Dear Reader,

It’s a busy time of year for book people. BookExpo America, the American publishing industry conference, was recently held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and as always it was a great opportunity to survey the state of the book business. While some exhibitors complained of an unusually quiet show—and many of those walking the floor complained about the ten minute shlep from one exhibition hall to the other—what impressed me more than anything else was ever-increasing variety of Jewish books being published.

I can’t be sure just how many new Jewish books will be published in America this coming year, but the number is certainly in the hundreds if not in the thousands. To me, this prodigious literary output signals that despite worrisome recent developments in Israel and Europe, we’re living in a golden age of Jewish life here in America. And one of the tremendous benefits of such a period is that it allows authors and thinkers a great deal of freedom, which results in new ways of thinking and approaching our traditions.

In the current issue of JBooks.com, Rebecca Phillips reviews two recent books by leaders of the Jewish Renewal movement. In these works, both Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi and Rabbi Tirzah Firestone argue that to deepen our spiritual experience in the present, we must familiarize ourselves with the great Jewish leaders and personalities of the past. As a related feature, we also have an interview with Firestone in which she discusses, among other things, the ways Jewish Renewal can be particularly responsive to women’s needs.

While Schachter-Shalomi and Firestone honor Jewish leaders as far back as biblical times, we’re also featuring a review of a new book that celebrates the legacy of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, one of the most revered scholars and leaders of the Jews in the twentieth century.

Other features include an excerpt from a subtle and powerful debut collection of short stories called The Middle of the Night by Daniel Stolar. In the excerpted story, this talented young author takes on the complicated relationship between Jews and African-Americans. It’s the best story on this topic I’ve read since Bernard Malamud’s “Black is My Favorite Color.” 

As always, we have some children’s books for you to consider, and we’ve also got an interview with Tova Mirvis, a Tennessee-born Orthodox Jew whose first novel, The Ladies Auxiliary, garnered a great deal of praise and attention.

If you haven’t yet, subscribe to our e-letter. It’s free and a great way to find out about our new content. And please, drop me a line—I would love to hear what you think of the site, and if there’s a great Jewish book out there that we haven’t featured yet, I’d love to hear about it.

Enjoy your reading—and look forward to a lot of fantastic new books coming out over the summer and in the fall.

Josh Lambert

Editor, JBooks.com