A rare combination of cookbook and theological commentary, both visually stunning and profound.
Harper explores the Torah through imaginative challah creations.
“Challah is no ordinary bread,” writes the author, a rabbi, “it is rich with religious and spiritual resonance, as well as powerful sensory memories that are often connected to community and culture.” As described in the book’s introduction, which surveys the long history of the eggy, yeasty, braided bread throughout Jewish history, challah has long been a staple of Jewish cultures throughout the diaspora. By the 18th century, Ukrainian Jews were baking “increasingly elaborate challah shapes for different holidays” (birds and ladders for the pre-Yom Kippur fast, hands for Hoshana Rabbah, and keys for the Shabbat after Pesach), while Moroccan Jews were embedding whole eggs in a “thin ‘cage’ of dough” to represent Haman’s evil eye during Purim. After exploring this rich legacy, the bulk of the book takes readers through the Torah, with individual chapters devoted to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, respectively. The major stories from these biblical books are given brief synopses, along with learned commentary from Harper that balances astute scholarship (backed by hundreds of citations) and exegesis with applications to daily life. An assistant rabbi at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with an advanced degree in Hebrew literature, the author is a talented scholar and teacher, both strengths on full display as she distills complex, theologically dense material into an easy-to-read format. While this narrative on its own makes for a thoughtful book, the triumph of this volume lies in its highlighting of the gorgeous, creative interpretative bread that accompanies each story. While on the surface, Harper admits, “Challah dough may have some limits as an artistic medium,” the variety, symbolism, and beauty of the loaves are the undeniable stars of the book, displayed in full-page, high-quality glossy photographs. The book’s final section includes tips on baking and shaping challah, enabling readers to learn more about the Torah while participating in “Floury Fun.”
A rare combination of cookbook and theological commentary, both visually stunning and profound.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2023
ISBN: 9780881233797
Page Count: 321
Publisher: Central Conference of American Rabbis Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.
Two bestselling authors engage in an enlightening back-and-forth about Jewishness and antisemitism.
Acho, author of Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, and Tishby, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, discuss many of the searing issues for Jews today, delving into whether Jewishness is a religion, culture, ethnicity, or community—or all of the above. As Tishby points out, unlike in Christianity, one can be comfortably atheist and still be considered a Jew. She defines Judaism as a “big tent” religion with four main elements: religion, peoplehood, nationhood, and the idea of tikkun olam (“repairing the world through our actions”). She addresses candidly the hurtful stereotypes about Jews (that they are rich and powerful) that Acho grew up with in Dallas and how Jews internalize these antisemitic judgments. Moreover, Tishby notes, “it is literally impossible to be Jewish and not have any connection with Israel, and I’m not talking about borders or a dot on the map. Judaism…is an indigenous religion.” Acho wonders if one can legitimately criticize “Jewish people and their ideologies” without being antisemitic, and Tishby offers ways to check whether one’s criticism of Jews or Zionism is antisemitic or factually straightforward. The authors also touch on the deteriorating relationship between Black and Jewish Americans, despite their historically close alliance during the civil rights era. “As long as Jewish people get to benefit from appearing white while Black people have to suffer for being Black, there will always be resentment,” notes Acho. “Because the same thing that grants you all access—your skin color—is what grants us pain and punishment in perpetuity.” Finally, the authors underscore the importance of being mutual allies, and they conclude with helpful indexes on vernacular terms and customs.
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781668057858
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon Element
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.
The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.
Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88146-5
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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