*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