Most Jewish histories focus on Europe, the United States or the Middle East. That’s understandable since the majority of Jews throughout the centuries lived in those areas. While perhaps not as rich in Jewish history, China offers some lesser known, but fascinating, stories about two Jewis…
Tales of intergenerational conflict fuel novels and memoirs. The majority of these works focus on bad parenting and/or the inability to accept a child’s differences. Both are true of two recent works: Ilana Masad’s novel “All My Mother’s Lovers” (Dutton) and David Adjmi’s memoir …
History is defined as “the study of past events, particularly in human affairs.” But what parts of history tell us the most about the past? Should its focus be great events – for example, wars and revolutions – and the biographies of those who made them happen? Or should we be studyi…
by Rabbi Rachel Esserman
During my years as book reviewer for The Reporter, I’ve read more World War II and Holocaust themed novels than I can count. What amazes me is that there are still so many stories to tell and so many different ways to relate them. Some of the novels in this review…
by Rabbi Rachel Esserman
One answer to the question of why there are so many different interpretations of the biblical text is that people are intrigued by the gaps in the stories – the parts that are either not clear or left out. Everyone from the ancient rabbis to contemporary novelists…
