Tag Archives: Judaism

Crunchy Cons: The Reread

Posted on July 17, 2025 by smellincoffee

Eleven years ago I stumbled onto a book called Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher. I’d begun moving towards ‘localism’ in my later progressive period (circa 2009 – 2011), and had found unexpected insight in online magazines with some localist-oriented writing … Continue reading →

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Shtetl Days

Posted on January 29, 2024 by smellincoffee

“We will do, and we will hear”. Such was the people’s reply when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai and presented the Ten Commandments to the Hebrews. There’s an inversion in that statement, alien to our modern age: imagine doing a thing before understanding … Continue reading →

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In Search of Zarathustra

Posted on January 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, in which Christians celebrate the arrival of the Magi to Bethlehem. It is fitting, then, on this day about wise men of the east following stars, to take a look at at a … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Posted on September 14, 2023 by smellincoffee

(Yes, this book is why I’ve been so quiet the last two weeks.) The relationship between Christianity and Judaism has fascinated me ever since I bolted from the Pentecostalism in which I was raised, and began rebuilding my worldview from … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, General, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Friday the Rabbi Slept Late

Posted on September 1, 2023 by smellincoffee

The small Massachusetts village of Barnard’s Crossing is shaken when the body of a young woman is found lying behind a garden wall, and no one more than Rabbi David Small — because the woman’s purse was in his car, … Continue reading →

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My Name is Asher Lev

Posted on August 31, 2023 by smellincoffee

How to describe My Name is Asher Lev? The book opens with Asher himself describing himself as an apostate, a traitor, a mocker — and yet the reader will find no cruel intentions here, only a young man struggling with … Continue reading →

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Day of Atonement

Posted on August 18, 2023 by smellincoffee

Over a decade ago, young Sebastião Fox was spirited away from Portugal, a freshly-minted orphan. His parents destroyed by the Inquisition, Sebastião came into the care of the now-aged Benjamin Weaver, London’s most accomplished thieftaker. After coming of age and … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Davita’s Harp

Posted on March 21, 2021 by smellincoffee

Davita’s Harp© 1985 Chaim Potok384 pages Are you a Jew?  Ilana Davita Chandel  gets that question a lot. It’s lobbed at her from Irish and Italian street toughs, and from inquisitive neighbors who see  her swimming on the Sabbath.  Is … Continue reading →

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Antiquity

Posted on September 10, 2018 by smellincoffee

Antiquity: The Civilization of the Ancient World© 2003 Norman F. Cantor256 pages Perhaps western history is all Greek to you. In that case, Norman Cantor’s Antiquity may shed a little light on the subject. It is a brief work, scarcely over … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fear No Evil

Posted on February 18, 2017 by smellincoffee

Fear No Evil: © 1988 Natan Sharansky437  pages Fear No Evil chronicles one man’s psychological war against the KGB and the entire Gulag system. Born a Jewish subject of the Soviet Union, Natan Sharansky wanted nothing more than to emigrate peacefully … Continue reading →

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