Guide to Jewish Literature - May/June 2025
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A selection of books to entice any reader. Everything from novels to nonfiction, memoirs to mysteries, cookbooks to kids’ books.
This critically acclaimed bestseller presents the captivating story of Clara Prinz, a remarkable woman forced to leave her native Berlin in 1939. As Clara traveled alone on a voyage into the unknown, she turned to memories of her adolescence during La Belle Époque – the Beautiful Era filled with optimism and cultural transformation at the dawn of the twentieth century. Through Clara’s chance encounters with notable personalities of the period, Clara’s Secret weaves an unforgettable tapestry of personal and historic events. Clara’s Secret is ultimately a compelling story of the advancement of humankind and the survival of its decline.
Limited Time Offer: Throughout June Clara’s Secret Kindle Version is available on Amazon for $1.99. www.laevnotes.com
Sixteen-year-old Lazar Hermanski and fourteen-year-old Daria Solov survive the 1881 Warsaw pogrom, endure a perilous journey in steerage, and arrive in New York. They marry, have a family, and navigate the conflict of adjusting to their new country and culture while attempting to follow their Jewish traditions. Throughout the story, family members participate in historical events, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the women’s suffrage movement, and interact with historical figures such as Lillian Wald, Fanny Brice, and Fiorello LaGuardia.
Available on Bookshop.org.
Based on a true story … come along on my journey in my Chevy Blazer (dubbed the “Torah Blazer”) of transporting a Torah that my father Abraham had donated to our former temple in Connecticut back in the 1960’s, to my current temple outside of Chicago. My reflections of my dad’s life and our relationship, accompanied by some of the principles in the Torah, make for quite a ride and an inspiring story. It’s a heartfelt memoir that blends the beauty of the Torah, the Jewish faith, and father and son relationships. Fun idea for a Father’s Day gift.
Available on Amazon.
An illuminating look at Jewish immigrant life in early-1900s America, Gitel’s Freedom is a compelling tale of women’s resilience. Gitel and her husband Shmuel start life in Chicago, but when the Great Depression hits, and again when Shmuel’s health repeatedly fails, they must adapt to more challenging circumstances than expected. How will Gitel persevere and find freedom?
Ever wonder about the mixed multitude who fled Egypt with the Israelites? Who were they? What was it like for them both to receive the Ten Commandments at Sinai? Where did they go and what did they do during the “missing” 35 years in the wilderness? From Maggie Anton, award-winning author of Rashi’s Daughters, comes historical novel The Midwives’ Escape: From Egypt to Jericho to answer these and many other questions about the Exodus. “It takes creativity, … and skill to fashion a story set between lines of Biblical text.” — Richard Elliott Friedman.
Available on Amazon and Bookshop.org.
This lyrical essay collection shares vivid visits to far-flung locations and insights on nature, relationships and the journey to the self. Detailing her ten-year foray into Orthodox Judaism, Golodner writes about marriage and motherhood, divorce and single parenthood, and finding love again at midlife. Forest Walk on a Friday offers heart-and-soul stories on the many possibilities for happiness, home and wisdom available to us all.
Likened to Where the Crawdads Sing, this suspenseful, steamy novel features a woman starting over after 20 years in a Cape Breton cult. But the past won’t leave her alone, even in small-town Vermont, where she reconnects with family and falls in love with a hot rabbi. I Love You, Charlie Tanner evokes the unlikely romance of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This and the passionate intrigue of Lucy Score’s Forever Never.
Preorder available on Amazon.com; Available June 12 everywhere.
Shimon Lincoln and Dafna Lachler, the FRUM sleuthing duo, are back as they uncover a murder in the Holy Land and their honeymoon/vacation is disrupted. The Israeli government seems to be in cahoots with the murderer and someone is trying to kill them. Rabbi Kalmonowitz is back giving insights into Judaism and his ‘hints from the heavens.’ #3 in the Lincoln/Lachler Mystery series (following Murder in the Kollel and The Kosher Butcher).
Available from Amazon, 458 pp.
From the opening vignette in which a photograph is a silent witness to history to the powerful coda “Miracles,” a novella set against the vibrant panorama of the Yiddish theater in America, the fifteen memorable narratives in The Girls of Jerusalem and Other Stories span continents and eras as they chronicle love and loss, piety and heresy, mysticism and rationality to reinterpret ancient tropes of exile, dislocation, and profound change, revealing a new understanding of Jewish history and memory. “Luminous tales of exile and loss that bequeath new life” Kirkus Reviews (starred review). A best book of the year selection.
Available on Bookshop.org, Amazon and wherever books are sold.
Felice and Ira Zaslow’s love story spanned almost four decades, from the beaches of Far Rockaway to a comfortable suburban existence on the south shore of Long Island. Then came the morning of September 11, 2001. Through the days, weeks, and months that followed, Felice had to find her way through unfathomable trauma, on a path she had to forge herself, seeking guidance and role models along the way. This remarkable and inspiring memoir puts a very personal face on a national tragedy, facing down the darkness by looking for the light that is always present.
Available on Amazon and Bookshop.org.
Fiddler on the Roof meets Little Town on the Prairie when 13-year-old Gittel Borenstein and her family, survivors of the deadly Kishinev pogrom, start over as farmers in 1911 Central Wisconsin. “Gittel comes of age…in this evocative novel saturated in Jewish heritage, the importance of family, and the power of hope.” Booklist. “Gittel and her family…will be remembered long after one finishes reading.” Jewish Book Council.
Rabbi Lance J. Sussman announces the launch of his latest book, Portrait of a Rabbi-Historian: How Did We Get Here? With a foreword by Jonathan D. Sarna, his newest anthology explores the history and thought of American Reform Judaism in a collection of articles he wrote while pursuing a dual career as a rabbi and a scholar over the last forty years. This book joins Portrait of an American Rabbi: In His Own Words (2023) and Portrait of a Reform Rabbi: Continuity and Change (2024) to form a trilogy by this prolific writer and historian of the American Jewish experience.
Recently retired Chicago detective Ben Gold seeks a fresh start in sunny Delray Beach. But before he has a chance to learn the nuances of pickleball and enjoy the culinary delights of early bird dinner specials, he is asked to prove the innocence of a young man suspected of murder. Join Ben as he tries to navigate in his new environment, surrounded by new friends and a legion of crazy locals. With Florida Gold, first-time author David Rosen perfectly captures the glitter and the weird of Southeast Florida.
Available exclusively on Amazon Kindle.
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Judith Levy says
My name is Judith Levy. I am a Lifetime Member of Hadassah. I have just written a book called GREAT-GRANDMOTHER REMEMBERS. It offers great-grandmothers, (there are twenty million in the United States) an opportunity to record family hisotory, recipes and words of wisdom to be treasured by future generations. This special lady does not need another scarf or more perfume, she needs to be remembered. Please tell your raders about GREAT-GRANDMOTHER REMEMBERS. Thank you.
Emanuel Rund says
Emanuel Rund, Jerusalem
Acclaimed 240 Films / TV Producer, Director
Publicist
Motivational Public Speaker
Ami, “made in Hadassah Mt Scopus, guarded the Hospital complex and much more
Thanking Hadassah
I must have had guardian angels who protected me on numerous occasions throughout my life, starting at the very young age of zero minus three days, in Jerusalem. My mother Ruth (Wolffs), ready to give birth to me on her Hebrew birthday, climbed the armoured bus that would take her to the Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus enclave, east of the city. It was a most dangerous ride, as the local Arab forces ambushed these convoys and massacre the Jewish passengers. In one case they killed 78 doctors, nurses and patients including Dr. Chaim Yassky, director of the hospital. The British army who were “patrolling” the road to “protect” the Jewish convoy were fifty yards away in their tanks and did not make an effort to rescue the Jews.
The barbaric massacre was then followed by these mob carrying the heads of those decapitated Jews, taking photos of them and selling them as postcards in East Jerusalem and the country. So I, the newborn, two days old, and my mother, were lucky to make the trip alive, safely back to West Jerusalem.
At the age of 19 during my army duty in the Jerusalem Brigade, I was amongst the few so called “ Naarey HaMelech” נערי המלך של הר הצופים, the “The King’s Boys” of the then most secret unit of Mazof 247 מצוף 247 that protected this strategic Mount Scopus that housed the Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University housing complex.
I was also part of the other most secret Intelligence Unit 515, code name Five and a Quarter, ( now it became the famous Unit 8200) where we spied on the Jordanian Legion Army and King Hussein activities as they prepared to attack us in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The intelligence gatherings we collected helped us during the Six Days War to have a swift takeover, reclaiming the whole area of Jerusalem and Judaea and Samaria, and therefore also with fewer casualties on both sides.
In my army base in the Schneller Compound Jerusalem, I was in charge of communication with the base in M Scopus. We used a WWII laser secret type transmitter. It still had a Swastika on it!
My mother Ruth was a dressmaker, many of her customers were Hadassah physicians, nurses and staff. I was once in her sewing shop, as one of the most famous surgeons, Prof. Saltz, entered and asked my mother to teach him the different menthods of sewing clothes that he could use as stiches in his operations.
As a young man I helped my mother by delivering the clothes that she sewed or repaired to her customers homes, among them many Hadassah staff.
As I worked for the Israeli Broadcasting Authority Israel Radio and Television (I was among the founders) I filmed a lot of activities at Hadassah Hospitals.
In 1970 I worked on the film “Ha’Shachar Means Dawn” for Young Judaea, the Youth Movement of Hadassah, shot in Tel Yehuda, Upstate New York and on many Hadassah locations in Israei.
I studied Fine Mechanics Engineering at Hadassah run Brandeis School in Jerusalem
Dr Zvi Zviki Stern was for two decades the Director of the Hadassah Hospital.
He was my childhood neighbor and friend. Some of my cinematic skills I got
By watching “Bambi” and such 1950’s films at his birthdays… Hardly anybody had a film projecter those days.
APPARTHEID IN ISRAEL?
My brother Yossi was shot by Arab terrorists and was brought to the emergency room survived a terror shooting at Hadassah. He was asked to choose a personal Dr. to lead the treatment as the bullet was still in his back. He chose Dr. Al Husseini who live in a village in the West Bank. He is a good man, despite the fact that his great uncle was Haj Amin Al Husseini, the “Mufti” of Jerusalem who planned with Hitler the extermination of the Jews in Eretz Israel, Palestine, in Emek Valley by Jenin including my parents. He also recruited in Bosnia Moslem recruits to a few SS brigades to fight shoulder to shoulder together with the Nazis. One task they kept was to guard the train tracks from Budapest to Auschwitz that the Hungarian anti Nazi Resistace fighters attempted to blow up and stop the deportations. His uncle, Abdel Kader Al Husseini lead the 1948 Arab war and massacres against the Jews in Eretz Israel. ( Including that massacre of the Hadassah doctors and nurses. Could anybody call Israel an Appartheid State? Half the staff and patients in Israeli hospitals are Arabs, also from the whole Middle East including Gaza Hammas people.
Yossi and Chaya’s 18 years old son Shlomo Erez was shot on the way from his Meron Yeshiva. Unfortunately he died on the operating table at Hadassah. He was a most popular youth leader at B’nai Akiva Youth Movement and a promising young poet.
Their daughter Ofra was the only survivor of another incident, she was only injured.
I had the pleasure to be at Hadassah as a patient, once as an 11 years old child to operate an Hernia.
My mother Ruth battled a cancer and died at the Mount Scopus Hospital, the same place where five decades earlier she gave birth to me (on her own Hebrew birthday!).
I was invited to Fundraising Galas, Tribute Dinners and other Hadassah events, also in Europe. In my 200 speaking engagements I often mentioned “My Hadassah”
and spoke about it. People enjoyed hearing about my special unique and versatile attachments to Hadassah over a number of decades.
The Hadassah symbol and slogan chosen in 1913 taken from Jeremiah 8, 19-23
Is “Arucat Bat Ami” ארוכת בת עמי, “The Healing of the Daughter of My People”.
Another connection, it carries my Israeli second name Ami!
Among my talents and skills as an acclaimed 200 films/TV producer-director, publicist, a Magid- a story teller, I also served as a rabbi-cantor, C’hazen, in many communities and I also sing Israeli songs.
The song “Me’Al Pisgat Har Hatzofim“ מעל פסגת הר הצופים from 1928
“Over the summit of the Mount Scopus”, “the viewers ) Observers(
Mountain” is one of my favorites, especially when sung by my friend Yehoram Gaon, another Jerusalemite.