Dear reader,

Throughout thousands of years of history, texts have comforted, informed, and guided Jews—and in our increasingly complex world, we need books to educate and entertain us more than ever. We’re living in a golden age of Jewish publishing, with hundreds of publishers releasing thousands of books of Jewish interest each year, and there are as many different kinds of Jewish books as there are Jewish readers. JBooks.com is the new home for these Jewish books on the web, bringing you reviews of exceptional new Jewish books along with author profiles, book excerpts, and much more.

By way of introduction, let me give you a brief tour through the features and sections you’ll find as you browse the new JBooks.com.

Current Issue. Like a paper-based book review magazine, JBooks.com will publish a new issue every two weeks. You’ll always find our current issue on the homepage. For our first issue, we’re featuring the winners of the recently-announced 2002 Koret Jewish Books Awards. In their fifth year, these prestigious awards celebrate excellent Jewish fiction and scholarship. Find out more about our Koret-related features below.

Reviews. First and foremost, we feature insightful, compelling reviews of the best new Jewish books, organized by category into Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Children’s Books. In our current issue, you’ll find reviews of several Koret Award winners. If you’ve never heard of Henryk Grynberg, you’ll want to read Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska’s introduction to this acclaimed Polish writer and his devastating collection of award-winning short stories. In Non-Fiction, India Edghill, author of a historical novel about King David’s queen, reviews Tikva Frymer-Kensky new interpretation of the women of the bible. Meanwhile, novelist Ben Schrank tackles the dense and mysterious scholarship of Moshe Idel’s commanding work on the Kabbalah. And for children, we’re highlighting a gorgeous new Passover storybook. 

Interviews and Profiles. In addition to reviews, we’ll also be presenting interviews with your favorite authors. In honor of our launch and the announcement of the Koret awards, we’re featuring a conversation about the past, present, and future of Jewish reading between Steve Zipperstein, chair of Koret Awards Committee, and Yossi Abramowitz, CEO of Jewish Family & Life! and publisher of JBooks.com. Browse our interview index to find interviews with and profiles of writers like Amos Oz and Maurice Sendak.

First Chapters. In this section, you can flip through an excerpt from an exciting new book, like Benjamin Nathan’s Koret Award-winning history of Russian Jewry.

Books Amplified. Turn on your speakers and listen to authors reading from their books. For our launch, the Jewish Book Council has provided a reading by Daniel Levitas, author of The Terrorist Next Door, a disturbing but essential look at the rise of the radical right in America. 

This is just the beginning of the exciting content on JBooks.com. From Our Pages, on the left side of your screen, is the place to find more interesting reviews and features in addition to those highlighted in our current issue. Literary Links, on the homepage, is a regularly-updated set of links to interesting book features from the best Jewish publications on the web. In our Discussion forums, you’ll have your chance to respond to our reviews and features, exchange your thoughts about the best Jewish books and authors of all time, and reach out to other passionate readers. And make sure you sign up for our e-letter so that we can let you know when we’ve posted a new issue.

Be in touch with me with your comments, suggestions, and questions. If there’s a book you’d like to see reviewed or a new feature you’d enjoy, I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks you for visiting us. Enjoy your reading,

Josh Lambert

Editor, JBooks.com