2011: A Year in Books

The holidays are over, the coffee-table books have all been unwrapped and set aside, and winter isn't going anywhere for a while. In short, it's time to settle in for some good reading. The literary critic D. G. Myers here presents the 38 best Jewish books of 2011, all of which merit your attention.

2010: A Year in Books  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  From the popular to the scholarly, a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best books of 2010.  SAVE

Retrieving American Jewish Fiction  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A historical symposium of some neglected classics, and an introduction to the avot and imahot of American Jewish writing.  SAVE

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Yemenite Jews.

The Loyalties of the Sephardim

In a recent Haaretz column, Gideon Levy, the radical leftist polemicist, sounded the warning that Israel's religious Zionists—"the knitted skullcaps"—have joined hands with the ultra-Orthodox and the Sephardim to form "a united tribe of zealots."

A Sephardi Zionist in Wonderland  Daniel J. Elazar,  Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.  The late professor of political science here laments that a generation after the great migration to Israel, Sephardim have their own self-hating leftists and "bleeding-hearts," just like the Ashkenazim.  SAVE

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Yoram Hazony.

The Bible and the Good Life

What manner of work is the Hebrew Bible? The 17th-century freethinker Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza had an answer. As part of his war to emancipate philosophy from the influence of religion, he reduced the biblical message to, in effect, one word: obedience.

The Biblical Century  Yoram Hazony,  Jerusalem Letters.  In the universities, the door is open for a real change in the standing of the Hebrew Bible, and of Judaism more generally.  SAVE

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Mimouna!

What did two million Israelis do when Passover ended this year? As in previous years, they celebrated Mimouna, a Moroccan Jewish holiday that is popularly observed by picnicking, barbecueing, and consuming moufletas (sweet North African pancakes). And what is Mimouna all about? No one really knows.

The Rise of the Sephardim  Daniel J. Elazar,  Commentary.  What does it mean that Jews from non-European backgrounds are now the political majority in Israel? (1983)  SAVE

Modernity and Charisma  Yoram Bilu, Eyal Ben-Ari,  Israel Affairs.  Within five years of his death in 1984, Rabbi Israel Abu Hatzeira (the "Baba Sali") was a legendary saint; so was his son Baruch, jailed for corruption.  SAVE

Love the Convert  Jonah Mandel,  Jerusalem Post.  In a protest against extreme Orthodoxy, the Mimouna organizers intended to stress that accepting converts with open arms is embedded in the heritage of North African Jewry.  SAVE

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