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Recommended Reading - If you're interested in purchasing one of these books, click on the link or picture to go to Amazon.com. Temple Akiba will receive 15% of all sales that originate from links from this page.
Louisa by Simone Zelitch
"Louisa", the second novel of Simone
Zelitch, is the story of two women who are bound to each other by their
unusual circumstances.
Louisa is the young German, non-Jewish daughter-in-law of a 50 year old Hungarian Jewish woman named Nora. After Nora's son (Louisa's husband) dies, the lives of Louisa and Nora are intertwined. Their relationship is based on need, fear, and a sense of obligation.
The story tells of their flight to and struggle in Israel in 1949, a year after Israel's creation and immediately following the Holocaust. Nora went in fear of her life, and Louisa went, clinging to Nora, whom she claimed to love. Louise, being German, was taunted and cursed, despite the fact that she planned to convert to Judaism. Nora insisted on staying with Louisa, despite her doubts about Louisa's motivations and intentions, because Louisa had saved her life by hiding her in the cellar of her family's home.
The novel takes us back and forth through the years of Nora's memory, giving us an account of life on a Kibbutz and some insight into the shaping of the nation of Israel. It also touches (but only briefly) on the horror, disorientation and displacement experienced by the Jewish people who lost most of their families and possessions during the brutal German occupation of Hungary.
"Louisa" is a well-written, enjoyable novel. I highly recommend it.
Reviewed by Bonnie Thomas Milberger
.
With Roots in Heaven
By Rabbi Tizrah Firestone. Born into a family of respected Orthodox rabbis,
Tirzah Firestone was raised in a strict environment which rigidly forbade any
deviance from its norms. At age 17, however, she rejected "anything
Jewish" and set off on a journey of self-fulfillment. She traveled the
world, studied Christian mysticism, knelt at the feet of Hindu teachers, and
dabbled in New Age philosophies, constantly in search of spiritual and universal
truths. After more than a decade, Firestone married a Christian minister and was
disowned by her Orthodox family. Yet she found herself being drawn back to
Judaism and in 1992 was ordained as a rabbi. With Roots in Heaven is a book of
wisdom, filled with profound teachings from spiritual leaders, advice on
intermarriage issues, and other practical nuggets of learning. More than a
memoir of events in her life, Tirzah Firestone has written a work as important
as it is controversial, providing honest, courageous insights into the core of
religious belief systems, as well as keys for anyone who desires to inject more
meaning into his or her life. Recommended by Linda Zweig.
The Gifts of the Jews
by David Ariel. How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way
Everyone Thinks and Feels. Recommended by Rabbi Maller.
What Do Jews Believe?
by Thomas Cahill. The Spiritual Foundations of Judaism.
Recommended by Rabbi Maller.