Joanne Levy wrote a new Canadian young-adult novel set in a Jewish funeral home
Grief may not seem like an obvious topic for someone who writes for tweens. And yet, grief sparked the latest story from Joanne Levy. Sorry For Your Loss, published in October by Orca Books, is set in a family-owned-and-operated funeral home not unlike the United Hebrew Memorial Chapel—which Levy’s father Dan manages in Hamilton, Ont. […]
The problem with putting on a yarmulke in Pittsburgh: a ‘Squirrel Hill’ book excerpt by Mark Oppenheimer
After the Oct. 27, 2018, mass killing at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, when 11 members of three different congregations (all houses under one roof) were killed—the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history—I traveled to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood 32 times over the next year and a half to interview people about the effect […]
Toronto novelist Bev Katz Rosenbaum explores the impact of COVID on teens
Toronto author Bev Katz Rosenbaum’s young adult novel, I’m Good and Other Lies gives a voice to older teens whose mental health has been affected by the uncertainty, isolation, and lost routines and friendships over the course of the pandemic. “It’s the book of my heart and it’s really important to me,” said Katz Rosenbaum. […]
Gary Topp’s cartoons about coming of age in Jewish Toronto
How this punk rock concert promoter got made.
How philosophy and theology can be in dialogue together
Jonathan L. Milevsky reviews David Novak’s latest book, Athens and Jerusalem: God, Humans, and Nature .
Stories explore relationships between family, friends
Mordechai Ben-Dat reviews This One Because of The Dead, Laure Baudot’s first anthology of short stories.
A new kind of Haggadah
Ruty Korotaev uncovers the origins behind the New Hoffert Haggadah, which was illustrated by fine artist and clinical psychologist, Esther Gelcer.
What to tell the kids?
Norman Ravvin reviews Ellen Schwartz’s young adult novel, The Princess Dolls.
Terror incident exposed deeper nature of anti-Semitism
Ari Blaff reviews Julie Salamon’s latest book, An Innocent Bystander.
Shalva is an inspiring story of perseverance
Martin Lockshin reviews Rabbi Kalman Samuels’s book, Dreams Never Dreamed: A Mother’s Promise that Transformed her Son’s Breakthrough into a Beacon of Hope.
