My Jewish Reading List: Books I Still Need to Read

13 Sivan 5774

I put this here as a service to folks who might need suggestions for further books to read. I’m also going to be reading these in the next month or two, I hope.

First, the other convert at my temple sent me the rabbi’s reading list, which includes:

1. The Siddur Hadash, by (I’m assuming) the Center for Contemporary Judaica
2. The Synagogue Survival Kit: A Guide to Understanding Jewish Religious Services, by Jordan Lee Wagner 
3. The Book of Jewish Values, by Joseph Telushkin
4. A Guide to Jewish Practice, Volume 1: Everyday Living, by David A. Teuts
5. Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way, by Anderson, Motzkin, Rubenstein and Wiseman
6. Teach Yourself to Read Hebrew, book and cassette, revised edition, by Simon and Anderson

Other books I’ve had recommended to me by friends include:

1. Mah La’asot: What Should I Do? by Alper and Grishover
2. Embracing the Covenant by Berkowitz and Moskovitz
3. Elijah’s Violin, a collection of Jewish fairytales from different parts of the Diaspora
4. Jewish Folklore, by Nathan Ausubel
5. The Big Book of Jewish Humor by Moshe Waldoks
6. The Passionate Torah: Sex and Judaism, edited by Danya Ruttenberg
7. Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory by Josef Yerushalmi
8. The Sabbath, by Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ilya Schor and Susannah Heschel
9. Essential Judaism by George Robinson
10. To Pray As A Jew by Hayim Donin
11. Growing Up Jewish: or, Why Is This Book Different from All Other Books? by Moline

As you can see, I have some reading to do. I can’t afford to buy all these books – yet – but I’ve put almost all of them on my Amazon wishlist.