Jewish-American heritage month is celebrated in May. Highlighted below are some books about Jewish people, their culture, or written by a Jewish American. All are available from the Chatham Area Public Library.
These fiction books for adults are sure to entertain and inspire. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss is the intertwining story of Leo Gursky and Alma. Leo’s life has become mundane; he taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he’s still alive. But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book…Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. Eternal Life by Dara Horn follows Rachel, a woman who cannot die. In the 2,000 years since she made a spiritual bargain to save the life of her first son back in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, she’s tried everything to free herself, and only one other person in the world understands: a man she once loved passionately, who has been stalking her through the centuries, convinced they belong together forever.
Lincoln’s Jewish Spy by E. Lawrence Abel tells the true story of Dr. Issachar Zacharie, a preeminent foot doctor before the Civil War. As an expert in pain management, Zacharie treated President Lincoln. As the two men’s professional and personal relationship deepened, Lincoln began to entrust the doctor with political missions. This biography explores Dr. Zacharie's life, from his birth in Chatham, England, through his medical practice, espionage career and eventual political campaigning for President Lincoln. In Peter Ascoli’s biography of Julius Rosenwald, titled Julius Rosenwald: the man who build Sears, Roebuck and advanced the cause of black education in the American south, we learn about the exuberant man who transformed Sears, Roebuck and was one of the 20th century’s notable philanthropists. Rosenwald, known to his friends as JR, apprenticed for his uncles, who were major clothing manufacturers in New York City. It would be as a men’s clothing salesperson that JR would make his fateful encounter with Sears, Roebuck and Company, which he eventually fashioned into the greatest mail order firm in the world. With his great success, he led a life devoted to philanthropy, helping support the building of more than 5,000 schools and founding Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.
The youngest readers might enjoy My Grandmother's Stories: a collection of Jewish folk tales by Adele Geras. The narrator remembers herself as a young child hearing them from her grandmother, as they cooked, hung up laundry, prepared for the Sabbath, or cleaned house for Passover. The nonfiction book, Portraits of Jewish American Heroes by Malka Drucker, looks at 21 individuals who have enriched America and the lives of Americans through their achievements in such areas as science, sports, film making, and civil rights.
Stop by the Chatham Area Public Library to enjoy these books, and many more, in celebration of Jewish American heritage month.