Pho­to by Asal Lot­fi on Unsplash

For the JBC team, we turn to sto­ries through all of life’s sea­sons. To lose your­self in a work of fic­tion or to seek answers to com­pli­cat­ed ques­tions through works of non­fic­tion. We turn to books for many rea­sons, and for those of us seek­ing some lit­er­ary com­fort, a reminder of resilience, or a book­ish escape, here is what we recommend.

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish 

This utter­ly immer­sive work of his­tor­i­cal fic­tion will trans­port you across cen­turies and con­ti­nents, exam­in­ing mys­ter­ies of author­ship, ideas, and the human heart.

Judaism Is About Love: Recov­er­ing the Heart of Jew­ish Life by Shai Held

Now more than ever, we hold to Shai Held’s book which delves into one of Judaism’s deep­est insights and imper­a­tives: love. 

Songs for the Bro­ken­heart­ed by Ayelet Tsabari

Ayelet Tsabari’s award-win­ning debut nov­el explores lan­guage, love, and the search for home.

Smash­ing the Tablets: Rad­i­cal Retellings of the Hebrew Bible edit­ed by Sara Lipp­mann and Seth Rogoff

This inven­tive new col­lec­tion offers twen­ty-three writ­ers’ respons­es to bib­li­cal sto­ries, through fic­tion, cre­ative non­fic­tion, and poet­ry. These mod­ern retelling offer us fresh insights into Torah and storytelling.

The Amen Effect: Ancient Wis­dom to Mend Our Bro­ken Hearts and World by Sharon Brous 

Rab­bi Sharon Brous’ book is a guide to hav­ing com­pas­sion­ate con­ver­sa­tions and engag­ing thought­ful­ly and whole­heart­ed­ly, across dif­fer­ences and divides.

What Jew­ish Looks Like by Liz Klein­rock and Car­o­line Kusin Pritchard, illus­trat­ed by Iris Gottlieb

This children’s book is a pow­er­ful inter­sec­tion­al anthol­o­gy that cel­e­brates thir­ty-six Jew­ish heroes. Gor­geous­ly illus­trat­ed paired with engag­ing and infor­ma­tive text, it’s a book the whole fam­i­ly can enjoy.

Rachel Weis­s’s Group Chat by Lau­ren Appelbaum

When you need a Pride and Prej­u­dice-inspired rom­com to lose your­self in — you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll love along with the tit­u­lar Rachel Weiss.

Beyond Dis­pute: Redis­cov­er­ing the Jew­ish Art of Con­struc­tive Dis­agree­ment by Daniel Taub 

This book encour­ages read­ers to look beyond the obvi­ous ques­tions in order to engage deeply across any divide and to turn to Jew­ish tra­di­tion for guid­ance in con­flict and conversation.