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Showing 1 - 20 of 11382 items
The hare with amber eyes: a hidden inheritance
By Edmund De Waal, Edmund De Waal. 2011
British ceramic artist relates tracing his family's history through the ownership of a collection of netsuke, ornamental Japanese carvings, which…
he inherited in 1994. Describes the wealthy Ephrussi clan's lives in Vienna and Paris and their origins as Jewish merchants from Odessa, Russia. 2010
The boy who came back from heaven: a remarkable account of miracles, angels, and life beyond this world
By Kevin Malarkey, Alex Malarkey, Kevin Malarkey. 2010
Father recounts the 2004 car accident that injured him and left his six-year-old son Alex in a coma. Alex describes…
waking two months later and discovering that some of his spinal injuries had healed without medical intervention--and believing that he had entered heaven and met Jesus. Bestseller. 2010
Terezín: voices from the Holocaust
By Ruth Thomson. 2011
Uses extracts from diaries and memoirs to describe Terezín, Czechoslovakia, in 1941-1945, when the Nazis turned the small town into…
a transit camp for imprisoning Jewish people before sending them to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Relates the prisoners' feelings and their observations about camp events. For grades 5-8. 2011
The year of goodbyes: a true story of friendship, family and farewells
By Debbie Levy. 2010
Inspired by her mother Jutta's poesiealbum--an album of poems written by friends--and Jutta's diary, Levy presents a blank-verse recollection of…
the rapidly increased danger for Jews in Nazi Germany, which culminated in Jutta's family moving to the United States before World War II. For grades 5-8. 2010
Journalist examines the intersecting experiences of three scholars and one ambitious freshman at Harvard during the winter of 1960-1961. Discusses…
their experiments in psychedelic drug research that set the stage for the social, spiritual, sexual, and psychological revolution of the 1960s. 2010
The faith club: a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew-- three women search for understanding
By Priscilla Warner, Suzanne Oliver, Ranya Idliby. 2007
After the 9/11 attacks three American women--one Jewish, one Christian, and one Muslim--decided to collaborate on an interfaith children's book…
to show the similarities among their religions. They discovered that their own misunderstandings had to be addressed first, leading to candid dialogue as their faith club sought common ground. 2006
Unorthodox: the scandalous rejection of my Hasidic roots
By Deborah Feldman. 2012
Author, born in the 1980s, describes being raised by her Hasidic grandparents in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood after her mother left…
her developmentally disabled father. Discusses being an outcast and her arranged marriage, limited access to reading material, and lack of educational or employment opportunities. Bestseller. 2012
The Jewish festivals: a guide to their history and observance
By Hayyim Schauss, Ḥayim Shoys. 1996
Historical background for Jewish festivals and feast days. Uses details of the celebrations to help explain the basic precepts of…
Judaism. Describes the biblical origin of observances and traces the ways they have evolved. Translated from Yiddish by Samuel Jaffe with a 1996 foreword by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner. 1938
Angels Here Among Us
By Vernon Oickle, Vernon L. Oickle. 2010
Angels, universal beacons of hope, symbols of humanity and grace. In this book, you will encounter people who have had…
extraordinary experiences, and you will read stories that may seem impossible or too amazing to be true. Vernon Oickle recounts deeply personal stories of real people who have encountered otherworldly beings who have brought comfort and provoked life-altering changes: * A woman in white appears on the deck of fishing boat and warns a fisherman of impending danger * Lost in a blinding snowstorm in a dense forest, a boy is guided home to his family by a mysterious stranger * A young boy saves his family from perishing in a house fire after a strange visitor wakes him up and leads him to safety * During a difficult delivery, an expectant mother sees a woman engulfed in a bright light hovering over the doctor and knows that everything will be all right * An unknown man appears out of nowhere to save a young girl from drowning, and then he suddenly disappears * While sitting in a jail cell, a despondent man has a life-changing conversation with another man in the cell next to him, only to find out the next day that the cell was empty * Many of these true stories defy logic, yet point to the existence of angels among us.
The Pope and I: how the lifelong friendship between a Polish Jew and John Paul II advanced the cause of Jewish-Christian relations
By Jerzy Kluger, Gianfranco Di Simone. 2012
Autobiography recounts the author's childhood friendship in 1920s Poland with Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005), who became Pope John Paul II in…
1978. Kluger, a Jew, describes surviving World War II and reuniting with his friend after almost thirty years. Translated from Polish. 2011
Jungleland: a mysterious lost city, a WWII spy, and a true story of deadly adventure
By Christopher S. Stewart. 2013
Journalist recounts his 2008 search for the lost city of Ciudad Blanca in Central America. Discusses studying the 1940 expedition…
journals of American spy Theodore Morde, who claimed to have found the city. Compares Morde's journey with his own. Young adult appeal. 2013
Proof of heaven: a neurosurgeon's journey into the afterlife
By Eben Alexander. 2012
Account of fifty-four-year-old Harvard-educated neurosurgeon Alexander and his 2008 recovery from a coma induced by bacterial meningitis. Describes his near-death…
experience--including a feeling of unconditional love and acceptance--that convinced him of the existence of heaven and a personal God. Bestseller. 2012
Fringe-ology: how I tried to explain away the unexplainable--and couldn't
By Steve Volk. 2011
Medusa's gaze and vampire's bite: the science of monsters
By Matt Kaplan. 2012
Science journalist examines ancient and modern myths of monsters, from the Nemean Lion of ancient Greece to King Kong and…
the Terminator. Uses archaeology and other disciplines to theorize on the sources of these tales and the reasons they fascinate us. Young adult appeal. Some violence. 2012
Heavens on earth: the scientific search for the afterlife, immortality, and utopia
By Michael Shermer. 2018
Founder of The Skeptics Society explores the intersection of science and religion through the lens of an examination of humans'…
fascination with the afterlife. Topics covered include mortal experiences and immortal quests, the scientific search for immortality, yesterdays and tomorrows, and mortality and meaning. 2018
This is your mind on plants
By Michael Pollan. 2021
The instant New York Times bestseller &“Expert storytelling . . . [Pollan] masterfully elevates a series of big questions about…
drugs, plants and humans that are likely to leave readers thinking in new ways.&”— New York Times Book Review From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants—and the equally powerful taboos. Of all the things humans rely on plants for—sustenance, beauty, medicine, fragrance, flavor, fiber—surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: People around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. But we do not usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable. So, then, what is a &“drug&”? And why, for example, is making tea from the leaves of a tea plant acceptable, but making tea from a seed head of an opium poppy a federal crime? In This Is Your Mind on Plants , Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs—opium, caffeine, and mescaline—and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs while consuming (or, in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and fraught feelings? In this unique blend of history, science, and memoir, as well as participatory journalism, Pollan examines and experiences these plants from several very different angles and contexts, and shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively—as a drug, whether licit or illicit. But that is one of the least interesting things you can say about these plants, Pollan shows, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. Based in part on an essay published almost twenty-five years ago, this groundbreaking and singular consideration of psychoactive plants, and our attraction to them through time, holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds, and our entanglement with the natural world
Rbg's brave & brilliant women: 33 jewish women to inspire everyone
By Nadine Epstein. 2021
This collection of biographies of brave and brilliant Jewish female role models—selected in collaboration with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and including…
an introduction written by the iconic Supreme Court justice herself— provides young people with a roster of inspirational role models, all of whom are Jewish women, who will appeal not only to young people but to people of all ages, and all faiths. The fascinating lives detailed in this collection—more than thirty exemplary female role models—were chosen by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG, as she was lovingly known to her many admirers. Working with her friend, journalist Nadine Epstein, RBG selected these trailblazers, all of whom are women and Jewish, who chose not to settle for the rules and beliefs of their time. They did not accept what the world told them they should be. Like RBG, they dreamed big, worked hard, and forged their own paths to become who they deserved to be. Future generations will benefit from each and every one of the courageous actions and triumphs of the women profiled here. Real Wonder Women , the passion project of Justice Ginsburg in the last year of her life, will inspire readers to think about who they want to become and to make it happen, just like RBG
Between gods: a memoir
By Alison Pick. 2015
Woman recounts growing up as a devout Christian and finding out that her father's family was actually Jewish and had…
fled to Canada at the start of World War II, though some were lost to the Holocaust. Discusses her exploration of Judaism and eventual conversion. 2014
Discussion and analysis of the prophecies presented in author's novel The Harbinger (DB 76704). Expands on perceived evidence for the…
phenomenon called the Shemitah, which is purported to be behind such events as financial market crashes, tragic world events, and the rise and fall of nations. 2014
This basic primer for the interested student of witchcraft is divided into two parts. Part one is an introduction to…
the history and types of witchcraft, including the toolkit any witch needs. Part two is a collection of spells that focus on positive thinking and supporting rituals. 2014