By Robin Jacobson. Kids dig in the backyard searching for buried treasure. Adults roam flea markets hoping to spot the one precious item hidden in the jumble of useless odds and ends. It’s fun to fantasize about discovering a priceless prize; not surprisingly, many novels build their plots around such discoveries. Two recent examples are …
By Robin Jacobson. Russia is in the news a lot lately. Am I imagining that American Jews pay particular attention to news from that country? Millions of us descend from immigrants who fled Czarist Russia. One could speculate endlessly on what our family stories would be if those ancestors had stayed put. The thriving genre …
By Robin Jacobson. Seventy-five years ago this fall, the beloved Hollywood classic, Casablanca, first lit up American movie screens. Casablanca has enthralled generations of viewers with its stellar performances (by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains), iconic lines (“Round up the usual suspects,” “Here’s looking at you, kid,” “We’ll always have Paris”), glamorous Moroccan setting …
By Robin Jacobson. A few weeks ago, I impulsively signed up for an eight-part online course on Daniel Deronda, a 19th Century English novel by George Eliot. Why? I had never read the book, despite its fame as the Zionist novel that predated Zionism. But I remembered the movie fondly (English accents! Rolling green hills! …
By Robin Jacobson. If you’re ever in Tel Aviv, consider a visit to the home of Hayim Bialik (1873-1934), revered as Israel’s “National Poet.” Minna, my Tel Aviv-residing daughter, introduced me to Beit Bialik on a personal tour of “her city.” The house is an enchanting mix of Middle Eastern and European styles, a romantic …
By Robin Jacobson. On his office wall, a lawyer friend has a striking contemporary art print of the classic biblical text, “Justice, justice, shall you pursue.” But is it always clear what justice is? Some Israeli novelists seem skeptical. For a deep dive into the wells of moral ambiguity, try Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, …
By Robin Jacobson. Avivah Zornberg is a celebrated biblical commentator, but even she hesitated when invited to write a biography of Moses. Fortunately, she took on this seemingly impossible task, producing Moses: A Human Life (2016). This deeply thoughtful work blends traditional rabbinic interpretations with modern psychology, philosophy, and literature. Likewise, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, …
By Robin Jacobson. Although it was a sweltering Shabbat night in August, it felt like Purim. Around a dining room table in Baltimore, our hostess Flora and her brother Simon were recounting their personal Queen Esther story. In 1944, a brave American journalist named Ruth Gruber risked her life to rescue Flora, Simon, and their …
By Lisa Handelman. Inclusion, at its core, is about understanding that each of us, created in the image of God, has unique worth. Each year, books are selected for JDAIM Reads (Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month) that use a Jewish lens to help us become more aware of the strength and value of individuals …
By Robin Jacobson. Two painted Japanese vases rest atop bookcases in my living room. According to family lore, my great-grandmother carried these vases with her when she fled Odessa with two small children around 1900. Why? The vases are large, fragile, and impractical. To take them, she must have left many other things behind. Why …
The Beth El community was profoundly saddened by the October 26 death of our president, Jerry Sorkin, at the age of 51, following an incredibly courageous nine-year battle against stage 4 lung cancer. Rabbi Greg Harris captured Jerry’s unique value to our shul: “Jerry’s leadership stemmed from his humble sense of lifting others up while …
By Robin Jacobson. Some time back, I discovered a tantalizing thread of family history. Neatly folded inside a book that once belonged to my grandfather was a publicity flyer. It announced an extraordinary event at a Boston synagogue on December 10, 1961 – an “eyewitness report” on the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, which had transfixed …
By Robin Jacobson. In the 1920s, at a law school located in present-day Lviv, Ukraine, a Polish-Jewish student and his professor argued over a startling gap in international law. The student was outraged that the law did not bar a government from murdering its inhabitants – and that there was no way to bring Turkish …
By Minna Jacobson. It’s once again the season of apples and honey and soul-searching. For some unconventional High Holiday reading, take a look at the work of Peter Singer, a renowned ethicist and professor at Princeton University, whom The New Yorker calls the “world’s most influential living philosopher.” Singer first stirred controversy in 1972 with …
By Robin Jacobson. A round of applause for congregant Michelle Brafman! Beth El proudly announces the September publication of Michelle’s second full-length work of fiction, Bertrand Court, following the success of her earlier novel, Washing the Dead (2015). Bertrand Court is about connections – between family members and friends, between the past and the present. …
By Robin Jacobson. In August, Beth El and congregations everywhere will begin reading Devarim (Deuteronomy), the final book of the Torah. Eventually, we will reach the dramatic moment when Moses exhorts the Israelites: “Choose life – if you and your offspring would live” (Devarim 30:19). What does it mean to “choose life”? In an experiment …
By Robin Jacobson. As spring turns to summer, the United Kingdom continues to joyously commemorate two oh-so-British occasions: the Queen’s 90th birthday and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The yearlong festivities seem to have spilled over into the Jewish book world, producing several recent titles about British Jews. So as you nibble your strawberries …
By Robin Jacobson. In January, my daughter made aliyah and moved to Tel Aviv. This unexpected change of direction on the family road map has upped my interest in all things Israeli, including Israeli authors. Etgar Keret writes about everyday life in Israel in The Seven Good Years, a witty, irreverent, and poignant set of …
By Robin Jacobson. Browsing through the Passover books in our library, I am struck by the holiday’s embrace of creativity. One haggadah after another urges us to reimagine the traditional Seder themes of liberation and freedom within the context of our own lives and times. The haggadot ask, “Who are the pharaohs that oppress our …
By Robin Jacobson. When I was a small child, my family lived near the entrance to a Hasidic village. Transfixed by the parade of fur hats, black coats, and long beards going in and out of the community, I was thunderstruck when my mother told me that these oddly dressed people were Jews, like us. …
By Robin Jacobson. As I write this, my 23-year old daughter is on the Appalachian Trail, 600 hundred miles from her starting point with 1,600 miles to go. Despite aching muscles, dirty clothes, and way too many mosquitoes, she is thrilled with her adventure. Meanwhile, I try not to worry too much and to understand …
By Robin Jacobson. For millions of immigrants, their first glimpse of America was the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. The statue – with its famous engraved poem about embracing the “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free” – greeted ships carrying the poor and persecuted. Today, amid the Syrian refugee crisis, the Statue of …
By Robin Jacobson. Shepherd boy, musician, giant-slayer, king, lover, grieving father, and old man – the richness and vitality of the biblical portrait of King David have inspired manifold works of art, literature, and scholarship, not to mention a popular year-long class by our own Rabbi Werbin. Beth El’s library abounds with books devoted to …
By Robin Jacobson. One of humanity’s ancient songs of freedom rings out each year on Shabbat Shirah (Sabbath of Song), this year on January 23. At Beth El, and around the world, the Torah reader will chant Shirat HaYam (Song of the Sea) – the exultant song of praise the Israelites offered to God after …
By Robin Jacobson. The legendary “Shootout at the O.K. Corral” looms large in tales of the American West. On October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona, lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp, together with their friend Doc Holliday, faced down some shady local ranchers near the O.K. Corral. Thirty seconds later, only Wyatt Earp was still …
By Robin Jacobson. Among the treasures of the Jewish people are folktales – told and retold for hundreds of years across the different continents where Jews have wandered. The tales are for all ages, but children’s authors have adapted many into captivating picture books. Our library is lucky to have a large children’s folklore collection …
By Robin Jacobson. Why read biographies? When I googled that question, all kinds of responses popped up, some grand and lofty, others more prosaic. But whether you read biographies “to stand on the shoulders of giants” or whether (like me) you find that the life stories of famous persons offer an easy, entertaining way to …
Boker Tov. I continue to share my more favorite or IMHO more important It’s Wednesday columns as the retirement looms. The year 2013 – 2014 began with Jefferson, continued with many columns on the Pew Survey of American Jews, dabbled in the life and thinking of Albert Einstein, and included the announcement of that very retirement. …
By Robin Jacobson. Around the world, Torah scrolls will unfurl this May to the concluding portions of Leviticus (Vayikra) and then reach Numbers (Bamidbar). And, just in time, Torah scholars Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Dr. Avivah Zornberg have published new commentaries on Leviticus and Numbers, to the delight of their legions of fans. Look for …
Boker Tov. I continue to focus on my more favorite or IMHO more important It’s Wednesday columns as the retirement looms. The year 2010 – 2011 was our Israel theme year and there was plenty about that, but the most provocative column – based on your responses – was about the Intel Science Talent Search. You …
Boker Tov. I was kidding about retiring. April Fools! I now continue with some of my more favorite or important columns, this one from September 2008. I was very clever in 2008-2009, been downhill since. I have at least six of those columns that I would love to share but maybe you will get two. Speak …
By Robin Jaconbson. Every family has its story. We are shaped by our family’s story – or what we think is our family’s story. This theme runs through two compelling new books about a woman’s journey (one imagined and one real) to understand her family’s past. Don’t miss congregant Michelle Brafman’s Washing the Dead or …
Boker Tov. The Israeli elections have not (yet) produced a clear winner. I can understand that a more right leaning government may be formed, given what Israel sees on almost every border, but I have also pretty much lost confidence in Netanyahu’s leadership. We shall see. Last Wednesday I announced the morphing of this column as …
By Robin Jacobson. In the literary world, Soviet Jews are everywhere. The last year alone saw such a bumper crop of novels and memoirs by Soviet Jewish émigrés that the Forward named 2014 “the Year of the Soviet Jew.” Two of my favorites from this émigré genre are The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis and A …
By Robin Jacobson. It is an unfortunate fact of Jewish library life that some holidays are richer in children’s books than others. Our library’s shelves overflow with Hanukkah books. Alas, Tu B’Shevat, the New Year for Trees, does not equally excite the imaginations of book publishers, despite the holiday’s links to trendy environmental topics. Even …
By Robin Jacobson I had heard about the famous Rabbi Mindy Portnoy for many years before I met her. She is a trailblazer, one of the first women rabbis. She is an author of children’s books, including the breakthrough Ima on the Bima and the sensitive Where Do People Go When They Die, which has …
By Robin Jacobson Today we worry about Ebola. During World War II, the disease to dread was typhus, which ran rampant through vulnerable populations. Anne Frank and her sister Margot were among 17,000 inmates at Bergen-Belsen who succumbed to typhus in the final weeks of the war. Two Polish typhus researchers, one Aryan and one …
By Robin Jacobson. In the midst of the Cold War, the celebrated Soviet Jewish poet Boris Pasternak proudly completed his first and only novel – an epic tale of the life and loves of a doctor-poet who becomes disillusioned with the Soviet state. Disturbed by the book’s unpatriotic tone, the Soviet literary establishment refused to …
By Robin Jacobson. Every day we eat. During Jewish holidays and celebrations we eat more. After all, the Talmud itself links eating and drinking with rejoicing (Pesachim 109a). So it comes as no surprise that many books on the Jewish bookshelf, besides cookbooks, relate to food in some way. Two recently-published examples are The Middlesteins, …
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