Category Archives: Books

Pop culture saturates the lives of most people living in contemporary society. Unless you are a hermit (and was brought up in isolation) you will be familiar with at least the major figures of the art and entertainment scene of … Continue reading →

Gila Almagor, the author of Under the Domim Tree, placed bits of her personal life into several characters in her first book, but most of them for the narrator, who tells the story in first person. Here are some of the basic … Continue reading →

“Shabbos treats that grew” is a lovely little story about the unexpected outcomes of doing good deeds. Once you step on the road of paying attention to others and trying to help them the slippery slope of philanthropy may lead … Continue reading →

Sometimes I wonder why is that if something is that if I find out that fashionable my first reaction is turning away. Intellectually I know that popular items and ideas can also have plenty of value, but emotionally I am turned off … Continue reading →

Ben Aronin‘s “The Secret of the Sabbath Fish” shares a folk tale about the how the first gefilte fish was ever made. According to this legend  poor woman prepared it after prophet Elijah, in the guise of a fisherman, gave … Continue reading →

The concept of Zoltán Poós‘ latest book is simple and effective: take a hit song from each of the last 50 years in Hungary and write a few pages about its context, history, meaning, composer, performers, analyze the song itself … Continue reading →

Between the age of 12  and 18 (or so)  I read  “Ludas Matyi,” the only Hungarian “satirical” weekly at the time, almost every Sunday. I had to put satirical in quotation marks as scope of satire in the area of … Continue reading →

I received several great books from my father for my birthday this summer. He knew about my interest in religion online, so besides sending me books on the topic from my wish-list he pushed my envelopes and gave a few … Continue reading →

If authenticity would be a race Eboo Patel would probably win in his category. This was the main reason I loved his “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, in the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation.” … Continue reading →