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New
Harvest
The Brodsky Library Press proudly announces the publication of New Harvest: Jewish Writing in St. Louis, 1998-2005 edited by Howard Schwartz and Barbara Raznick. This anthology contains poetry, fiction, life stories and essays written by current and former St. Louisans including published writers such as Donald Finkel, Howard Schwartz, Michael Castro, Jane Schapiro, Naama Goldstein and others, as well as new writers including Adina Talve-Goodman, Andrea Jackson, Leah F. Silberman Bernstein and others.
Co-sponsored by the Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library
and the Central Agency for Jewish Education, this book has
been made possible through the Ethel and Lawrence Sagarin Memorial
Publication Fund, provided by Rabbi James L. Sagarin of Chicago.
To puchase a copy of New Harvest for $20 plus $3 for shipping and handling send check to Brodsky Library Press, 12 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146. For more information email brodsky-library@jfedstl.org.
Librarian’s
Picks
New Books
The Red Syndrome by Haggai Carmon
A fictional thriller of terrorist plots and conspiracies that, as the author states, “sheds light on what the CIA and Mossad do in the dark.”
The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
In this debut novel that takes place in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested and wrongly accused of being a spy. As his family searches for him they encounter a world of cruelty, chaos and alienation.
The Saturday Wife by Naomi Ragen
In the latest from this extremely popular novelist, beautiful, blonde, materialistic Delilah Levy marries a sincere rabbinical student in a moment of panic and becomes “the rabbi’s wife.” When their demanding and hypocritical congregation finally pushes her over the edge, the consequences are believable as well as wildly amusing.
The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva
The seventh book in Silva’s series of international thrillers featuring master art restorer and sometime officer of Israeli intelligence, Gabriel Allon. This time around Elizabeth Halton, daughter of the American ambassador to the Court of St. James, is kidnapped and Gabriel hurls himself into a search for the missing woman.
Dropped from Heaven by Sophie Judah – A collection of interconnected stories about everyday life set in an imaginary Indian village where the modern world is encroaching on the ancient Jewish culture and traditions of the Bene Israel.
The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness by Karyn Keder
This beautiful and simple volume offers unique and poignant approaches to thinking about forgiveness and the search for peace and resolution.
The Jewish Book of Why: The Torah by Alfred J. Kolatch
Following the “why” format he introduced in The Jewish Book of Why, Rabbi Kolatch addresses hundreds of questions about the Torah as well as its origins and different methods of interpretation and analysis.
A Practical Guide to Jewish Cemeteries by Nolan Menachemson
Published by Avotaynu, the leading publisher of products of interest to persons who are researching Jewish genealogy. This book contains everything you might want to know about Jewish cemeteries including how to read a Jewish gravestone, symbols on a tombstone, famous cemeteries, burial places of famous Jews and preservation.
For more information on these books or to
make a request request
here.
For the latest books on Israel, click here
How to Prepare a D'var Torah, click here
New Books on Israel
A Selected Bibliography |
| Bar-Zohar, Michael |
Shimon Peres: the Biography. Random House, 2007.
An excellent examination of a man who has been a powerful actor on the stage of Israeli politics.
|
| Ben-Ami, Shlomo |
Scars of War, Wounds of Peace. Oxford Univ. Press, 2006.
A provocative interpretive essay focused on decades of largely inadequate Arab-Israeli peacemaking.
|
| Cole, Leonard A. |
Terror: How Israel Has Coped and What America Can Learn. Indianna Univ. Press, 2007.
Stories of courage and determination that show how Israel has coped with hundreds of suicide attacks and other forms of terrorism.
|
| Dershowitz, Alan |
What Israel Means to Me. Wiley, 2006.
Eighty writers, scholars and journalists, many of them prominent figures, most of them Jewish, contribute short pieces about the meaning of Israel in their lives.
|
|
Gorenberg, Gershom |
The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977. Times Books, 2006.
Drawing on newly opened archives and extensive interviews,
the author examines the birth of the settler movement in the ten years following the Six-Day War.
|
|
Hefez, Nir |
Ariel Sharon: a Life.
Random House, 2006.
Warrior, statesman, peacemaker–few world leaders have had as dramatic and pivotal a life story as Ariel Sharon and
no modern leader’s life has been as tightly woven into the history of his nation.
|
|
Kaplan, Michael I. |
The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What the Means for the World. Simon & Schuster, 2006.
An account of how Israel became the Middle East's only nuclear power and how its status as an officially unacknowledged nuclear nation affects the politics of that volatile region.
|
| LeBor, Adam |
City of Oranges: an Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa. Norton, 2007.
From extensive personal interviews, memoirs, and private archives, LeBor creates vivid portraits of six families to illustrate the narrative of twentieth-century Arab-Jewish and Palestinian-Israeli relations.
|
| Rabinovitch,
AbrahaMarcus, Amy Dockser m |
Jerusualem 1913: the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Viking, 2007.
Marcus demonstrates that the bloody struggle for power in the Arab-Israeli conflict started when Jerusalem was still part of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism laid the groundwork for the battles that would continue to rage nearly a century later.
|
| Segev, Tom |
1967: Israel, the War and the Year that Transformed the Middle East. Metropolitan Books, 2007.
From Israel's preeminent historian and Ha'aretz columnist, a sweeping history of the Six-Day War, what led up to it, what came after and how it changed everything. |
BOOKS TO USE IN PREPARING
A D'VAR TORAH
A Select Bibliography |
| Englemayer,
Shammai |
Common
Ground: the Weekly Torah Portion through the Eyes of a Conservative,
Orthodox, and Reform Rabbi. Jason Aronson, 1997.
Each rabbi brings his own interests and love of Torah
to answer the provocative questions posed. |
| JPS Torah
Commentary |
Torah
Commentary. JPS, 1989-1996.
Nahum Sarna is the general editor and also provides
the commentary to the first two volumes. This commentary reflects
the spirit and concerns of our times using the tools of modern
scholarship while acknowledging the great tradition of Jewish
Bible commentary. |
| Leibowitz,
Nehama |
Studies
in the Weekly Sidra. World Zionist Organisation, 1958-1983.
Translated by Aryeh Newman. Leibowitz is one of most
popular modern commentators. She analyses the text in the light
of the classical bible comentaries. |
| Leibowitz,
Yeshayahu |
Notes
and Remarks on the Weekly Parashah.
Chemed Books, 1990.
Translated by Shmuel Himelstein. This book originated
as an oral presentation on television. The focus is ona single
word, verse or idea in the parashah rather than a comprehensive
commentary. |
| Loeb, Sorel
Goldberg |
Teaching
Torah: a Treasury of Insights and Activities. A.R.E.
Publishing, 1997.
This resource book and teacher's guide is geared to
upper elementary school level and is useful in preparing for
Bar/Bat Mitzvah. |
| Nachshoni,
Yehuda |
Studies
in the Weekly Parashah: the Classical Interpretations of Major
Topics and Themes in the Torah. Mesorah, 1988.
Translated by Shmuel Himelstein. The author blends traditional
classical and modern commentaries into essays on selected topics
in each parashah. |
| Nachmanides |
Commentary
on the Torah.
Shiloh, 1971- 1976.
Translated and annotated by Charles B Chavel. Nachmanides,
also known as Ramban or Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman (1195-1270),
together with Rashi and Abraham Ibn Ezra, have served as the
basic classical bible commentators throughout the generations.
|
| Peterseil,
Gedalia |
Tell
It from the Torah: Torah Thoughts to Read and Repeat. Pitspopany,
1997.
The book, in 2 volumes, is easy to comprehend for both teens
andadults and provides ideas and suggestions for discussion
of the weekly parashah. |
| Telushkin,
Joseph |
Biblical
Literacy: the Most Important People, Events and Ideas of the
Hebrew Bible. William Morrow, 1997.
The author summarizes the biblical narratives and laws, poses
questions and illustrates biblical influences in contemporary
society. |
| Torah anthology |
=
MeAm Lo'ez. Moznaim, 1977-1987.
This is a modern translation by Aryeh Kaplan of an outstanding
work of Ladino literature by Rabbi Yaakov Culi first published
in 1730. It is regarded as one of the best commentaries ever
written on the Torah. |
|
