Books

Are we really so special? Two new works take on the great Jewish identity debate

Two authors, a sociologist and an academic, have written books about the modern Jewish experience. One is partisan, the other is rigorously methodical...

By Alun David

5 min read

Are we really so special? Two new works take on the great Jewish identity debate

Fable-like tragicomedy: Manya Wilkinson and her book

Books

Manya Wilkinson: ‘I wanted to write an edgy novel about the shtetl’

By Jennifer Lipman

6 min read

May memories be blessings: Gayle Forman and her latest book

YA books

‘Judaism gets how to keep people alive after they die’

By Angela Kiverstein

4 min read

Books

The Chasidic stories that anticipate the parables of Franz Kafka

By David Herman

1 min read

Driven: Jewish judge Fritz Bauer (centre) in Frankfurt in 1964 and the biography about him

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The Prosecutor review: ‘the Jew who put his country on trial’

By Jenni Frazer

2 min read

Normal people: Keith Kahn-Harris and his book

Books

Why aren’t Jews allowed to just be ordinary?

By Keith Kahn-Harris

3 min read

Books

33 Place Brugmann review: ‘secrets, betrayal and courage in occupied Brussels’

By David Herman

1 min read

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A Fool’s Kabbalah review: ‘Is comedy a valid response the Shoah?’

Readers must decide for themselves if this challenging novel is a valid response to the nihilism inherent in the Holocaust

By Alun David

2 min read

February 20, 2025 12:36

A Fool’s Kabbalah review: ‘Is comedy a valid response the Shoah?’

‘For Peter Beinart, focusing on the right of Jews to be secure from terrorists is immoral’

Stephen Pollard reviews Peter Beinart’s new book Being Jewish after the destruction of Gaza

By Stephen Pollard

3 min read

February 20, 2025 12:14

‘For Peter Beinart, focusing on the right of Jews to be secure from terrorists is immoral’

Do the affluent and over-educated have problems?

This novel satirises the non-problems of privileged Americans with great humour and skill

By Jennifer Lipman

2 min read

February 16, 2025 12:12

Do the affluent and over-educated have problems?

The German Jew who fought his way through Europe to find his parents at Theresienstadt

This most dramatic of war stories has the makings of a marvellous TV series

By Robert Low

2 min read

February 16, 2025 11:40

The German Jew who fought his way through Europe to find his parents at Theresienstadt

By Ben M. Freeman

The crisis of faith: Recasting Judaism as a religion is destroying Jewish identity

To fully embrace Jewish indigeneity, we must re-examine how we define ourselves without an imposed Christian lens

7 min read

February 13, 2025 16:22

'The Jewish people were always self-described as an Am (people)' (Image: Getty)

The Last Days of Budapest review: ‘intrigue, horror and heroism in the Casablanca of central Europe’

Journalist Adam LeBor’s latest book quotes a wide range of newly revealed diaries and letters, and relates some remarkable tales of Jews being rescued

By Monica Porter

2 min read

February 7, 2025 09:26

Brutality on parade: Jews being rounded up in Budapest in 1944. Right: the writer's new book

The Teacher of Auschwitz review: ‘he helped Jewish children survive hell’

Wendy Holden has brought Fredy Hirsch, a young gay man who saved hundreds of children from Nazi depredations, to life

By Jenni Frazer

2 min read

February 7, 2025 09:10

The Teacher of Auschwitz review: ‘he helped Jewish children survive hell’

The non-Jewish Italian who saved Primo Levi

A new biography sheds light on an unsung hero consigned to work at the death camp where the great author was interned

By Amanda Hopkinson

2 min read

January 31, 2025 09:21

The non-Jewish Italian who saved Primo Levi

This columnist is derided and even hated, but she is usually right

In her latest polemic Melanie Phillips takes on the ruin of Western civilisation

By Stephen Pollard

3 min read

January 31, 2025 08:59

Vital voice: Melanie Phillips and her new book

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Books

Are we really so special? Two new works take on the great Jewish identity debate

Manya Wilkinson: ‘I wanted to write an edgy novel about the shtetl’

‘Judaism gets how to keep people alive after they die’

The Chasidic stories that anticipate the parables of Franz Kafka

The Prosecutor review: ‘the Jew who put his country on trial’

Why aren’t Jews allowed to just be ordinary?

33 Place Brugmann review: ‘secrets, betrayal and courage in occupied Brussels’

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A Fool’s Kabbalah review: ‘Is comedy a valid response the Shoah?’

‘For Peter Beinart, focusing on the right of Jews to be secure from terrorists is immoral’

Do the affluent and over-educated have problems?

The German Jew who fought his way through Europe to find his parents at Theresienstadt

The crisis of faith: Recasting Judaism as a religion is destroying Jewish identity

The Last Days of Budapest review: ‘intrigue, horror and heroism in the Casablanca of central Europe’

The Teacher of Auschwitz review: ‘he helped Jewish children survive hell’

The non-Jewish Italian who saved Primo Levi

This columnist is derided and even hated, but she is usually right