Book review

A forgotten voice from 1391: 'Hasdai Crescas: Collected Writings' - book review

Hasdai Crescas became crown rabbi of Aragon under King John I and Queen Violant de Bar. He counted among his friends Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet and Rabbi Simeon ben Tzemah Duran.

Inaugurating Hasdai Crescas Street in Jerusalem, 2011. Front row (from left): Esti Eisenman, specialist in Crescas and initiator of street naming; Prof. Warren Zeev Harvey, leading specialist in Crescas. Back row (from left): Regional council member Yael Anatbi, and Prof. Yomtov Asis.
HELPING MOURNERS to heal.

'The Jewish Journey Through Loss': Combining halacha and psychology in order to heal - review

Thee are no illustrations, except for an unexpected one on the last page.

'The Morning the Apples Began to Sing': A story of wonder and imagination - review

EMILY’S JOURNEY in the land of doors. Artwork by Orit Magia

'Emily Saw a Door': Learning to create spaces for each other with creativity, acceptance - review


'The Hamas Intelligence War against Israel': Do terrorists read the 'Post'? - review

The book aims “to describe and analyze the evolution of Hamas’s intelligence warfare,” and does so admirably.

Terrorists from the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas and mourners attend the funeral of fighters who were killed during the Israel-Hamas War in the al-Shati camp, in Gaza City, February 28, 2025.

'Yoko: A Biography': Have we underestimated Yoko Ono all along? - review

As more of her albums have been released and the number of art exhibitions has mounted, however, Ono has increasingly been recognized for what one critic called “the breadth, charm, and brilliance."

 JOHN AND Yoko on their honeymoon at the Hilton Amsterdam, March 1969

'Extreme Trauma': Analyzing the horrors and heroism of October 7 - review

In the hands of the right readers, Extreme Trauma can help ensure that the truth of what happened on Oct. 7 is neither distorted nor forgotten.

 FORMER HOSTAGE Noa Argamani attends an emergency conference on the medical condition of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, in 2024.

'On Democracies and Death Cults': Douglas Murray lauds Israel’s youth - review

On Democracies and Death Cults sets out Douglas Murray’s clear-eyed, reasoned, and deeply researched view of the pogrom committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023

 CALLING FOR the release of Israelis still in Hamas captivity, at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in April 2025.

'Sons and Daughters': The last great Yiddish novel now available in English - review

An English translation by Rose Waldman of Chaim Grade’s final, unfinished work has been published.

 JEWISH WEDDING in a Russian shtetl, complete with klezmer band; painting by Isaak Asknaziy, 1893.

'The Right to Happiness': Moving fiction about Holocaust survivors - review

While they are firmly grounded in the hearts and souls of the survivors and their families, these tales tell a universal story of love and loss that will appeal to any reader.

 A MEMORIAL to Janusz Korczak and the orphans he stayed with until their very last moments, created by Boris Saktsier, at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem.

'Rabbinic Scholarship': How the Talmud Yerushalmi was made - review

This book is a deeply scholarly and ambitious work that sheds new light on the Talmud Yerushalmi and its place within the intellectual world of late antiquity.

 An illustrative image of someone reading the Talmud.

'The Defeat of Evil': A warning for constant vigilance against a resurgent evil within - review

The Defeat of Evil ends with this somber warning: “Even in victory, we must remember: No triumph is ever complete or permanent. Safeguarding our values demands constant vigilance.”

 Israelis are seen protesting judicial reform, in Tel Aviv.

'The Human Scale': Israel-based FBI mystery is a page-turner - review

The Human Scale is a superb contemporary political thriller that goes well beyond simply keeping the reader enthralled with a succession of unexpected developments, page after page.

An FBI vehicle

'The Art of the Music Critic': Music through a former ‘Jerusalem Post’ critic's eyes - review

The Art of the Music Critic is an incisive and illuminating compendium of an expansive stretch of our musical timeline, presented in an invitingly user-friendly form.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart