At Vassar College, Kitty Zeldis confronted what she calls a “WASP tsunami,” sparking lifelong questions about what it means to be Jewish in a wider, often unwelcoming world. In our conversation, she reflects on how that tension shaped her new novel One of Them, and shares the moments and stories that shaped her Jewish identity: from a German-Jewish poet who challenged her assumptions about culture and belonging, to her parents’ formative years in Israel, to the haunting family memory of a murdered great-grandfather in Russia. 

In One of Them, Anne Bishop seems like a typical Vassar sophomore—one of a popular group of privileged WASP friends. None of the girls in her circle has any idea that she’s Jewish, or that her real first name is Miriam. Pretending to be a Gentile has made life easier—as Anne, she no longer suffers the snubs, snide remarks, and daily restrictions Jews face. She enjoys her college life of teas, late-night conversations, and mixers. She turns a blind eye to the casual anti-Semitism that flourishes among her friends and classmates—after all, it's no longer directed at her.

But her secret life is threatened when she becomes fascinated by a girl not in her crowd. Delia Goldhush is sophisticated, stylish, brilliant, and unashamedly Jewish—and seems not to care that she’s an outcast among the other students. Knowing that her growing closeness with Delia would be social suicide if it were discovered, Anne keeps their friendship quiet. Delia seems to understand—until a cruelty on Anne’s part drives them apart and sends them scattering to other corners of the world, alone and together. 

Kitty Zeldis is the pen name of Yona Zeldis McDonough, a Brooklyn based author of nine novels, numerous essays, articles and works of short fiction as well as forty books for children. She has worked for over twenty years as the Fiction editor for the Jewish feminist magazine Lilith. 

Kitty Zeldis’s Five Books:

1. Dark Soliloquy by Gertrude Kolmar

2. Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth 

3. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

4. Empresses of Seventh Avenue by Nancy MacDonell 

5. One of Them by Kitty Zeldis

Other Books Mentioned:

- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Other Episodes Featuring the Challenges of Young Adulthood

- Yael van der Wouden on Rage, Desire, and Magic

- Samantha Greene Woodruff on Blacklists and being a “Christmas Tree Jew’

- Toby Lloyd on Biblical Horror and being a Jewish Atheist 

- Jennifer Weiner on Pushing Back Against De-Jewified Last Names

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Amelia Merrill

Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson studio

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

As we approach Simchat Torah, when we roll the scroll back to the beginning and start reading again, Ilana Kurshan’s Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together reminds us of another sacred cycle: the books we read to our children again and again. Just like the Torah, those familiar stories shape us through their repetition, imprinting meaning with every return.

In this episode, Ilana Kurshan invites us into a life shaped by books – first as a child so immersed in All-of-a-Kind Family that its scenes felt like her own memories, and later as a mother discovering how reading aloud could bridge her love of literature with the demands of parenting. She shares how translating beloved works became a way to claim ownership over the stories she loved, and how her study of Jewish texts opened new ways of seeing herself, sometimes identifying more with the men of the Talmud than the women. Through tender, vivid moments, like reading a black-and-white board book to her newborn and connecting it to the creation of the world, Ilana reveals how books can shape not only our inner lives, but the worlds we help bring into being.

Children of the Book is Ilana Kurshan’s new memoir. Structured in five parts corresponding to the first five books of the Bible, she traces the profound parallels between the biblical narrative and the daily rhythms of parenthood. 

Ilana Kurshan is a mother of five and lives in Jerusalem. She is the author of If All the Seas Were Ink, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature. She has worked in literary publishing both in New York and in Jerusalem as a translator and foreign rights agent, and as the books editor of Lilith Magazine. 

Ilana Kurshan’s Five Books:

1. All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

2. A Bride for One Night by Ruth Calderon 

3. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

4. Three Days in Summer by Yossi Avni Levy (not yet out in English)

5. Children of the Book by Ilana Kurshan

Other Books Mentioned:

- From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins and Alexandra Dunietz

- ”Pierre Menard, author of the Quixote” in Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges 

- Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson

- Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

- A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary 

Other Episodes about All of a Kind Family:

Jennifer Weiner on Pushing Back against De-Jewified Last Names, “Women’s Fiction”, and Activism in the Face of Despair

Tova Mirvis on Community, Belonging, and Forgiveness

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Sarah Waring

Artwork by Dena Friedman

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

As Rosh Hashanah approaches - a time of reflection, renewal, and returning to our deepest selves - I can’t think of a better moment to listen to (and read) Sarah Hurwitz. Best known as a White House speechwriter, Sarah has turned her extraordinary gift with words inward, asking essential questions about how we have constructed our Jewish identities in her new book, As A Jew. Together we explore everything from why Jewish law insists on the tiniest ethical details to why “I don’t know” can be a profound prayer, and how the health of the Jewish ‘body’ depends on honoring all its parts. It’s a conversation about seeing one another more clearly, exactly the kind of soul work the High Holidays call us to do.

At thirty-six, Sarah Hurwitz was a typical lapsed Jew. On a whim, she attended an introduction to Judaism class that sparked a journey of discovery that transformed her life.

Years later, as Hurwitz wrestled with what it means to be Jewish at a time of rising antisemitism, she wondered: Where had the Judaism she discovered as an adult been all her life? And why had her Jewish identity consisted of a series of caveats and apologies: I’m Jewish, but not that Jewish . . . I’m just a cultural Jew . . . a little different, but not in a way that would make anyone uncomfortable.

Seeking answers, she discovered how hateful myths about Jewish power, depravity, and conspiracy have worn a neural groove deep into the world’s psyche, shaping not just how others think about Jews, but how Jews think about themselves. She soon realized that the Jewish identity she’d thought was freely chosen was actually the result of thousands of years of antisemitism and two centuries of Jews erasing parts of themselves and their tradition in the hope of being accepted and safe.

In As a Jew, Hurwitz documents her quest to take back her Jewish identity, how she stripped away the layers of antisemitic lies that made her recoil from her own birthright and unearthed the treasures of Jewish tradition. 

Sarah Hurwitz served as a White House speechwriter from 2009 to 2017, first as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. Her first book, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life – in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There) was a finalist for two National Jewish Book Awards and for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Her second book, As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try To Erase Us, won the Natan Notable Book Award. Sarah has been profiled in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Guardian; interviewed on The Today Show, Morning Joe, and NPR; and named by The Forward as one of 50 Jews who impacted American life in 2016 and 2019. 

Sarah is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and was a 2017 Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard.

Sarah Hurwitz’s Five Books:

1. A Code of Jewish Ethics by Joseph Telushkin

2. As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg

3. Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon

4. The Sirens' Call by Chris Hayes

5. As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us by Sarah Hurwitz 

Other Books & Articles Mentioned:

- Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin

- “College-Age Jews Are Heading South” by Rose Horowitch (The Atlantic) 

- Judaism is About Love, by Shai Held

Other Episodes with Deep Cuts on Jewish Peoplehood:

- Yehuda Kurtzer on Grappling with History and Memory

- Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding her Place in the Jewish Community 

- Dara Horn on Being the Lorax at Her Seder Table

If you loved this interview with Sarah Hurwitz, you can hear more from her on a recent episode of Identity/Crisis with host Yehuda Kurtzer, who was a guest on our podcast last December – Yehuda and Sarah were shaped by one of the same books, check out both episodes to find out which one…

Toby Lloyd discusses Fervor, his haunting debut novel inspired by a rereading of the Bible. Struck by the richness, ambiguity, and moments of horror in Genesis and Exodus, Toby explores how these ancient stories can speak to modern readers. We talk about his aim to write for a broad audience, the place of British Jews in the heart of English literature, and why Marcel Proust’s portrayal of Jewish identity feels as urgent today as it did a century ago.

In Fervor, Hannah and Eric Rosenthal are devout Jews living in North London with their three children and Eric’s father Yosef, a Holocaust survivor. As Hannah prepares to publish an account of Yosef's years in war-torn Europe—unearthing a terrible secret from his time in the camps—Elsie, her perfect daughter, starts to come undone. And then, in the wake of Yosef’s death, she disappears. When she returns, just as mysteriously as she left, she is altered in disturbing ways.

Toby Lloyd studied English at Oxford University before moving to America to pursue an MFA in creative writing at NYU. He has published short stories and essays in Carve Magazine and the Los Angeles Review of Books and was longlisted for the 2021 V. S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. He lives in London.

Toby Lloyd’s Five Books:

1. The Jewish Joke by Devorah Baum

2. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

3. The Truce by Primo Levi

4. The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

5. Fervor by Toby Lloyd

Other Media Mentioned

- Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

- The Witch (film)

- The Exorcist (film)

- Collected Poems by Phillip Larkin

- My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard

- Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel

Other Five Books Episodes That Discuss Horror Fiction: 

- Jeremy Dauber on Jewish Literature, Pop Culture, and What the Horror Genre Reveals About America

- Allison Epstein on Taking on One of Literature’s Most Antisemitic Characters

- Yael Van Der Wouden on Rage, Desire, and Magic

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Sarah Waring

Artwork by Dena Friedman

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

Sharon Kurtzman shares how an interview with her mother became a defining moment of connection. She was haunted by her mother’s description of just how much danger still lingered after surviving the Holocaust and that revelation became central to her writing of The Lost Baker of Vienna, set in the years after WWII between liberation and immigration.

She also shares how a childhood reading of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret planted the seed for her to define her own Jewish identity, and how writing her debut novel fulfilled a promise she made to her mother.

The Lost Baker of Vienna weaves together two timelines: postwar Vienna and present-day America. When Zoe Rosenzweig loses her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, she becomes determined to uncover the truth about her family’s past. Meanwhile, in 1946 Vienna, her grandmother Chana bakes through grief and danger, caught between love, hunger, and the lingering threat of violence.

Sharon Kurtzman worked in television marketing before pursuing her dream of becoming a writer. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies and has been nominated for the Pushcart prize.

Sharon Kurtzman’s Five Books:

1. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

2. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

4. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

5. The Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman

Other Episodes about Books Inspired by the Author's Family Story: 

- Georgia Hunter on Discovering her Family's Jewish History

- Elizabeth Graver on Lost Worlds and New Doorways

- Bonny Reichert on Feed, Fear, and Finding Beauty

- Rachel Cockerell on the Zionist Dream that Sailed to Galveston

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Sarah Waring

Artwork by Dena Friedman

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

On June 7, 1907, a ship packed with Russian Jews sets sail not to Jerusalem or New York, as many on board have dreamed, but to Texas. The man who persuades the passengers to go is David Jochelmann, Rachel Cockerell’s great-grandfather. The journey marks the beginning of the Galveston Movement, a forgotten moment in history when ten thousand Jews fled to Texas in the leadup to World War I.

In a highly inventive style, Cockerell captures history as it unfolds, weaving together letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper articles, and interviews into a vivid account. Melting Point follows Zangwill and the Jochelmann family through two world wars, to London, New York, and Jerusalem―as their lives intertwine with some of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century, and each chooses whether to cling to their history or melt into their new surroundings. It is a story that asks what it means to belong, and what can be salvaged from the past.

Rachel Cockerell was born and raised in London, the sixth of seven children. She did her BA at the Courtauld Institute and her MA at City University. Melting Point is her first nonfiction book. Her research has taken her to Texas, Ohio, New York, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem.

In our conversation, we explore assimilation — both as a theoretical concept and as a deeply personal experience. We also discuss the power of reading history through primary sources, and the ways we often misunderstand our own significance.

Rachel Cockerell’s Five Books:

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal 

When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains by Ariana Neumann

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land by Rachel Cockerell

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect ), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Sarah Waring

Artwork by Dena Friedman

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

In this bonus episode of The Book of Life Podcast: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly), host Heidi Rabinowitz talks to host of The Five Books, Tali Rosenblatt Cohen. Heidi and Tali trade recommendations for books new and old. If you’re keeping a list of great kids books with Jewish themes, this is a great episode for you!

RECOMMENDED TITLES

Book #1: Favorite Picture Books

The House on the Roof by David Adler (Tali)

The Rabbi and the 29 Witches by Marilyn Hirsh (Heidi)

Savta Simcha series by Yaffa Ganz (Tali)

The Passover Parrot by Evelyn Zusman (Tali)

Once Upon a Shabbos by Jacqueline Jules (Heidi)

The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules (Tali)

Book #2: Favorite Middle Grade

All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor (Tali)

To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloane and Meg Wolitzer (Heidi)

The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss (Heidi)

Not Nothing by Gayle Forman (Tali)

When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman (Tali)

Max in the House of Spies/Max in the Land of Lies by Adam Gidwitz (Heidi)

Book #3: Favorite Young Adult

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (Heidi)

Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero by E. Lockhart (Heidi)

Boys of the Beast by Monica Zepeda (Heidi)

Recipe for Disaster by Aimee Lucido (Heidi) - actually Middle Grade but mentioned at this point

Book #4: What books are you excited about right now?

More Than Enough: Inspired by Maimonides’s Golden Ladder of Giving by Richard Michelson (Heidi)

Mendel the Mess-Up by Terry LaBan(Heidi)

Night Owls by A.R. Vishny (Heidi)

Honey and Me by Meira Drazin (Tali)

Book #5: Adult Books

One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World by Michael Frank (Tali)

My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar (Tali)

Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom by Ariel Burger (Tali)

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn (Heidi)

Thistlefoot: A Novel by GennaRose Nethercott (Heidi)

The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. And not just because the obedient middle sister, Fortune, has secretly started to question her engagement and impending wedding. Nina, the rebellious eldest sister, is single at 26 (and growing cobwebs by her community's standards) when she runs into an old friend who offers her a chance to choose a different path. Meanwhile, Lucy, the youngest, a senior in high school, has started sneaking around with a charming older bachelor.

As Fortune inches ever closer to the chuppah, the sisters find themselves in a tug of war between tradition and modernity, reckoning with what their tight-knit community wants—and with what they want for themselves.

Esther Chehebar is a contributing writer at Tablet magazine, where she covers Sephardic Jewish tradition and community. She holds an MFA from the New School and has had her work featured in Glamour and Man Repeller. Chehebar’s first book, I Share My Name, was an illustrated children’s book explaining the Sephardic tradition of naming children for their grandparents. This is her debut novel.

In our conversation, we spoke about the culture of hospitality in Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community, the assumptions people make about such a close-knit group, and the inherent tension between tradition and individuality.

Esther Levy Chehebar’s Five Books:

1. The Diary of Anne Frank

2. Beware of God by Shalom Auslander 

3. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 

4. No Fault by Haley Mlotek 

5. Sisters of Fortune by Esther Levy Chehebar

Other Books & Authors Mentioned:

-  Corie Adjmi The Marriage Box

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect ), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Sarah Waring

Artwork by Dena Friedman

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family’s displacement across four countries, Kantika―“song” in Ladino―follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th-century Istanbul. When the Cohens lose their wealth and are forced to move to Barcelona and start anew, Rebecca fashions a life and self from what comes her way―a failed marriage, the need to earn a living, but also passion, pleasure and motherhood. Moving from Spain to Cuba to New York for an arranged second marriage, she faces her greatest challenge―her disabled stepdaughter, Luna, whose feistiness equals her own and whose challenges pit new family against old.

Kantika was awarded a National Jewish Book Award, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the Julia Ward Howe Award, and the Massachusetts Book Award.

Elizabeth Graver is the author of several novels, including The End of the Point, which was long-listed for the 2013 National Book Award in Fiction, and her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and Best American Essays. She teaches at Boston College.

In our conversation, we’ll explore the power of witnessing erased histories, Sephardic migrations, and the way historical fiction speaks to the present moment.

Elizabeth Graver’s Five Books:

1. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley

2. One Hundred Saturdays by Michael Frank

3. Beloved by Toni Morrison

4. Isola by Allegra Goodman

5. Kantika by Elizabeth Graver

Other Books & Resources Mentioned:

- A recording of Elizabeth’s Grandmother

- The Postcard by Anne Berest

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Sarah Waring

Artwork by Dena Friedman

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere college town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, spend the summer at the town pool, where they acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town’s sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.

Jessica Berger Gross is the author of the memoir Estranged: Leaving Family and Finding Home. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Cut, Longreads and many other publications. She graduated from Vassar College and has a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from New York, she lives in Maine with her husband and teenage son. Hazel Says No is her first novel. 

In our conversation, we’ll explore finding creativity after trauma, the joy of being “culturally” jewish, and how a high school production of Brighton Beach Memoirs changed the course of her life. We also talk about the power of saying no – not just as a personal boundary, but as an act of resistance, deeply rooted in Jewish tradition.

Jessica Berger Gross’ Five Books:

1. Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon

2. Howard Stern Comes Again by Howard Stern

3. The Postcard by Anne Berest

4. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

5. Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross

Other Books Mentioned:

- Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

- Are you there God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume

- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank- Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon

- She Said by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey

- Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

- Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark

The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)

⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.

For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected]

For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org 

The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate

The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. 

Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen

Produced by Odelia Rubin

Editorial and website support by Sarah Waring

Artwork by Dena Friedman

Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.