Jewish News

Jewish summer camp is such a crucial part of the American Jewish experience that many Jewish adults, even in their older age, likely remember the names of many of the kids in their cabins from when they were 11 years old. One of those cabins more than 60 years ago contained a couple of interesting [...]

Outsmart Your Pain! The Essential Guide to Overcoming Pain and Transforming Your Life Lisa Barr, MD Illustrations by Tim Sovine Synergy Health Quest, LLC, 2018 ISBN 13: 978-1-7320011-0-7 In the opening pages of Outsmart Your Pain!, Lisa Barr, MD, says, “The science of pain is always changing.” Two pages later, she notes, “The purpose of [...]

Dear Zealots(Letters from a Divided Land) Amos Oz Translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018 140 pages The late (What a loss!) Amos Oz’s last literary gem, Dear Zealots (Letters from a Divided Land), relies on his previously English-published book, How to Cure a Fanatic, which was translated into some 20 [...]

Richmond author shares personal and universal stories in new book Erin Mahone Motivational Press, 2017 Reviewed by Amy Zelenka Did you ever feel like you were living in that famous idiom: the inmates are running the asylum? Well, Erin Mahone, in her new book, If You Could See Me: Life, Motherhood, and the Pursuit of [...]

Tragedy impacts generations Jenna Blum Harper Collins Publishing | New York, New York Reviewed by Lynn Woods In The Lost Family, author Jenna Blum explores how tragic grief and loss can impact a family for generations. Years have passed since Peter Rashkin, chef and restaurant owner of Masha’s in New York City, suffered torture and [...]

Perfect for baseball and history fans Carrie Jones Kar-Ben Publishing | Minneapolis, MN Reviewed by Sam Levin I had the opportunity to read a great book called, The Spy Who Played Baseball. It is about how Moe Berg played baseball and was a spy. Nobody expected Moe to become famous. When Moe was seven years [...]

Tragedy Impacts Generations Jenna Blum | The Lost Family: A Novel Harper Collins Publishing New York, New York In The Lost Family, author Jenna Blum explores how tragic grief and loss can impact a family for generations. Years have passed since Peter Rashkin, chef and restaurant owner of Masha’s in New York City, suffered torture [...]

This one’s for every grandparent Unconditional Love: A Guide for Navigating the Joys and Challenges of Being a Grandparent Today. Jane Isay Harper, March 6, 2018 Reviewed by Alene Jo Kaufman It’s hard to read a book when one’s head is continually nodding up and down, but that’s what happened while reading Jane Isay’s Unconditional Love: A Guide for Navigating the Joys and Challenges of Being [...]

An unfortunate topic The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity Sally Kohn Workman Publishing, 2018 Wendy Juren Auerbach To be honest, the copy of The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity by Sally Kohn languished on my pile of books to read longer than I anticipated. The reason, as I discovered later in Kohn’s book—it is easier [...]

Memoir meets financial guide This Is The Year I Put My Financial Life In Order John Schwartz Penguin Random House LLC, 2018 Money is often an overwhelming and stressful topic. While some people love discussing financial matters, others cringe at the thought of discussing subjects such as retirement plans and monthly budgeting. John Schwartz’s This is the Year I Put [...]