Did you know that many of your favorite Christmas songs were written by Jewish people? What about that Jewish communities are the most consistently targeted for religious bias-based violence in the US? These facts have very different impacts on our society, but they’re both little-known facts about an important religious minority in our midst.
The Rabbi who Prayed With Fire by Rachel Sharona Lewis is part-mystery, part-examination of the social structure of a modern congregation. Vivian Green is the new rabbi at Congregation Beth Abraham, and she’s turned out to be more political than the synagogue’s membership expected. Rabbi Vivian is passionate about social justice and gets herself into trouble as she takes on an arson investigation and maybe– just maybe– gets the girl. Though fictional, it’s been praised for the way it captures an indifferently liberal suburban Available in print or as an ebook on Hoopla. 
People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn is a collection of essays written after Horn noticed that her journalism contacts offered her work writing on Jewish topics– as long as the topics were tragic. Jewish death, it seems, is much more marketable than Jewish life. What follows is a powerful series of insights drawn from Horn’s family, travels, and American culture at large. Funny but also challenging and confrontational, this looks into the sadness at the heart of Judaism– at least, its popular conception. Available in print or as an ebook on OverDrive/Libby.
Jew-ish : reinvented recipes from a modern mensch is a cookbook by Jake Cohen that provides a modern twist on traditional Jewish cuisine. Jew-ish is a brilliant collection of delicious recipes, but it’s much more than that. As Jake reconciles ancient traditions with our modern times, his recipes become a celebration of a rich and vibrant history, a love story of blending cultures, and an invitation to gather around the table and create new memories with family, friends, and loved ones. Available in print and as an ebook on OverDrive/Libby.
Want to learn more? Read on at https://www.ccarnet.org/, the website of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, for up-to-date responses to issues affecting Jewish people in the United States.
