Literature

Over 50 years later, Saul Bellow’s Israel observations remain strikingly relevant - review

The book’s enduring relevance has led its publishers, Penguin Random House, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its first appearance by reissuing it in 2026.

THEN-ISRAELI AMBASSADOR to the US, Yitzhak Rabin, and his wife Leah mingle with prime minister Golda Meir and US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, in Washington, 1973 – two years before Saul Bellow visited Israel.
CAR GRAVEYARD at Tekuma.

‘To laugh and cry’: New book combines biblical teachings with personal Oct. 7 reflections - review

FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR: World’s largest industry event.

Getting the word out: The Israeli Institute for Hebrew Literature flies the flag in Frankfurt

Ariana Harwicz attends the "Die My Love" New York premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on Nov. 1, 2025.

More than 350 cultural figures slam Spanish festival for canceling Jewish novelist’s invitation


Wine talk: The grape and the word

In the next few months, some books will be published that should be on every wine professional’s and wine lover’s bookshelf. 

Reading with wine in a quiet library.

'Death of a Democracy': Exploring the rise and fall of Weimar Germany - review

Victor Sebestyen has painted a vivid picture of the life and eventual death of Weimar Germany, telling the painful story of Germany between 1918 and 1933.

WEIMAR GERMANY: DEATH OF A DEMOCRACY by Victor Sebestyen

'My Other Half': Sex, drugs, rock & roll, philosophy, and cynicism - book review

In My Other Half, the hero, Jake, eventually meets an unexpected fate in Jerusalem. Until then, he embarks on a hilarious series of decadent misadventures, some of which appear below.

David Isaacson’s 'My Other Half.'

'A Life of the Mind': New biography reexamines the mind of Hannah Arendt - review

Recently discovered archival material and underutilized sources in German to illuminate her experiences and ideas, about antisemitism and Zionism as well as philosophy.

Hannah Arendt in 1958.

PEN America president resigns after report warns of threats to Jewish, Israeli authors

“It’s the First Amendment that allows all of us to engage in boycotts, not PEN America,” Mengestu told the Atlantic. “PEN America as a free expression organization is supposed to defend that right.

Dinaw Mengestu attends the PEN America 2026 Spring Literary Gala at American Museum of Natural History on May 14, 2026 in New York City.

'Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land': America’s relationship with the Torah - review

The language America reaches for, at its best moments and its worst, has always been ours. Not borrowed. Ours. We wrote the story it keeps retelling. We are still here to see how it ends.

Rare medieval Sefardi Torah scroll from the late 13th or early 14th century on display at ANU, Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.

'Stalin’s Apostles': The Cambridge Five and the lost world of Jewish Communism - review

From elite universities to Soviet handlers, the Cambridge Five helped Stalin penetrate Britain’s security and decision-making core.

Kim Philby, 1955

'Engaging the Essence': The Lubavitcher Rebbe as philosopher - review

While the Rebbe did not write a system, he spoke to occasions for 40 years. Bronstein anchors the structure of the Rebbe’s talks in his first discourse of 1951.

CHABAD ‘SHLUCHIM’ gather in front of 770 Eastern Parkway, New York, in 2022.

Sami Rohr Prize 2026 shortlist highlights family survival and Jewish history

The annual award — which alternates each year between works of fiction and nonfiction and which honors emerging Jewish writers — is considered one of the most prominent awards in Jewish literature.

The four finalists for the 2026 Sami Rohr Prize are, from left, Shaul Kelner, Amir Tibon, Jordan Salama and Laura Hobson Faure.

'The Sacrificial Service': Leviticus has been mistranslated for centuries - review

The book grew out of courses the author taught, and covers Leviticus’ chapters 1 through 10. 

Reading a torah scroll