Some consider the Book of Esther history. Others, a fairy tale. After all, there is a virtuous and beautiful maiden and her protective (non-fairy) godparent, a king, a villain, looming danger, a heroic act and then… an improbably happy ending.…

The new book by Avivah Zornberg, Moses: A Human Life, though presented as a “biography” (it appears in Yale University Press’ series on “Jewish Lives,” the other volumes in which are, in fact, biographies), is not really a biography. Zornberg herself…

Rabbi Evan Moffic, the spiritual leader of Congregation Solel in Highland Park, Ill., and one of the country’s youngest senior rabbis in the Reform movement, is shedding light on Jesus’ Jewish roots in order to help Christians and Jews alike see…

With Seeds of Transcendence: Understanding the Hebrew Bible through Plants, Jo Ann Gardner has exceeded any standard compendium of plants of the Bible. Ambitiously crafted as a commentary, Gardner’s book (Decalogue Books, $29.95) explicates the cycle…

In Abraham: The World’s First (but Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer (Schocken, Oct.), Harvard Law professor and defense attorney Alan Dershowitz offers a new perspective on the biblical patriarch. Here, Dershowitz, who has written extensively about…

Celebrated everywhere for her brilliant teaching and her dazzling skill in interpreting Bible narratives, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg offers masterful midrashic readings of biblical texts. Through psychological insight, Jewish philosophy and comparative…

“You can't really make sense of a good deal of Western literature, especially English literature, without a knowledge of the Bible,” says Robert Alter, one of the most highly regarded translators of the Old Testament working today. Strong As Death Is…

Biblical scholar Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg won the 1995 National Jewish Book Award for The Beginning of Desire, a psychoanalytical exploration of the existential questions raised by Genesis. In her new book, Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of…

In Dangerous Sisters of the Hebrew Bible (Fortress Press, $24), Rabbi Amy Kalmanofsky presents a fresh perspective on the activity of women in the Bible. She contends the role that women play specifically as sisters lends women power, and often…

Readers with introspective and questing spirits have three new books for the Jewish High Holy Days (Rosh HaShanah begins on the evening of September 24; Yom Kippur on the evening of October 3). Marcia Falk (The Book of Blessings) takes a poetic…

In The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor: The Holy Scriptures Missing from Your Bible (Thomas Dunne, Sept.), independent scholar Joel Hoffman (And God Said) makes key extracanonical works-- books left out of the Bible as we know it today--accessible to a…

In Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, The Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History (Harper Wave, June) Joseph Telushkin (Jewish Literacy) offers admiring but clear-eyed insight into the life and legacy of the 7th Rebbe of the…

Jewish tradition and communities have apparent dichotomies regarding conflict: Traditionally, Jews tend toward disagreement and disputation, but have an equal passion for peace. And while Jews are idealistic about their role in the redemption of the…

In From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace (Orbis, April), Rabbi Amy Eilberg offers a practical guide to fulfillment of the Jewish religious commandment to “pursue peace” at all levels of life. What was your most important goal…

I am a Conservative rabbi. But I have Conservative colleagues who wouldn’t call me for an aliyah to the Torah because I am a woman. I say, this is an affront to my honor. But I risk being accused of “intolerance” — of the one who will not recognize…

Mention King David to most people, and you’ll only hear good things. He was the handsome boy who defeated the giant Goliath; the warrior who bested jealous King Saul, winning the hearts of the people; the man who became the pious second king of…

In God of Becoming and Relationship: The Dynamic Nature of Process Theology (Jewish Lights, Dec.), Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson presents a fresh articulation of Judaism through the lens of process theology, elucidating a dynamic view of the God of…

When Lawrence H. Schiffman was 15 years old he traveled to Israel, where he developed a love for its archaeological and historical sites. That inspiration would eventually lead to a distinguished career as a scholar of Second Temple literature,…

Veronica Mary Rolf: Following the Light of Julian of Norwich Veronica Mary Rolf’s relationship with Julian of Norwich, the 14th-century mystic, began on 91st Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. A theology teacher at the Convent of the Sacred Heart…