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Thursday, March 28, 2024
Esti Weinstein, a formerly ultra-Orthodox woman who committed suicide in June 2016. (Facebook)

Suicide’s memoir indicts the Gur sect of Hassidim

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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

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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...

How we choose the books we read

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We come to the books we read from many directions. It could be newspaper and magazine reviews, suggestions from trusted friends, NPR reviews, looking at bookstore recent arrivals, ‘the book club is now reading,’...

Rabbi- historian examines the destiny of the Jews

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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

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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...

Book describes education in utropia

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It is many years since I read material on the theory of education, and this book on the subject came into my hands through the kindness of our new neighbor, who also happens to...

Love, not conflict, drives this pro- Israel novel

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An interesting aspect of this multi-generational, multi-ethnic, and dual religious novel is that love, rather than conflict, pulls the plot along.  Among the central characters in this ode to Israel and brotherhood, there are...

In Pursuit of Peace in Israel and Palestine by Gershon Baskin

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The Indefatigable Peace Mediator Many are those who have tried to mediate between Israelis and Palestinians in their over 150-year-old conflict. Considerably fewer are those who can point to concrete achievements, in addition to being...

Sons and Soldiers, by Bruce Henderson

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Joining the ranks of Unbroken, Band of Brothers, and Boys in the Boat, the little-known saga of young German Jews, dubbed The Ritchie Boys, who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s, came of age in America,...

“Jewish South Florida”-a history and guide to everything Jewish, by Paul Kaplan

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Beyond the stereotype of elderly Jews visiting sunny beaches and stopping in at New York-style delis lies a rich history and Jewish cultural tradition. The area is populated by Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews with...