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[Book Review] Masada: Thou Shalt Not Kill by Shimon Avish
Posted on March 2, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Shimon Avish Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous second Temple period, we meet Daniel. At the age of 18, Daniel is abducted by Sicarii assassins. Determined to survive, Daniel finds himself forced to abandon Jewish law and to follow the ways of his captors. Daniel finds himself encountering choice after choice, shaping him […]
[Book Review] Night of Beginnings: A Passover Haggadah by Marcia Falk
Posted on March 2, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Marcia Falk In time for Pesach 5782 comes a new Haggadah by Marcia Falk. This new text provides the full narrative from the Exodus and provides a feminist perspective on the familiar story from the perspectives of Miriam; Shifrah and Pu’ah, the Hebrew midwives responsible for saving the lives of Hebrew babies; as well […]
[Book Review] The Prophetess by Evonne Marzouk
Posted on February 23, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Evonne Marzouk When Rachel loses her grandfather, a survivor of the Shoah, during her senior year of high school, she finds herself seeking answers to questions with no one to answer them. The rest of her nuclear family is not observant of their Orthodox faith. Rachel finds herself with a large number of questions […]
[Book Review] The Foundation of Judaism by Akiva Aaronson
Posted on February 16, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Akiva Aaronson Let’s start with the back cover description of this book: “The fundamentals of Judaism in one book! The Foundation of Judaism deals with the basics of Judaism ― Jewish thought, Jewish history, Jewish year and more, in one succinct yet comprehensive book. Written in a clear and readable style, with a wealth […]
[Book Review] Shmuel’s Bridge: Following the Tracks to Auschwitz with My Survivor Father by Jason Sommer
Posted on February 16, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Jason Sommer Seven decades after arriving in New York from war-torn Europe, Jay Sommer is losing his memory, erasing stories of his family, his escape from a labor camp, the important memories of his past. This has his son, Jason Sommer, reflecting on the trip he took with his father in 2001 to retrace […]
[Book Review] Wolf Catcher by Anne Montgomery
Posted on February 9, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Anne Montgomery Kate Butler maintains her investigative journalism career by freelancing. Her latest project, focused on the discovery of a tomb in the Arizona desert, is near Flagstaff. Artifacts found at the site indicate the individual buried was a magician. When inconsistencies in the magician’s appearance raise questions about his origins, Butler is carried […]
[Book Review] Hands of Gold: One Man’s Quest to find the Silver Lining in Misfortune by Roni Robbins
Posted on February 2, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Roni Robbins Based in part on real events, Roni Robbins’ novel follows the life of Sam Fox, a character based on a Hungarian grandfather as he navigates a tumultuous life in the early 20th century. Sam and his wife Hannah’s lives a filled with secrets from their past which they’ve kept from their children. […]
[Book Review] Asylum: A Memoir of Family Secrets by Judy Bolton-Fasman
Posted on January 26, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Judy Bolton-Fasman Judy Bolton-Fasman’s memoir details her investigation into her family’s past, in an effort to uncover answers to her long-held questions about her parents, including their unlikely union. Separated by a seventeen year age gap, Bolton-Fasman’s father, an Ashkenazi, was 40-years-old when he married his Spanish and Ladino speaking, Sephardic 24-year-old bride. After […]
[Book Review] Escape Route by Elan Barnehama
Posted on January 19, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Elan Barnehama Escape Route, set is 1960s New York, opens with Zach’s Bar Mitzvah. As the Vietnam War reaches it’s peak, Zach becomes fixated with the war. As the son of first generation Holocaust survivors, Zach is fearful of history repeating itself and his family being rounded up. So, with the help of his […]
[Book Review] The Fruit of her Hands by Michelle Cameron
Posted on January 12, 2022 Leave a Comment
By Michelle Cameron Based on the author’s own ancestor, The Fruit of Her Hands is the story of Rebbetzin Shira, wife of Rabbi Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg. Shira was the daughter of a widowed rabbi, raised in Paris in the thirteenth century. A rebellious child, she shirked the conventions of her gender, favoring the […]
Heidi Slowinski 