ABOUT I READ THIS OVER SHABBOS
I Read This Over Shabbos is about cultivating a community where lovers of ideas, words, and books can turn Shabbos into their weekly book club. We invite you to join this expanding book club. I Read This Over Shabbos is about cultivating a community where lovers of ideas, words, and books can turn Shabbos into their weekly book club. We invite you to join this expanding book club. We invite you to join this expanding book club.
WHAT WE’RE READING NOW
Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement
Naomi Seidman
Sarah Schenirer is one of the most important Orthodox changemakers in modern Jewish history. The founder of the Bais Yaakov school system in interwar Poland, Schenirer prompted a fundamental shift in the education of women in the Orthodox community. In her definitive book, Seidman considers the tensions inherent to this revolution, with an eye to the relationship between change and tradition. Seidman looks at the interacting forces that influenced the movement, and the movements that the Bais Yaakov system has went through since the Holocaust and post-war era. This book is for anyone with an interest in change, tradition, women in Judaism, and how we manage to change so much while staying the same.
Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement
Naomi Seidman
Sarah Schenirer is one of the most important Orthodox changemakers in modern Jewish history. The founder of the Bais Yaakov school system in interwar Poland, Schenirer prompted a fundamental shift in the education of women in the Orthodox community. In her definitive book, Seidman considers the tensions inherent to this revolution, with an eye to the relationship between change and tradition. Seidman looks at the interacting forces that influenced the movement, and the movements that the Bais Yaakov system has went through since the Holocaust and post-war era. This book is for anyone with an interest in change, tradition, women in Judaism, and how we manage to change so much while staying the same.
Naomi Seidman
Families, Rabbis and Education
Shaul Stampfer
Judaism in Eastern Europe is often mythologized, which can sometimes lead us to forget the edges and nuances of that world that was. This classic work considers the intricacies of Jewish life, from marriage, to family, to leadership, with a look at the vulnerable points in this story. How learned were the common folk? How common was divorce, and women’s education? What was the rabbinate in this context? If these questions interest you, this book is a must-read.
Families, Rabbis and Education
Shaul Stampfer
Judaism in Eastern Europe is often mythologized, which can sometimes lead us to forget the edges and nuances of that world that was. This classic work considers the intricacies of Jewish life, from marriage, to family, to leadership, with a look at the vulnerable points in this story. How learned were the common folk? How common was divorce, and women’s education? What was the rabbinate in this context? If these questions interest you, this book is a must-read.
Shaul Stampfer
Lithuanian Yeshivas of the Nineteenth Century
Shaul Stampfer
The Lithuanian yeshivas have played an important role in shaping the Orthodox world we know today. This book is an important systematic study of these yeshivas, from 1802 to 1914. Looking at documents, memoirs, and newspaper articles, Stampfer shows us what these yeshivas were in their original context. These yeshivas have had a fundamental influence on the shaping of the contemporary state of Jewish education, so read this book if you want to know where many of the values and questions that shape our discourse emerge from. You’d be surprised, as the story of this world is always more complicated and interesting in its particularities than we might ever appreciate.
Lithuanian Yeshivas of the Nineteenth Century
Shaul Stampfer
The Lithuanian yeshivas have played an important role in shaping the Orthodox world we know today. This book is an important systematic study of these yeshivas, from 1802 to 1914. Looking at documents, memoirs, and newspaper articles, Stampfer shows us what these yeshivas were in their original context. These yeshivas have had a fundamental influence on the shaping of the contemporary state of Jewish education, so read this book if you want to know where many of the values and questions that shape our discourse emerge from. You’d be surprised, as the story of this world is always more complicated and interesting in its particularities than we might ever appreciate.
Shaul Stampfer
I Read This Over Shabbos is about cultivating a community where lovers of ideas, words, and books can turn Shabbos into their weekly book club. We invite you to join this expanding book club.
ARTICLES
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I Read This Over Shabbos is about cultivating a community where lovers of ideas, words, and books can turn Shabbos into their weekly book club. We invite you to join this expanding book club.
ARTICLES
Essay
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Essay
WHAT WE’RE READING NOW
The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less
David Bashevkin
Our decisions in life, big and small, have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. We often assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But is this always the case? In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice individual freedom becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. Schwartz argues that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives.
The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less
David Bashevkin
Our decisions in life, big and small, have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. We often assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But is this always the case? In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice individual freedom becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. Schwartz argues that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives.
David Bashevkin
Discovering Second Temple Literature
Malka Z. Simkovich
When facing a drastically different world from what they knew before, the Jews of the Second Temple period (539 BCE – 70 CE) had to utilize a surprising creativity to practice their religion. In Discovering Second Temple Literature, Malka Simkovich brings readers into the worlds of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, and Josephus, as she explores the lives, learning, and views of Jews of a distant time. The most surprising aspects of this book are how similar some of the choices that these long-ago Jews had to make when facing challenges and a religious landscape that was changing rapidly.
Discovering Second Temple Literature
Malka Z. Simkovich
When facing a drastically different world from what they knew before, the Jews of the Second Temple period (539 BCE – 70 CE) had to utilize a surprising creativity to practice their religion. In Discovering Second Temple Literature, Malka Simkovich brings readers into the worlds of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, and Josephus, as she explores the lives, learning, and views of Jews of a distant time. The most surprising aspects of this book are how similar some of the choices that these long-ago Jews had to make when facing challenges and a religious landscape that was changing rapidly.
Malka Z. Simkovich
When God Becomes History: Historical Essays of Rabbi Abraham Isaac haKohen Kook
Bezalel Naor
R. Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook (1865 – 1935) was one of the most deeply cutting spiritual rabbinic thinkers of the 20th century. While he is often remembered most for his particularly poignant writings on the land and nation of Israel, his broad curiosity and far-reaching creativity have left us with some fascinating contributions to Jewish thought. This volume collects in English translation Rav Kook’s thoughts on Jewish history. Reading Rav Kook on history is a masterclass in process-oriented thinking, and what happens when a great soul looks to understand human events from a powerful religious (and human) perspective. Read this volume if you, like Rav Kook, look at Jewish history and want to know more than what, but why.
When God Becomes History: Historical Essays of Rabbi Abraham Isaac haKohen Kook
Bezalel Naor
R. Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook (1865 – 1935) was one of the most deeply cutting spiritual rabbinic thinkers of the 20th century. While he is often remembered most for his particularly poignant writings on the land and nation of Israel, his broad curiosity and far-reaching creativity have left us with some fascinating contributions to Jewish thought. This volume collects in English translation Rav Kook’s thoughts on Jewish history. Reading Rav Kook on history is a masterclass in process-oriented thinking, and what happens when a great soul looks to understand human events from a powerful religious (and human) perspective. Read this volume if you, like Rav Kook, look at Jewish history and want to know more than what, but why.
Bezalel Naor
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I Read this over shabbos
Podcast
Yisroel Kaminetsky: The Goal of Jewish Education
Listener Questions
Malka Simkovich: The Secrets of Second Temple Judaism
Yitzchak Breitowitz: Navigating Controversy
Channah Cohen: The Crisis of Experience
How Different Jewish Communities Date
2022: A Year Beyond Words (and Numbers)
Yonatan Adler: What Archeologists Find