November 2005

What are the basics for a Jewish home library?

"Heshvan" (the month after all the fall holidays) is Jewish Book Month and a great time to consider your own home library. Jews are known as "the people of the book," and shelves filled with books are usually found in a Jewish home. To start building a Jewish home library, I recommend obtaining some basic volumes and then following your interests. CBI is a community of book lovers and can provide many resources for your reading explorations. The CBI Religious School is having a wonderful book fair this month, which is the perfect opportunity to build or expand your Jewish library. There will be numerous choices for all ages, including lots of juvenile books for children's Chanukah presents. We also have a wonderful library, where you can check out volumes on a myriad of subjects, and our book club reads and discusses the latest literature of Jewish interest.

What every home should have. Every Jewish home should have a copy of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, and a Humash, the Pentateuch, with the Five Books of Moses and commentary. For the former, I recommend, The Jewish Study Bible from Oxford Press, and for the latter, Etz Hayim-Torah and Commentary from the Rabbinical Assembly, available from the Jewish Publication Society. If you want a full Hebrew Bible in Hebrew as well as English, these are available from the Jewish Publication Society as well.

A prayer book or Siddur is another home basic. In addition to the Kol Haneshamah prayer books that we use on the Sabbath and holidays, the Reconstructionist Press has produced a lovely prayer book for the home, titled SHIRIM UVRAHOT: Songs & Blessings. You can get find the Press on this website: http://www.jrf.org/pub/.

Reference books. I encourage every home to have one or more reference books on basic Jewish knowledge and practice. One that I like is Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals, by George Robinson. I also highly recommend any books by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, such as Jewish Literacy, Biblical Literacy, and The Book of Jewish Values, which includes an explanation of a Jewish value for every day of the year. Anita Diamant, best known for her novel, The Red Tent, has also written some excellent books on Jewish life. Her titles on Jewish life include Choosing a Jewish Life, Living a Jewish Life, The New Jewish Wedding, and The New Jewish Baby Book. If you have children or grandchildren, I can't resist offering my own book, The Jewish Parents' Almanac by Julie Hilton Danan, published by Jason Aronson (available through the CBI giftshop). It has a 50-page resource guide in the back with more book recommendations.

Let your interests guide you. From there, let your personal interests guide you. If you want to explore the Talmud and Midrash, Back To The Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, by Barry Hotlz, has become a classic in its own right. Since he wrote the book, there are many new resources available, such as new translations of the classics and, of course, software. If you prefer to go from the "People of the Book" to the "People of the CD-Rom," you can find a wealth of Jewish software for your computer at www.davka.com. There is software on Israel, Bible and Talmud, learning Hebrew, games, and more. My favorite website for Jewish learning is www.myjewishlearning.com. You will find many recommended books through that website for further learning.

Spiritual books. For those who want to explore Jewish spirituality, I highly recommend "Jewish Lights" publishers (www.jewishlights.com). They have a large catalogue of books on Jewish spirituality that are intended to be accessible to people of all faiths and backgrounds. They also produce the "Life Lights" booklets that we have available in our synagogue lobby. Each of these has a list of recommended books at the end. Also check out Israel, A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion For The Modern Jewish Pilgrim, by Lawrence Hoffman, for your next trip to Israel.

For more recommendations on books, ask me or our CBI librarian, Wendy Diamond, who really keeps up with the latest in Jewish publishing. Happy Heshvan and Happy Reading!