Books

Aaron Lansky built a home for 1.5 million Yiddish books, now he’s handing over the keys

“The idea that you have miles of Jewish stories that have yet to be told, that’s just irresistible to someone like me," he said.

 Aaron Lansky speaks at a Yiddish Book Center gala, May 4, 2025.
 INTERIOR OF Amsterdam’s Sephardi synagogue, the Esnoga, by Romeyn de Hooghe, 1695.

Hacham Zvi Ashkenazi: Anomaly of a religious scholar

 Illustrative image of grilled cheese.

Jerusalem highlights: June 6-12

 Three people are seen with an Israeli flag at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City (illustrative).

Remembering Jerusalem on its special day - excerpt


And now we cry: An Israeli book club's emotional struggles during war - opinion

We diligently read our books and discuss them, but the air in our lungs is different now. How can we dissect books without thinking of the crises ravaging Israel?

 An illustrative image of a person holding balloons as the Sun sets.

Why Jerusalem Int'l Book Forum Prize winner Michel Houellebecq is drawn to Israel

Acclaimed French writer Michel Houellebecq accepts Jerusalem Prize at Mishkenot Sha’ananim days after visiting Kibbutz Be’eri.

 MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ at Kibbutz Be’eri last week.

'Extreme Trauma': Analyzing the horrors and heroism of October 7 - review

In the hands of the right readers, Extreme Trauma can help ensure that the truth of what happened on Oct. 7 is neither distorted nor forgotten.

 FORMER HOSTAGE Noa Argamani attends an emergency conference on the medical condition of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, in 2024.

'On Democracies and Death Cults': Douglas Murray lauds Israel’s youth - review

On Democracies and Death Cults sets out Douglas Murray’s clear-eyed, reasoned, and deeply researched view of the pogrom committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023

 CALLING FOR the release of Israelis still in Hamas captivity, at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in April 2025.

The final frontier: Amotz Asa-El on settling the Negev as a project to unify Israel

It’s a revival of David Ben-Gurion’s dream of “conquering the desert,” though updated within the parameters of the latest technological, environmental, and sociological developments.

 Amotz Asa-El.

'Sons and Daughters': The last great Yiddish novel now available in English - review

An English translation by Rose Waldman of Chaim Grade’s final, unfinished work has been published.

 JEWISH WEDDING in a Russian shtetl, complete with klezmer band; painting by Isaak Asknaziy, 1893.

'The Right to Happiness': Moving fiction about Holocaust survivors - review

While they are firmly grounded in the hearts and souls of the survivors and their families, these tales tell a universal story of love and loss that will appeal to any reader.

 A MEMORIAL to Janusz Korczak and the orphans he stayed with until their very last moments, created by Boris Saktsier, at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem.

'Rabbinic Scholarship': How the Talmud Yerushalmi was made - review

This book is a deeply scholarly and ambitious work that sheds new light on the Talmud Yerushalmi and its place within the intellectual world of late antiquity.

 An illustrative image of someone reading the Talmud.

'The Defeat of Evil': A warning for constant vigilance against a resurgent evil within - review

The Defeat of Evil ends with this somber warning: “Even in victory, we must remember: No triumph is ever complete or permanent. Safeguarding our values demands constant vigilance.”

 Israelis are seen protesting judicial reform, in Tel Aviv.

'The Human Scale': Israel-based FBI mystery is a page-turner - review

The Human Scale is a superb contemporary political thriller that goes well beyond simply keeping the reader enthralled with a succession of unexpected developments, page after page.

An FBI vehicle

'The Art of the Music Critic': Music through a former ‘Jerusalem Post’ critic's eyes - review

The Art of the Music Critic is an incisive and illuminating compendium of an expansive stretch of our musical timeline, presented in an invitingly user-friendly form.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart