Book Club
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Random reads
- Palestine 1936, Oren Kessler
Winner of the 2024 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, Oren Kessler delves into the roots of the Middle East conflict. Recommended by Booklist as “…key to understanding the current situation between Israelis and Palestinians.”
- Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical, Laurie Winer
Laurie Winer looks at Oscar Hammerstein, the man who, more than anyone else, invented the American musical. Among the most commercially successful artists of his time, he was also as fighter for social justice who constantly prodded his audiences to be better than they were.
- Judaism Is About Love, Shai Held
Rabbi Shai Held, one of the most important Jewish thinkers in America today finds the heart in Jewish tradition, making the case that Judaism is about love as much as it is about law.
Book Circle Discovers Nice Jewish Mother Was Actually A Crime Boss
It going to be a fun read for the bookies when they get into Margalit Fox’s The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an Organized Crime Boss. It turns out that this nice Jewish mother planned robberies of cash, gold and diamonds throughout the country, rising from tenement poverty to vast wealth, a fixture of high society and an admired philanthropist. How did she do it?
When the Book Circle meets on Thursday, September 5, at 3 p.m., in Andrew Levin Park, all will be revealed. What The Shofar knows so far is that Fredericka Mandelbaum wasn’t just a successful crook; she was a business visionary — one of the first entrepreneurs in America to systemize the scattershot enterprise of property crime. Handpicking a cadre of bank robbers, housebreakers ad shoplifters, she turned theft into as viable business.
The Book Circle meets monthly to read and discuss books about Jews and Jewish interest. For more information, email ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Suzi Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.
Book Circle To Delve Into Family Life in Internment In Muslim Pakistan
At the next Book Circle meeting, to be held on Thursday, July 25, at 3 p.m., in Andrew Levin Park, the group will study the effects on family members held for six years in an internment camp. Hazel Selzer Kahane has written a harrowing account of the experiences in A House in Lahore: Growing Up Jewish in Pakistan.
Drawing on extensive boarding school correspondence, the book examines the power of letter writing to bind a scattered family. When the author returns to her beloved childhood house, she finds that it still stands, but she is unprepared for what she finds.
The Book Circle meets monthly to discuss books on Jewish topics and/or by Jewish writers. For more information, email Susan Rosenstreich, coordinator, at ctigreenport@gmail.com./
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