Book review

'Kotsuji's Gift': The Japanese scholar who rescued Jewish refugees during World War II - review

The picture is cropped. A Japanese man standing to one side has been cut away. That man is Kotsuji, and the book is the long work of putting him back.

A JEWISH GIRL and her Chinese friends in the Shanghai Ghetto, 1945, from the collection of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.
CHABAD ‘SHLUCHIM’ gather in front of 770 Eastern Parkway, New York, in 2022.

'Engaging the Essence': The Lubavitcher Rebbe as philosopher - review

Disputation between Christian and Jewish scholars. Woodcut by Johann von Armssheim, 1483.

'Joseph Albo': A sweeping map of Jewish belief - review

Gene Shalit

Mustachioed movie critic Gene Shalit dies at age 100


'Judaism: A love story': The latest book by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin - review

This is a book that will open readers’ hearts and minds to Rabbi Riskin’s vision of Judaism, not just as a religion but as a profound and enduring love story.

 Rabbi Shlomo Riskin (at home with portrait of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik)

'Are We There Yet?': Getting over marital roadblocks - review

Chana Levitan, a couples therapist and educator, presents the stories of 18 couples who overcame specific roadblocks in their relationships and are still driving that car called marriage.

 ‘THE WEDDING REGISTER’ by Edmund Leighton, 1920.

'Ancient Jewish Food': What’s cooking in the Talmuds? - review

A new book by food scholar Susan Weingarten offers a glimpse into what Jews ate almost 2,000 years ago and how the food was prepared.

 An illustrative image of wheat and dairy products next to a Torah scroll.

'Above All, We Are Jews': The life story of a great American Reform rabbi - review

To learn more about this great American Reform rabbi, Jews and non-Jews alike will want to read this well-researched and highly accessible biography.

 Rabbi Alexander Schindler became one of the greatest supporters of the historic peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

'American Maccabee': American Jewry and antisemitism during the days of Teddy Roosevelt - review

American Maccabee provides an informative and nuanced analysis of Theodore Roosevelt’s respect for Jews and his handling of a series of challenges that affected them.

 OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE portrait of Roosevelt by John Singer Sargent in 1903.

'From Eden to Exodus': Learning the meaning of Hebrew words - review

From Eden to Exodus incorporates 53 articles explaining the meanings of various words and phrases from the first two books of the Torah.

 HEBREW BIBLE in a silver case in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland, printed in Israel in 1962.

'The Great Betrayal': Revolutions rarely succeed in the first attempt - review

Fawaz Gerges makes a compelling case that political and economic reform has been stifled by several mutually reinforcing factors.

 ANGRY YOUTHS gather in central Cairo in 2012, protesting thenEgyptian president Islamist Mohamed Morsi, near Tahrir Square, the heart of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak

'The Triumph of Life': Reimagining the relationship between God and humanity - review

Greenberg’s recently published magnum opus, The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, is arguably the most compelling and thought-provoking book to grace the Jewish bookshelf this year. 

 JEWS IN BUDAPEST being rounded up by police in 1944. The Holocaust was a ‘devastating example of the abuse of human power.’

'The Jews, 5,000 Years and Counting:' Jewish history can be funny - review

The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting achieves an incredible feat: It covers our entire “epic journey through time, space, and guilt” in 224 pages.

BEN-GURION AIRPORT security, Terminal 1, during the COVID-19 pandemic

'Eminent Jews:' Jewish sensibility at its best - review

In his book Eminent Jews, David Denby provides engaging, informative, insightful, mostly, but not entirely, celebratory biographies of four eminent Jews.

 LEONARD BERNSTEIN and Benny Goodman in rehearsal, circa 1940-1949