A bold, urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator, addressing one of the most important issues of our timeIn Peter Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?Beinart imagines an alternate narrative, which would draw on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually...

The mothers of some of the most illustrious Jewish men in recent history—Albert Einstein, Marcel Proust, Sigmund Freud, Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers—are chatting in heaven. The subject: their respective sons—and their undying love for their mothers.Each one, as before in life, engages in one-upmanship toward the others when speaking about her own renowned offspring, and no opportunity to boast can ever be missed.“He loves me so much that for my last birthday he bought me a fabulous fur coat."“Oh! Mine topped that. He saved money for an entire year and treated me to a fantastic trip to the Caribbean."“As for me, imagine, three times a week he actually pays a psychiatrist to talk about me."Each woman insists on being the force, the savior, the raison d'être of her son's career and success. We follow the intricacies of each woman's marriage and details of her social environment, but more specifically, the relationship...

Filled with practical advice as well as history, Blu Greenberg's book is a comprehensive guide to the joys and complexities of running a modern Jewish home.How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household is a modern, comprehensive guide covering virtually every aspect of Jewish home life. It provides practical advice on how to manage a Jewish home in the traditional way and offers fascinating accounts of the history behind the tradition. In a warm, personal style, Blu Greenberg shows that, contrary to popular belief, the home, and not the synagogue, is the most important institution in Jewish life. Divided into three large sections—"The Jewish Way," "Special Stages of Life," and "Celebration and Remembering"—this book educates the uninitiated and reminds the already observant Jew of how Judaism approaches daily life. Topics include prayer, dress, holidays, food preparation, marriage, birth, death, parenthood, and many others. This description of...

THE JEWISH BOOK OF HORROREdited by Josh SchlossbergHorror is part of the human condition, but few peoples across the ages know it quite like the Jews.From slavery to pogroms to the Holocaust to antisemitism, the "Chosen People" have not only endured hell on Earth, they've risen above it to share their stories with the world.Whether it's pirate rabbis or demon-slaying Bible queens, concentration camp vampires or beloved, fearless bubbies, THE JEWISH BOOK OF HORROR offers you twenty-two dark tales about the culture, history, and folklore of the Jewish people.TABLE OF CONTENTSAn Orchard of Terror: Scary Stories and the Jewish Tradition by Rabbi John CarrierOrigins of The Jewish Book of Horror by Josh SchlossbergTorah-fying Tales: An Introduction to Jewish Horror by Molly AdamsOn Seas of Blood and Salt by...

An intimate and hopeful collection of meaningful, smart, funny, sad, emotional, and inspiring essays from today's authors and advocates about what it means to be Jewish, how life has changed since the attacks on October 7th, 2023, and the unique culture that brings this group together.On October 7th, 2023, Jews in Israel were attacked in the largest pogrom since the Holocaust. It was a day felt by Jews everywhere who came together to process and speak out in ways some never had before. In this collection, 75 contributors speak to Jewish joy, celebration, laughter, food, trauma, loss, love, and family, and the common threads that course through the Jewish people: resilience and humor. Contributors include Mark Feuerstein, Jill Zarin, Steve Leder, Joanna Rakoff, Amy Ephron, Lisa Barr, Annabelle Gurwitch, Daphne Merkin, Bradley Tusk, Sharon Brous, Jenny Mollen, Nicola Kraus, Caroline Leavitt, and many others. On Being Jewish Now is edited by Zibby Owens,...

JEWISH TALES UNTOLD are 56 Jewish tales that whirl the reader through fantastical stories, sci-fi, mythic, shocking and funny; a mysterious Tzadik shares philosophical thoughts and famous Biblical characters speak.Peep behind what may have really been happening in celebrated Old Testament events; join the brilliant Tzadik by the fast-flowing river; and enjoy the metaphysical whistle stop tour of imaginary yet familiar lands whose extraordinary characters entertain and intrigue.Tales include some that are uncomfortable and disturbing; some are memorably comic; some are wonderful flights of fancy; some contentious or tragic. But it is hard to escape the essentially Jewish perspective of the storyteller even when he departs from what his background demands how he should write. Instead, let him take you with him on untrodden paths from where you are invited to see many of our and others' traditions...

A celebrated scholar's rich account of Jewish humor: its nature, its development, and its vital role throughout Jewish history.In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing his book thematically into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy (including the Satirical, the Witty, and the Vulgar), Dauber explores the ways Jewish comedy has dealt with persecution, assimilation, and diaspora through the ages. He explains the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the JAP, and the schlemiel and schlimazel. He also explores an enormous range of comic masterpieces, from the Book of Esther, Talmudic rabbi jokes, Yiddish satires, Borscht Belt skits, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm to the work of such masters as Sholem Aleichem, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Philip Roth, Sarah...

A breathtaking journey across Iran where war and superstition, jealousy and betrayal, and passion and loyalty rage behind the impenetrable walls of mansions and the crumbling houses of the Jewish Quarter.Against the tumultuous background of World War II, Dr. Yaran will find himself caught in the thrall of the anti-Semitic Governor General, the most powerful man in the country. Dr. Yaran falls in love with the Governor General's defiant wife, Velvet, upending not only the life of the doctor's beloved daughter, but the entire community. In his quest to save everything and everyone he loves, Dr. Yaran will navigate the intersections of magic, science, lust, and treachery. His sole ally is the Governor General's servant, an exotic eunuch, who will do anything to aid his mistress in her dangerous quest to attain forbidden love.

It is an all too common belief that Jews did nothing to resist their own fate in the Holocaust. However, the parallel realities of disintegrating physical and psychological conditions in the ghetto, and the efforts of ghetto undergrounds to counter both collaborationist judenrat policies and the despair of a beaten down population, could not but lead to a breakdown in spiritual life. James M. Glass examines spiritual resistance to the Holocaust and the place of this within political and violent resistance. He explores Jewish reactions to the murderous campaign against them and their creation of new spiritual and moral rules to live by. He argues that the Orthodox Jewish response to annihilation, often seen as unduly passive, was predicated in the insanity of the times and can be seen as spiritually noble.

A breathtaking short novel about the complicated feelings of hate and pity in familial love by an acknowledged Latin American master.A brilliant and dark tour de force, Jewish Son presents the delicate archeology of the stubbornness of a boy who demands his parents’ attention. It is a brutal confession of the lies necessary to win a space of approval in a troubled family, a treatise on the excesses of love and the paradoxical lack of affection that is never enough, an accomplished narration of childhood from the point of view of the adult gaze, and a rewriting of Kafka’s Letter to His Father.As his father’s imminent death becomes an ever more concrete reality with surgeries, caregivers, sedatives and his mother grows obsessed with visits to the rabbi and amasses saint cards and Buddhist prayers, the narrator evokes the remnants of the rejection that pervaded his childhood.Without yielding to the idealization of youth or to the...

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.

Feminist icon Letty Cottin Pogrebin's second novel is the story of Zach Levy, the left-leaning son of Holocaust survivors who promises his mother on her deathbed that he will marry within the tribe and raise Jewish children. When he falls for Cleo Scott, an African American activist grappling with her own inherited trauma, he must reconcile his old vow to the family he loves with the present reality of the woman who may be his soul mate. A New York love story complicated by the legacies and modern tensions of Jewish American and African American history, Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate explores what happens when the heart runs counter to politics, history, and the compelling weight of tradition.

The last thing zaftig middle-aged journalist, Rhoda Ginsburg, expects when she signs up for JDate is to fall for a vampire. But when she meets drop-dead gorgeous Sheldon, a Hasidic vampire, she falls hard. She rationalizes that he may not be alive, but at least he’s Jewish. Desperate to save the life of her terminally ill mother, Rhoda comes up with the crackpot idea of getting Sheldon to turn her and her little old Jewish lady friends into vampires. Who knew that they would “go rogue” and start preying on the young?Erica Manfred's wry humor is the perfect match for the sexy-vampire genre in this novel about the emotional intricacies of dating a hot Jewish guy who is a card-carrying member of the undead. Delicious!" –Nancy Peske, coauthor of the bestselling Cinematherapy series "Bloodaholics! Only Erica could think of this. Clever, clever, clever."- –Avigayil Lansmann, contributor to The Meta Arts Magazine.With wild irreverent humor this book turns upside down and sideways all the vampire clichés and stock images. Jewish vampires keeping kosher, old lady vampires on the prowl. Above all, it’s fun! –Rachel Pollack, author of World Fantasy Award winner Godmother Nightwww.interviewwithajewishvampire.comReviewErica Manfred's wry humor is the perfect match for the sexy-vampire genre in this novel about the emotional intricacies of dating a hot Jewish guy who is a card-carrying member of the undead. Delicious!"--Nancy Peske, coauthor of the bestselling Cinematherapy series,"Bloodaholics!  And PETA!  Clever, clever, -clever."--Avigayil Lansmann,  contributor to The Meta Arts Magazine.With wild irreverent humor, Erica Manfred's  Interview With a Jewish Vampire turns upside down and sideways all the vampire cliches and stock images.  Jewish vampires keeping kosher, old lady vampires on the prowl--this book is above all fun!--Rachel Pollack, author of  Arthur C. Clarke Science Fiction Award winner Unquenchable Fire, and World Fantasy Award winner Godmother Night“Filled with knowing winks to readers of vampire fiction, from Dracula to Lestat, Interview with a Jewish Vampire is unexpectedly credible, even while pumping Catskill-flavored jokes through its basically silly premise. Interview is told in a fast, punchy style: “I was a Jewish divorcee of 41 who claimed to be 35. He had been dead for a long time, but I didn't know that right away." You know exactly where it's going, but the road there is a lot of fun.     --Jewniverse; MyJewishLearning.comHYSTERICAL!!! Smoothly written, stereotypes jab you right and left, cliches abound with luxurious abundance, the setting is authentic (in New York and Florida, two places I can drive around in without a GPS), and the CHARACTERS POP OFF THE PAGES!!!  I'm planning to gift a Kindle copy to a friend who could use a great laugh.   --Jacqueline Lichtenberg,  winner of the Galaxy Award for Spirituality in Science Fiction with her second novel, Unto Zeor, Forever from the Sim-Gen series. About the AuthorErica Manfred is a freelance journalist, humorous essayist, and author of two non-fiction self-help books, the most recent, He’s History You’re Not; Surviving Divorce After Forty, published by Globe Pequot Press in 2009. Her articles and essays have appeared in Cosmopolitan, The New York Times Magazine, Ms., New Age Journal, Village Voice, Woman’s Day, SELF, Ladies Home Journal, and many other publications. Erica lives in Woodstock, New York with her Chihuahua, Shadow, and her daughter, Freda. Brought up by Jewish parents who spoke Yiddish but avoided religion, she got her Jewish education at the Woodstock Jewish Congregation which welcomes Jews from all backgrounds, from atheist to Orthodox. She hopes they’ll welcome this book.Her website is www.ericamanfred.com, or visit www.interviewwithajewishvampire.com

Jesse is paranoid and frightened, and it's messing up his relationship, his job, his daughter and his life. But Jesse has every reason to be frightened, increasingly feeling the sting of rising prejudice in every part of his life.Stephen Laughton's play One Jewish Boy explores key moments over a four-year relationship between a nice Jewish boy from North London and the nice, not-so-Jewish woman with whom he falls desperately in love.With the shadow of hatred festering at its core, One Jewish Boy is a bittersweet comedy fuelled by rising anti-Semitism. It premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre, London, in 2018. This edition also includes the short play Three.

Even the most pious Jew need not shed so many tears over the destruction of Jerusalem as the women were in the habit of shedding when Stempenyu was playing.The first work of Sholom Aleichem’s to be translated into English—this long out-of-print translation is the only one ever done under Aleichem’s personal supervision—Stempenyu is a prime example of the author’ s hallmark traits: his antic and often sardonic sense of humor, his whip-smart dialogue, his workaday mysticism, and his historic documentation of shtetl life.Held recently by scholars to be the story that inspired Marc Chagall’s “Fiddler on the Roof” painting (which in turn inspired the play that was subsequently based on Aleichem’s Tevye stories, not this novella), Stempenyu is the hysterical story of a young village girl who falls for a wildly popular klezmer fiddler—a character based upon an actual Yiddish musician whose fame set off a kind of pop hysteria in the shtetl. Thus the story, in this contemporaneous “authorized” translation, is a wonderful introduction to Aleichem’s work as he wanted it read, not to mention to the unique palaver of a nineteenth-century Yiddish rock star.Review"I wanted them all, even those I'd already read."—Ron Rosenbaum, The New York Observer"Small wonders."—Time Out London"[F]irst-rate…astutely selected and attractively packaged…indisputably great works."—Adam Begley, The New York Observer"I’ve always been haunted by Bartleby, the proto-slacker. But it’s the handsomely minimalist cover of the Melville House edition that gets me here, one of many in the small publisher’s fine 'Art of the Novella' series."—The New Yorker"The Art of the Novella series is sort of an anti-Kindle. What these singular, distinctive titles celebrate is book-ness. They're slim enough to be portable but showy enough to be conspicuously consumed—tiny little objects that demand to be loved for the commodities they are."—KQED (NPR San Francisco)"Some like it short, and if you're one of them, Melville House, an independent publisher based in Brooklyn, has a line of books for you... elegant-looking paperback editions ...a good read in a small package."—The Wall Street JournalAbout the AuthorSholom Aleichem was born Solomon Rabinowitz in 1859, the son of a merchant in the Ukrainian village of Pereyaslav. At 14, he wrote his first book: a dictionary of Yiddish curses overheard at home. Despite jobs teaching Russian and writing for Hebrew newspapers, it was his writings in Yiddish—humorous stories about village life—that brought him fame. Using the Yiddish greeting (“Peace unto you”) as his pseudonym, he published 40 volumes of stories and plays, single-handedly creating a literature for what had been primarily a spoken language. Pogroms forced Aleichem to flee Russia in 1905, eventually landing him in New York City, his fame undiminished—introduced to Mark Twain as “the Yiddish Mark Twain,” Twain interrupted to call himself the “American Sholom Aleichem.” Upon Aleichem’s death in 1916, 100,000 mourneres flooded the streets of Manhattan for his funeral. His will, however, asked friends to remember him by an annual reading of one of his funny stories. “Let my name be recalled in laughter,” Aleichem wrote, “or not at all.”Hannah Berman (1883-1955) was an English novelist (Melutovna), and early translator of significant works in Yiddish.

If Anais Nin had been Jewish and observant then the erotic stories she wrote might have looked something like these.   Take a voyeuristic peep through the curtains of kosher sex. From the naïve sexual fantasies of a seminary girl, to a key-hole view of intimate marital moments, you’ll get a taste of it all in these four short tales of Jewish love and lust. Set inside the Orthodox Jewish world, these stories are so intimate and real that you’ll feel like you’ve been spying on your neighbors!   Warning: Each of the stories in this collection contains ‘adult’ content varying from mild to explicit concepts and descriptions.    

Drawn to an image of her great-grandfather's ornately carved cane, Elisa New embarked on a journey to discover the origins of her precious family heirloom. In Jacob's Cane, New follows her lineage through Baltimore and back to the Baltic, encountering five generations of relatives shaped by the mass murders of the Second World War and the opportunities they found in America. A fascinating and beautifully told family saga, Jacob's Cane transforms the way we think about the immigrant experience of countless Americans. **

A comprehensive, A-to-Z guide to Jewish foods, recipes, and culinary traditionsFood is more than just sustenance. It's a reflection of a community's history, culture, and values. From India to Israel to the United States and everywhere in between, Jewish food appears in many different forms and variations, but all related in its fulfillment of kosher laws, Jewish rituals, and holiday traditions. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food explores both unique cultural culinary traditions as well as those that unite the Jewish people.Alphabetical entries—from Afikomen and Almond to Yom Kippur and Za'atar—cover ingredients, dishes, holidays, and food traditions that are significant to Jewish communities around the worldThis easy-to-use reference includes more than 650 entries, 300 recipes, plus illustrations and maps throughoutBoth a comprehensive resource and fascinating reading, this book is perfect for Jewish cooks, food enthusiasts,...

If you don't happen to live near one of the new wave of artisan-style Jewish delis that have sprung up around North America over the last few years, not to worry. With this book, the world of Jewish deli, in all its unsubtle splendor—can be yours in the comfort (and privacy) of your own kitchen. And it's not that hard. Really. On top of all the Jewish deli classics, The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home offers updates and new angles on the oldways that are bound to thrill the palates of a modern generation of eaters focused on quality ingredients and a lighter-handed approach to a traditionally heavy cuisine.The chapters are organized into: Starters and Sides; Soups and Salads; Eggs, Fish, and Dairy; Beef; Bagels, Bialys, and Breads; and Pastries, Desserts, and Drinks. The range of favorite recipes include: Crispy Potato Latkes with Chunky Ginger Applesauce; Summer Chicken Salad with Tomatoes, Cucumber and Cracklings; Wise Sons' Chocolate Babka French Toast; Home...

After a four year posting in Islamabad, Frank Carver, a reporter for the London Chronicle, is sent to Germany to cover the country’s most fascinating election campaign since the Second World War. Rudolf Gutman, the first Jew to run for chancellor, is promising to free Germany from the shackles of its past. He is up against Hermann von Tietjen, the charismatic Far Right candidate whose mantra is to rid Germany of the threat from its Muslim immigrants.Carver and Wolfgang Renner, a freelance journalist, believe that there is a more deadly agenda led by von Tietjen with Operation Edelweiss. Neo-Nazis are secretly guided by the plot to assassinate Gutman, using cash and contacts of old SS men to hire a killer. But first they will conduct terrorist attacks for which the Islamists group will take the blame to create fear and hatred of the Muslim immigrants.Carver and Renner race to clinch the scoop of their lives. They have trouble getting anyone to believe and help them while von Tietjen covers his tracks with his devilish gambit that plunges the nation into terror and a trail of killings.As the clock ticks down to election day and the noose tightens around Gutman’s neck, their quest turns into a lone, bloody struggle for survival that brings them face to face with modern Germany’s dark secret. It seems that Carver has run out of time to unmask the assassin and to save Gutman.

Moms who impersonate their daughters on JDate. Moms who try to set their daughters up with celebrities. Moms who can't stop taking selfies with their dogs. This collection of essays is a heartfelt, hilarious tribute to mom and daughterhood, exploring the often complex, colorful and (at times) claustrophobic relationship. The Jewish Daughter Diaries features stories from some of the most compelling Jewish female voices today, who sound off on what it is like to be loved and adored by a modern-day Jewish mom.Mayim Bialik:"My mother met my bewilderment with a sympathetic glance and a modest recounting of my assets as she saw them.... if Barbra Streisand could be so famous and amazing and wonderful with her nose, why should mine be any problem?"lliza Shlesinger:"I knew my mom was special because once I asked her, "If a witch turned me into a bug, what would you do? Without missing a beat, she said, "I'd put you in my pocket to keep you with me...

"I can't kill Nazis if I'm dead. . ." Solomon ShalenskyAfter researching the transcripts of the Nuremburg Trials and interviewing 'The Remnant' or Jewish survivors of the holocaust, many still living in Israel; Othniel Seiden was compelled to write their startling and remarkable stories of World War II. In this stunning and compelling historical novel about the Jews who were able to remain free and fight, Seiden documents their survival, their suffering, their missions and their guerrilla warfare tactics against the Nazi occupation forces. Also, well documented, the tragedy of Kiev and now infamous ravine of Babi Yar where it is thought that nearly a million people, Jews and non-Jews alike were massacred. These brave few escaped the certain death of their co-religionists by acts of bravery and sheer determination to live. The myth that the Jewish people 'went to their deaths like sheep to slaughter. . .' is put to rest forever in the stories of "The Remnant."

'No-one will ever produce a richer, or more satisfying feast of the Jewish experience.' - Simon Schama 'One can't imagine a better food book than this, ever: for the reader and the cook.' - Nigella Lawson, Vogue 'THE BOOK OF JEWISH FOOD deserves its definitive article. It should stand as the book for many years... It is not likely to be surpassed.' - The Telegraph 'Manna from Heaven.' - Independent on Sunday

Drawn to an image of her great-grandfather's ornately carved cane, scholar Elisa New embarked on a journey to discover the origins of her precious family heirloom. Treading back across the paths of her ancestors, she travels from Baltimore to the Baltic to London in order to find and understand an immigrant world profoundly affected by modern German culture, from the Enlightenment through the Holocaust. Deeply ambitious in its narrative sweep, Jacob's Cane captures the rich texture of life on several continents as New's family searches to establish itself in the tobacco trade. A fascinating history of one family's story of progress, innovation, and struggle, Jacob's Cane will change the way we think about the Jewish American experience.

To find more information on Rowman & Littlefield titles, please visit www.rlpgbooks.com.

In July 2008 a front-page story in the New York Times reported on the discovery of an ancient Hebrew tablet, dating from before the birth of Jesus, which predicted a Messiah who would rise from the dead after three days. Commenting on this startling discovery at the time, noted Talmud scholar Daniel Boyarin argued that "some Christians will find it shocking—a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology."Guiding us through a rich tapestry of new discoveries and ancient scriptures, The Jewish Gospels makes the powerful case that our conventional understandings of Jesus and of the origins of Christianity are wrong. In Boyarin's scrupulously illustrated account, the coming of the Messiah was fully imagined in the ancient Jewish texts. Jesus, moreover, was embraced by many Jews as this person, and his core teachings were not at all a break from Jewish beliefs and teachings. Jesus and his followers, Boyarin shows, were simply Jewish. What came to be known as...