A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2025How can genocide be witnessed through imaginative literature? How can the Holocaust affect readers who were not there?Reading the work of major figures such as Elie Wiesel, Paul Celan, Avrom Sutzkever, Ida Fink, Wladyslaw Szlengel, Itzhak Katzenelson, and Czeslaw Milosz, Poesis in Extremis poses fundamental questions about how prose and poetry are written under extreme con...

This volume engages with memory of the Holocaust as expressed in literature, film, and other media. It focuses on the cultural memory of the second and third generations of Holocaust survivors, while also taking into view those who were children during the Nazi period. Language loss, language acquisition, and the multiple needs of translation are recurrent themes for all of the authors discussed. By bringing together authors and scholars (often both) from different generations, countries, ...

Halakhah contains apparent “workarounds” – such as the sale of chametz to non-Jews before Pesach, the use of the prozbol to avoid the cancellation of loans, or the hetter iska which enables collection of interest. Letter and Spirit draws upon the history and halakhic treatment of these mechanisms to consider when and why some of them are accepted, some are resisted, and some find mixed responses. Rabbi Daniel Feldman claims that rabbis throughout history did not view these as loopholes to ...

In False Facts and True Rumors, Rabbi Daniel Feldman undertakes the vital task of examining the halakhic sources regarding lashon hara, derogatory speech, and applying them to today’s technology-driven world. Combining erudite knowledge of rabbinic texts, philosophy, and psychology, Rabbi Feldman explores this uncharted territory of contemporary Jewish life. Among the questions addressed are: How can it be prohibited to convey facts that are true? How can the innocent be protected and soci...

This captivating audiobook collection of heartwarming stories is designed to help children focus and unwind, fostering creativity and supporting a quicker, more peaceful transition to sleep. Through vivid storytelling and engaging characters, each story invites families to connect, reflect, and bond as they explore lessons of patience, gratitude, courage, and compassion.Blending soothing narration ...

"Each [essay is] a model of clarity, weight, gravity . . . each superbly centered on the moods, manners, works . . . of ten exemplary men and women" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review)."Dark times" is Brecht's phrase, and Hannah Arendt uses it suggest that those she writes about are not "mouthpieces of the Zeitgeist", but, rather, that the routine repetitive horrors of the twentieth century form the substance of the dark against which their lives of illuminat...

You’ll find everything you need to know about being Jewish in this indispensable, revised and updated guide to the religious traditions, everyday practices, philosophical beliefs, and historical foundations of Judaism.What happens at a synagogue service? What are the rules for keeping kosher? How do I light the Hanukah candles? What is in the Hebrew Bible? What do the Jewish holidays signify? What should I be teaching my children about being Jewish?With the...

The evolution and manipulation of language from the celebrated author of After Babel. "A keenly discriminating literary mind at work on what it loves" ( The New York Times Book Review).Language and Silence is a book about language—and politics, meaning, silence, and the future of literature. Originally published between 1958 and 1966, the essays that make up this collection ponder whether we have passed out of an era of verbal primacy and ...

A New York Times BestsellerA leading public intellectual’s timely reckoning with how Jews can and should make sense of their tradition and each other.What does it mean to be a Jew? At a time of worldwide crisis, venerable answers to this question have become unsettled. In To Be a Jew Today, the legal scholar and columnist Noah Feldman draws on a lifelong engagement with his religion to offer a wide-ranging interpretation o...

Franz Kafka was the poet of his own disorder. Throughout his life he struggled with a pervasive sense of shame and guilt that left traces in his daily existence—in his many letters, in his extensive diaries, and especially in his fiction. This stimulating book investigates some of the sources of Kafka’s personal anguish and its complex reflections in his imaginary world.In his query, Saul Friedländer probes major aspects of Kafka’s life (family, Judaism, love and sex, writin...

From the Penteteuch and Nevi'im to the Ketuvim and the oral Torah, this straightforward reference walks you through God's instructions to His people and explains how these teachings are incorporated into Jewish life. The Everything Torah Book presents the tenets of the Jewish faith in an easy-to-understand reference. Fascinating insights into the history, stories, parables, and personalities that are featured in this sacred scripture will bring teachings to life. Regardless of you...

Meïr Aaron Goldschmidt and the Poetics of Jewish Fiction presents a bold new reading of one of Denmark’s greatest writers of the nineteenth century, situating him, first and foremost, as a Jewish artist. Offering an alternative to the nationalistic discourse so prevalent in the scholarship, Gurley examines Goldschmidt’s relationship to the Hebrew Bible and later rabbinical traditions, such as the Talmud and the Midrash. At the same time, he shows that Goldschmidt’s midrashic style...