By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Many academic books about the Bible focus on the history and evolution of the work. What is often ignored is the changing relationship between Jews and the biblical texts. That’s one reason why Frederick E. Greenspahn, the Gimelstone eminent scholar of Judaic stu…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
How the world has changed: I can’t imagine either “Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl” by Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelman (Inkyard Press) or “Going Bicoastal” by Dahlia Adler (Wednesday Books) appearing on library bookshelves when I was in high school. In f…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
What role have the psalms played in Jewish life? The answer to that question depends on the time period under discussion. In “A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity” (University of Pennsylvania Press), A. J. Berkovitz, assistant professor of ancient Judaism …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
For adults
Some fantasy novels create a place and mood, one that can feel similar to our world, but which contains a magical, fantasy aspect. That’s the case with “The First Bright Thing” by J. R. Dawson (Tor Publishing Group). On the one hand, there are sim…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
There has been an explosion of midrash – stories that explain or amplify the tales found in the Bible – particularly ones that focus on the voices of biblical women. As Rabbi Marla J. Feldman notes in “Biblical Women Speak: Hearing Their Voices Through New an…
