Six books to read this spring
A rabbi, a meditation expert and a Holocaust survivor are among our chosen writers
Louisa Walters is Features Editor at the Jewish News and specialises in food and travel writing
As a single, 30-year-old specialist London dentist, Harris Sidelsky’s life should have turned out to be rather straightforward. But join him on his soul-searching journey as he adds his soulmate en route and travels the world in Rabbi, What Should I Do? Share his ethical dilemmas as he tries to navigate the modern world through the lens of timeless Jewish principles. Each chapter of his book brings a new adventure and an opportunity for the reader to consider what he or she would have done. The Rabbi then clarifies the matter and provides the opportunity to acknowledge, alas, the difference between the ideal response (had the rabbi been there) and what Harris actually did when left to his own devices. A natural storyteller, Dr Sidelsky evokes both sympathy and admiration as he amuses, educates and inspires you to keep guessing til the end. Available at Jewish bookshops or on Amazon, £10.50.
Joseph Nissan’s bar mitzvah kicks off a turbulent school year in 1979, the year when Americans were taken hostage in revolutionary Iran. Joseph’s Iranian parents immigrated to America and the mystery of why is a problem for the boy to solve in their small Texas town. What it means to be an Iranian Jew born in America, and that people are not always what they seem are the lessons learned by the 13-year-old in the action-packed, humorous, and a little sad Just a Hat which is an essential read for second-generation children who find themselves cast as translators for their elders. Published by Blackstone Publishing, £14.99
Hertfordshire-based Reiki teacher, life coach and meditation master Nicci Roscoe helps people enhance their wellbeing and her new book Micro Meditations promises to help you discover how to calm yourself, lift your mood and improve your mindset in two minutes or less. Each micro meditation is quick and simple to follow, with step-by-step instructions on techniques that can easily be incorporated into your daily routine, such as taking a two-minute power walk to manage frustration or counting in time with your breath when panic starts to take over. The book is packed with ideas to make it easy to find the micro meditations that work for you, so you can release stress and anxiety, improve your relationships, and allow the best version of yourself to flourish. Published by CICO books, £14.99
Holocaust survivor Renee Salt and her mother Sala never left each other’s sides, and from September 1939 to April 1945, from ghetto to camp to liberation, they managed to remain together. Renee says that she is only alive today because of her mother, who hid her, lied to the SS, went right when she was directed left. Journalist and author Kate Thompson has helped Renee to tell her story in A Mother’s Promise, which is a love letter to her mother. Born Rywka Ruchla Berkowicz in Poland in 1929, Renee was just 10 years old when World War II broke out. After surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau, she was liberated from Bergen-Belsen in 1945. She moved to Paris where she met her husband Charles, a member of the British Army, and part of the liberating forces at Bergen-Belsen. They married in 1949 and lived in North London, having two children and five grandchildren. Published by Seven Dials, £9.99
Tamar Hodes’ Mixed tells the story of sisters Ruth and Miriam Green, who spent their childhood in turns loving, hating, treasuring and resenting each other. As they grew up, their lives took them on very different paths, creating a rift which. While Ruth has followed her traditional Jewish upbringing, Miriam has married out but wants to instil her heritage in her children; they, however, just want to fit in. As resentment, tension and divisions build within the family, can the sisters overlook their differences or will their family be torn apart? Published by Legend Press Ltd, £9.99
After the Second World War, Gershom Scholem, the magisterial scholar of Jewish mysticism, was commissioned by the Hebrew University to sift through the rubble of Europe in search of Jewish books stolen by the Nazis or hidden by the Jews. Steve Stern’s A Fool’s Kabbalah, a novel featuring numerous real-life historic figures, reimagines Gershom Scholem’s quest and how it sparked in him the desire to realise the legacy of his friend, the philosopher Walter Benjamin – the idea that humour is an essential tool of redemption. In a parallel narrative, Menke Klepfisch, self-styled jester and incorrigible scamp, attempts to subvert the cruelties of the Nazi occupation of his native village. As Menke’s efforts collide with the monstrous reality of the Holocaust, we see that Dr Scholem, in defiance of his austere reputation, has begun to develop the anarchic characteristics of a clown. The book intertwines the stories of these two characters and their tragicomic struggles to oppose the evil of history. Published by Melville House Publishing, £15.75
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