There is a common dichotomy presented in the world of mental illness. On one side (and I simplify), evolving from Freud’s early influence on psychology, is that mental illness emerges from deep human drives combined with early life experiences. Its solution lies in talk therapy and self awareness. On the other side,…
The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East, Abraham Rabinovich
I was recently gifted a copy of The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East, by Abraham Rabinovich, an exceptional and gripping book. I actually started it as a side-book, but it quickly became the center of my reading attention. Reading it soon after the events of October 7th was especially…
Reading With My Kids – December Wrap Up
With the winter break coming up and more time with your kids, I thought a wrap up of my recent reading with my children might be helpful (and hopefully fun as well!). Most of what I’ve read these last few months has been with my son Koby in Grade 3, because Simi and I (Grade…
Courage to Be Moral
It seems we are living at a moment where much of our society’s moral compass has been turned upside down, or at the very least, has ceased to operate. The moral equivalency between Hamas and Israel; the lack of response in the university world to the Hamas atrocities, when a micro-aggression in such institutions will…
Avigayil Rock – פרשני המקרא
Amongst my most recommended books of this past year is פרשני המקרא, by Avigayil Rock z’l, (it has been translated into English under the title Great Biblical Commentators). It is an extraordinary, encyclopedic panorama of biblical commentary starting with Onkelos’s Arameic translation, through the middle ages, and into modern times. Each of the 25 chapters…
James McBride – The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
After reading The Heaven and Earth Grocery Story, by James McBride, a story about a small town and its Black and Jewish neighbors, I was intrigued to learn more about the author’s life. I’d passed his memoir, The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, many times on the bookshelf in…
Rally in Washington – A Reflection
There are times when one plus one plus one (etc.) adds up to much more than the total sum being counted. Today on the Washington Mall I stood with tens, and likely hundreds of thousands of people (mostly Jews), for Israel, for the hostages, and against anti-semitism. It was empowering to feel surrounded by a…
Trust – Hernan Diaz
When I was young, I remember my mother telling me about the trailblazing movie Rashomon (full disclosure – I tried to watch it and never got through it!). Filmed in 1950, it tells the same story from four points of view, demonstrating the power of subjectivity and perspective in how we understand and make sense…
C.S. Richardson – All the Colour in the World
There are many things that have changed since I turned 40. I like olives, cilantro, and spicy food (I still hate whiskey), and my interest in literature that has an unconventional writing style has expanded. All the Colour in the World, by C.S. Richardson, a book shortlisted for the Giller Prize, is a prime example. …
Fredrik Backman – Things My Son Needs to Know About the World
Motivation number one for reading Things My Son Needs to Know About the World was that I adore the author, Fredrik Backman (e.g. Beartown, Anxious People). Motivation number two was that it was an opportunity to do some reflection on parenting. Perhaps there was less of number two than I had hoped for, but there…