April 4, 2026
Each year, I feel incredibly blessed to have time away from the office and the flow of daily rabbinic life to create space for learning and for thinking deeply about Jewish life and the future of our synagogue. Each month-long sabbatical offers me the opportunity to do something different and unique. Last year, I reflected on the major challenges facing Jewish life and crafted a vision for how I believe those issues play out in our own community. This year, I had the opportunity to read ten books—a personal record for a single month. Most were excellent; only one is not worth mentioning again. A few are books we will share with our Holocaust Seminar participants, one helped prepare me to teach a course in the fall, and another inspired a High Holy Day sermon.
Here are the top five books from my February sabbatical:
While reading about antisemitism can always be challenging, Nadell takes us on a journey from the earliest days of the American colonies to a post–October 7th narrative that depicts the unique ways antisemitism has taken root on American soil. What I love about her book is that she does not simply recount what others have done to us; she highlights the resilience of those affected and how they responded. There is much we can learn from history about how to live today. Perhaps her most provocative chapter challenges us to consider that there was no true “golden age” of Jewish life in America—contrary to what many of us feel about the post-Holocaust era in the latter part of the 20th century. Learn with Professor Nadell at this year’s Gaynor Lecture on April 28 at the JCC.
This is a book that should be read by any 11th or 12th grader, as well as college students. Tabarovsky is an expert on Soviet anti-Zionism, a topic that has not received widespread scholarly attention until recently.
Be a Refusenik provides a historical understanding of anti-Zionism and then shares the stories of several refuseniks—individuals who courageously defied the Soviet regime. Tabarovsky’s unique approach draws thoughtful parallels between these refuseniks and young people today who are standing up for their Jewish identity in school and on college campuses.
Arguably the best book on the Holocaust I have ever read, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto takes us into the 1940s to understand life in Warsaw during the war. Hyman shares the stories of several young women who played essential roles in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Without them, the revolt could not have taken place. Although the uprising was doomed from the start, several of these women were able to escape and become partisans, continuing the fight against the Nazis beyond the walls of the ghetto. Historically, men have received much of the credit for the uprising, but Hyman offers a powerful new perspective on this critical moment in Jewish history.
For years, we have sung Hannah Senesh’s “Eli, Eli” at funerals, on the High Holy Days, and in moments of collective remembrance. Many of us are aware that she wrote these words along the shores of Caesarea in Israel. We also know that she joined the Haganah paratroopers and took part in a mission to help rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Crash of the Heavens is Senesh’s biography, recounting the story of a young woman who took her future into her own hands and defied both the Nazis and her Hungarian captors up until her execution.
May her memory be for a blessing.
For years, we have sung Hannah Senesh’s “Eli, Eli” at funerals, on the High Holy Days, and in moments of collective remembrance. Many of us are aware that she wrote these words along the shores of Caesarea in Israel. We also know that she joined the Haganah paratroopers and took part in a mission to help rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Crash of the Heavens is Senesh’s biography, recounting the story of a young woman who took her future into her own hands and defied both the Nazis and her Hungarian captors up until her execution.
May her memory be for a blessing.
Written by Rabbi Rick Kellner