BooksIsraeli-born author of ‘The Safekeep’ wins Women’s Prize for FictionYael van der Wouden’s bold debut novel charts the emotional aftermath of the Holocaust in a post-war NetherlandsBy Eliana Jordan2 min read
Books The Jewish Pedlar review: ‘Anglo-Jewry’s only mass murderer’This is a fascinating account of a terrible murder by a Jewish pedlar in eighteenth century England and an excellent example of historian Tony Kushner’s important work documenting the life and culture of Jews in BritainBy David Herman2 min read
BooksMy rootsy schmootsy journey to the Jewish East End that wasFor my latest novel I studied the east London of my forebears. This is what I foundBy Andrew Sanger3 min read
Books Noble Fragments by Michael Visontay, review: ‘two stories in one book’This gripping expedition into an arcane world of book collectors and their eccentric passions papers over an even more intriguing yarn about family historyBy Jennifer Lipman2 min read
Books Sons and Daughters by Chaim Grade, review: ‘a lost world comes to life’A deeply affecting portrait of a pious family’s trials and turmoil in an eastern Europe on the brink of collapseBy Mark Glanville2 min read
Jewish booksThe Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz review: ‘they played for their lives’This thoroughly researched book explains why a place in the death camp’s only women’s orchestra was sought after, and the moral dilemmas that came with itBy Monica Porter2 min read
Books Are we really so special? Two new works take on the great Jewish identity debateTwo 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
Manya Wilkinson: ‘I wanted to write an edgy novel about the shtetl’This year’s Wingate winner on her tragicomedy Lublin and lost family historyBy Jennifer Lipman6 min read||March 13, 2025 12:59
The Chasidic stories that anticipate the parables of Franz KafkaRabbi Nachman of Bratslav was one of the great Chasidic writers of the early modern period, and this Pushkin Press translation of his tales of rabbis, robbers, princes and paradoxes is a treasureBy David Herman1 min read||March 7, 2025 12:51
Why aren’t Jews allowed to just be ordinary?Yes, we’re often brilliant but we can also be desperately mediocre…By Keith Kahn-Harris3 min read||March 5, 2025 16:19
Abraham as you may never have known him beforeIn his daring new biography, Anthony Julius portrays a divided patriarchBy Simon Rocker5 min read||February 24, 2025 15:21
How far is Israel a Jewish state?The predominance of Zionism continues to pose challenges for Judaism, Oxford’s professor of Israel studies argues in his new bookBy Simon Rocker3 min read||February 23, 2025 11:18
33 Place Brugmann review: ‘secrets, betrayal and courage in occupied Brussels’From RAF pilots and members of the resistance risking their lives, to Jewish refugee nurses caring for the desperately wounded, this American playwright’s first novel is packed with twists and turnsBy David Herman1 min read||February 20, 2025 12:57
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 rescuedBy Monica Porter2 min read||February 7, 2025 09:26
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 lifeBy Jenni Frazer2 min read||February 7, 2025 09:10
East Broadway to Whitechapel, review: ‘stirring snapshots of a bygone world’David Katz’s short stories are a moving evocation of the Jewish world of Brooklyn and the East End, but also the world of Yiddish literatureBy David Herman2 min read||January 17, 2025 14:34
