Historian chronicles Hitler’s friends and fellow travelers
Former California Gov. Gray Davis, a liberal Democrat, and the Koch Brothers, billionaire businessmen and Libertarians often associated with conservative causes, would seem to have little in common. However, that is why digging into...
Rereading Leon Uris’s ‘Exodus’
A conversation over the breakfast table with friends started with the question, “What book do you wish you had not read so you could read it for the first time?”
We pushed the concept to...
Timeless Chanukah story set in 1912 New York City
My mother Alice was born in 1912, the same year in which is set this timeless Chanukah story originated in the 1950’s by Sydney Taylor and retold today by Emily Jenkins and Paul O....
Rabbi Samuel introduces Philo to the modern world
The 1stCentury Jewish philosopher and religious scholar, Philo, was very familiar with the Torah, commenting here and there on different portions of the Five Books of Moses in writings that were spread over approximately...
Chesler’s memoir insightful into feminist movement
Possibly before, but especially after publication of Women and Madness, which exposed the practice of falsely committing women to insane asylums and the abuse of women within those institutions, author Phyllis Chesler has been among...
Novel probes stress between Jews and Blacks
Whoever said money can’t buy you happiness would have received resounding agreement from Jay Gladstone, the fictional philanthropist, real estate developer, and professional basketball team owner who is the protagonist of this novel. This...
Suicide’s memoir indicts the Gur sect of Hassidim
The poor woman who wrote this book (and eventually committed suicide) was born into a specific sect, tantamount to a cult, of ultra-Orthodox Judaism known as the Gur Hassidim
As a child and teenager the...
‘Jewish Libya:’ background for the next James Michener
Jewish Libya is an anthology about a place that no longer exists. Since Israel’s successful 1967 war against several Arab armies, Jewish Libyans have thoroughly scattered to friendlier lands, chiefly Israel and Italy, and all...
Rabbi- historian examines the destiny of the Jews
Rabbi Ken Spiro’s new book, Destiny, successfully guides the reader through the central themes of Judaism: the impact of Jewish values on civilization, Jewish determination, the disproportionate impact of the Jewish people, anti-Semitism and...
Escape by marriage: how some fled the Nazis
Persecuted. Engaged. Married. Marriages of convenience in exile by Sabine Bergler and Irene Messinger, Jewish Museum Vienna, 2018, 147 pages
We marry for love, romance, money, and to procreate and extend family lineages. Marriages of convenience...