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A Damaged Mirror

 

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You are here: Home / Writing & Publishing / February Jewish Book Blog Carnival

February Jewish Book Blog Carnival

February 15, 2020 by Yael Shahar Leave a Comment

Spring is in the air here in Israel, and the hills are alive with almond blossoms. Tu B’Shvat is just past, and we’re counting down toward Purim, and then Pessah! So, to get the season off to a good start, here are some recommendations from around the Jewish blogosphere (in more or less alphabetical order). Note that cover images link to the relevant affiliate-linked book page on Amazon.

Enjoy!


 

The Association of Jewish Libraries shares the winners of the 2020 Sydney Taylor Book Award for the best Jewish children’s and teen books of the year!


 

Barbara Beitz at Jewish Books for Kids interviews Victoria Ortiz, winner of the STBA Silver Medal for her riveting book, Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life & Work (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).


 

The Book of Life Podcast has an exclusive interview with Sydney Taylor Book Award committee chair Rebecca Levitan, discussing the 2020 winners of the award!


 

On gilagreenwrites, Gila explores the question: what is Jewish fiction and more with author and editor Janice Weizman.


 

Jewish Book Review reviews Professor Samuel Levine’s book, Was Yosef on the Spectrum? and concludes “Levine shows how characteristics of individuals with autism can often be both limiting and sources of strengths.”


 

On her My Machberet blog, Erika Dreifus routinely compiles news of Jewish literary interest. Here’s one recent post.


At Life Is Like a Library, an interview with Devora Piha, author of The Joy of Jewish Art for Children: A Guide for Parents and Teachers, and some resources for Jewish Arts and Crafts:


 

I just learned that Dan Sofer, author of The Dry Bones Society trilogy has a new book coming out! I reviewed the first book of the trilogy here, and can’t wait to read the new one! The new novel billed a is a dark comedy-thriller called Revenge of the Elders of Zion. For more about the book, click here for the media kit.


 

The Sydney Taylor Book Award just hosted a blog tour with the winning authors and illustrators. Find links to all the tour stops here!


Meanwhile I’ve learned that this site has been selected as one of the Top 50 Jewish Blogs on the web! Very cool!


Visit the headquarters of the Jewish Book Carnival, a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read and comment on each others’ posts.

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Filed Under: Writing & Publishing Tagged With: Jewish book carnival

About Yael Shahar

After an adventurous and unattributable career in security and intelligence, Yael Shahar now divides her time between researching trends in terrorism and learning Talmud with anyone who will sit still long enough. She is an entertaining and sought-after public speaker, and lectures both in Israel and abroad.

Dazzling… Returning is an extraordinary and challenging book on many levels.
– Philip K. Jason, Washington Independent Review of Books

Intriguing! At times dark and haunting, at times lyrical and introspective, Returning resonates long after “the end”!
– Dan Sofer, author of the Dry Bones Society trilogy

Returning is a compelling, puzzling, remarkably honest story of a Jew’s sins against his people and his tradition, and of his search for forgiveness and restoration.
– Bill Tammeus, Faith Matters

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Yael Shahar

Yael Shahar

Yael Shahar is the author of Returning. She spent most of her career working in security and intelligence, with brief forays into teaching astronomy and physics. She now divides her time between researching trends in terrorism and learning Talmud with anyone who will sit still long enough.

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"In those circumstances we are reduced to bare existence, bereft of all that we once believed to define us. Naked, we have no pockets in which to store the things that we once used in the natural trade of human interactions. Instead, we come to value a different currency—our humanity. It is this currency that truly defines us, and even death cannot entirely devalue it. The more is taken away, the more we value what is left."

 

- Ovadya ben Malka, A Damaged Mirror

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“We stand on the edge of the abyss, across whose unknowable face we paint meaning so as not to see into it. It is always there. But we’re here too, and we are no less real than the abyss. We are no less meaningful for being transient creatures caught up in something too big for us. There is still value to our lives. I’ve learned that those things that are most fragile are also the most precious.”

 

― Ovadya ben Malka, A Damaged Mirror

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With a new Foreword by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo.

View a Sample Chapter

 

Excerpts from A Damaged Mirror

Main Topics

  • Book Reviews
  • Featured
  • Guest Posts
  • Halakhic Process
  • Hashkafah & Jewish Thought
  • Havruta with a One-Eyed Cat
  • Memory & History
  • Miscellaneous
  • Parashat HaShavua
  • Poetry
  • Returning
  • T'shuvah & Healing
  • The Jewish Year
  • Writing & Publishing

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