Great Reads Galore for Chanukah 2022
With so many excellent choices, there’s no time like the present to instill a love of reading in your children and with wonderful books like these, you might just find yourself borrowing a few of them to enjoy on your own.
Title: Mitzvah Man
Readers of Clayton’s short stories know that he is not only a master craftsman, but that his stories are inquires into the purpose of life; he is a moral philosopher.
Title: G.I. Jews; How World War II Changed A Generation
More than a half-million of all Jewish citizens of the United States, nearly ten percent, served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
Title: From the Four Winds
Jews would be the most populous group on Earth today if our numbers when we left Egypt more than 3,000 years ago had been allowed to grow in a natural, unimpeded way. But we know from the history of massacres and laws against our people that the rate of Jewish population growth has been anything but natural. How have we survived so many enemies over so many years? How can we have any hope for the future?
Title: A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax
Achieving a deep-level reading of the Chumash requires an understanding of the syntactical relationships.
Titles: Antisemitism – Myth And Hate From Antiquity To The Present and The Return...
Of the many books The Jewish Press receives for review, a large number deal with the issue of anti-Semitism.
Judaism Through The Lens Of Responsa
Failure to acknowledge the hierarchy of values causes us to risk losing sight of the forest for the trees.
Title: Rabbi Meir Kahane – His Life and Thought – Volume One: 1932-1975 (Hebrew...
Anyone reading this well-researched and objective biography (just translated into Hebrew) has to be struck by how the focus of Rabbi Meir Kahane's life was on promoting Jewish identity, pride, values, knowledge, and even music, and how minimal a role that actual violence played even in the "militant" Jewish Defense League. Even the limited violence was for deterrence and limited primarily to property damages.
The Gift That Keeps On Giving
When I give this book, the parents look at the gold Caldecott Medal on the front cover and smile, but look up quizzically – a book for a newborn?
Title: Living the Halachic Process
Filled with "vebbe rebbe" responsa that 21st century Jews eagerly absorb in the rush of their hectic lives, Living the Halachic Process also contains insights to Jewish law provided by the Eretz Hemdah Institute to the public.
Yeshayahu In-Depth
It turns out that this book is so remarkable it works for all levels of learning.
Title: The Perfect Present
A slim hardcover with illustrations that tell the story as well as the words around them, The Perfect Present poses an interesting premise. An elderly aunt surprises a young girl with an heirloom, but the child's candid "I have no use for this" response results in a painful quandary for both people.
Title: The One Minute Coach: Change Your Life One Minute at a Time
The curse of thinking in "victim" mode can be removed with the author's advice to forgive yourself for human errors (goodbye to a lingering, crippling sense of shame) so that your energies can be used productively.
Title: The Lion Cub of Prague: Thought, Kabbala, Hashkafa from Gur Aryeh – The...
Rabbi Yehuda Loewe of Prague, known as Maharal, was one of the greatest lights that G-d has given to the Jewish people. Halachic authority and active communal leader, linguist and grammarian, philosopher and mystic, master of the totality of rabbinic literature and conversant in the arts and sciences as well, Maharal revealed new depths to the words of Chazal and uncovered layers of meaning that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.
For God’s Sake!?
You don't have to be 'right' – to be correct.
Children Learn About Good Health
Unfortunately, now our generation is drowning in unhealthy food choices. For this, we and our children need navigation and inspiration to make healthy food choices.
The Sound Of Silence (Part II)
We see that the Pope’s agenda was to protect the Church and its status from being attacked by the Germans or Italians, and to only attempt to protect baptized Jews, whom he considered to be Catholics.
A View From The President’s Office: A Reality-Driven Approach To The Middle East Conflict
Trump challenged the notion that America has to be an honest broker indifferent to its ally’s interests; instead, he felt that America should be a smart broker.
The Haftoras Are Not Random
Rabbi Bezalel Naor has masterfully taken Rav Kook's commentary and made it readable and comprehensible to the English reading audience in The Legends of Rabbah Bar Bar Hannah with the Commentary of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook.
Title: Birkon Mesorat Harav
In the preface, Rabbi Menachem Genack writes that halacha, in the Rav’s analysis, transforms eating by means of a new institution, the se’uda.
A Coming-of-Age Story With Many Layers
In her class, Aviva is the only girl without a father, and that becomes particularly poignant in her sixth-grade year, when the school traditionally hosts a father-daughter Bas Mitzvah Bash at a local arcade.
Widen The Derech
It’s not about troubled youth, but any youth that may face troubles. Look at trouble not as an adjective but as a verb. The core issue of such youth is the feeling of loneliness.
Title: Strange Names
This is everything a children's book should be: exciting, colorful, and easy to read.
The Story Of An Iconic Store
In the introduction of this book, the author takes us on a tour of this four-story supermarket. As I followed along with her tour, I felt like I was at a culinary version of IKEA or Bed Bath & Beyond.
Title: The Garden Of Emuna: A Practical Guide to Life
Author: Rabbi Shalom Arush
Translated Into English By Rabbi Lazer Brody
Title: The Spirits Behind The Law: The Talmudic Scholars
As we study the Talmud, we come across the names of our great Sages, usually attached to a particular law or halachic position.
Torah Of The Soul
Consistent with that fear was a reticence about sharing his Torah. He wanted to work on things a bit longer, always wanted to make sure he was not overstating or misstating.
The Rabbi of Buchenwald: The Life and Times of Herschel Schacter
When I heard that The Rabbi of Buchenwald had been published, I was delighted, especially since I knew the book would not be just a tribute to Rabbi Hershel Schacter, but a highly significant, meticulously researched work of critical scholarship. And I was right.
Making Asher Yatzar Meaningful
The Asher Yatzar book discussed the kavanos we should have while eating: food should serve as a function with which we should have the energy to serve Hashem.
Tevye in the Promised Land, Chapter 15: Guardian of Israel
As a sign of his grief over Tzeitl, Tevye tore his shirt and sat on a low stool in Hodel's house in the traditional custom of mourners. He maintained a stalwart expression to disguise the hole he felt in his heart. His strength came from Golda. She appeared to him in a dream and told him not to worry.