Books

While I was "out to lunch" I did something which I do not usually do. I read a few books!

Reading books is not the kind of thing that I do in my spare time. I try to learn Torah when I can. For me, reading a book, stam, is a very rare occurence.

To make a long story short, I received a Steimatsky gift certificate. I entered one of the Jerusalem branches of Steimatsky and I didn't see anything that was fitting for a guy like me. Then I remembered that Rabbi Chaim Sabato wrote some books that are considered "modern Hebrew literature" and that I actually might enjoy reading them. So I bought "Emet MeEretz Titzmach" and Te'um Kavanot." The first book contains stories about the Aleppo Jewish community, and the latter describes Rav Sabato's own experiences during the Yom Kippur War. Both books were very good and I highly recommend them.

Later on I bought my wife a book: Mekimi by Noa Yaron-Dayan. It is a largely autobiographical story about a young secular Israel radio/TV star and her return to her religious roots. Like I said I bought the book for my wife but I'm the one who ended up reading it. Mekimi is currently a bestseller here in Israel. I liked the book, although the descriptions of the Israeli Bohemian scene in the first part of the book made me nauseous at times. It was written for secular people and not for Bnei Torah.