Hanukkah Reads

photo credit: Juniper Books As the flickering lights of Hanukkah invite us into their warmth and holiness, it feels like the most natural thing in the world to cuddle up with a good book together with those we love. Reading together

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Recommended Torah Commentaries

Ben Bag Bag said, “Turn and turn about in it [the Torah] for everything is in it; and within it you shall look, and grow old and gray over it, and not stir from it; for there is no better

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The Orchard

Four entered the orchard: Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Elisha and Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma. Ben Zoma gazed and died, Rabbi Elisha cut down the plantings, Ben Azzai gazed and was harmed. Only Rabbi Akiva emerged in peace. THE ORCHARD

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CHICKEN MAN

I wrote Chicken Man after living and working on Kibbutz Mizra. I had a friend who worked in the ‘lul’ [lool] – the chicken coop. His charming stories of the chickens and the fun he had in the lul convinced

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IF ALL THE SEAS WERE INK

What a healthy relationship to time, viewing it not as a mark of age, but as an opportunity to grow in wisdom. If I learned a page a day, then instead of resigning myself to being one day older, I

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Art of Revelation by Yoram Raanan

“Few artists in the Jewish world capture the beauty of holiness, and avodah [worship]…than Yoram Raanan.” ~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Raanan’s paintings add a dimension of renewal, revival and hope. His paintings create a bridge between past and future, the individual

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The Committed Life

A long life is not good enough, but a good life is long enough. THE COMMITTED LIFE PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD LIVING FROM OUR TIMELESS PAST by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis ~ review by Cindy There is a charming story about an

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THE BIBLICAL HERITAGE SERIES

While the universal messages of the Bible echoes around the world, the text, in all its hundreds of translations, always speaks in a particular idiom – that of Israel’s nature and agriculture. – Nogah Hareuveni THE BIBLICAL HERITAGE SERIES 1.

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Thank you God for making me a woman

Women who have the ability to emulate G-d by bringing children into the world and wear multiple hats on any given day are truly unique and beyond measure. A woman is her husbands’ confidante, the mother of their children, the

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THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE

“Why was it,” she asked herself, “that animals can sometimes subdue their predatory ways in only a few months, while humans, despite centuries of refinement, can quickly grow more savage than any beast?” – Diane Ackerman, The Zookeeper’s Wife, pg.

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THE SECRET SHOFAR OF BARCELONA

THE SECRET SHOFAR OF BARCELONA Jacqueline Dembar Greene Illustrated by Doug Chayka The Secret Shofar Of Barcelona takes place in Spain during the late 1400’s and early 1500’s. This was a time of intense Antisemitism and severe persecution of the

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