Afterlife: The Jewish View: Where are we headed?

 

Afterlife: The Jewish View: Where are we headed? by Jonathan Morgenstern is a certain take on the Jewish system of the afterlife, if we say there is a system at all.  Unlike Christianity, where the idea of an afterlife (can be) extraordinarily important, in Judaism, it is important but carries less weight.  Most Jews, particularly secular or progressive, have little idea of speculations of Jewish life beyond death.

I don’t agree with Morgenstern’s theology or worldview, but if you want a pretty short book to give you a picture of the Jewish afterlife, this is not too bad.  Just don't think it is the only one in town.

Jewish Mysticism: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Kabbalah, Merkabah Mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidism

 

Jewish Mysticism: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Kabbalah, Merkabah Mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidism (Jewish Spirituality) by Mari Silva is actually one of the better introductions to Kabbalah I have read.  Given the author’s (seemingly other) New Age type works, this book is surprisingly scholarly in a popular and comprehensible way.  Except for the somewhat long digression about fundamentalist religions (I suppose this was written post-911) this is an excellent book to ground your Jewish mysticism. 

No Greater Remembrance

 

Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the more powerful books I have read recently.  This is everything a piece of art should be: a moving invocation to life and loss, an examination of the injustice in this world, especially for women at the hands of predatory men, all written in powerful and gorgeous prose.  

This book is deeply sad but also hopeful.  Rivera Garza has written a work that is a memorial to her long dead sister that shines brighter than any plaque or statue.  By the end we, the reader, know Liliana, murdered at twenty, as if she was still her young and vibrant self; her sister brings her to life so we can love her too.

How to Read the Bible

 

How to Read the Bible by Marc Zvi Brettler is a tour de force of the historical-critical method as applied to the Hebrew Bible.  He uses the biblical texts, external sources, archeology in his exploration of this well-known, but little understood book.  This is simply an excellent introduction to this particular view of the bible text, for both beginners and more advanced readers interested in this topic.

The Lovely Bones & 70's Loss

 

I can see why The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was the gigantic hit that it was: it captures the essence of the seventies when fears of missing/murdered children began to enter the zeitgeist.  The ghost theme was worn out by the time this book was published, but Sebold largely pulls it off- and it is necessary for the story.  The ghost entering the friend part and the sex scene was excessive; this is particularly the case in a novel about sexual violence.  But I did enjoy that-no-real solution to Susie’s murder  – people learn to live with her passing as a memory and a presence.

Sudan: The Failure and Division of an African State

 

Sudan: The Failure and Division of an African State by Richard Cockett details the modern history of Sudan, and its rapid descent into a malfunctioning state.  It is hard to summarize quickly why Sudan is failing; many factors have come together to create this situation.

The classic colonization borders are at work: the country has an elite “Arab” population that sees itself as the natural rulering class of Sudan’s other Muslim and “African” groups in the west Darfur and along the coast.  There is no sense of being Sudanese in the nationalist sense of the word.   

Cockett does an excellent job showing the people and players in this complex geo-political mess.  The book was finished in 2010, and unfortunately, a civil war much like the one in the early 2000s is in progress.  This is from today’s (1-8-24) news:

“The east African nation of Sudan is in the midst of a devastating civil war that has killed over 12,000 people and displaced more than 7.3 million within the country since fighting began in April, according to data from the United Nations.”

This is happening now, and the world seems to only care about the Hamas/Israel war and Ukraine.  

ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary

 

ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary by David Kasher is an excellent dive into the traditionally “accepted” commentaries on the Torah, which was once part and parcel of nearly all Divrei Torah.  Kasher is creative in his use of Rashi, Nachmanides, and ibn Ezra, among others.  This is a refreshing read free of diversions into Kabbalah and esoterica; just clean Torah commentary and how it relates to our contemporary lives.