Rec­om­mend­ed Reading

Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s May Reads

JBC Staff
May 4, 2026

Draw­ings by Kate Gavino

It’s May — Short Sto­ry Month and Jew­ish Amer­i­can Her­itage Month! To cel­e­brate, the JBC team is delv­ing into books that explore Jew­ish Amer­i­can his­to­ry and short sto­ries. Read on to see what each staff mem­ber recommends.

And if you’d like even more ideas for May reads, check out our Jew­ish Amer­i­can Her­itage Month read­ing list, our short sto­ry col­lec­tion read­ing list, or our lat­est book reviews!


Nao­mi Fire­­s­­­tone-Teeter, CEO

The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad

Miri Pomer­antz Dauber, Asso­ciate Director

Auto­cor­rect by Etgar Keret, trans­lat­ed by Jes­si­ca Cohen and Son­dra Silverston

Kate Schmi­er, Direc­tor of Pub­lish­ing Relations

Dis­placed Per­sons by Ghi­ta Schwarz

Jamie Betesh Carter, Nu Reads Pro­gram Director

When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin

Suzanne Swift, Direc­tor of JBC Network

Con­ver­sa­tions with RBG: Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg on Life, Love, Lib­er­ty, and Law by Jef­frey Rosen

Evie Saphire-Bern­stein, Pro­gram Director

The Wan­der­ers: A Sto­ry of Exile, Sur­vival, and Unex­pect­ed Love in the Shad­ow of World War II by Daniel­la Gerson

Bec­ca Kan­tor, Edi­to­r­i­al Director

A Small Sac­ri­fice for an Enor­mous Hap­pi­ness: Sto­ries by Jai Chakrabarti

Simona Zaret­sky, Man­ag­er of Dig­i­tal Con­tent Strategy

Fools for Love by Helen Schulman

Arielle Lan­dau, Pro­gram and Part­ner­ships Manager

Loud­mouth: Emma Gold­man vs. Amer­i­ca (A Love Sto­ry) by Deb­o­rah Heiligman

Isado­ra Kianovsky, Mem­ber­ship & Engage­ment Associate

Off­sea­son by Avi­gayl Sharp

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