The Jewish Preview of Books—August 2018
So many books, so little time. A quick look at Jewish books being published this month.
Heaven from Torah: An Interview with Shai Held
A conversation on reading the Torah theologically, the future of American Judaism, and Jewish–Christian relations.
Charles Krauthammer’s Gift to Jewish Music
Best known for his weekly political column, Charles Krauthammer was also champion of Jewish music.
Out of the Ghetto
Are they for the Jewish state or against? A new book from Israel distills recent scholarship on the haredim.
“In Order that They Didn’t Die Alone”: Remembering Claude Lanzmann
The iconic director of the most critically acclaimed movie about the Holocaust, Shoah, died last week.
Torah and the Thermodynamics of Life: An Interview with Jeremy England
Hailed by some as the next Darwin, immortalized as a character in a Dan Brown novel, Jeremy England discusses religion and science, his background, and his intellectual influences.
Vive la Differénce! A Rejoinder to Joshua Holo
The final installment in an exchange between Elli Fischer and Joshua Holo about Michael Chabon's controversial commencement address at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Boundaries, Conversations, and the Reform Movement: A Response to Elli Fischer
Hebrew Union College dean Joshua Holo weighs in on Michael Chabon’s controversial commencement address.
33 Days and Four Years
Leon Werth chronicled both the chaotic flight of French civilians from the advancing Germans and the long years of a French Jew living in "free" France.
A Book and a Sword in the Vilna Ghetto
If the destruction of Jewish culture and Jewish life were intertwined, then the reverse was also true: The rescue of books, manuscripts, Torahs, and so on was almost as much a form of resistance as the preservation of life itself.