5 comments about Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel.

1. A very sad but true story and it shows that humankind has a long way to go before we can live up to the meaning of "Human".



2. Alex the Ukrainian's dialog is written with such obvious and desperate attempts at comedy, I couldn't take it any more.
   
   It wasn't even funny on page one.
   
   I'd rather not read an entire book constructed of amateurish caricatures pulled from the coddled mind of a precocious 20-something.
   
   Not my idea of a good time.



3. This is by far, my favorite book of all time. Foer has an amazing ability to cover all the ranges of human emotion, from comedy to intense pain and sadness. The characters are so beautifully developed and complex; unreal enough to make them magical, but real enough to make you wish they were alive. Granted, the book is a little slow in the beginning, it took me quite a few weeks to read the first 2/3rds of the book, but then one night to read the last 1.3rd. Foer sets up a story that spans over many generations, which all comes rushing together at the end with a terrifyingly beautiful force.
   
   To sum it up, this book is everything you could wish and fear life to be.



4. This is my second favorite book. The imagination and narration is simply fantastic. I have never experienced imagination as beautiful as the telling of TrachimBrod. Every chapter about this city is glowing with incredible anecdotes and interesting characters. In fact, Brod is by far the best character i have ever encountered.
   And Trachimbrod is just about a third of the whole story!
   This book is modern literature, which is what i like about it most. Beyond its plot and characters and historical look at the lasting effects of WWII, there are themes of writing itself, of communication, of stories told 3rd or 4th handedly (Foer the character writing about Trachimbrod through a book about Trachimbrod, then us reading his writing). I am willing to bet colleges will start using this book in certain curriculum, like modern American literature or something like that.
   Read this book, and read every detail of it and Foer's imagination will overwhelm you.



5. My review title says it all. This book is so utterly obnoxious, I don't know where to begin. For starters-----and, this will render my review pointless to many, which is fine-----I didn't finish it. I found the book to be so utterly horrid, I couldn't finish it. I read about half of it, putting it down, and picking up another book in its place.
   
   The book gets the first star, for I liked the horrid English from Alexander, which I enjoyed. However, for some reason, I wonder if the author has some sort of repressed sexual tension, as he seems unable to keep sexual things of a middle-school locker-room nature out of the dialog, which I found to be most obnoxious.
   
   The book gets the second star, for it inspired the movie, which I enjoyed. It's funny, because the movie has been criticized for 'straying' from the book too much, namely in the trippy backstory segments of the book (which I found to be most intolerable). I'm happy Liev Schreiber did so, otherwise I would've found his movie to be as intolerable as the book. I'll stop there, so this doesn't become a positive review for the movie.
   
   In closing, I once again openly admit to not finishing this book, and invite any and all flaming that may ensue in that regards. But, alas, how can I be expected to finish a book which annoys me to no end? At least I gave it a shot, eh? If this is the kind of writing and storytelling which receives accolades today, then I think I might stop trying out these "modern classics", and stick with the old greats (Dostoyevski being my favorite author, for the record).

5 comments about Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History.

1. When I went on my Birthright Israel trip, I was like many young Jewish people and just didn't know all that much about my religion and it's history. So this is one of the two books I took with me. Now some of you may think me crazy, because it's a big book to lug all over the place. But if was the very best thing for me to have with me. It's well written, enjoyable to read, and easy to find any topic. And each topic is arranged into short chapters (often only a page or two), so you can read it on the bus as you go places or even the night before you go. It greatly helped my understanding of the things I saw and did in Israel.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed Rabbi Telushkin's book: Jewish Literacy. I started the book off skipping around reading a few sections here and there on issues I was curious about. After a bit I just gave in and started from the beginning.
   Rabbi Telushkin's style of writing is very comfortable to read and even the hard subjects go down easy.
   Much of what I read in Jewish Literacy I knew already, but have broader understanding of now. What I didn't know before I'm glad I learned.



3. Perhaps the learned Christians should revisit the Judaic wisdom?
   This book invites you to do so.
   The author retraces and illustrace the multiple faces and facets of a great philosophical attitude toward life, social values and comparative societies.
   Heavy subjects. But the author presented the core with clarity and an enchanting style.
   Great book.



4. I was raised by an Israeli, with a very strong Jewish background. Most of the book, I remembered from all those years in Hebrew school. However, reading and understanding the information with an adult's comprehension is much different. I found myself reading the different stories from the Hebrew Bible saying "oh yeah!" as I remembered learning the story as a child, but grasping a totally different meaning as an adult!
   
   This book is an excellent source for people with an interest in Judiasm, either as a refresher or as a first-timer. Even my Catholic co-worker wants to borrow it to grasp a better understanding of Judaism (and, therefore, Christianity).



5. This book has helped me understand the Jewish Faith as I never have. As a Christian, I wanted to know more about the Jewish religion. Jesus was Jewish and He kept the Jewish Law and customs. This book is easy to understand and very insightful.

5 comments about The Shawl.

1. This short work telling of the death of a child in the Shoah, and the subsequent life- destroying effect on the mother of the child is a disturbing and moving one. The symbolic 'shawl' connects the two parts of the work. It had helped keep baby Magda alive in a concentration camp, , and fifty years later the Mother Rosa holds on to as if it contained within it the life of her dead baby. Ozick's writing is brilliant especially in her depiction of the aging survivors in Miami. A note of hope enters in the figure of an elderly suitor Persky who attempts to woo Rosa back to a life of her own. But as Ozick makes painfully clear the message of Rosa's life is that what has been most loved in the past is far more real than any present or future can be.



2. Cynthia Ozick's "The Shawl" tells the story of Jewish women, her fourteen year old niece (Stella), and infant daughter on a death march to a concentration camp. Rosa, the mother is afraid that if her infant daughter Magda is found by the Nazi officer's that she will be killed, therefore she keeps her hidden away in her shawl throughout the entire march, and much of the time that they are in the camp. Rosa's fourteen year old niece, Stella, is jealous of the comfort that Magda has with her shawl during this horrific experience. Stella decides to take Magda's shawl one day while in the camp to warm herself from the cold, thus causing her to be discovered and killed. The characters in a story may give you a sense of actually being present in the events taking place in the story.
   
   However, the section titled Rosa was a bit more confusing as one has to read in and out of her open verbal thoughts (speaking) and personal thoughts about those whom she encounters.



3. Their is no denying that Ozick is a brilliant writer. Her work breaths
   pure brilliance. Ozicks' prose are generous,rich and reaching somewhere between epic poem or prolific essay. She is everything that you expect from a Jewish writer. But in the Shawl you see Ozick at her most sensitive and raw. Though everything is beutifully expressed, Ozick brings a sense of emotional heartache that you just don't see in any of her other work. And unlike many of her male counterparts, Ozicks', "Rosa," manages to capture a whole life, and a few others, in a scant sixty of seventy pages. A must read to short story fans.



4. I have never read Cynthia Ozick's short story, The Shawl. Maybe because I was overloaded by the Holocaust Literature but I have to say that it is one of the most effective short story that I have ever read. It's the Most Dangerous Game and the Lady or the Tiger of our time. Cynthia Ozick's short story, The Shawl, is classic because of it's main character, Rosa Lublin, a Polish Jew, who is in a concentration camp with her niece, Stella, and her baby daughter, Magda who she conceals in the Shawl. It's a heartbreaking tale. I won't spoil the story for the readers here.
   In Rosa, she is a 59 year old survivor living in Miami, Florida. She axed her business literally. Her niece Stella lives in Queens, unmarried and childless. I won't reveal Magda's fate here neither because it would spoil the story. Rosa is a secular Polish Jew with parents who were not religious at all. In this part of the book, the novella digs deeper into the guilt of the survivor. Rosa is alone in Florida but she doesn't miss her niece in New York. She recalls that my Warsaw is not your Warsaw, she tells an elderly Jewish gentleman, a retiree and semi-widower from New York. It's true, Warsaw was nearly completely demolished 90 percent from World War II. I was interested in how Rosa looked at her life. She gets a letter from Dr. Tree, a researcher who wants to study survivors. Rosa is uninterested. She feels robbed from the Holocaust of the life she might have had. She recalls three stages of life, before the war, during the war, and after the war. She still clinges to the shawl. Rosa Lublin is quite a fascinating character and creation because she has a mind of her own. She is not interested in zionism and firmly states how she rescued Stella from going to Palestine which became Israel. Rosa is still struggling to live on as if it didn't matter that she survived at all. She feels the guilt of going on. She desires the life she once had. I have to say that this book is worth reading for schools and adults everywhere. It is truly a classic in Holocaust Literature!



5. "Stella, cold, cold, the coldness of hell..." begins Cynthia Ozick's haunting story which takes place on a death march towards a Nazi concentration camp.
   
   The second part of the novel is called "Rosa," which takes place in a hotel in Miami where Rosa, whose baby daughter Magda was murdered by the Nazis, lives. Here, she shows how the wounds of the past are too deep for healing though, of course, we wish it wasn't.

5 comments about Milkweed (Readers Circle).

1. This book deals with a boy who has to deal with the time and events of the Jewish past. The main character (Misha or Stopthief) has to learn what's really happening in the present time and how to survive it. The incidents of the past might confuse him on what was really happening and what's in the world. But luckily he doesn't have to do it on his own. Throughout his adventure he'll get help from his friends Uri and Janina. Maybe all together they can crack the code which is his past.
   
   Reading this book thousands of emotions might come through you and might change throughout the book. Just reading the first couple of pages will make you think and ask questions about the story. And also the first couple of pages will get you through a tough roller coaster which is a story of life and the past.
   
   Warning: lead character may piss you off!!;]



2. 
   This is a great book. The way Jerry Spinelli developes the character, Misha Piludski, and makes it so that you really get a feel of what it was like to be Jewish during the Holocaust. This book is one of the best books i have ever read. It leads you through the story of a boy that with a little help will make it a long way. And learn to make with what he has. To be smart. And to care for others. Overall this is a great book for people looking for a page turner. The plot and the characters are so great that anyone who like historical fiction will like this book. You have to read this book!



3. When I first started reading this book, I was impressed by the writing. The vivid descriptions. The emotions. The strong dialogue. The steady pace. Then when things were getting intense, the pace of the writing sped up like a runaway train hurling downhill. The author crammed a lot into the closing scenes and left me feeling exhausted and cheated. Many loose ends were never tied up. A very disappointing read indeed.



4. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys WWII and holocaust books.
   
   This story is about a boy. A boy who has no name, no family, no home. This boy is taken from place to place ripped from new friends and put into the hands of enemies. Put in jail cells one day, then living in the homes of strangers the next. It's always hard to find food, always a struggle to keep warm. He meets new people, and his told who he is countless times. He is called thief, Gypsy, Jew. He was called Misha. He is called one-eared Jack.
   
   This book is all about this boy finding who he is. Bad things may happen, but that doesn't change who you are. This boy finally found who he is. After years and years of hurt and pain, hunger and thirst, friends and enemies, he knows who he is. He is... Poppynoodle.



5. In this book, the Nazi invasion of Poland is seen through the eyes of a small homeless vagabond of a child, a child who is both too naive to understand properly what is going on around him, yet also more street-smart and much better at surviving the hard life than the adults around him.
   
   I found this book refreshingly unique, intelligently written, and compelling too - in fact, I found it so impossible to put down that I ended up staying up most of the night to finish it. However, it is a very realistically written book, and none of the harshness of war is sugar-coated, so I would not recommend letting young children read it. Also, kids might need to ask a few background questions about World War 2 so that they can understand fully what the story is about, and they're probably going to need the holocaust and the Nazi death camps explained to them as well...and I myself would definitely not enjoy having to explain that to young children, especially not when it comes to the "But WHY would the Nazis do something so horrible like that?" part. Still, let's just hope that if our future generations learn about this sort of stuff, they can stop anything like it from happening again.

4 comments about The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History.

1. You needn't read this book cover to cover. The book is a series of articles starting in the 1600's and progressing to recent times. Gives perspectives of people "dealing" with the Jews and perspectives of Jewish people. An article by the commandant of Auschwitz is followed by an article from a prisoner. Both will stay with me forever.



2. This book is a collection of articles and excerpts from many of the main sources of Jewish History from the 1700's until present. The articles are grouped by topic. The topics start with emancipation and end off with Zionism and the Holocaust. Each article has a nice mini-biography at the end telling who the author of the article was ( or is ), and includes explanatory notes for those who aren't familiar with that era of Jewish History. The editors were quite even handed and give all sides space in their book, the only group over represented is converted Jews. After all less than .25% of all Jews converted in the 1800's. My only complaint is that they neglected two subjects. One, the Tshuva movement of the 70's to present and also the Shas phenamana of the 80's and 90's.



3. The work contains essential documents of Jewish history from 1700 to 1948. The question of its political balance is however a real one, and I felt perhaps wrongly a ' tilt left'. It seems to me too there was too scanty coverage of Zionism.



4. This is an excellent supplementary reader for a Jewish studies course at the undergraduate upper division or graduate level. It contains a wealth of translated documents from the European Jewish experience in the modern period. It covers both the Western and Eastern European experience, and is an excellent source for studying the encounter of Judaism with modernity, particularly the haskalah and Hasidism.

5 comments about Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews.

1. This book caught my attention because I have a close friend from Aleppo, who always produces amazing food and is a wonderful host. I found the recipes fascinating not only for their visual and gustatory appeal, but for the stories and photos that accompany them throughout the book.



2. This book has awakened my love of the amazing cuisine and history of the Jews in Aleppo. The Syrian Jewish Community is rich in passion, tradition, and great food. This book opens my senses and raises my appreciation for all of it. Highly recommended view of these taste delights and the tradition and community from which they come.



3. Great book, some recipes are not very original, but over all it contributes to the legendary Aleppian cuisine that I wish to see more materials about it to share with the world of sophisticated cuisines.



4. What a lovely compilation of recipes, pictures and history! It brought back a lot of memories of food I enjoyed in my younger years but had forgotten existed. There is not a large Jewish community where I now live. It's certainly leading me back to food I love and now that I know how to prepare it, it will certainly be a part of my daily fare! It's also my new coffee table book.
   
   Belana



5. I am not from Aleppo, nor am I Jewish, so this book was a really great read for me and a learning opportunity! Very informative about the culture, I really enjoyed the history lessons provided for each recipe. The photos are stunning and the recipes simple and easy to follow. I also appreciate that the author provides substitutes for items that cannot be easily obtained in the US(such as Aleppo pepper).
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to make simple, healthful meals, as well as anyone who would like to know the history of Aleppian cooking and traditions.

5 comments about Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland.

1. 
   I was assigned this book to read for a graduate seminar I'm taking in Eastern European History. I was reluctant to take on the assigment; the Holocaust has never been a topic which interested me greatly and, furthermore, I've never been enthralled by modern European History.
   By the end of the book, I was left wishing I hadn't read it; not because it was bad but, on the contrary, because it was too good. It is not often that a book has left me reduced to tears, and of the few which have managed, none have been History books (the dispassionate tone of most historians goes against any real great emotional investment in the topic).
   There are many, I'm sure, who wish to claim that the events which detailed within these pages did not occur or, if they did occur, did so in a very different situation that that described. It would be, if not comforting, than atl east less disturbing to be able to pass all of the blame for the massacre onto the heads of the Nazi occupiers. And, although they certainly do bear some responsibility, one can not escape the horrifying conclusion that a small village in Poland, where Jews and Poles had lived peacefully together for centuries, went mad for a day.
   The reason there are so many one-star reviews for this amazing book seems fairly obvious. It simply asks far too many questions about our own humanity, and the true depth of our 'civilization'. It is easy to blame an atrocity on an organized political or military force, as doing so removes much of the humanity from the attackers; we can stare in horror at their deeds, but take comfort in the knowledge that some ideological force was at work.
   However, to see how quickly friends and neighbors can be transformed into the 'other' with only the smallest nudge from outside forces is both humbling and intensly frightening.
   This book, no matter how unpleasent it must be, should be a must read for men and women of all stripes. It will make you question your culture, your community and, most importantly, yourself.



2. This slim volume, and Professor Gross' fuller, follow-up book, "Fear," are a graphic portrayal of the specter that still haunts eastern Europe - not Marx, not Stalin, but its own heart of human darkness.
   
   Like another reviewer, I feel "Neighbors" is too short, and I disagree somewhat with Prof. Gross' historiography. But this little book delivers a devastating punch out of all proportion to its size. Professor Gross has done his country a great service in unflinchingly exposing the soulless criminality of both Jedwabne and, in "Fear," of Kielce; but of course he is a prophet without honor at home, at least for the current generation, which prefers to wrap itself in comforting myths of Poland as "the Christ of Nations" - not the crucifier of others.
   
   I vary with his historical analysis, however. Not that Poland is alone in this violent racism in eastern Europe. Every eastern European nation has given its own bloody form of expression to this sickness, against Jews and other convenient scapegoats. What makes it especially disturbing in Poland, however, is its coincidence with Poland's own myth of martyrdom, and the devastating reality of Nazi occupation and mass murder on Polish soil. How could Poles inflict such suffering, given their own great suffering, and turn a blind eye to it? The answer is in the blind eye that Poles have turned to much of their real history.
   
   While bemoaning its partition at the hands of Hitler and Stalin, its partisans have nicely ignored Poland's own partitioning of the Ukraine, Belorussia, and Lithuania in 1920 - also in league with the USSR. It was at this time that the myth of "Zydokomuna" was fully galvanized, leading to the same kinds of atrocities which erupted after 1945. The events of "Neighbors" were not special to the post-WW II period, but were endemic in the unsettled period after WW I, as the Goodhart mission to Poland fully documented.
   
   But of course the actors in Jedwabne and Kielce are not following a ghost-written script, but engaged in actions with deeply personal meaning for themselves. While Professor Gross rationally deconstructs the myth of Zydokomunism, he sees these atrocities as a function of guilt complexes. I do not get that feeling from these perpetrators (who are much like other perpetrators with whom I have direct exposure.) These people sincerely believed in that myth, and targeting Jews was a conscious act, so they felt, of getting back at the "Bolshevik regime" foisted on them from the East. Poland was still a society in flux, still in the grip of wartime psychoses and the throes of guerrilla resistance, with all the attendant terrorism. To stike out at Jews was to hit not only a soft target but the "Judeo-Bolshevik regime's" soft underbelly, and as such was consciously encouraged by all those hoping to defeat the new regime. That the Communist Party backpedalled from its official humanism, ultimately embracing this anti-Semitism, was actually a victory for these forces. In this sense, Communism was defeated in 1956, not 1989.
   
   But while I may differ with Professor Gross on Polish history, no one with a sense of humanity or justice can dispute the moral power of his works on postwar Poland. They are warnings on the dark side of humanity that stand above time and place, and must be heeded by all.



3. Poles did not need the Nazi's prodding to killed 1600 Jews". According to the evidence provided in the book, Poles needed no prodding, a permission at the best. The criminals exterminated Jews happily with the support of the MAJORITY of population. The few Jews who escaped the murder, were caught by the local peasants and brought back to Jedwabne to be murdered. The Polish woman hero, Pani Antonina Wyrzykowska, who saved a few Jews, was after the war beaten by the Polish antisemites and chased out of town, soon in the people of the second (larger) town, learned that she saved Jews during the war, and she was persecuted again. She moved to a larger town, a provincial capitol, however even there, after a few years the people learned that she saved Jews during the war and persecution started again. Only after she moved from her Polish motherland to Canada, was she able to find safety!
   
   Neither was Jedwabne an isolated case. The book documents the murder of the Jews by the Poles in the neighboring Radzilow, and Lomza. Of course there was nothing special about the Jedwabne area, the Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and other East-Europeans murdered Jews in multitudes of places. Unfortunately, there is a huge denial, of both antisemitism, and of the local complicity with genocide.
   
   It is important to understand that Gross is not some "Poland-hating-Jew". His mother was ethnic Pole, both his parents fought against Nazis in the heroic Warsaw uprising. Gross grew up as a proud Pole, loving his country, it's heritage and the language. It is cheap and dishonest to dismiss Gross' scholarship calling him anti-Polish. The truth is that Poland (other East European countries) has centuries long history of intense antisemitism, pogroms and murder of Jews, only by facing the truth, can there be a change. Antisemitism is an illness of Polish soul, and this illness will continue until it is exposed to the full light.
   
   Having spent my childhood in Poland I attest from personal experience that GREAT MAJORITY of Poland's population is from moderately to intensely antisemitic. Because of my Jewish descent, already as 6 years old child, I have been beaten by the older Polish kids, for the crime of "having murdered Jesus Christ". In my childhood in 1960s I have frequently heard Poles say that "Hitler was a monster, but he did one good thing: He cleaned Poland from Jews", and that "It's a shame that the war ended too soon not allowing Hitler to finish up the job of killing **ALL** the Jews."



4. A couple of years ago or so, Israel and Poland organized a joint exhumation at Jedwabne. Nearly 200 bodies were exhumed. Ashe was also weighed per average to small body size,i.e., slightly overestimating the count up to approx. 200 bodies. The bodies in this 2 foot deep grave were drenched with German bullets, Germans knives, German bayonets, German gas cans and German pistols and German rifles were also exhumed. This was and always will be a German-Nazi crime. Were some Poles forced to help - perhaps, but Jews were also forced to help, and did! Very few know that most Kapos were Jews. Kapos were Nazi helpers - Kapos helped kill Jews and Poles.
   
   The Poles know first hand what the Palestinians are going through RIGHT NOW! The Nazi's did to the Poles, what(some) Israelis are doing to the Palestinians. Are there any reighteous in Israel to help save the Palestinians from the present day Holocaust? The Germans did Jedwabne, adding these 200 deaths to their total murdering spree of: 6 Million Jewish, 3 million Polish-Catholics and 2 million Gypsies and Homosexuals and 'undesirables' in the eye of the German. The Germans murdered some 11 million innocent people, mostly Jewish and Polish. When the Germans were being pushed back, Stalin continued the horror on a doomed Poland by murdering another 2 million Poles in his terror Gulags. Thus, another 50 years of hell for the Polish nation. Poles were betrayed by 'all' around them, even Polish Jews were Finking on the Poles, thus getting many Poles murdered by Jews betraying Poles to Stalin's Communists. Yes this betrayal was devastating to the Poles and Poland,i.e., Poland had taken the Jews in, as they fled from all other countries that were persecuting the Jews. Poles and jews lived together for almost a millenium(no other country has done that and ever will, now that Israel is an established nation). Truth gets us to a better place quicker. You get more to like you with truth and none/zero with vinegar(this book of drudgery). gross is singlehandedly upsetting many decent people who suffered horribly. What does this achieve: just more hate and more delay in getting to a true place.
   
   This book is 98% Novel and 2% not. For an objective read on this topic, please red Jedwabne: Before, During and After, by Marek Chodakiewicz. Chodakiewicz writes calmly, truthfully, objectively with no ridiculous sensationalisms - just pure proven and documented FACT!



5. This book is very informative and depressingly good. I read it twice, doing lots of underlying of important parts during the 2nd reading time.
   I sent the book to a friend. Everyone should read this book. A must read
   
   Ben Butler

2 comments about The Holocaust: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation (Problems in European Civilization.).

1. Donald L. Niewyk's, THE HOLOCAUST: THIRD EDITION, is a wonderful up-to-date anthology on the current historical debates surrounding the interpretation and meaning of the Holocaust for the PROBLEMS IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION SERIES.

   Books from the PROBLEMS IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION SERIES are mainly designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level European history courses.

   Controversies are presented in a topical format and prominent Holocaust historians present their evidence. Thus enabling the reader to gain a well-balanced interpretation of the Holocaust.

   Topics and chapters covered: Origins of the Holocaust, Motivations of the Killers, The Holocaust Experience, The Problem of Jewish Resistance, Bystanders Reactions and Possibilities of Rescue.

   An excellent representation of Holocaust history.




2. This book is a collection of works concerning six different aspects of the Holocaust. Each chapter consists of a theme. These themes in turn are discussed and debated by a number of different authors/ historians who each share a perspective of an event or belief about the Holocaust.

   I really enjoyed reading this text for a number of reasons. First, I enjoyed the multiple perspective approach to each theme because it gave me a more well rounded view of the ins and outs of each topic. Normally when you read a historical book you only get the authors opinion, but by having a number of different authors write on the same subject and sharing their differing opinions I found it beneficial in forming my own.

   Secondly, I learned a lot from this book because of the range of topics that the author chose to include; from the origins to the possibility of rescue. Although it was sad to read some of the facts and accounts of the Holocaust told here I really gained a lot of insight into the more challenging aspects of the Holocaust such as: Jewish resistance and bystanders reactions.

5 comments about A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood.

1. Although one can quibble over specific statements and interpretations (e.g. he writes that Yiddish is a dialect of modern German, when actually it derives from Middle German and is as much a dialect as English is, which also evolved from Middle German) or his inclusion or exclusion of certain figures, facts, etc.-- overall Scheindlin has created a superb work. It is concise, well written, and nicely complemented with clear historical timelines, maps, and small topical essays.
   
   The book is well organized with sensitivity to the difficulty of understanding the tremendous amount of material being covered. The chapters break down as follows:
   1) Israelite Origins and Kingdom [Biblical] (c1220 BCE - 587 BCE)
   2) Judea and the Origins of the Diaspora [2nd Temple Period] (587 BCE - 70 CE)
   3) Roman Palestine and Sassanid Babylonia [Classical Rabbinic Period] (70 CE - 632 CE)
   4) Jews in the Islamic World: From the Rise of Islam to the End of the Middle Ages (632 CE - 1500 CE)
   5) Jews of Medieval Christian Europe (9th century to 1500)
   6) Jews in the Ottoman Empire and Middle East (1453 - 1948)
   7) Jews of Western Europe (1500 - 1900)
   8) Jews of Eastern Europe and the United States (1770 - 1940)
   9) The Holocaust (appx. 1925 - 1946)
   10) Zionism and the Origins of the State of Israel (appx. 1862 - 1948)
   11) The Jewish People after 1948
   
   This is an excellent historical primer and contains a good bibliography for further study.



2. In taking a "Survey of Jewish History" course this fall, which is a broad subject, a broad and sweeping primary textbook was needed. In the short space of 263 pages, Scheindlin covers equitably the history of world Jewry, balancing coverage of religious and sociopolitical elements.
   Although accurately described as a secular book, Scheindlin is a practicing Jew and the book is certainly not irreligious. In most cases (esp. premodern situations,) Scheindlin approaches an event or a conflict as a neutral observer, a historian documenting causes and effects. Importantly, he explains the way Jewish societies around the world conceived of and reacted to their circumstances, without actually adopting their views in his writing. This allows both Jew and non-Jew to feel comfortable with the book.
   Anyone who faults the book for its lack of detail misunderstands the point of the text and the feasability of what they are asking for. What Scheindlin does with stunning success is give an interesting, accurate depiction, albeit with broad brushstrokes, of the forces that have shaped Jewry throughout the ages.
   (I especially recommend the chapter on the Holocaust as riveting and awe-inspiring. Scheindlin, in his understated tone, evokes the horror of "Shoah" (destruction) in a way that impresses even veteran readers with its vividness.)



3. I teach a survey of Jewish history course at the freshman/sophomore level, and this is a great text for a course of this sort. It is easily understandable, concise and has all the important information. The index is helpful. I would also recommend it for the non-student looking for a quick introduction to the basics of Jewish history. Scheindlin is particularly good with material from Jews in the Middle East. For my course I supplement it with primary texts.



4. Scheindlin has managed to write nearly the perfect book for a lower division course on Jewish history. He successfully spans the entire scope of Jewish history from legendary times to the modern State of Israel in a mere 263 pages of very readable prose. His writing is neither dry nor laden with jargon. He writes like Leon Uris or Herman Wouk.
   
   Two issues of debate in the book should be supplemented with additional readings. The first is that the portrayal of the Jewish-Christian schism is only presented in the context of medieval Antisemitism, and a more balanced and informative view of the formative period of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity is found in From Text To Tradition by Lawrence Schiffman. The second is the lachrymos portrayal of Jewish life in the Middle Ages. That should be balanced with Salo Baron's groundbreaking article "Ghetto and Emancipation," reprinted in The Menorah Treasury, ed. Leo W. Schwarz (Philadelphia, 1964).
   
   With those two caveats, I would recommend this book for any introductory Jewish history or Jewish studies survey class.



5. This book is packed with information that is offered in a very readable manner. The author did an exceptionally fine job. I did not expect to learn so much or be so fascinated.

5 comments about The Red Tent.

1. About two thirds of the way through the book, I would have given it a mere two stars. I felt that the narrative was unfolding slowly, and too much time was spent providing minute details about the everyday lives of these characters. I also found descriptions to be repetitive. Overall, it really was pretty yawn-inducing, up until the point when Dinah starts menstruating. I like to read books in one sitting, or depending on the length, in several concentrated blocks. With this one, however, it took me a full two weeks to finish the first two parts of the book. Not a good sign. But I hate abandoning books, so I pressed on.
   
   So why the 4 stars in the end? Because I found myself moved despite the slow start. It made me feel connected to all the women who have come before me, who faced unimaginable struggles and intense pain and suffering to bring life into the world. On the last pages of the book, there is a line that says, "We are all born of the same mother.". I wasn't particularly interested in this sort of sentiment when I started the book, but by the end of it, I understood it completely.



2. I enjoyed reading this book immensely. I approached it as I did "A Wrinkle In Time" in that though it was historically based, the conversations and personality traits of the characters were not necessarily factual..however this in no way took away my interest in what was being said nor did it remove me from feeling I was a part of the experiences Dinah had. This book is a gift and I think Ms. Diamant for it.



3. This book had me hooked and I could hardly put it down. It's fair enough to say that getting started can be a challenge with all the unfamiliar biblical names. Get past the introduction of characters and you're full steam ahead. Anita Diamant takes a biblical story, then tells it from the viewpoint of the women. Their secrets, their stories, how they lived, what they did for each other just to survive and the bond they all formed. I related very well to all the characters which jumped out from the page and greeted me. A well written book I almost wish she would write more about other biblica women.



4. In writing The Red Tent, Diamant seems to have actually lived the history of which she writes. Very well considered, historically accurate, thoughtful, interesting, and a great story (of course). Really gives food for thought.



5. Just fascinating! Anita Diamant's "The Red Tent," is a chick book (although my husband also likes it), but extremely well written and researched. Diamant's fluid and lovely writing style, historical perspective, thoughtful observations, action, and the interaction between characters is gripping. I resisted reading it because of all the hype, given that such popular books are typically not good literature. This is not true of this book. The topic of menstuation does permeate the story a bit much for my taste: but that subject binds the themes of fertility, love, birth, and family, around which the story revolves. The historical research that is interwoven in this book is just fascinating, particularly the segregated lifestyle of the early Jews and the worshipping of Canaanite gods and the Hebrew god in the same family (and by the same family members). It's like Joseph's Campbell's insights about the evolution of our concepts about God have been brought to life in this very good novel. From the reviews and the publicity, I feared it would be too feminism oriented and too religiously preachy, but it is neither. I also highly recommend "The Last Days of Dogtown" by the same author.