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Welcome to MyJewishBooks.com This Spring is turning out to be a great period for new Jewish books. For a page of PURIM Book suggestions, please click HERE. And for a list of suggested readings and Haggadot for PASSOVER, please click HERE ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0743294254.jpg)
CERTAIN GIRLSA NOVEL BY JENNIFER WEINER April 2008. Atria From Publishers Weekly: "...Weiner turns in a hilarious sequel to her 2001 bestselling first novel, Good in Bed, revisiting the memorable and feisty Candace Cannie Shapiro. Flashing forward 13 years, the novel follows Cannie as she navigates the adolescent rebellion of her about-to-be bat mitzvahed daughter, Joy, and juggles her writing career; her relationship with her physician husband, Peter Krushelevansky; her ongoing weight struggles; and the occasional impasse with Joy's biological father, Bruce Guberman. Joy, whose premature birth resulted in her wearing hearing aids, has her own amusing take on her mother's overinvolvement in her life as the novel, with some contrivance, alternates perspectives. As her bat mitzvah approaches, Joy tries to make contact with her long absent maternal grandfather and seeks more time with Bruce. In addition, unbeknownst to Joy, Peter has expressed a desire to have a baby with Cannie, which means looking for a surrogate mother. Throughout, Weiner offers her signature snappy observations: (good looks function as a get-out-of-everything-free card) and spot-on insights into human nature, with a few twists thrown in for good measure. She expends some energy getting readers up to speed on Good, but readers already involved with Cannie will enjoy this, despite Joy's equally strong voice..." COMPANION TO THE PBS SERIES AIRING JANUARY 2008: ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0385521391.jpg)
The Jewish AmericansThree Centuries of Jewish Voices in America by Beth Wenger, University of Pennsylvania October 2007. Doubleday What was it like for the first Jews to arrive in the New World? How did a Bavarian immigrant's crockery business expand into one of the nation's top department stores? How did Yiddish theater and humor influence Hollywood and mainstream entertainment? How has Israel affected American Jewish identity? This magnificently illustrated book, companion to the major PBS television documentary produced by David Grubin, tells the history of Jews in America in a captivating and accessible collection of first-person accounts, interviews, distinguished scholarly writings, and profiles of prominent Jews as well as ordinary Jewish immigrants. The text and images trace more than three hundred years of American Jewish history- from the first arrival of Jews in colonial America in 1654 to the social movements of today-and everything in between. The book chronicles the mass immigration of Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the innovations of American Jewish culture, responses to anti-Semitism, and transition from immigrant to middle-class neighborhoods. It tells the story of the Jewish presence in sports and entertainment, the transformative watershed events of World War II and the Holocaust, the impact of the establishment of Israel, the emergence of new forms of American Jewish identity, and the responsibilities of the Jewish community today. This comprehensive and often surprising look at the growth, difficulties, and accomplishments of the Jewish American community is further enhanced by the intimate first-person accounts of several generations of American Jews. Activists, musicians, spiritual leaders, politicians, and so many others come to life through their photos, correspondence, and interviews. They lend faces and personal experiences to the movements and events they lived through, and they remind us that the story of Jews is the story of America. Carving out a life for themselves in the free and open society of the United States, Jews maintained their identity while becoming an integral part of American culture. Click the book cover to read more. We've been falling behind in our updates since we are busy reading this hot site: The Jewish Literary Review ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0670018260.jpg)
THE MASCOTUNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF MY JEWISH FATHER'S NAZI BOYHOOD BY MARK KURZEM November 2007. Viking As a boy growing up in Melbourne, Mark Kurzem loved his father's stories. Alex Kurzem told wonderful, lyrical tales, stories about the time he joined the circus and became the elephant boy, stories about the outback. But there was one story he never told. For more than 50 years, Alex Kurzem kept a terrible story inside him, a secret from even his own family. He had resolved to take this secret with him to his death. Mark's father decided to speak out only after the 50th anniversary of the Second World War and having survived a frightening health scare. His father in Melbourne was watching a tv show about World War II survivors. He turned to Mark and said, "You know, Mark, I have a story, too." Alex Kurzem was born in a small village in Belarus, and as a boy he and his mother were rounded up by the Nazis for execution. The five-year-old escaped and for months lived by himself, sleeping rough in the woods and begging for food. AS A FIVE YEAR OLD, he stole clothes off dead soldiers. He was caught again and taken to a school where children were being rounded up to be shot. One Nazi soldier took pity on the boy and, given that he didn't look Jewish, adopted him as a kind of mascot for the army unit. They dressed the little "corporal" in a uniform and toted him from massacre to massacre. Terrified, the resourceful Alex charmed the highest echelons of the Latvian Third Reich, eventually starring in a Nazi propaganda film. Towards the end of the war Alex was taken from the soldiers and sent to live with a wealthy Latvian family. He became a kind of poster boy for Aryan youth and was even used in a Nazi propaganda film. After the war, the Latvian family migrated to Australia and Alex grew up as a member of their tight-knit community. Alex kept the secret of his childhood, even from his loving wife and children. But he grew increasingly tormented and became determined to uncover his Jewish roots and the story of his past. Shunned by a local Holocaust organization, he reached out to his son Mark for help in reclaiming his identity. A survival story, a grim fairy-tale, and a psychological drama, this remarkable memoir asks provocative questions about identity, complicity, and forgiveness. It took Mark and his father more than six years to piece together this story. All they had to go on was a couple of words his father remembered and a few images of his early childhood. Click the book cover to read more. WHAT'S COOKING? THE HOTTEST COOKBOOKS IN 2008 SO FAR: ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0761144528.jpg)
COOKING JEWISH532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family by Judy Bart Kancigor November 2007. Workman Publishing Got kugel? Got Kugel with Toffee Walnuts? Now you do. Here's the real homemade Gefilte Fish - and also Salmon en Papillote. Grandma Sera Fritkin's Russian Brisket and Hazelnut-Crusted Rack of Lamb. Aunt Irene's traditional matzoh balls and Judy's contemporary version with shiitake mushrooms. Cooking Jewish gathers recipes from five generations of a food-obsessed family into a celebratory saga of cousins and kasha, Passover feasts - the holiday has its own chapter - and crossover dishes. And for all cooks who love to get together for coffee and a little something, dozens and dozens of desserts: pies, cakes, cookies, bars, and a multitude of cheesecakes; Rugelach and Hamantaschen, Mandelbrot and Sufganyot (Hanukkah jelly doughnuts). Not to mention Tanta Esther Gittel's Husband's Second Wife Lena's Nut Cake. Blending the recipes with over 160 stories from the Rabinowitz family-by the end of the book you'll have gotten to know the whole wacky clan-and illustrated throughout with more than 500 photographs reaching back to the 19th century, Cooking Jewish invites the reader not just into the kitchen, but into a vibrant world of family and friends. Written and recipe-tested by Judy Bart Kancigor, a food journalist with the Orange County Register, who self-published her first family cookbook as a gift and then went on to sell 11,000 copies, here are 532 recipes from her extended family of outstanding cooks, including the best chicken soup ever - really! - from her mother, Lillian. (Or as the author says, "When you write your cookbook, you can say your mother's is the best.") Every recipe, a joy in the belly. Click the book cover to read more. ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/1578190738.jpg)
PASSOVER BY DESIGNThe Best of the Kosher by Design Series for the Holiday by Susie Fishbein February 2008, Mesorah In this fifth cookbook in the celebrated Kosher by Design series, Susie Fishbein makes Passover preparations elegantly simple. Featuring a blend of Passover-adjusted Kosher by Design favorites, with over thirty brand-new recipes and full-color photos, this is one cookbook you'll love to use throughout the holiday. Passover by Design features: Over 30 brand-new recipes, many developed with kosher catering star, Moshe David; Over 130 Kosher by Design favorites reformulated and retested for Passover; Over 140 full-color images throughout, with over 40 brand-new photos; Quick and easy table decor and entertaining ideas; Useful, year-round healthy cooking techniques; Comprehensive index for easy cross-referencing; Also includes over 130 gluten-free recipes which makes this the perfect year-round cookbook for those on a gluten-free diet. Click the book cover for more reviews or to purchase the book As this book is published, the author is approaching her first Passover since the death of her beloved mother in law, Myrna Fishbein, and so, the book is dedicated to her. Recipes are tagged if they are non-gebrokts. Not only are the Passover recipes splendid, but the presentation ideas are extremely helpful and creative. For example, each seder participant can pick a chore out of a bowl (serve the soup, clean the first course, pour the wine). Or consider serving the karpas and salt water in a Bento Box. Or check the wine labels at the seder. Tell a Jewish story about each of the countries that the wines are from (Israel, USA, Chile, New Zealand, etc.) Recipes include APPETIZERS (14) - highlights are Salmon Tataki, Tri-color gefilte fish (3 layers, requires salon for one layer, dill and cucumbers for another, and a springform pan), Steamed Sea Bass and Savoy Cabbage. Idea: serve the horseradish in a scooped out zucchini slice. SOUPS (over 18) include creamy peach, carrot coconut vichyssoise, chicken, broccoli and almond bisque, and a thick wild mushroom veloute. In terms of matzo balls, there are tomato, tumeric, and spinach versions. There are over 20 SALADS. Including seared Ahi Tuna Nicoise, Cucumber dill, Grilled Beef and Radish, Fatoush, and Mango Tuna with Goat Cheese. The coolest is a Watermelon and Beet salad served in a martini glass with mint and basil sprigs. There are 27 POULTRY recipes. Includes Chicken Lollipops, Greek Garlic Chicken, Fiesta Turkey Burgers, Pastrami Stuffed Turkey Roast with a Pineapple Glaze, and Ratatouille Chicken Stew. The nineteen MEAT recipes include Lamb Chop with Parsley Pesto, Brisket with Shallots and Potatoes, Braised Rib Roast with Melted Tomatoes, Veal Scaloppini with Kumquats, and a Fig Marsala Sauce. Of the over 20 FISH/DAIRY recipes, my faves were Tower of Snapper and Eggplant, Halibut with Zucchini Confit, Tuna Croquettes, Parmesan Crusted Grouper (yes Parmesan can be kosher), Matzo Brei, and Blintz Souffle. The 24 SIDE DISHES include Cauliflower Popcorn, Cauliflower Francaise (she loves cauliflower), Matzo Primavera, Meichel (her mother in law's farfal mushroom pilaf), Hasselback Potatoes (never has a potato looked so lovely), a cranberry pineapple kugel, Thai Quinoa, and Quinoa Timbales with Grapefruit Vinaigrette. As for Afikomens, or DESSERTS, there are 28, including Ebony and Ivory (mouse), Chocolate Mousse Pie, Melon Granitas, Best Ever Sponge Cake (the trick is in the egg white beatings), a compote that serves a mere 25 people, and bronies, cookies, and sorbet. Btay Avon ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/1580088988.jpg)
Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home CookingYiddish Recipes Revisited by Arthur Schwartz with Ben Fink (Photographer) Spring 2008. Ten Speed Press Arthur Schwartz knows how Jewish food warms the heart and delights the soul, whether it's talking about it, shopping for it, cooking it, or, above all, eating it. JEWISH HOME COOKING presents authentic yet contemporary versions of traditional Ashkenazi foods--rugulach, matzoh brei, challah, brisket, and even challenging classics like kreplach (dumplings) and gefilte fish--that are approachable to make and revelatory to eat. Chapters on appetizers, soups, dairy (meatless) and meat entrees, Passover meals, breads, and desserts are filled with lore about individual dishes and the people who nurtured them in America. Light-filled food and location photographs of delis, butcher shops, and specialty grocery stores paint a vibrant picture of America's touchstone Jewish food culture. The fact that the author is the foodmaven.com comes across clearly, since he adds so much rich information on Jewish food history with each recipe. It is a pleasure to read. And then there are the photos. As he writes in the intro, food is a connection to the Jewish past and our faith. Sure, more Jews eat pizza than chopped liver, more eat sushi and salad nicoise than chopped herring and gefilte fish, but those classic foods are in our Jungian collective unconscious. And now for the recipes. Appetizers (Forshpeiz) include recipes for arbes, chopped eggs and onions, chopped herring salad, schmaltz, black radish (ritach, as in ritach mit tzibeleh), vegetarian chopped liver (2 recipes), romanian eggplant salad, 2nd Avenue Deli's health salad/slaw, pitcha, chrain, and gefilte fish (mit carrots). Some SOUPS are Chicken w/ knaidlach, kreplach, mushroom barley (did u know that mushrooms were free and plentiful in the woods of Lithuania), borscht (3 kinds), and Schav. Some SIDES include three, count 'em, 3 kugels, latkes, shlishkas, kishkas, dermas, tzimmes, and cabbage and noodles (u know.. that mouse in rataouille should have made cabbage and noodles for the critic) (hint... salt the cabbage first) Some MEATS are cholent, flanken, brisket, stuffed cabbage, potted meatballs, (a history of romanian steakhouses; an essay on why Jews like chinese), karnatzlach (little sausage), salami and eggs, chow mein, and pepper steak. Not to mix meat and milk in the same paragraph, but some DAIRY recipes included are: Ratner's brown gravy, blintzes, lox fliegles, pickled lox; lox,eggs & onions; and whitefish salad. There is a whole chapter for passover dishes, including an apple cake and matzo buttercrunch and ingberlach (matzo farfal ginger candy). Speaking of Passover, some BREAD recipes include one for tzibeleh kuchen. Did you know that Jewish corn bread is actually a sourdough ryte? DESSERT recipes include rugelach (kipfel), babka, and hamantaschen. Click the book cover to read more. MY FAVE 2008 PASSOVER ITEM: WEI SHEN MO JIN WEN BU TONG YU QI TA YIE WEN? PURQUOI? WAS? KUANTO? ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/080524252x.jpg)
Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights?"The Four Questions" Around the World by Ilana Kurshan with a great introduction by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin March 2008. Schocken Dear Ilana: If your read this, I think it would be great to create a podcast for this book or youtube, in which we do the four question in a dozen of the languages you select. Dear Readers: I LOVE THIS PASSOVER BOOK... Ilana Kurshan provides insights into the Jewish dispersion around the Earth (well she did not include Vulcan or Klingon or other non human languages). Included in this book are the four questions in a variety of languages with a brief note on the Jewish communities in these countries or language regions. Languages that do not use the English alphabet are also transliterated. Languages include Afrikaans, Amharic, Chinese (Mandarin transliteration), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Ladino, Latin, Marathi, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and even that obscure language, Yiddish. Rabbi Telushkin, has a hilarious introduction in which he throws in a few Ma Nishtana jokes, and the fact that although most American Jews do not know Hebrew, they all know Ma Nishtana without a need for a translation. Click the book cover to read more. This Autumn, we were inundated with books, novels, bible commentaries, and of course, the two books on the ISRAEL LOBBY, below. We are busy, very busy, making our way through the books. We recommend that you listen to FRESH AIR with TERRY GROSS on NPR to hear the authors of both books discuss them. But, honestly, we frequently find ourselves putting these two books down and picking up the dog training book below: ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/1403984921.jpg)
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OUR TOP SELLER OF THIS PAST SUMMER (Hey Michael... do you like our license plates?): ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0007149824.jpg)
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THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNIONA NOVEL BY MICHAEL CHABON May 2007. HarperCollins With 250,000 copies in its first printing... it is an instant bestseller. In his fourth novel, Mr. Chabon creates Sitka Alaska as a Jewish homeland for 3 million landsmen. It was the Alaska Territory welcomed European Jews marked for extermination in 1940. But first, let's start with the kernel of truth on which this novel is based. In 1939, Harold Ickes, FDR's Secretary of Interior, proposed in the Slattery Report that Sitka, in the Alaska territory, be made a refuge for European "refugees." The King-Havenner bill was developed in Congress, but the bill was CRUSHED in committee by Anthony J. Dimond, the Democratic Party non voting representative from Alaska to Congress. They knew that "refugees" was a codeword for Jews, and many did not want a Jew-Laska. In Mr. Chabon's novel, Dimond is killed in a Washington DC freak accident. The bill passes, and Sitka becomes a temporary homeland for Yiddish speaking Jews. They fill in the water, create usable landfill, and become successful. In 1941, Pearl Harbor is attacked, the US goes to war, and 2 million Jews (not 6 million) are killed by the Nazis. In 1948, Israel is founded, but it is quickly destroyed by its Arab neighbors. The Israeli Jews are thrown into the Sea and massacred. Sitka Alaska prospers. Like salmon who fight to return home, only to become weary swimming upstream and eventually expire, one wonders if the search for a homeland will end with joy. It is now sixty years later, it is time for the Reversion of the land back to Alaska. ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0007149824b.jpg)
This is a story of faith and identity. The writing is fascinating. The details expressed in each sentence and paragraph are overwhelming, the use of metaphors and alliteration knock you over with greater force than a cold wind off the Gulf of Alaska. Reading this novel is like bathing your brain and eyes in a liquid dictionary and thesaurusAs the novel unfolds, it is a weird time to be a Jew, or even a chicken. Mount Edgecumbe, the Shvartsn-Yam grand yalta casino, and Halibut Point will revert back to Alaska. The Jews are restless, as are the indigenous Tlingits. Sitka will go dark like a basement lightbulb. There are reports that in the Northern Lights, people have seen a laughing Jewish face. Was he smiling or did he just have gas? ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0007149824c.jpg)
Others say that in a kosher slaughterhouse, a chicken attacked the shochet and announced the messiah's arrival (sort of like that talking fish in Monsey NY) As all this is occurring, slivovitz drinking Detective Meyer Landsmen, of the District Police Homicide division, finds the dead body of a former chess prodigy; he is his neighbor in a fleabag apartment hotel, The Hotel Zamenhof. Landmen is on the case, along with his partner Berko Shemets (helf Jewish/Half Tlingit Indian), and backup from Karpas and Tabachnik. Who is the murderer? And why do they, the powers that be, want this case to be swept under a carpet? It is a definitely strange time to be a Jew, and makes for the best read of 2007.Click the book cover to read more. ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0007149824d.gif)
How the novel was born: A few years ago, Mr Chabon wrote a controversial essay about "Say It in Yiddish," a 1958 phrase book for travelers that he found both poignant and funny. "Where would be the most fabulous kingdom you could have taken this phrase book to, if the Holocaust hadn't happened?" he wondered. To him, the phrase book was predicated on the ultimate "Yiddishland," a place "where you might need to say 'Help, I need a tourniquet' " (which the phrase book thoughtfully provides). ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/sitka6.jpg)
After Mr. Chabon's essay appeared, he was attacked for mocking the language and prematurely announcing its demise. He had not realized that its revered authors, Uriel and Beatrice Weinreich, wrote the book at the request of the publisher because Yiddish was spoken widely in Israel in the 1950s and in other Yiddish communities around the world. "I had a double reaction," Mr. Chabon said. "I don't like having my ignorance pointed out to me. I was embarrassed and shamed. I had the nice Jewish boy impulse that I disrespected my elders and caused pain and embarrassment. But I also felt a total sense of irritation and spite."And so, this novel was born ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/sitka7.jpg) (By the way, Sitka is a 4,710-square-mile island, much of it mountains and national forest. It has a population of 8,947, of which no more than 35 adults are Jewish, according to Dr. Aryeh Levenson, is Sitka's JCC. He works for the Indian Health Service. Attorney David Voluck, a Hasidic Jew, also live in Sitka, as does Davey Lubin.)![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0805242511.jpg)
A Pigeon and a BoyA Novel by Meir Shalev, Evan Fallenberg (Translator) October 2007. Schocken From the internationally acclaimed Israeli writer Meir Shalev comes a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion. During the 1948 War of Independence--a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages--a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pigeon. The bird is carrying his extraordinary gift to the girl he has loved since adolescence. Intertwined with this story is the contemporary tale of Yair Mendelsohn, who has his own legacy from the 1948 war. Yair is a tour guide specializing in bird-watching trips who, in middle age, falls in love again with a childhood girlfriend. His growing passion for her, along with a gift from his mother on her deathbed, becomes the key to a life he thought no longer possible. Unforgettable in both its particulars and its sweep, A Pigeon and A Boy is a tale of lovers then and now--of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it. In a voice that is at once playful, wise, and altogether beguiling, Meir Shalev tells a story as universal as war and as intimate as a winged declaration of love. Click the book cover to read more. AN AMAZING AMAZING BOOK.. THE JEWISH ANGELA'S ASHES ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0345495802.jpg)
The Invisible WallA Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein (a new author at the age of 95) March 2007. Ballantine From Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. Bernstein writes, "There are few rules or unwritten laws that are not broken when circumstances demand, and few distances that are too great to be traveled," about the figurative divide ("geographically... only a few yards, socially... miles and miles") keeping Jews and Christians apart in the poor Lancashire mill town in England where he was raised. In his affecting debut memoir, the nonagenarian gives voice to a childhood version of himself who witnesses his older sister's love for a Christian boy break down the invisible wall that kept Jewish families from Christians across the street. With little self-conscious authorial intervention, young Harry serves as a wide-eyed guide to a world since dismantled-where "snot rags" are handkerchiefs, children enter the workforce at 12 and religion bifurcates everything, including industry. True to a child's experience, it is the details of domestic life that illuminate the tale-the tenderness of a mother's sacrifice, the nearly Dickensian angst of a drunken father, the violence of schoolyard anti-Semitism, the "strange odors" of "forbidden foods" in neighbor's homes. Yet when major world events touch the poverty-stricken block (the Russian revolution claims the rabbi's son, neighbors leave for WWI), the individual coming-of-age is intensified without being trivialized, and the conversational account takes on the heft of a historical novel with stirring success. Click the book cover to read more. ![[movers]](http://www.sefersafari.com/movers-and-shakers.gif) MYJEWISHBOOKS.COM CURRENT MOVERS AND SHAKERS People of the Book. A Novel by Geraldine Brooks Night by Elie Wiesel (Hill and Wang) The Mascot. Unraveling the mystery of my Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood by Mark Kurzem The Jewish Americans. Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America by Beth Wenger Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World by Lucette Lagnado (Ecco) Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster) I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron. (Knopf) Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present By Michael B. Oren (Norton) Survival at Auschwitz by Primo Levi (Touchstone) The Deadliest Lies. The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control by Abraham H. Foxman (Palgrave) The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt (FS&G) How To Read The Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now by James L. Kugel. (Free Press) The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter. (W. W. Norton) Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice by Janet Malcolm. (Yale Univ. Press) The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn (Harper paperback) The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs. (Simon & Schuster) The Zookeeper's Wife. A War Story. By Diane Ackerman (Norton) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins) Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories by Max Apple The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer (Ecco) Away by Amy Bloom (Random House) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf) Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam by Maggie Anton (Plume) The Saturday Wife by Naomi Ragen (St. Martin's Press) Bearing the Body by Ehud Havazelet (FS&G) The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco) Jews and Power by Ruth R. Wisse. (Schocken) Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews by Poopa Dweck and Michael J. Cohen. (Ecco) In August 2007, Carolyn Goodman of Manhattan's Upper West Side passed away at the age of 91. She was a clinical psychologist, a professor emeritus of Yeshiva University who created the PACE program to help mentally disturbed mothers of young children. She was also a civil rights leader, and the mother of 3 sons, one of whom joined Chabad and made aliyah, and another of whom was Andrew Goodman, 20, who was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan along with his friends, James Chaney, 21, and Michael Schwerner, 24, while working for civil rights and Freedom Summer in June 1964 in Philadelphia Mississippi (Neshoba County). The morning before he was kidnapped he mailed the following postcard: "Dear Mom and Dad, I have arrived safely in Meridian, Miss. This is a wonderful town, and the weather is fine. I wish you were here. The people in this city are wonderful, and our reception was very good. All my love, Andy." And so, we at MyJewishBooks.com extend our condolences to her family and recall her life as an example to be followed. ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/1560258640.jpg)
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A shout out to all our friends at the BLACK ROCK JCC at Burning Man in the Nevada desert. At the risk of having you think that obituaries are driving our late Summer selections, we just had to take this time to recall with great affection our favorite poet, Grace Paley. We recall, as if it were last month, when we sat next to Ms. Paley on the "dinky" to Princeton. She was so sensible, down-to-earth and friendly; she labeled herself as a cooperative anarchist and combative pacifist. One noted admirer, novelist Philip Roth, said her stories offered "an understanding of loneliness, lust, selfishness and fatigue that is splendidly comic and unladylike." Some of her books are below: ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0374530289.jpg)
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![[our smart car]](http://www.sefersafari.com/smartcar.jpg) Have you seen us driving around in our new delivery car? Like it? Wave when we drive by you. We'll give you a ride.Please note: We will post Google Adsense ads on our site. They are autmatically served and usually of Jewish interest. But sometimes there are some unusual ads, sometimes from group neither you or I approve of. We are working to block some of the more egregious ads. Thanks for understanding. ![[nypd jew]](http://www.sefersafari.com/nypdjew.bmp) The NY Post beat us to it. While every one was talking about a Yiddische Kopf, the Nypd Auxiliary was busy recruiting a Yiddische KOP. It is true that we at MyJewishBooks.com were already at work on scripts for CSI: CROWN HEIGHTS, for ADAM-18, and for LAW AND ORDER: SHATNEZ SQUAD, but now we will have to scrap those ideas. Sigh... Well, at least we are gladdened that this new cadet was influenced to 'protect and serve' by his Talmud studies and perhaps by copies of of ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/1580231098.jpg) ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/mystmid.jpg) Criminal Kabbalah and Mystery Midrash. Now optioned to be a film from Fox And winner of a 2006 Jewish Book Award ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0375831002.jpg) ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0375831002a.jpg)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak March 2006, Knopf. Random House Grade 9 and Up Death had to kill so many people during the Holocuast, that Death needed a distraction. Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book-although she has not yet learned how to read-and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when she's roused by regular nightmares about her younger brother's death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayor's reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. An extraordinary narrative. Click the book cover above to read more. The Washington Post adds: Death, like Liesel, has a way with words. And he recognizes them not only for the good they can do, but for the evil as well. What would Hitler have been, after all, without words? As this book reminds us, what would any of us be? As you know, Oprah has a book club, and we have oFrah's Jewish Club But perhaps oPrah has more power than a gaggle of rabbis. Her addition of NIGHT BY ELIE WIESEL to her recommended list has rocketed the slim book to the top of the nation's best sellers' lists. As a nugget of trivia to booklovers, Farrar Straus Giroux sold the mass market paperback rights to NIGHT by Elie Wiesel to Bantam. Bantam has sold the book as a paperback each year for over 23 years. But their rights to the book expired in 2005. Oy! If only oPrah had selected the a few months earlier. The Bantam edition and the oPrah edition are to the right: ![[book cover click here]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0553272535.jpg)
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Night by Elie Wiesel Choose between the Bantam edition or oPrah's edition from Hill and Wang In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died. ![[book cover click here]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0312307411.jpg)
BORN TO KVETCH Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods by Michael Wex September 2005. St martins press From Publishers Weekly: Fortunately, despite its title and cover photo, this is not a kitschy book about a folksy language spoken by quaint, elderly Jews. It is, rather, an earthy romp through the lingua franca of Jews, which has roots reaching back to the Hebrew Bible and which continues to thrive in 21st-century America. Canadian professor, translator and performer Wex has an academic's breadth of knowledge, and while he doesn't ignore your bubbe's tsimmes, he gives equal time to the semantic nuances of putz, schmuck, shlong and shvants. Wex organizes his material around broad, idiosyncratic categories, but like the authors of the Talmud (the source for a large number of Yiddish idioms), he strays irrepressibly beyond the confines of any given topic. His lively wit roams freely, and Rabbi Akiva and Sholem Aleichem collide happily with Chaucer, Elvis and Robert Petrie. Academics, and others, will be disappointed at the lack of source notes, and a few errors have crept in (the fifth day of Sukkot is not Hoshana Rabba, for instance). Overall, however, this treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history and folklore offers a fascinating look at how, through the centuries, a unique and enduring language has reflected an equally unique and enduring culture. Click to read more. ![[book cover click here]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0061131229.jpg)
ALSO NOW IN AUDIO CD: BORN TO KVETCH AUDIO CD: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods by Michael WexYou've heard of OPrah's Book Club, But Have You Checked Out Our OFrah's Jewish Book Club? Drop by OFrah's Jewish Book Club's monthly selections. For more information on any book, to purchase one, or to add a review, click on any book cover below. Please note that our goal is to promote Jewish books and literature. All our proceeds from book sales go to charity. We pay no salaries. ![[book cover]](http://www.sefersafari.com/2164net.gif)
2164 has released a report on the Jewish groups that need to be emulated. A Must read. 21/64 // Strategic Philanthropy Through The Generations. 21/64 is a division of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. Based in our New York offices, we offer philanthropic tools, networks and communications vehicles to individuals, families, foundations and federations during times of generational transition. 21/64 works with clients on strategic grantmaking through three hands-on approaches: Convening, Communicating and Consulting. We invite you to contact us for further information.
Our work is conducted in partnership with FJC, The Samberg Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation and an Anonymous Foundation. Many people have asked us what 21/64 means. The name is a symbol of our multigenerational approach to philanthropy. "21" being the time when young people come of age and "64" connoting the age at which people begin to think about their legacies. Together, "21/64" describes the multigenerational approach our company takes to the challenges and opportunities relating to family and community philanthropy. Click the report cover to read the report for free.
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Although this is not a book, it is an important read for anyone in institutional Judaism. It is a creative brief on how to communicate to younger American Jews. Click the report cover to read the report for free.
People ask me... "I am writing a Jewish children's book. Do they sell well?" It is impossible to answer that. But for the tape measure, note that in 2003, the latest Harry Potter book sold 12 million copies; Madonna's The English Roses sold 718,000 copies; Madonna's book on Mr Peabody's Apples (based on a Hassidic tale) sold 442,000 copies; and Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak's BRUNDIBAR sold 133,000 copies. ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/kushnersendak.jpg)
Rabbis Tony Kushner, Meryl Streep, and Maurice Sendak are seen here in search of a good Jewish Book. ![[book]](http://www.sefersafari.com/grandcentralnude.jpg)
To the right, hundreds of nude people lied down and protested in New York City's Grand Central Station when if was announced that MyJewishBooks.com might be closed for a few hours. ![[Man is praying]](http://www.sefersafari.com/patrobertsonprays.jpg) This man reportedly is praying that you will buy and read an entertaining Jewish book. Please, don't let him down.Actually this is a pic of Pat Robertson, praying that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and others will resign from the court. But let's turn a negative into a positive, okay? Did you know that MyJewishBooks.com was one of the original pixel buyers on MillionDollarHomePage.com ? We are the 100 pixel Star of David between "Sushi" and "Kosher" ![[Segway Human Transporter]](http://www.sefersafari.com/segwayrabbi.jpg)
![[Segway Human Transporter]](http://www.sefersafari.com/B00007EPJ6.jpg) The Segway Human Transporter. Available on MyJewishBooks.com for less than $5000, not including about $99 for shipping. Only two allowed per person. Not for use on the Sabbath. Emissions free, powered by rechargeable NiMH battery packs. Fun to ride--a unique experience ![[campbell soup 1]](http://www.sefersafari.com/campbellsoup1.jpg) ![[campbell soup 2]](http://www.sefersafari.com/campbellsoup2.jpg)
Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable soup is now certified O-U kosher. Here is a test of your skills. In this picture, guess which of these men are employees of Campbell's and which are employed by the Orthodox Union. Hmmmm... Hmmmm... good, Hmmmm... good. Guess who is Jewish, hmmmm... good. Hint: Jeremy J. Fingerman is the President of Campbell's U.S. Soup Division. We wonder if he is the same Fingerman who was USY President in 1979, after David Marcu. We at MyJewishBooks.com also wonder if there is a minyan in Maxon, NC 
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THE WOMEN'S HAFTARAH COMMENTARYNew Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Haftarah Portions, the 5 Megillot and Special Shabbatot. Edited By Rabbi Elyse Goldstein September 2003. Jewish Lights. I fell in love with the Women's TORAH Commentary. An instant classic and must have. And now this, for the first time, women's unique perspectives and experiences are applied to the weekly portions and special readings. Includes feminist interpretations of the stories of Yael and Devorah, David and Goliath, David and Batsheva, Jonah and the fish (and female fish), Jerusalem as female, the motif of the whore, and the Witch of Endor. Contributors include: Judith Z. Abrams, Analia Bortz, Sharon Brous, Sue Levi Elwell, Susan P. Fendrick, Karen L. Fox, Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, Laura Geller, Rachel Sabath-Beit Halachmi, Jill Hammer, Karyn D. Kedar, Valerie Lieber, Sheryl Nosan-Blank, Debra Orenstein, Barbara Rosman Penzner, Hara E. Person, Geela Rayzel Raphael, Laura M. Rappaport, Ilene Schneider, Rona Shapiro, Shira Stern, Pamela Wax, and Nancy Wechsler-Azen. Click the book cover above to read more. HEY.. NOW YOUR CAN SEARCH OUR SITE, INSTEAD OF JUST SEARCHING AMAZON. TRY IT OUT... Drop us a line or post a comment to our Jewish Books and Films Message Board and let us know what you're reading or seeing. ![[Gershon chaim_yankle_chen of yahoo]](http://www.sefersafari.com/georgechen.jpg) Rebbe Gershon Chaim Yankle Chen says, "Beryl, Peryl, and Schmeryl were planning to move to America and change their names. Beryl said he would change his named from Beryl to Buck. Peryl said he would change his to Puck. And Schmeryl.. well Schmeryl said, "Ich for nit kin America." (I am not moving to America)
![[Is It Safe. The Marathon Man]](http://www.sefersafari.com/isitsafe.jpg) Is it safe to read a Jewish Book? You bet it is. Some tidbits we like: ![[walking the bible dvd]](http://www.sefersafari.com/B000E1NWDC.jpg)
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THE RED TENT IS NOW ON AUDIO THE RED TENT [ABRIDGED] by Anita Diamant. Audio Cassette Abridged edition Abridged (November 2000). THE BEST SELLING JEWISH BOOK OF 1999 AND 2000 IS NOW ON AUDIO. CLICK THE ICON TO READ OVER 170 REVIEWS OF IT. It is a top selection of so many Jewish book reading groups (maybe because Mickey Perlman loved it, and the publisher sent a free copy to 500 Reform Rabbis, and 300 female Ministers). Rabbi Laurie Katz Braun has written a study guide for this book (click here to read it). Click here to post or read or reply to a message or comment on our Jewish Books and Films Message Board .
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