Jewish Women's Book Club

Monthly

Join Mrs. Yona Posner for light discussion around some good Jewish reading.

Contact Mrs. Yona Posner for more information and how to join, virtually or in person.

CURRENT BOOK:

"90 Seconds: The Epic Story of Eli Beer and United Hatzalah" by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer

The amazing work of Israel’s United Hatzalah began, incredibly, when five-year-old Eli Beer witnessed a terror attack and dreamed of being the one to save the victim. While still a young teen, Eli set out to make that dream come true, creating an underground network of pioneering EMTs who were determined to bring their life-saving skills to victims in only 90 seconds, no matter where they were.

The book is available here, here, and here.

We will be meeting on 3/19 to discuss the book. Contact Yona for more information.

We have read:

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Like Dreamers

In this book, Halevi interweaves the stories of a group of 1967 paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem, tracing the history of Israel and the divergent ideologies shaping it from the Six-Day War to the time of writing (2013).

What would you do if you weren't Afraid?

Michal Oshman

An executive at Facebook and TikTok who wrote about her experiences with a life that didn't match up with what she didn’t know she wanted.

Samarkand: the Underground with Far-Reaching Impact

Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman

The book (originally in Hebrew and recently translated) tells of the Chassidic underground in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, with the far-reaching impact it had on other Jews. It is a non-fiction documentary that gives an uplifting view of Jewish survival and Soviet history from the inside.

The Gilded Cage: Queen Esther's Untold Story

Sorele Brownstein

Culled from the rich Jewish tradition, comes the story of Queen Esther as you never heard before.

Sorele Brownstein is a Chabad Rebbetzin who has written the true Torah story of Queen Esther, based on sources in commentary and Midrash, teachings of Chassidus, and archeological & historical findings. The impetus came after teaching a women’s class which transformed her students’ perspective of Esther from a naïve, lucky woman into the more accurate lonely and brave heroine she truly was.

37 Seconds

Stephanie Arnold

When she was pregnant with her second child, Stephanie Arnold had a sudden and overwhelming premonition that she would die during the delivery. Though she tried to tell the medical team and her family what was going to happen, neither the doctors nor her loved ones gave her warnings credence. Finding no physical indications that anything was wrong, they attributed her foreboding to hormones and anxiety.
In this remarkable true story, Stephanie recounts her harrowing journey and shares her surprising spiritual discoveries: we are not alone and have more loving help than we can imagine surrounding us.

A Rabbi's Northern Adventures

Born in Brooklyn New York, Rabbi Haber served as a chaplain in the United States Air Force in the 1970s, and, as a religious Jew, had a most extraordinary experience being stationed on an Air Force Base in Alaska. Without question, not many can claim to have had experiences of the sort recorded in this book: to serve as a rabbi “on the frozen rooftop of the world,” to transmit Judaism to those both far and near, and to uncover hidden Jewish sparks.

On a Golden Chain

Ruth Benjamin

When her young son receives a toy train as a gift, Dorothy reacts with strange agitation. Soon she is having recurrences of an inexplicable old nightmare involving a terrible train crash. Why does it all seem so real? And why is it always the same?
Unfortunately the only clue is a small Jewish star on a golden chain.

When General Grant Expelled the Jews

This is a riveting account of General Ulysses S. Grant’s decision, in the middle of the Civil War, to order the expulsion of all Jews from the territory under his command, and the reverberations of that decision on Grant’s political career, on the nascent American Jewish community, and on the American political process.

Choosing My Religion

Stephen Dubner

"Choosing My Religion," Stephen Dubner's 1996 cover story for The New York Times Magazine, described his conversion from Catholicism to Judaism. The drama and complexity of Dubner's conversion were intensified by the author's unusual religious history: before Dubner was born, his parents had made an equal and opposite conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. Dubner's memoir, Turbulent Souls, (more recently printed with the title "Choosing My Religon") expands the story he first told in the Times essay.

The Exiles of Crocodile Island

Henye Meyer

The Exiles of Crocodile Island is the story of a community of children torn from their homes by the Inquisition and taken to the island of Sao Tome. The book, a fictional account based on true events, narrates their defiant struggle to keep their faith.

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