{"id":570,"date":"2010-12-15T13:27:03","date_gmt":"2010-12-15T13:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/12\/best-jewish-book-of-2010.html"},"modified":"2010-12-15T13:27:03","modified_gmt":"2010-12-15T13:27:03","slug":"best-jewish-book-of-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/12\/best-jewish-book-of-2010.html","title":{"rendered":"Best Jewish Book of 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most <em>Best Of <\/em>lists tell us more about the list-makers than about anything else, and this one is probably no different, but that doesn&#8217;t it isn&#8217;t useful in thinking about what were the best Jewish books of 2010.<br \/>\nThe truth is, that I probably would not have even addressed this issue were it not a question that I was recently asked by a good friend and editor of a major news online outlet for news and opinion.  But once he got me thinking, about it, I found it a pretty completing question &#8211; one which really helps whomever offers an answer a window into their own understanding of what Jewish is all about.<br \/>\nOf course, because this is a Jewish response, I cannot limit myself to a single answer!  I will instead offer four Best Jewish Books of 2010, recommending each for a different, but related, reason.<br \/>\nFirst on my list, though not because it is better than the others, would be <em>To The End Of The Land<\/em> by David Grossman, because of its ability to address so many issues relating to Israel.  Neither left- or right-leaning, just a passionate and powerful engagement with a seemingly endless dilemma which effects us all.<br \/>\nNext would be <em>The Finkler Question <\/em>by Howard Jacobson, because of its keen sense of contemporary Jewish identity, particularly for non-Orthodox Diaspora Jews i.e. the largest demographic category for global Jewry.  Finkler&#8217;s questions are most Jews questions and they deserve real attention.<br \/>\nThird on the list is the final volume of the <em>Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud<\/em> edited by Adin Steinsaltz.   This one is here not because this final volume is more impressive than any of its predecessors, but because it culminates a 40 year effort to make sacred texts increasingly available to the general public.  The more access more people have to sacred text, the better.<br \/>\nFinally, I must include <em>What Does It Mean To Be Jewish?<\/em> by Linda Vero-Ban.  This beautiful little book, produced by a young Jewish educator in Budapest, Hungary is a children&#8217;s book for people of all ages who want an inviting open approach to the infinite number of possible answers to that question.  You have to go on-line to get it, but it&#8217;s well worth the effort.<br \/>\nWhen I shared this list with my editor friend, he asked me about a new book by Rodger Kamenetz, <em>Burnt Books<\/em>.  My response to him, as it is to you, is that Kamenetz wrote a beautiful book, but because it offers more of an answer (in many ways to the central questions evoked by the works on my list) than it captures a set of questions or realities, I see it as less appropriate for this list.<br \/>\nTo be clear, I love RK&#8217;s answers, but I remain committed to the importance of questions over even the best answers, in all but the most urgent circumstances.  And yes, I guess that&#8217;s my answer, but at least I know that and acknowledge that its&#8217; just one among many.<br \/>\nHappy reading!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most Best Of lists tell us more about the list-makers than about anything else, and this one is probably no different, but that doesn&#8217;t it isn&#8217;t useful in thinking about what were the best Jewish books of 2010. The truth is, that I probably would not have even addressed this issue were it not a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judaism","category-pop-culture"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Best Jewish Book of 2010 - Windows and Doors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/12\/best-jewish-book-of-2010.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Best Jewish Book of 2010 - Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most Best Of lists tell us more about the list-makers than about anything else, and this one is probably no different, but that doesn&#8217;t it isn&#8217;t useful in thinking about what were the best Jewish books of 2010. The truth is, that I probably would not have even addressed this issue were it not a&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/12\/best-jewish-book-of-2010.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-15T13:27:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Hirschfield\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Best Jewish Book of 2010 - Windows and Doors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/12\/best-jewish-book-of-2010.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Best Jewish Book of 2010 - Windows and Doors","og_description":"Most Best Of lists tell us more about the list-makers than about anything else, and this one is probably no different, but that doesn&#8217;t it isn&#8217;t useful in thinking about what were the best Jewish books of 2010. 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