DescriptionBest selling author, prominent attorney, and famed commentator Alan Dershowitz brings to bear all the chutzpah and provocative reflection of his writings and lectures. He examines such issues as anti-Semitism, Jewish assimilation, free expression vs. intolerance, and the state vs. individual rights. In addition to excerpts from his books Chutzpah and Contrary to Popular Opinion, Dershowitz includes previously unreleased material that continues his tradition of provoking controversy. The Best of Alan Dershowitz brings together a lifetime of thought and action, with highly spirited discussions of the most pressing issues of our time, backed up with solid logic and surprising arguments.
DescriptionWhen your Jewish mother says, "Don't bother driving me, I'll take a cab, " get in the car - you're going for a drive. If this sounds contradictory, you definitely need this indispensable guide to the twists, unexpected nuances, and hidden meanings of Jewish language and culture. Author Molly Katz has created a laugh-out-loud tutorial that teaches you essential Jewish skills such as how to worry, how to interrupt, and how to say the opposite of what you mean. In no time at all you'll master the art of "The Positive Insult, " "The Negative Compliment, " and "The Shrugs, The Faces, The Hands." So you'll sit, you'll listen, you'll laugh!
DescriptionChutzpah, says Alan Dershowitz, is "boldness, assertiveness, a willingness to demand what is due, to defy tradition, to challenge authority, to raise eyebrows." Assessing his experiences, he brings to bear all the chutzpah for which he's famed, examining anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, Zionism, and turmoil in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, while contemplating what the future will bring. But Chutzpah is also a personal story, recounting Dershowitz's childhood as an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn, his days in law school, and his astonishing career, with such clients as Claus von Bülow, Leona Helmsley, and Jim Bakker. Bold and incisive, Chutzpah is full of conclusions and observations that will stimulate, surprise, and unsettle you.
DescriptionThe writings of Josephus contain one of the few historical accounts of the wars of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem during the Roman occupation of Palestine in 70 A.D. Born in Jerusalem in 37 A.D. and raised in both the Hellenic and Jewish traditions, Josephus spent his life trying to accommodate his admiration for the Romans with his loyalty to his Jewish heritage. Josephus was a priest who served as a general in the Jewish army during a revolt against the Romans, and a mediator whose attempt to find accommodation between the Jews and the Romans in Palestine led the Jews to consider him a traitor. His historical work, The Wars of the Jews, which was published in 75 A.D., is one of the few historical accounts of the Roman army, the city's temple and fortifications, the sack of the temple, and the siege of Masada.
DescriptionAs the main spoken language of the Jews for more than a thousand years, Yiddish has had plenty to lament, plenty to conceal. Its phrases and expressions paint a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled the Jews of Europe to survive persecution…
DescriptionMasterful...a classic parable of the human condition, said Publishers Weekly about Ethan Canin's For Kings and Planets, and the same can be said about Canin's brilliant new novel. Breathtaking in its suspense and beauty, Carry Me Across t…
DescriptionAcclaimed as an irresistible storyteller and humorist, Rabbi Kushner is already familiar to millions of listeners through his memorable contributions to NPR's All Things Considered . Now, this heartwarming voice shares tales and insights from his life as a spiritual explorer of the everyday world where the sacred meets the ordinary. Rabbi Kushner opens wide the gates of Jewish mysticism to illuminate four stages of spiritual development that lead ultimately to the devekut, or "cleaving with God, " a state of divine union and pure selflessness explored by mystics through the ages. With traditional midrash (teaching stories) that are sometimes hilarious - and always thought provoking - he describes why we must learn to pay closer and closer attention to smaller and smaller things in order to develop awareness of this sacred unity.
DescriptionIBM and the Holocaust is a meticulous reconstruction of International Business Machine's knowing involvement - directly from New York and through its network of European subsidiaries coordinated by a Swiss office - in providing automated solutions to the Third Reich as the Nazi regime systematically tracked and persecuted Jews throughout Europe. IBM technology was used to organize nearly everything in Germany and then Nazi Europe, from the identification of the Jews in censuses, registrations, and ancestral tracing programs to the running of railroads and organizing of concentration camp slave labor. IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one by one, anticipating the Reich's needs. Edwin Black has now uncovered one of the last great mysteries of Germany's war against the Jews - how did Hitler get the names?
