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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
