Every few years, I ask what people are reading to prep for High Holidays, and one book tops the list: “This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared” by the late Rabbi Alan Lew.
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Chana Blankshteyn (1860?– 1939) is almost entirely forgotten now, but she was a well-known figure in Vilna between the two World Wars. She was an activist, committed to women’s causes and vocational training for women. As a publisher, editor, and journalist, Blankshteyn defended women’s rights to social, sexual, and political equality. She belonged to the. Read more »
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Why are white people so afraid of my Black skin? When will living in this Black body feel liberating and freeing, instead of terrifying? When will this country acknowledge this pain? When will we have to stop running on the wheel of white supremacy? When will we be able to breathe? I am exhausted, too.. Read more »
The best religion books of 2020
Biblio-therapy for the ill at ease. That means all of us. Caste: The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson. Courtesy image
December 23, 2020
2020 has been an odd and unsettling year perhaps the oddest and most unsettling in our lifetimes.
I am not one to find silver linings in clouds, but here is one that I definitely succeeded in finding: my increased solitude gave me more time and mental space for reading.
Here, then, is my list of my favorite books of 2020, arranged alphabetically according to author. These are the books that kept me sane, inspired me, challenged me, and pushed me beyond an already damaged comfort zone. I believe that they should be on everyone’s reading list.