Heidi Slowinski

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, I’ve compiled a reading list of books featuring Latin Jewish voices.

One of my goals this year was to honor the diversity within the Jewish tribe. Much of the Jewish representation we see are Eastern European Jews but our tribe is made up of many, unique and wonderful voices. Check out more of my reading lists at the bottom of the article.

Join the conversation! Add your favorite titles in the comments.

From Brazil’s most distinguished and important Jewish writer comes this anthology comprised of six collections: in The Carnival of the Animals, Scliar uses political allegory to convey what was normally censored during the height of repression under Brazil’s military regime. These tragicomic stories reveal Scliar’s interest in issues of oppression, persecution, holocaust, mutability, and the interplay between good and evil. The Ballad of the False Messiah develops the theme of postponement in the sense that for Jews redemption is always postponed in a vain wait for the Messiah. In The Tremulous Earth Scliar explores cruelty and violence in the tenuous lives of his characters, but his experience as a medical doctor informs his compassion for human frailty.

When Flory’s ancestors are forced to leave Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, they take with them their two most precious possessions—the key to their old house and the Ladino language. When Flory flees Europe during World War II to begin a new life in the United States, she carries Ladino with her, along with her other precious possessions—her harmoniku and her music. But what of the key?

LADINO REVERIES relates with warmth and poignancy the assimilation of the Sephardic immigrants into American culture, from Ellis Island to the Lower East Side, through Harlem, the Bronx, and beyond. Proud to be Americans after 500 years of exile from Spain and modest prosperity in Ottoman Turkey, their cultural and linguistic challenges are conveyed with light-hearted candor and a strong sensitivity to their plight.

Particular attention is given to their American-born children, who struggled optimistically and tenaciously to bridge the cultural gaps between the old world and the new. Highlighted as well are the differences, and surprising similarities, between the Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities, and the graceful beauty of the beloved 15th century Spanish of the Sephardim – Ladino – which after five centuries is now in danger of vanishing completely. This revised anthology of the original columns will inspire tears and laughter, as the resilience and character of the Sephardic immigrants and their children unfold.

In the spring and summer of 1943, the Nazis deported 47,000 Jews from the city of Salonika, Greece to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland. An estimated 1,000 of these deportees escaped death and returned to Salonika to find their properties looted and occupied by Christian “trustees” appointed during the Nazi occupation. Until 1943, Salonika, the second largest Greek city, was the “Jerusalem of the Balkans” thanks to its flourishing Jewish Community dating back to the early times after the birth of Christ.

The destruction of the Salonika Jews was a textbook genocide operation handled by the administrative architect of the Final Solution, SS-Lt. Col. Adolf

Acclaimed in the Progressive’s “Best Reading of 1993,” these thrilling and harrowing firsthand stories of survivors and their rescuers vividly reveal the secret history of the Jews who found asylum from Hitler’s Final Solution under Franco’s Fascist regime.

New York City native Jeremiah Salinger is one half of a hot-shot documentary-making team. He and his partner, Mike, made a reality show about roadies that skyrocketed them to fame. But now Salinger’s left that all behind, to move with his wife, Annelise, and young daughter, Clara, to the remote part of Italy where Annelise grew up—the Alto Adige.

Nestled in the Dolomites, this breathtaking, rural region that was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire remains more Austro than Italian. Locals speak a strange, ancient dialect—Ladino—and root for Germany (against Italy) in the world cup. Annelise’s small town—Siebenhoch—is close-knit to say the least and does not take kindly to out-of-towners. When Salinger decides to make

This collection of short stories written by Isak Samokovlija, the Sholom Aleichem of Sephardic Jewry, depicts the life and mentality of Bosnian Sephardic Jews.

Primo Levi was among the greatest witnesses to twentieth-century atrocity. In this gripping novel, based on a true story, he reveals the extraordinary lives of the Russian, Polish and Jewish partisans trapped behind enemy lines during the Second World War. Wracked by fear, hunger and fierce rivalries, they link up, fall apart, struggle to stay alive, and to sabotage the efforts of the all-powerful German army. A compelling tale of action, resistance and epic adventure, it also reveals Levi’s characteristic compassion and deep insight into the moral dilemmas of total war. It ranks alongside THE PERIOD TABLE and IF THIS IS A MAN as one of the rare authentic masterpieces of the 20th century.

A reissue of this story about the journey of a group of Hasidic Jews to the Land of Israel in the 19th century. It combines elements of the supernatural and mystic with the story of their physical and spiritual adventures.

Warsaw, 1941-an exhausted and elderly psychiatrist named Erik Cohen makes his way home to the Jewish ghetto after being interned in a Nazi labor camp. Yet only one visionary man-Heniek Corben- can see him and hear him. Heniek soon realizes that Cohen has become an ibbur-a spirit. But how and why has he taken this form?

As Cohen recounts his disturbing and moving story, small but telling inconsistencies appear in his narrative. Heniek begins to believe that Cohen is not the secular Jew he claims to be, but may, in fact, be a student of practical Kabbalah-of magic. Why is he lying? And what is the importance of the anagrams he creates for the names of his friends and relatives? Heniek traces his suspicions and comes to an astonishing conclusion-one that has consequences for his own identity and life, and perhaps for the reader’s as well.

A Jewish Egyptian spy. A life of high-risk espionage. Will his only chance to reconnect with his kin be mercilessly erased by Alzheimer’s?

Raymond Blanco never intended on leading a life of many roles, but after more than 90 years of experiences, he has a hard time remembering many of them. Raised in a Sephardic family in Egypt during the height of a growing resistance against Jews, Raymond maneuvers his way through childhood and into young adulthood with the guidance of his older cousin. When the two of them become key members of a Cairo-based Jewish spy ring, they’re thrown into a world of split-second decisions that will ultimately determine the course of their

When The Pillar of Salt was first published in 1953, it caused a scandal in Tunis. Acclaimed sociologist Albert Memmi, the son of poor Jewish parents who lived at the edge of the equally poor Jewish and Muslim quarters, wrote candidly about the life of Tunisia’s small Jewish community and the failings of the tiny local bourgeoisie, “which thought itself opulent but was only ridiculous.” Memmi was no less critical of his Muslim fellow citizens or of the various European colonialists in his vicinity. “The Pillar of Salt reads like a general indictment,” Memmi writes in a new introduction to this 2013 eBook edition.

This is an unusual man’s coming of age story and a document about a community that has now all but disappeared.

A gripping story of a lone Jewish woman battling land sharks to keep her community alive

Rachel lives alone by the sea. Her children have long migrated to Israel as have her Bene Israel Jew neighbours. Taking care of the local synagogue and preparing exquisite traditional Jewish dishes sustains Rachel’s hope of seeing the community come together again at a future time. When developers make moves to acquire the synagogue and its surrounding land, Rachel’s vehement opposition takes the synagogue committee and the town by surprise.
Written with warmth and humour, Book of Rachel is a captivating tale of a woman’s battle to live life on her own terms. Continuing the saga of the unique Bene Israel Jews in India, it adds to Esther David’s reputation as a writer of grace and power.

Based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s, a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed.

Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro’s Cuba to New York City. Just when she’s finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood’s hopscotch queen, a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie’s world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger. She comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.

Gabriela’s mother Luna is the most beautiful woman in all of Jerusalem, though her famed beauty and charm seem to be reserved for everyone but her daughter. Ever since Gabriela can remember, she and Luna have struggled to connect. But when tragedy strikes, Gabriela senses there’s more to her mother than painted nails and lips.

Desperate to understand their relationship, Gabriela pieces together the stories of her family’s previous generations—from Great-Grandmother Mercada the renowned healer, to Grandma Rosa who cleaned houses for the English, to Luna who had the nicest legs in Jerusalem. But as she uncovers shocking secrets, forbidden romances, and the family curse that links the women together, Gabriela must face a past and present far more complex than she ever imagined.

A renowned writer and his wife live quietly in a beautiful villa outside
Vienna, until the triumphant Nazis start subjecting their Jewish
“hosts” to ever greater humiliations. Veza Canetti focuses on seemingly
ordinary people to epitomize the horror: one flag-happy German kills a
sparrow before a group of little children; another, more entrepreneurial
Nazi brands tortoises with swastikas to sell as souvenirs commemorating
the Anschluss.

A gorgeously written, erotically charged first novel of a young woman’s spiritual journey in Morocco The Road to Fez tells the story of Brit Lek, a young American woman born to Sephardic-Jewish parents. Seeking solace and a sense of belonging after her mother’s death, 18-year-old Brit returns to Morocco, her birthplace and home for the first six years of her life. Brit falls in love with her Uncle Gaby, her mother’s much younger brother. Gaby and the rest of the family try to steer Brit’s emotional energy away from him, and they urge her to fulfill her mother’s wish that she make a pilgrimage to Fez to the grave of her namesake Suleika, a 19th century Moroccan martyr, who was executed because she would not renounce her faith. Gaby, who moves easily between the Jewish Mellah and the Arab Medina, offers a window for Brit to see beyond the confines of their family’s life in Morocco. Together, Gaby and Brit take the road to Fez and along the way surrender to their forbidden love. The Road to Fez is a magical journey of self-discovery.

Welcome to my August Wrap-Up! I have completed 117 titles for 2022.

This month, I’ve reviewed four of the titles I completed. All of them are wonderful books and I hope you’ll check them out. You’ll find all of my reading lists from the month along with a list of books from Jewish voices on wellness and my latest short story.

Join the conversation. Comment on your favorites and make suggestions of books I should consider for my list.

Authors, are you interested in having your book reviewed? Interested in an interview about your work? Visit the Contact Me page and complete the form. Guest posts are also welcome. Visit the Contests page for submission guidelines. Requests receive a response within 48 hours.

Make planning your next reading list fun and easy! Download a free copy of Reading Bingo! Thirty fun ideas for selecting your next read.