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Below Are Recommendations of Non-Fiction Books of Jewish Content from a Small Group of People Involved in Jewish Engagement and Education

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Below Are Recommendations of Non-Fiction Books of Jewish Content from a Small Group of People Involved in Jewish Engagement and Education Below are recommendations of non-fiction books of Jewish content from a small group of people involved in Jewish engagement and education. The authors of these books span most of the range of Jewish practice and ideology. The list may look extensive, but there is much more to choose from. Feel free to ask your friends, neighbors and clergy for recommendations. Ports of Entry: Introductory Jewish Books Shimon Apisdorf, Judaism in a Nutshell (series: Passover, Israel, G-D etc.) Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews Arthur Green, Judaism's 10 Best Ideas: A Guide for Seekers Esther Jundgreis, The Committed Life Kerry M. Olitzky, Introducing My Faith and My Community: The Jewish Outreach Institute Guide for the Christians in a Jewish Interfaith Relationship Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism Mayer Schiller, The Road Back Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy Shmuel Waldman, Beyond A Reasonable Doubt American Jewish Experience Stephen Birmingham, “Our Crowd:” The Great Jewish Families of New York Arnold Eisen, The Chosen People in America Arnold Eisen & Steve Cohen , The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in America Eli N. Evans, Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate Irving Howe, World of Our Fathers: The Journey of the East European Jews to America and the Life They Found and Made Michael Krasny, Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor And What It All Means Jonathan Sarna, American Judaism: A History Ron Wolfson, The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community Sidney Stahl Weinberg, The World of Our Mothers: The Lives of Jewish Immigrant Women Biblical and Rabbinic Works Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative The Artscroll Mishna Nahum Braverman, Bible for the Clueless but Curious Marc Zvi Brettler, How to Read the Bible Yissochor Frand, Rabbi Frand on the Parsha Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets Barry Holtz, Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb Nechama Leibowitz, In Depth Studies Uziel Milevsky, Ner Uziel Jacob Neusner, Invitation to the Talmud Shmuel Peerless, To Study and to Teach: The Methodology of Nechama Leibowitz Michael Satlow, How the Bible Became Holy Gerald L. Schroeder, Genesis and the Big Bang: The Discovery Of Harmony Between Modern Science And The Bible Adin Steinsaltz, The Essential Talmud Hermann L. Strack, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash Elie Wiesel, Messengers of God Commentaries on the Torah (Five books of Moses) Elyse Goldstein, ed., The Women's Torah Commentary David L. Lieber and Jules Harlow, ed., Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (Conservative) W. Gunther Plaut, ed., The Torah: A Modern Commentary (Reform) Jeffrey K. Salkin, ed., Text Messages: A Torah Commentary for Teens Nosson Scherman, ed., The Stone Edition of the Chumash: The Torah, Haftaros, and Five Megillos with a commentary from Rabbinic Writings(Orthodox) Biographies A large, eclectic set of biographies is being published as Jewish Encounters (curated by Nextbook Press http://nextbookpress.com). Another series is by Yale University Press www.jewishlives.org. Amos Bunim, A Fire in His Soul: Irving Bunim Paul Cowan, An Orphan in History: One Man’s Triumphant Search for His Jewish Roots Hillel Danzinger, Guardian of Jerusalem (re: Chaim Sonnenfeld) Joan Dash, Summoned to Jerusalem: The Life of Henrietta Szold Stephen J. Dubner, Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return To His Jewish Family Maurice Friedman, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Elie Wiesel: You Are My Witnesses Moshe Gutman, As Long as I Live: The Story of Aharon Margalit Lee Meyerhoff Hendler, The Year Mom Got Religion: One Woman's Midlife Journey into Judaism Warren Kozak, The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser Seth Lipsky, The Rise of Abraham Cahan Golda Meir, My Life Simcha Raz, A Tzaddik in our Time: The Life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin Sara Yocheved Rigler, God Winked: Tales and Lessons from my Spiritual Adventures Shimon Peres, Battling for Peace: A Memoir Jonathan Rosenblum, Rav Dessler Yonason Rosenblum, They Called Him Mike: Rabbi Elemech Tress Gershon Scholem, From Berlin to Jerusalem Hannah Senesh, Her Life and Diary Ruchoma Shain, All for the Boss (Yaakov Yosef Herman) Holocaust Yehuda Bauer, A History of the Holocaust Pearl Benisch, To Vanquish the Dragon Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning Abraham Fuchs, The Unheeded Cry (re: Weissmandl) Gerta Weissman Klein, All But My Life Ben Hecht, Perfidy (re: Kastner Trial) Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz Moshe Prager, Those Who Never Yielded Edmund de Waal, The Hare with the Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness Israel and Zionism Yehuda Avner, The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership Connor Cruise O’Brien, The Siege Alan Dershowitz, The Case for Israel & The Case for Peace Amos Elon, The Israelis: Founders & Sons, Revised Edition Ronald Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T. E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn, and the Seeds of the Arab-Israeli Conflict Yossi Klein Halevi, Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem Benjamin Halpern, The Idea of the Jewish State Benny Morris, 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East Howard Sachar, A History of Israel Ari Shavit, My Promised Land Jewish History Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah Abba Eban, My People Gluckel, The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln Alexander Hool, Challenge of Jewish History Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews Jacob Katz, Exclusiveness and Tolerance: Jewish-Gentile Relations David I. Kertzer, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara Bernard Lewis, Jews of Islam Chaim Potok, Wanderings Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews?: The Reason for Anti-Semitism Diane and David Roskies, ed., The Shtetl Book Howard Sachar, The Course of Modern Jewish History Robert M. Seltzer, Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History Jewish Parenting Anita Diamant and Karen Kushner, How to Raise a Jewish Child: A Practical Handbook for Family Life Moshe Eisenman, Of Parents and Penguins Moshe Ganz, Make Me Don't Break Me Marjorie Ingall, Mamaleh Knows Best: What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children Hardcover Lawrence Kelemen, To Kindle a Soul: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Parents and Teachers Wendy Mogul, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee Rabbi Susan Silverman, Casting Lots: Creating a Family in a Beautiful, Broken World Jewish Practice Shimon Apisdorf, Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Survival Kit Shimon Apisdorf, Kosher for the Clueless but Curious Bradley Shavit Artson, It's A Mitzvah!: Step-By-Step to Jewish Living Simcha Bunim Cohen, The Radiance of Shabbos, the Complete Laws of… Samuel H. Dresner, The Jewish Dietary Laws: Their Meaning for our Time Blu Greenberg, How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man Isidore Grunfeld, The Sabbath Maurice Lamm, The Jewish Way in Love and Marriage Kerry M. Olitzky and Ronald H. Isaacs: the How to Handbook for Jewish Living Jonathan Sacks, Tradition in an Untraditional Age Pinhas H. Peli, The Sabbath: A Renewed Encounter Zelig Pliskin, Gateway to Happiness Danny Siegel, Giving Your Money Away: How Much, How To, Why, Where, and To Whom Jill Jacobs, There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law and Tradition Michael Strassfeld, The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary Arthur Waskow, Seasons of Our Joy: A Celebration of Modern Jewish Renewal Ron Wolfson, God’s To-Do List: 103 Ways to be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth Jewish Thought Arnold Band, Nahman of Bratslav:The Tales, Warren Goldstein, Defending the Human Spirit Abraham Joshua Heschel, Between God and Man Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism Samson Raphael Hirsch, Nineteen Letters Jeremy Kagan, The Jewish Self Aryeh Kaplan, Aryeh Kaplan Reader Nahum N. Glatzer, Franz Rosenzweig: His Life and Thought Joseph B. Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man Paul Schilpp and Maurice Friedman, ed., The Philosophy of Martin Buber Adin Steinsaltz, The Thirteen-Petaled Rose Akiva Tatz, Letters to a Buddhist Jew Akiva Tatz, Living Inspired Joseph Telushkin, The Book of Jewish Values Herman Wouk, This Is My God David Wolpe, Healer of Shattered Hearts Jewish Women Judith R. Baskin, Jewish Women in Historical Perspective Charlotte Baum, Paula Hyman, and Sonya Michel, The Jewish Woman in America Pearl Benisch, Carry Me in Your Heart: The Life and Legacy of Sarah Schenirer Blu Greenberg, On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition Tzipporah Heller, More Precious than Pearls Susannah Heschel, On Being a Jewish Feminist Miriam Kosman, Circle, Arrow, Spiral: Gender in Judaism Vanessa Ochs, One Woman’s Journey into the Sacred Sondra Henry and Emily Taitz, Written Out of History: Our Jewish Foremothers Susan Weidman Schneider, Jewish and Female: Choices and Changes in Our Lives Today Prayer It has become very common for Jewish prayer books (siddurim) to include prayer by prayer commentaries. You might begin by looking in the synagogue nearest you. For a broader perspective, consider: Reuven Hammer, Exploring Jewish Prayer: A Guide to Personal Devotion and the Worship Service Lawrence A. Hoffman, The Art of Public Prayer: Not for Clergy Only Yitzchok Kirzner with Lisa Aiken The Art of Jewish Prayer Abraham Millgram, Jewish Worship Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer .
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