entertaining. Adapted from his “About Hebrew” column in Hadassah Magazine, these reflective studies will delight both novice and expert Hebraist as they unravel Hebrew’s linguistic intricacies.” The book is somewhat disappointing in that the linguistic connections tend to be superficial.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Listening to God: Inspirational Stories for My Grandchildren (Maggid Books, 2010). “See the divine in every human encounter. Be receptive to God’s voice. Act out of faith. These are just a few of the lessons Rabbi Shlomo Riskin imparts in this collection of inspirational life stories. Rabbi Riskin takes us from his grandmother’s Brooklyn Shabbat table to the vibrant community of Efrat, Israel, with stops in Russian Jewish communities struggling to maintain their ethnic identities, New York synagogues tackling political controversies, and more. Through these poignant, entertaining, often humorous tales, Rabbi Riskin passes on wisdom for the next generation and, indeed, for us all.” A couple of my favorite quotes: “The way to bring Jews back to their roots is not through drinks, or even intellectual discourse. It begins with heartfelt song and joyous dance that enters the heart and the soul; it must then continue with the study of Torah, which will penetrate the mind.” Also, “In the final analysis, the only thing we truly own is what we give to the future.”

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Max (Motl) Sivak and Jennie (Chienke) Sivak, Chienke’s Motl and Motl’s Chienke: A Twentieth Century Story (Jacob Sivak, 2011). “Canada is a land of many immigrants, with many stories to tell. This book contains the story of two Jews who settled in Montreal, bringing with them a story of the twentieth century. Motl and Chienke were raised in an Eastern European small town or shtetl where the impoverished Jews faced many hardships and dangers, including anti-Semitism and political turmoil. Motl and Chienke longed to escape that world and become halutzim or pioneers in the communal farms called “kibbutzim”, in pre-independence Israel, then called Palestine. Their memoirs trace their journey and their hard work and sacrifice as part of the Zionist movement to rebuild the Jewish homeland. Finally, they join family members in Montreal Canada and this third phase of their lives becomes the most permanent. In the small town of Eastern Europe, it was not customary for people to call each other by their family names. If a husband had more prominence and his name was Joseph and his wife’s name was Sarah, she was called Joseph’s Sarah. If the reverse was true, he was called Sarah’s Joseph. As the main personalities in this story were equally prominent, their tale is titled, Chienke’s Motl and Motl’s Chienke.”

Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz), commentator, Koren Talmud Bavli: Berakhot (Koren, 2012). “The Koren Talmud Bavli with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz is a groundbreaking edition of the Talmud, Judaism’s central repository of law, ethics, philosophy, history, and customs. The Koren Talmud Bavli presents both the traditional Vilna page and a contemporary English translation, with a multitude of learning aids to help the beginning and advanced Talmud student alike.” From the Introduction: “Tractate Berakhot is the first tractate in the order of “Faith” [Zeraim]. The primary focus of the tractate is the myriad ways in which a Jewish person expresses his faith throughout his life. The plethora of details with regard to the different blessings that one recites on various occasions over the course of his life, the prayer services and their customs, Shema with its associated blessings and halakhot, and numerous other laws connected with a person’s day-to-day existence are all comprehensively addressed in this tractate. In the background, the Gemara recounts in great detail the lives of Jews in Eretz Yisrael and Babylonia during the era of the Mishna and the Talmud. It describes their occupations, their prayers, their aspirations, and their dreams, from morning to evening, on weekdays and festivals, in felicitous times and calamitous times, citing numerous halakhic and aggadic sources to enlighten, guide, and explain.” This new translation and commentary is an outstanding way to learn Talmud.

Stella Suberman, The Jew Store: A Family Memoir (Algonquin Books, 1998). “The Bronsons were the first Jews ever to live in the small town of Concordia, Tennessee—a town consisting of one main street, one bank, one drug store, one picture show, one feed and seed, one hardware store, one beauty parlor, one barber shop, one blacksmith, and many Christian churches. That didn’t stop Aaron Bronson, a Russian immigrant, from moving his family out of New York by horse and wagon in 1920 and journeying to this remote corner of the South to open a small dry goods store. Never mind that he was greeted with ‘Danged if I ever heard tell of a Jew storekeeper afore.’ Never mind that all the townspeople were suspicious of any strangers. Never mind that the Klan actively discouraged the presence of outsiders. Aaron Bronson bravely established a business, and proved in the process that his family could make a home, and a life, anywhere. With a fine dry wit, Suberman tells the story of her family that the Intermountain Jewish News described as ‘Moving, funny, scary, and intelligent.’ The Jew Store is that rare thing—an intimate family story that sheds light on a piece of history and speaks to the immigrant experience of millions of Americans.”

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Miscellaneous (Fiction)

Dan Brown, Inferno: A Novel (Doubleday, 2013). “Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in a hospital in the middle of the night. Disoriented and suffering from a head wound, he recalls nothing of the last thirty-six hours, including how he got there ... or the origin of the macabre object that his doctors discover hidden in his belongings. Langdon’s world soon erupts into chaos, and he finds himself on the run in Florence with a stoic young woman, Sienna Brooks, whose clever maneuvering saves his life. Langdon quickly realizes that he is in possession of a series of disturbing codes created by a brilliant scientist—a genius whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written—Dante Alighieri’s dark epic poem The Inferno. Racing through such timeless locations as the Palazzo Vecchio, the Boboli Gardens, and the Duomo, Langdon and Brooks discover a network of hidden passageways and ancient secrets, as well as a terrifying new scientific paradigm that will be used either to vastly improve the quality of life on earth … or to devastate it.” In particular, this novel explores the over-population of our earth, with the terrifying prospect that we will soon reach a point that will lead to destruction of all human life. The novel states that, for those born in 1952, by the time they reach 80 the world’s population will have tripled in their lifetime. Eventually, the population of the earth will consume all available resources – consequently, no one will survive. I hope that the science is wrong. (Scientists are far more vocal about global warming than they are about a looming mass extinction of humanity.)

Robert Crais, Suspect (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2013). “LAPD cop Scott James is not doing so well, not since a shocking nighttime assault by unidentified men killed his partner Stephanie, nearly killed him, and left him enraged, ashamed, and ready to explode. He is unfit for duty—until he meets his new partner. Maggie is not doing so well, either. The German shepherd survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing explosives before she lost her handler to an IED and sniper attack, and her PTSD is as bad as Scott’s. They are each other’s last chance. He was a young cop on the rise, she was bred to guard and protect. Now they are shunned and shunted to the side. They are suspect. And together they will set out to investigate the one case that no one wants them to touch: the identity of the men who murdered Stephanie.” This is a wonderful mystery with some terrific insight into the “mind” of a working dog.

Yann Martel, Life of Pi: A Novel (Harcourt, 2001). Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Bookbrowse.com Book Summary: “Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true? Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.” I found nothing particularly spiritual about the story – if it were true, it would be amazing, but it’s just a story (an interesting, fun read). The ending reminds us that all stories carry different truths, depending upon how they are told and how they are interpreted. Also, “factually accurate” is not the same as “true.”

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Miscellaneous (Non-Fiction)

Eben Alexander, Proof of Heaven: a Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife (Simon & Schuster, 2012). “Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. Then, Dr. Alexander’s own brain was attacked by a rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion—and in essence makes us human—shut down completely. For seven days he lay in a coma. Then, as his doctors considered stopping treatment, Alexander’s eyes popped open. He had come back. Alexander’s recovery is a medical miracle. But the real miracle of his story lies elsewhere. While his body lay in come, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. There he met, and spoke with, the Divine source of the universe itself. Alexander’s story is not a fantasy. Before he underwent his journey, he could not reconcile his knowledge of neuroscience with any belief in heaven, God, or the soul. Today Alexander is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition. This story would be remarkable no matter who it happened to. That it happened to Dr. Alexander makes it revolutionary. No scientist or person of faith will be able to ignore it. Reading it will change your life.”

John R. Bradley, After the Arab Spring: How Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolts (Palgrave, 2012). “When popular revolutions erupted in Tunisia and Egypt, the West assumed that democracy and pluralism would triumph. Greatly praised author and foreign correspondent John R. Bradley draws on his extensive firsthand knowledge of the region’s cultures and societies to show how Islamists will fill the power vacuum in the wake of the revolutions. This vivid and timely book gives an original analysis of the new Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Bahrain by highlighting the dramatic spread of Saudi-funded Wahhabi ideology, inter-tribal rivalries, and Sunni – Shia divisions. Bradley provides a boots-on-the-ground look at how the revolutions were first ignited and the major players behind them and shows how the local population participated in and responded to the uprisings. In Tunisia he witnesses secularists under violent attack, and in Egypt he observes radical Islamists taking control of the streets. He illuminates the ancient sectarian strife shaking Bahrain, the fierce civil wars pitching tribe against tribe in Libya and Yemen, and the ethnic divisions threatening to tear apart Syria and Iran. Taking it one step further, Bradley offers a comprehensive look at how across countries the liberal, progressive voices that first rallied the Arab masses were drowned out by the slogans of the better-organized and more popular radical Islamists. With the in-depth knowledge of a local and the keen perspective of a seasoned reporter, After the Arab Spring offers a piercing analysis of what the empowerment of Islamism bodes for the future of the Middle East and its impact on the West.” I found this book to be a real eye-opener – and gave me a lot of insight into the dynamics behind the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Harry Bright and Jakob Anser, Are You Kidding Me? Fun Facts that Feel Like They Can’t Be True (MJF Books, 2009). “Who knew that “Ring around the Rosy” was about bubonic plague? While perusing the pages of Are You Kidding Me?, you’ll agree the world is a lot stranger than it appears! Learn the answers to: Which animal can jump 600 times an hour for three days straight? What common beverage has been scientifically proven to extend life? How much does the world’s largest rodent weight? Where do the world scruple, googol, and boycott come from? How many cases of bottled water do Americans buy every year? Which countries are the happiest in the world? (Hint: America doesn’t make the top ten.) Which head of state owns roughly one-sixth of the world’s landmass? One fact stands out from the rest: After reading Are You Kidding Me? You’ll know a lot more about this strange world we all live in and have a host of astonishing trivia to share with your friends and family.”

Joseph Epstein, Envy (Oxford University Press, 2003). “Malice that cannot speak its name, cold-blooded but secret hostility, impotent desire, hidden rancor and spite – all cluster at the center of

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envy. Envy clouds thought, writes Joseph Epstein, clobbers generosity, precludes any hope of serenity, and ends in shriveling the heart. Of the seven deadly sins, he concludes, only envy is no fun at all. Writing in a conversational, erudite, self-deprecating style that wears its learning lightly, Epstein takes us on a stimulating tour of the many faces of envy. He considers what great thinkers – such as John Rawls, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche – have written about envy; distinguishes between envy, yearning, jealousy, resentment, and Schadenfreude (“a hardy perennial in the weedy garden of sour emotions”); and catalogs the many things that are enviable, including wealth, beauty, power, talent, knowledge and wisdom, extraordinary good luck, and youth (or as the title of Epstein’s chapter on youth has it, “The Young, God Damn Them”). He looks at resentment in academia, where envy is mixed with snobbery, stirred by impotence, and played out against a background of cosmic injustice; and he offers a brilliant reading of Othello as a play more driven by Iago’s envy than Othello’s jealousy. He reveals that envy has a strong touch of malice behind it – the envious want to destroy the happiness of others. He suggests that envy of the astonishing success of Jews in Germany and Austria may have lurked behind the virulent anti-Semitism of the Nazis. As he proved in his best-selling Snobbery, Joseph Epstein has an unmatched ability to highlight our failings in a way that is thoughtful, provocative, and entertaining. If envy is no fun, Epstein’s Envy is a joy to read.”

Joseph Epstein, Friendship: An Exposé (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006). “Is it possible to have too many friends? Is your spouse supposed to be your best friend” How far should you go to help a friend in need? And how do you end a friendship that has run its course? In a wickedly entertaining anatomy of friendship in its contemporary guises, Joseph Epstein uncovers the rich and surprising truths about our favored companions. Friendship illuminates those complex, wonderful relationships without which we’d all be lost.”

Joseph Epstein, Snobbery: The American Version (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002). “Joseph Epstein’s highly entertaining new book takes up the subject of snobbery in America after the fall of the prominence of the old Wasp culture of prep schools, Ivy League colleges, cotillions, debutante balls, the Social Register, and the rest of it. With ample humor and insight, Epstein uncovers the new outlets upon which the old snobbery has fastened: food and wine, fashion, high-achieving children, schools, politics, health, being with-it, name-dropping, and much else, including the roles of Jews and homosexuals in the development of snobbery. He also raises the question of whether snobbery might, alas, be a part of human nature. Snobbery: The American Version is the first book in English devoted exclusively to the subject since Thackeray’s The Book of Snobs.”

Jane Gross, A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents—and Ourselves (Vintage, 2012). “When Jane Gross found herself suddenly thrust into a caretaker role for her eighty-five-year-old mother, she was forced to face challenges that she had never imagined. As she struggled, along with her younger brother, to move her mother into an assisted living facility, deal with seemingly never-ending costs, and adapt to the demands on her time and psyche, she learned valuable and important lessons. Here, the longtime New York Times expert on the subject of elder care and the creator of the New Old Age blog shares her frustrating, heartbreaking, enlightening, and ultimately redemptive journey, providing us along the way with valuable information that she herself wishes she had known earlier. We learn why finding a general practitioner with a specialty in geriatrics should be our first move when relocating a parent; how to deal with Medicaid and Medicare; how to understand and provide for our own needs as caretakers; and much more. Wise, smart, and ever-helpful, A Bittersweet Season is an essential guide to caring for our aging parents.”

Sam Kean, The Violinist’s Thumb: and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code (Little, Brown and Co., 2012). “Did the human race almost go extinct? Can genetics explain a cat lady’s obsessive love for felines? How does DNA lead to people with no fingerprints and children born with tails? What can our genes tell us about John F. Kennedy’s bronze skin (it wasn’t just a tan) and Einstein’s remarkable genius? And how did the right combination of genes create the exceptionally flexible thumbs and fingers of a truly singular violinist? In The Violinist’s Thumb, Sam Kean’s exploration of these and other questions, we learn that there’s enough DNA in a single cell to stretch six feet, and enough DNA in our bodies to stretch almost to the moon.

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Somewhere in the tangle of strands are the answers to many historical mysteries about human beings that were once thought lost forever. Unraveling the genetic code hasn’t always been easy—from its earliest days, the field of genetics has been rife with infighting, backstabbing, and controversial theories—but now scientists can finally read the astounding stories inscribed in our DNA, stories millions of years old, among them the explanation for how human beings (barely) managed to conquer the earth eons ago. As we make advances in DNA mapping and modification, genetics will continue to be the hottest topic in science, shaping the very makeup of our bodies and the world around us. With the same masterful combination of science, history, and cultural context he brought to the New York Times bestseller, The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean untangles the secrets of our genetic code, explaining how genetics has colored our past, and how DNA will determine humankind’s future.”

Harvey Phillips, Mr. Tuba (Indiana University Press, 2012). “With warmth and humor, tuba virtuoso Harvey Phillips tells the story of his amazing life and career, from his Missouri childhood through his days as a performer with the King Bros. Circus Band and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Band, his training at the Juilliard School, a stint with the U.W. Army Field Band, and his freelance days with the New York City Opera and Ballet. A founder of the New York Brass Quintet, Phillips served as vice president for financial affairs of the New England Conservatory of Music and became Professor of Music at Indiana University. The creator of an industry of TubaChristmases, OctubaFests, and TubaSantas, he crusaded for recognition of the tuba as a serious musical instrument, commissioning more than 200 works, Enhanced by more than 60 color and black-and-white photographs, Mr. Tuba coveys Phillips’s playful zest for life while documenting his important musical legacy.” Mr. Phillips was on my doctoral committee when I was a music graduate student at Indiana University.

Richard J. Mahoney (editor) with Shera Dalin. The Quotable Winston Churchill (Winston Churchill Memorial and Library, 2005). “From the man who mobilized the English language and took it to war—and peace—comes this collection of maxims. This volume assembles some of the most memorable commentary from one of the world’s greatest leaders. Winston S. Churchill is best understood through his own observations, comments, anecdotes and witty repartee. The quotes reflect a modern sensibility set in an American context for contemporary readers. They include some of Sir Winston’s most famous utterances and some that give readers a glimpse into the endearing, compassionate leader of the United Kingdom during a period of intense strife. The collection also honors the creation of the Churchill Memorial and Library in Fulton, Missouri.” As far as I know, you can only get this at the Churchill Memorial and Library in Fulton.

Ray Robinson (compiler), Famous Last Words: Fond Farewells, Deathbed Diatribes, and Exclamations Upon Expiration (Workman Publishing, 2003). This book is just what the title proclaims it to be: a collection of last words. Some examples include: “I’ve never felt better” (Douglas Fairbanks); “Get my swan costume ready” (Anna Pavlova); “Drink to me! (Pablo Picasso); “That was a great game of gold, fellers” (Bing Crosby); “Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something” (Pancho Villa); and “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist—“ (General John Sedgwick).

Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013). “’What are you reading?’ That’s the question that Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting room of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2007, Mary Anne returned from a humanitarian trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan suffering from what her doctors believed was a rare type of hepatitis. Months later she was diagnosed with a form of advanced pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, often in six months or less. This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who share a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading. Their list jumps from classic to popular, from poetry to mysteries, from fantastic to spiritual. The issues they discuss include questions of faith and courage as well as everyday topics such as expressing gratitude and learning to listen. Throughout, they are constantly reminded of the power of books to comfort us,

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astonish us, teach us, and tell us what we need to do with our lives and in the world. Reading isn’t the opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying. Will and Mary Anne share their hopes and concerns with each other—and rediscover their lives—through their favorite books. When they read, they aren’t a sick person and a well person, but a mother and a son taking a journey together. The result is a profoundly moving tale of loss that is also a joyful, and often humorous, celebration of life: Will’s love letter to his mother, and theirs to the printed page.”

Mark K. Shriver, A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver (Henry Holt and Company, 2012). “When Sargent ‘Sarge’ Shriver—founder of the Peace Corps and architect of President Johnson’s War on Poverty—died in 2011 after a long and valiant fight with Alzheimer’s, thousands of tributes poured in from friends and strangers worldwide. These tributes, which extolled the daily kindness and humanity of ‘a good man,’ moved his son Mark far more than those that lauded Sarge for his big-stage, headline-making accomplishments. After a lifetime trying to make sense of the Kennedy family legacy, Mark knew that now was the time to search for the source of his father’s joy, his devotion to others, and his sense of purpose. Recounting stories from his own childhood in the always bustling Shriver household and revisiting Sarge’s myriad contributions to our nation, especially during the tumultuous years surrounding the Kennedy assassinations, Mark zeroes in on the three guiding principles of his father’s life—faith, hope, and love. But it is Sarge’s courage and grace during his battle with Alzheimer’s, and Mark’s difficult journey as his son during this time, that become perhaps the best illustration of what it takes to be not a great man but a good man. A brave and deeply personal story of a son discovering the true meaning of his father’s legacy, A Good Man reminds us that we can learn from our parents not just while they are alive but also after they are gone.”

Curtis White, The Science Delusion: Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers (Melville House, 2013). “The so-called new atheists, most famously Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, made a splash in the new millennium. They told the evangelical and the liberal believer that they must give up religion and submit to science. More recently, neuroscientists and their fans in the media have delivered a variation on this message: the mapping of the human brain will soon be completed, and we will know what we are and how we should act. Their faith is that the scientific method provides the best understanding not only of the physical world but also of art, culture, economics, and anything left over. The message is nearly the same as that of the new atheists: submit to science. In short, the rich philosophical debates of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been nearly totally abandoned, argues Curtis White. An atheist himself, White fears what this new turn toward “scientism” will do to our culture if allowed to flourish without challenge. After all, is creativity really just chemicals in the brain? Is it wrong to ponder “Why is there something instead of nothing?” or “What is our purpose on Earth?” These were some of the original concerns of the Romantic movement, which pushed back against the dogmas of science in a nearly forgotten era. In this brilliant multipart critique, White aims at a TED talk by a distinguished neuroscientist in which we are told that human thought is merely the product of our “connectome”—neural connections in the brain that are yet to be fully understood … He examines the ideas of a widely respected physicist who argues that a new understanding of the origins of the universe trumps all religious and philosophical inquiry … and ends with an eloquent defense of the poetry and philosophy of Romanticism, which White believes our technology and science-obsessed world desperately needs to rediscover. It’s the only way, he argues, that we can see our world clearly … and change it.” There are a number of books that explore the relationship of religion and science, suggesting that they answer different questions (the “how” of creation versus the “why”). And there are many, many books that suggest that science is the only legitimate source of truth. Although Curtis White is an atheist, the power of his argument is that science is not the only medium within which the important questions of life are asked and answered – there are several other legitimate contexts for our search for meaning.

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