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Sounding Off
Note to some of my fellow progressives: If we can’t argue about Israel without using anti-Semitic tropes, then the debate is lost before it even begins
Ben-Gurion
A Political Life
David Ben-Gurion was a mythic figure, a founding father of Israel, and the country’s first prime minister, but he was also a real man, brimming with human contradictions, who was observed in all his complexity by Shimon Peres.
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The New Colossus
An Interactive Poem
To mark the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, Nextbook Press has taken the statue’s classic sonnet – “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus – and updated this 19th century classic for the 21st century. With annotations by Esther Schor, who wrote the biography of Emma Lazarus for the Jewish Encounters book series, this interactive poem offers background, insight, and commentary on the original poem, with videos and photographs and text. You’ll see this legendary work in a whole new way.
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Sacred Trash
The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza
Acclaimed essayist Adina Hoffman and MacArthur-winning poet and translator Peter Cole tell the story of the recovery from a Cairo geniza (a repository for worn-out texts) of the most vital cache of Hebrew manuscripts ever discovered. Part biography and part meditation on the supreme value the Jewish people has long placed on the written word, Sacred Trash is above all a gripping tale of adventure and redemption.
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The Eichmann Trial
Award-winning historian Deborah Lipstadt gives us an overview of the trial and analyzes the dramatic effect that the testimony of survivors in a court of law— which was itself not without controversy— had on a world that had until then regularly commemorated the Holocaust but never fully understood the millions who died and the hundreds of thousands who managed to survive.
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Burnt Books
Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav and Franz Kafka
A dual biography of the venerated Hasidic storyteller and the iconic modern literary master that uncovers surprising parallels between two tragically abbreviated lives spent in search of spiritual meaning.
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The Selected Poems of Yehuda Halevi
Nextbook Press is pleased to make available here, in its first original e-book, this collection of 35 poems by Yehuda Halevi in their original Hebrew, alongside masterful translations and annotations by renowned essayist, critic, and translator Hillel Halkin, who is the author of a biography of Halevi for Nextbook Press. Designed by Scott Martin-Kosofsky, using a new Hebrew font revived from centuries ago, this digital poetry chapbook is available for free. Read More »
Latest News and Reviews
Gilead Sher finds Ben-Gurion: A Political Life to be “essential reading for those interested in both statesmanship and the history of Israel”
"History is best written by using primary sources, and there is no better historical source with regard to Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, than his protégé, Shimon Peres." Continue reading
“She Wrote a Nation’s Welcome:” The work of Emma Lazarus and her biographer Esther Schor recognized in the “Poet of Exiles” exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage
"Even if Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus” had not transformed the gargantuan Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor from an aggressive monument — “Liberty Enlightening the World” — into a welcoming “Mother of Exiles”; even if she had not provided that crowned goddess with a humane voice that still resonates (“Give me your tired, your poor”); even if she had not asserted a powerful connection between liberty and opportunity, the exhibition “Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage demonstrates that there would still be reasons to value her life and work." Continue reading
Apologia for Ben-Gurion
"They were kindred spirits. Both were voracious readers, polymaths, single-mindedly ambitious, and coldly pragmatic. Both had high, unself-critical opinions of themselves. They ruthlessly battled foes within their political camp, though Ben-Gurion was arguably the more vindictive. Both were Big Idea men. Ben-Gurion envisioned a renascent Israel along vaguely biblical principles; Peres, more ambitious still, sought an entirely "new Middle East."" Continue reading
Featured Events
Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston with curator Rita Freed
Sacred Trash Found Under the Floorboards Peter Cole, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient for poetry, author Rita Freed, John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Chair, Art of the Ancient World Adina Hoffman, essayist, author Curator Rita Freed discusses Sacred … Continue reading
Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston with curator Rita Freed
Sacred Trash Found Under the Floorboards Peter Cole, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient for poetry, author Rita Freed, John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Chair, Art of the Ancient World Adina Hoffman, essayist, author Curator Rita Freed discusses Sacred … Continue reading
Only in America: Nextbook Press author Esther Schor on Emma Lazarus in Philadelphia
Happy Birthday, Statue of Liberty! This month, the Statue of Liberty turns 125 years old. Originally a gift of friendship from France to the United States, the Statue has become the voice of welcome for generations of immigrants due to … Continue reading
Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage
“…poet Emma Lazarus gave voice to the Statue of Liberty and generations of newcomers to America. However, few people know her fascinating story, her Sephardic background, her American roots, and her work for Jewish causes and a Jewish homeland. Learn … Continue reading
Jewish Encounters Book Series
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