There is a genre of American writing that tells the tale of an idealized American free spirit (always a man) who is strong, independent, an explorer and an adventurer. The Last American Man, by Elizabeth Gilbert, is a great example of this, as is Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. A slightly different and much…
Gishat HaTemurot (The Approach of Exchanges) – ed. Rav Cohen and Rav Bigman
You may have been exposed to the documentary hypothesis, or at least the pervasive claims about why the Torah is human-written, rather than God-given. Ever since Wellhausen first presented his ideas in the 19th century (though beginning earlier with Spinoza in the 16th), scholars (Torah and non) have tried to find ways to reject or…
Cold Crematorium: Reporting From the Land of Auschwitz – Jozsef Debreczeni
On Tisha B’Av, I usually try to read something about the Holocaust, or another tragedy of Jewish history. This year, I read the recently translated memoir of Jozsef Debreczeni, Cold Crematorium: Reporting From the Land of Auschwitz. What is unique about Debreczeni’s memoir is that he was a practicing journalist before the war, giving him…
Ted Chiang – Stories of Your Life and Others
Reading the short stories of science fiction and fantasy writer Ted Chiang feels more like reading a book of philosophy (in exceptionally creative narrative form) than the otherworldly lightness often associated with these genres (which I also enjoy, to be clear). I recently picked up a second volume of his short stories, Stories of Your…
Minority of One: The Unchaining of An Arab Mind – Hussein Aboubakr Mansour
I came across a thought-piece by Hussein Aboubakr Mansour in a WhatApp group-chat about Israel. His work was shared as a provocative (in a good way) new way to think about Israel, Jews, and all the troubles that face us today. I only read the first part, but was intrigued by his approach to an…
Hiking Thoughts
I wanted to title this “Reflections on a Walk,” but it both sounded a bit too much like A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson (which I loved), and not descriptive enough for my purpose. I’ve never been good at titles, which the title of this post amply reflects. Like Bryson, I spent time…
Pastor Charles Taze Russell: An Early American Christian Zionist – David Horowitz
I discovered the most wonderful store in Passaic – Capital Seforim. Capital is an old school, second hand seforim store, much of which is collected from estate sales. I went there mostly because I was looking for a set on the parsha that was out of print, and thought that would be my best bet….
The Early Work of Philip K Dick Volume 1
In my newfound love of science fiction and fantasy as a mode for exploring entirely modern questions and engaging in social criticism, I’ve spent time with the great Ursula LeGuin as well as Ted Chiang, and now, finally one of the most famous of them all, Philip K Dick (PKD). What perhaps sets PKD aside…
To Be Holy but Human: Reflections Upon my Rebbe, HaRav Yehuda Amital – Rav Moshe Taragin
Rav Amital is perhaps one of the most interesting leaders of the Dati Leumi community in the last generation. He was a Hungarian-born ilui (Torah genius); Holocaust survivor; founder of the Hesder program where young men both serve in the army and learn Torah over a five year period; a founder of Gush Etzion and…
The Untold Story of Public Service – Michael Lewis
While it’s true that I read basically anything that Michael Lewis writes, it’s also true that there are some books I just think I won’t like. Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service was one of them. I think I assumed it would be a screed extolling the virtues of government, and I…