The most recommended books on Judaism

Who picked these books? Meet our 64 experts.

64 authors created a book list connected to Judaism, and here are their favorite Judaism books.
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Book cover of We Refuse to Be Enemies: How Muslims and Jews Can Make Peace, One Friendship at a Time

Kerry M. Olitzky Author Of Strangers in Jerusalem

From my list on bringing Muslims and Jews together.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a rabbi and educator who lives in the midst of a large Jewish community and a large Muslim community. But up until about 10 or so years ago, I had no Muslim friends. My wife and I set out to change that. (She formed the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom and I benefited as a plus one.) I am also the author of nearly 100 books, a growing number of which are for children and some focus on the relationship between Muslims and Jews. 

Kerry's book list on bringing Muslims and Jews together

Kerry M. Olitzky Why did Kerry love this book?

The title of this book reflects the entire book—and the lives and work of the authors.

A Muslim woman and a Jewish man demonstrate why they refuse to be enemies, even when large segments of their respective communities are them to be so. They use their own life stories and transform them into a dialogue of mutual respect, demonstrating to the reader that Muslims and Jews have more in common than they have differences.

The book is both manifesto and instruction as to how we can create communities that share rather than conflict with one another. 

By Sabeeha Rehman, Walter Ruby,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked We Refuse to Be Enemies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For readers of The Faith Club, Sons of Abraham, and The Anatomy of Peace, a call for mutual understanding and lessons for getting there
We Refuse to Be Enemies is a manifesto by two American citizens, a Muslim woman and Jewish man, concerned with the rise of intolerance and bigotry in our country along with resurgent white nationalism. Neither author is an imam, rabbi, scholar, or community leader, but together they have spent decades doing interfaith work and nurturing cooperation among communities. They have learned that, through face-to-face encounters, people of all backgrounds can come to know the Other as…


Book cover of Shoshi's Shabbat

Kerry M. Olitzky Author Of A Whale of a Tale: A Sabbath Summer Solstice Story

From my list on kids reads that simplify complicated Jewish ideas.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a rabbi, educator and author. I have had the privilege of writing many books over the course of my rabbinate. Over the past five years, I have turned the attention of my writing to children’s books. And I am especially attuned to those books that take complicated Jewish ideas and tell them in words and pictures that young children can understand. I try to do this in my own writing, as well. 

Kerry's book list on kids reads that simplify complicated Jewish ideas

Kerry M. Olitzky Why did Kerry love this book?

This is a sweet book that focuses on the essential idea of Shabbat: rest and refraining from work.

It also teaches an idea that is part of the ancient lesson of the Sabbath—everyone rests on the Sabbath including work animals. I like this book—and its lovely illustrations—because it takes a difficult idea that is culled from rabbinic sources. 

By Caryn Yacowitz, Kevin Hawkes (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Shoshi's Shabbat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

The virtues of taking a break - and of being thankful - are extolled in the gentle story of a stubborn ox, an impatient farmer, and a day of rest.

Long ago, in the hills near Jerusalem, lived a young ox. For six days each week, she and her owner would toil in the fields, and on the seventh day both would rest. Then it came to be that this young ox was sold. For six days, she toiled in her new owner's fields, and on the seventh day the farmer brought out the yoke and plough, expecting to spend…


Book cover of Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older: Finding Your Grit and Grace Beyond Midlife

Susan H. McFadden Author Of Dementia-Friendly Communities: Why We Need Them and How We Can Create Them

From my list on innovative approaches to living with dementia.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been teaching college students about aging since I was in my late 20s. The audacity! Now that I am officially in the “young-old” category I used to describe to my students, I more fully appreciate the social constructions of aging that affect elders, the medical conditions that can derail plans for “a good old age,” and the challenges we all face in attempting to live with meaning and purpose as we grow older. In addition to teaching, writing about, and researching various aspects of aging, especially aging with various type of dementia, my work has addressed the positive and negative ways religious faith can shape how people cope with aging.

Susan's book list on innovative approaches to living with dementia

Susan H. McFadden Why did Susan love this book?

Rabbi Dayle Friedman’s wisdom about aging can be appreciated by people of all religions and no religion. Her honest engagement with some of the most difficult issues aging persons face leaves readers with hope rather than despair. Her many years as a chaplain for people living in long-term care with dementia undergird her suggestions on how to make sense of what she calls “dementia’s brokenness”. She concludes each chapter with a spiritual practice readers can employ to engage more deeply with the chapter’s topics, and also at the end of each chapter, she offers readers a blessing for their own efforts to flourish as they age.  

By Dayle A. Friedman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Growing Older Can Be a Time of Growing in Depth and Wisdom

"My sense is that the whole journey beyond midlife is a mysterious blend of light and dark, wholeness and fragility…. We have a chance beyond midlife to become the person we were truly meant to be. We can draw on everything we have experienced so far to contribute to the people around us and the wider world, and to find strength and resilience amid the challenges."
―from the Introduction

Whether you are fifty-five or seventy-five, approaching retirement or age one hundred, growing older brings remarkable opportunities but often…


Book cover of The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

Jonathan Trigell Author Of The Tongues of Men or Angels

From my list on fiction with Jesus as a character.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m the author of five extremely different novels: Boy A (which was made into an award-winning film), Cham, Genus, The Tongues of Men or Angels, and Under Country. They share almost nothing in subject or setting. Ranging from first-century Judaea to a future London. From ski resort workers in France to young offender prisons in Britain. My latest work - Under Country - is about the 1984 Miners’ Strike and its still lingering scars in the North East pit villages. Yet, I suppose, if there were a unifying theme between them, it would be that each, in its own way, is influenced by and fascinated with Christianity.

Jonathan's book list on fiction with Jesus as a character

Jonathan Trigell Why did Jonathan love this book?

Pullman sets out – and achieves, with his usual aplomb – to subvert the stories of Jesus, indeed to divide them: his Jesus and his Christ are two entirely separate figures. Pullman uses a deliberate echo of Biblical style, to show how the Bible stories are first and foremost just that: stories. To show how history became myth and then myth became faith. How the very hypocrisies that Jesus himself pointed out people mouthing religious observances, without the accompanying good deeds – became an almost fundamental structure of the established church. 

By Philip Pullman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'If I vanished he wouldn't notice, if I died he wouldn't care. I think of him all the time, and he thinks of me not at all. I love him, and my love torments me. There are times when I feel like a ghost beside him; as if he alone is real, and I'm just a daydream.'

This is the story of two brothers. One is impassioned and one reserved. One is destined to go down in history and the other to be forgotten.

In Pullman's hands, this sacred tale is reborn as one of the most enchanting, thrilling and…


Book cover of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World

Jennifer Lang Author Of Landed: A yogi's memoir in pieces & poses

From Jennifer's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Creative Writer Yogini Experimenter Wayfarer

Jennifer's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Jennifer Lang Why did Jennifer love this book?

In lieu of attending services on Rosh Hashanah, I sat with a cup of Earl Grey tea in a recliner chair in our living room in Tel Aviv and read from the first to the last page. In one gulp. A beautiful book full of food for thought about society, humanity, the state of our world, human needs, community, Jewish teachings, and love. Everyone could benefit from reading this book, especially now.

By Sharon Brous,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Amen Effect as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of The Right and the Good: Halakhah and Human Relations

Ronald W. Pies Author Of The Ethics of the Jewish Mystics: An Introduction and Commentary

From my list on Jewish ethical teachings.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a psychiatrist and medical ethicist—not a theologian or rabbinical scholar. And yet, for more than thirty years, I have had a kind of love affair with rabbinical ethics and have written several books on the topic. This is particularly ironic, since, in my youth, I rebelled against my own rabbi’s teachings and my father’s adherence to Orthodox Judaism. Much later in life, I took courses in Jewish ethics and studied briefly with a local rabbi. I eventually came to appreciate the deep psychological wisdom in so much of Jewish and rabbinical ethics. 

Ronald's book list on Jewish ethical teachings

Ronald W. Pies Why did Ronald love this book?

Judaism is sometimes accused of being obsessed with rituals and laws, at the expense of interpersonal relationships. Rabbi Feldman’s insightful book debunks that charge, focusing in psychologically astute ways on human relationships. Topics include revenge, violence, love, and generosity. While scholarly in content, this book has a friendly, informal tone, such as the chapter titled, “One strike and you’re out: hitting and raising a hand in violence.” 

By Daniel Z. Feldman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Right and the Good as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In an effort to respond to the baseless criticism that Jewish law is overly preoccupied with religious ritual at the expense of issues having to do with interpersonal relationships, the author presents a detailed exploration of the vast attention that the masters of Jewish thought have given to relations between and among individuals. This book is not a legal guide to interpersonal relationships in Jewish life, nor is it a volume of moral exhortation. Rather, Rabbi Feldman aims to convey the importance of his subject by exhibiting its hallowed place within the structure of Jewish law and within the analysis…


Book cover of We Tell It to Our Children: The Story of Passover

Ron Isaacs Author Of Seder in Motion: A Haggadah to Move Body and Soul

From my list on Haggadahs for a meaningful Passover Seder.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a Conservative Rabbi who served Temple Sholom in Bridgewater NJ from 1975-2015. I'm currently the Rabbi of Beth Judah Temple in Wildwood New Jersey. I've always been intrigued with the Haggadah and its origins, and for almost 50 years I've hosted the Passover seders at my home. I always wanted to search for just the right Haggadah that I could use to make the experience fun and participatory for all. Because of my passion for wanting to give participants at my seder a positive experience, I decided to write my own Haggadah, I've written several including Seder in Motion: A Haggadah to Move Body and Soul coauthored with my wife Leora Isaacs.

Ron's book list on Haggadahs for a meaningful Passover Seder

Ron Isaacs Why did Ron love this book?

This Haggadah is a Haggadah that is ideal when there are younger children at the seder. What makes the Haggadah unique are its puppets (included with the book) which need to be prepared and assembled prior to the seder. Many parts of the seder are set up as a script of a play, where parts can be given out to read. There are also original fun songs to sing. When my children were younger, I used this Haggadah with enormous success, and still have the puppets which I hope to use now with my grandchildren!

By Mary Ann Wark,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked We Tell It to Our Children as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book by Wark, Mary Ann


Book cover of An Earlier Life

Beth Kephart Author Of Wife Daughter Self: A Memoir in Essays

From my list on the best memoir in essays.

Why am I passionate about this?

The first memoir I ever read—Road Song by Natalie Kusz—pierced me in ways I did not know were possible. Kusz had written, in this elegantly crafted book, of an Alaskan childhood, a life-changing accident, early motherhood, and family love. She had written, I mean to say, of transcending truths. I have spent much of my life ever since deconstructing the ways in which true stories get told, and writing them myself. I’ve taught memoir to five-year-olds, Ivy League students, master’s level writers, and retirees. I co-founded Juncture Workshops, write a monthly newsletter on the form, and today create blank books into which other writers might begin to tell their stories.

Beth's book list on the best memoir in essays

Beth Kephart Why did Beth love this book?

“In an earlier life,” Miller writes, “I was a baker, in a bakery on a cobblestoned street.” It takes Miller just one single paragraph to tell this whole tale—how she proofed yeast, how she scraped her spoon, how she made loaves for children: “It was my only kindness.” In every successive chapter—most all of them short, many of them formally inventive—Miller deconstructs her life and soul—the roots of her unease, the startling incidents of loss, her learning to sleep, and her learning to live with the person she becomes. Miller is a stellar choreographer, knowing just where to place which expertly fashioned scene and knowing, always, what to leave out.

By Brenda Miller,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Earlier Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

How many lives do we create in one lifetime? In her latest collection of innovative, shape-shifting essays, Brenda Miller evolves through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood to enter the wry maturity of middle age. Whether traveling from synagogue to sweat lodge, from the Arizona desert to a communal hot springs in California, she navigates the expectations placed on young girls and women at every turn. She finds guidance in her four major creeds (Judaism, Home Improvement, the Grateful Dead, and Rescue Dogs), while charting a course toward an authentic life. Each stage demands its own form, its own story, sometimes…


Book cover of A Kiss For Santa

Casey Cox Author Of Got Me Merry

From my list on festive Christmas MM romances to get you merry.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a MM romance author who loves Christmas. Except, living in Australia means my Christmas Day us spent lazing about in a pool in the middle of a summer heatwave. That’s why I love reading all the romance books about holidays where there’s snow, wintry nights, hot cocoa, and of course, all the love and feels we’ve come to expect at this magical time of year. There are too many MM holiday romances to mention, but I hope this list gives you a taste of what you can expect!

Casey's book list on festive Christmas MM romances to get you merry

Casey Cox Why did Casey love this book?

The holidays are all about love and goodwill, but has anyone ever spared a thought for the person at the center of it all? In this delightful MM romance, Mia imagines a version of life where a single Santa pines for his secret crush, Luca. A unique and thoroughly enjoyable story that I devoured in a single session. 

By Mia Monroe,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Kiss For Santa as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This year, Santa gets a gift too.

One night every year, I deliver gifts to all the good people around the world. I have everything I could want—a beautiful private home, loving friends and family, and the most amazing job in existence. All my needs are more than met, and the other 364 days of the year are mine to spend how I wish.

The only thing I don’t have is a love of my own. I’ve been hopelessly in love with Luca Vincent for years, watching him from afar, but he has a full life and it would be…


Book cover of We Refuse to Be Enemies: How Muslims and Jews Can Make Peace, One Friendship at a Time
Book cover of Shoshi's Shabbat
Book cover of Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older: Finding Your Grit and Grace Beyond Midlife

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