Book Reviews

Off the Shelf: The Jewish problem in tzarist Russia

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

When the Russian Empire completed its annexation of Poland in 1795, it added more than one million Jews to its population. This led to a government call for ways to limit the ever growing Jewish community and/or find ways to turn those who were seen as primitive int…

Off the Shelf: Different paths to happily ever after

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Rom-coms generally offer two basic plot variations: two people who immediately fall in love, but are kept apart because of circumstance, or two people who hate each other at first sight, but later find themselves passionately in love. To readers of the genre, this m…

Off the Shelf: Essays and poetry

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Essays by I. B. Singer

Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote so many essays for the Yiddish press that many were published under pseudonyms. The third book of his essays to appear in English, “Isaac Bashevis Singer Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt: A Spiritual Reapprais…

Off the Shelf: Tribal to scribal Judaism

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman 

Religions change and develop across time. That is certainly true of Judaism, although it can be difficult to understand its earliest manifestations since they greatly differ from the religion practiced today. In his fascinating and complex “Israelite Religion: F…

Off the Shelf: Four historical novels

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Biblical times

The debate continues in scholarly circles over whether the Exodus from Egypt actually occurred. For many writers that debate is irrelevant: the Exodus has inspired storytelling from ancient to contemporary times. Maggie Anton, whose novels focus on t…