Recommended Readings & Resources: Considering Judaism

*If you have any favorites you would like for us to add to this list – or, if you are interested in studying with us at Heska Amuna – just let the Rabbi & Religious Services Committee know (RRS@HeskaAmuna.org).

Foundations of Judaism:

Bradley Shavit Artson, It’s a Mitzvah! Step-by-Step to Jewish Living

Benjamin Blech, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Judasim

Anita Diamant, Choosing a Jewish Life

Anita Diamant and Howard Cooper, Living a Jewish Life: Jewish Traditions, Customs and Values for Today’s Families

Wayne Dosck, Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition and Practice

Arthur Green, Judaism’s 10 Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers

Blu Greenberg, How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household

Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays

Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man

Susannah Heschel, On Being a Jewish Feminist

Louis Jacobs, The Book of Jewish Beliefs

Louis Jacobs, The Book of Jewish Practice

Harold Kushner, To Life! A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking (and any other works, too)

Maurice Lamm, Becoming a Jew

Maurice Lamm, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning

George Robinson, Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs, and Rituals, updated 2016

Michael Strassfeld, A Book of Life: Embracing Judaism as a Spiritual Practice

Joseph Telushkin, The Book of Jewish Values

Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know about the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History

Leo Trepp, The Complete Book of Jewish Observance

Ellen M. Umansky and Diane Ashton, Four Centuries of Jewish Women’s Spirituality

David Wolpe, Why be Jewish?

Literature:

Yehuda Amichai, Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems

Anita Diamant, (any and all works)

Chaim Potok, The Gift of Asher Lev (and any of his others, too)

Leon Uris, Exodus

Elie Wiesel, Night

History:

Wendy Besmann, A Separate Circle: Jewish life in Knoxville

David J. Goldberg and John D. Rayner, The Jewish People: Their History and Their Religion

Barry Holtz, Back to the Sources

Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews

Mira Kimmelman, Echoes from the Holocaust

Amos Oz, In the Land of Israel

Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai

Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel

Cooking, of course:

Joan Nathan, Jewish Cooking in America

Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand (and any of her others, too)

General Resources:

Richard Siegel, Michael Strassfeld, and Sharon Strassfeld, The Jewish Catalog

Useful Websites:

The Rabbinical Assembly: https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/story/conservative-conversion-programs (Note there are grants available to study through the RA with the Miller Introduction to Judaism Program; see https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/conversion/miller-intro-judaism-curriculum).

My Jewish Learning: https://www.jewfaq.org/https://www.myjewishlearning.com/

Judaism 101: https://www.jewfaq.org/

Tablet Magazine: www.tabletmag.com

Jewish Calendar: https://www.hebcal.com/

Sefaria – Torah and Other Texts: https://www.sefaria.org/texts