Nominations for our book for June 2025 > Likes and Comments

Hello to all members of the Jewish book club. As promised I wanted to get our June nominations up and running before Passover starts. Stacey might have mentioned before - I am orthodox hence I will be offline for three days starting Friday night. If all goes well and the other mods help me with the nominations, I should be able to post the poll next Tuesday after the chag is over outside of Israel. For June, we are trying something for the first time. If it goes well, we may try this a few times a year. Drumroll- authors please nominate your book that you think the group would enjoy reading. Yes, you heard that correctly. A few caveats- if it is a Children’s book, please announce it in the Children’s book topic. If the book is over 500 pages, we would read it over two months. As always we are looking for 6-7 nominations that we will vet. First come first serve and we look forward to seeing what you have written that you feel will be a suitable book for the group.

Your mods,
Jan, Stacey, and Brina

Reserved for nominations

1. The Last Dekrepitzer

2. The Crate: A Story Of War, A Murder, And Justice

3. Wayfarers

4. The Delegation

5. Stories My Father Told Me: From Warsaw, Moscow, Algeria, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic

6. Diaspora

7. Ash on the Vine

I would nominate my book, The Last Dekrepitzer, which won the National Jewish Book Award, Book Club Award, was a finalist for the Athenaeum Award, and has a 4.8 rating on both Goodreads and Amazon. Morton Landowne, the publisher of Tablet, wrote, "It’s brilliant, rich, heartfelt, fascinating and accomplished. Don’t quite know where to begin to compliment the many strands of Jewish history, practice, philosophy and lived experience, expertly, and seemingly effortlessly, brought together to tell this magical tale."

The novel recounts the story of a Hasidic Rebbe, the sole survivor of his sect, who is discovered fiddling blues, gospel and niggunim in a New York subway station in 1962. David Stern, the Starr Professor of Jewish Literature at Harvard wrote, "In telling this story of the last surviving rebbe of a Hasidic dynasty passing as a Black street-fiddler, Howard Langer has discovered a new idiom of American Jewish writing. A brilliant re-imagining of the legend of the hidden righteous soul told as though the melodies of Hasidic niggunim were blues." Marc Katz, reviewing the book for the Jewish Book Council, wrote, "Langer is a talented builder of worlds who shines the most when creating setting and mood. Through his prose, one gets a real sense of what it might have been like to live in a shtetl, the Jim Crow South, and twentieth century Harlem. Langer’s characters are also vivid.... The Last Dekrepitzer is a novel that will surprise readers with its depth and introduce them to one of the more unique characters to appear on the contemporary Jewish literary scene." Michael Krasny in his review in Moment wrote: :There is much to be charmed by in this novel and even more to learn from it."

Others have been effusive:

"This is a terrific book. Beautifully written and cleverly plotted. It surprises the reader with twists and turns but makes the course of events seem perfectly natural. Unlike many authors writing about Jewish matters, Langer brings a wealth of authentic learning to the book, which adds much to the feeling that this ‘unbelievable’ story of a rebbe without Hasidim is perfectly believable! The book is deeply moving. Themes of astounding loss and a hard-won kind of redemption merge with great power."

Barry W. Holtz, Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education, Jewish Theological Seminary, editor of Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts and author of Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmud (Yale Jewish Lives)

"Langer brings to life the two very different worlds he imagines in compelling detail. It is a powerful and deeply moving story, and it will stay with me for a long time."

Martha Himmelfarb, William H. Danforth Professor of Religion Emerita, Princeton University

"If you liked James McBride’s novels about the layered connections between American Jews and Blacks, you will love The Last Dekrepitzer. Shmuel Meir Lichtbencher is an inspired Hasidic rebbe and fiddler, the only survivor of a fictional Polish shtetl. In rural Mississippi, he lives among African Americans and learns their English and music, but his fiddling of niggunim, wordless melodies with which he confronts God, is the universal language that saves him as he traverses post-World War II America. Langer’s prose is as inspired as Shmuel Meir’s fiddling."

KATHRYN HELLERSTEIN, Professor of Germanic Studies (Yiddish), University of Pennsylvania, co-editor of The Norton Anthology of Jewish American Literature

Thank you, Howard. Your book is nomination one. It is actually on order at my library but otherwise costs $27.95 for hard cover and $15.95 for kindle on Amazon. I’m allowing it at cost although pricy for some people. I would hope for all authors that if your book wins and you know it’s on the pricey side that you would consider- not obligatory- giving a two day discount to group members to purchase the book. Thank you, again.

Be happy to

Thank you. And I look forward to the other nominations.

Hello and happy Pesach to all! I'd love for you to consider my first book, THE CRATE, a true crime/Holocaust memoir (an odd mix of genres, I know.) It's the story of a gruesome present-day crime that involved my family of Holocaust survivors. Evil in the past and evil in the present converge in the narrative. The Jerusalem Post called it “exquisite, haunting, and memorable,” and it won seven literary awards.

The Crate: A Story Of War, A Murder, And JusticeThe Crate: A Story Of War, A Murder, And Justice

Thank you , Deborah. Like Howard’s book, yours is not available at my library. It is only on Amazon and other book sites. I think this is going to be the case for everyone’s books. I love a good thriller and your book sounds like one albeit in the true life category.

Hi, all!

I love this! As an author (and particularly as one who has been pressed into a lot of self-publishing these days because publishers are a bit skittish around Jewish stories...) I'm particularly grateful for the opportunity to tell you about my work.

In this category, might I suggest my novel, "Wayfarers" (Wayfarers
It's a dystopian sci-fi adventure inspired by the Exodus story (so, perhaps more appropriate this month than in June?)

"Wayfarers" is my only book that doesn't rely on images for its storytelling. Mostly, I write comic books and graphic novels.

For this group, if I may suggest another title, I'd like to suggest "Ben Mortara and the Thieves of the Golden Table." Ben Mortara and the Thieves of the Golden Table

Originally published as a comic book series, this graphic novel is a fun, globe-trotting archaeological adventure - a Jewish thrill ride akin to "Indiana Jones" with a touch of Solomonic folklore and ancient history thrown in for good measure. Though it's safe and accessible enough for kids to read, I wrote it with enough depth and complexity to make it enjoyable for adults, too.

Since it is self-published, the price is somewhat high, unfortunately. I can't print in high enough volume to bring the price down (yet!)

I've got more fun stuff that I'd love to share, but want to give other writers room to tell us what amazing things they've written! If you're curious to dig deeper, here's my Goodreads profile: Arnon Z. Shorr

Hi, Arnon. Thank you for your nomination. We officially have a no self-promotion rule but decided to waive it this month to see if it lead to more nominations. We are going to go with the first choice out of convenience. You can also post your comic book series in the children’s book thread because I’m sure someone who looks there will benefit. As with the other two nominations, I would ask if your book wins to discount it for members - no obligation just a courtesy- for a few days so that members can purchase it.

P.S., Arnon and others -- for future reference, graphic novels or other graphic books for adults are a potential genre, one that we might take up sometime. And if there's an author out there who would like to nominate their graphic book this time, that's fine, as long as it's one for adults (and, of course, a Jewish book).

For fans of non-fiction and history—particularly in Eastern Europe—“The Shochet: A Memoir of Jewish Life in Ukraine and Crimea, Volume 1” by Pinkhes-Dov Goldenshteyn is a 100% fantastic read. This book has an excellent and detailed introduction and the diary itself is annotated.

Hi Matal- this time we are allowing authors to nominate their own books. If we don’t get enough author nominations I will keep yours in mind. Thank you.

Hi, I'd like to nominate my new novel, THE DELEGATION. It's a historical novel that tells the story of Joseph Stalin sending two Jewish artists—Itzik Feffer and Solomon Mikhoels—on a world tour to rally political and financial support for the Red Army.
Thank you for your consideration!

Thank you, Avner. Your novel is nomination 4. We could use 3 more.

Brina wrote: "Hi, Arnon. Thank you for your nomination. We officially have a no self-promotion rule but decided to waive it this month to see if it lead to more nominations. We are going to go with the first cho..."

Thank you, Brina! I think it's really amazing that you're creating this opportunity for authors to promote their work like this! I understand why it's important to limit author promotions most of the time, but the occasional soap box is very appreciated.

My computer is back in the game. :)

Im guessing notifications are still an issue as I thought we would be inundated with author nominations. Thank you Arnon for your enthusiasm.

True but four in less than 24 hours is more than we’ve gotten in awhile. I hope enough people see this so that we can close up the thread before the chag starts.

I would like to nominate my book, Stories My Father Told Me: From Warsaw, Moscow, Algeria, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Dominican Republic.
My father, Rafał Feliks Buszejkin, was born in Warsaw in 1912 to a Jewish family that left Warsaw in 1914 for Moscow to escape the Germans, and then returned to Warsaw in 1917 to escape the Bolsheviks.
He was a man who, in his youth, boxed, raced bicycles, rode horses, and sometimes got into fights. As a teenager in Warsaw in 1930, he played poker and hooky with a band of truants and failed his last year of high school. In fall of 1932 he went to Algeria to study agronomy and while there he spent time with a community of Sephardic Jews in a small desert town where he established a Maccabi sports club. During the war, while exiled to Kazakhstan, he was put in charge of the agriculture of five kolkhozes and slept in a yurt. And after the war, he spent six months on the French Riviera, then lived for two years in a Jewish farming collective in Sosua, Dominican Republic. He spoke five languages, but preferred to swear in Russian. He was a master of resilience and told some good stories.
I wrote my book based on a memoir he wrote late in his life (his manuscript is now at the YIVO archive), keeping it as true to his telling as possible. My father was a Holocaust survivor who was never in a German camp. He was one of over 230,000 Polish Jews who survived the war because they were trapped in the Soviet Union. Many of them did not consider themselves survivors because they didn't suffer what those who had remained in Poland did. And not many have told their stories.

Thank you, Dvora. Your book is nomination 5. We could use 2 more. I am enjoying reading these blurbs.

I would like to nominate my book, Diaspora! Diaspora is a sweeping and deeply personal novel exploring the Jewish diaspora through the centuries-long journey of the Vostęvskie family. Spanning from their near-mythical roots in a Polish farming village, to the merchant ships and sprawling shanties of port cities across the globe, this epic tale of survival, love, and loss highlights the complexities of identity, assimilation, and the human condition.

With lyrical prose and a nuanced understanding of the Jewish experience, this tale weaves together historical fiction, a family's saga, and deeper philosophical inquiry. As the Vostęvskies navigate the ravages of world war, forced migration, and unrequited love, they must confront the ultimate question: Can a people thrive when so much has been lost to time?

A poignant and thought-provoking exploration of heritage, belonging, and the search for meaning, DIASPORA will resonate with anyone with a soul to feed.

Thank you, Isaiah. Your book is nomination 6. After one more nomination , I will close the thread to new nominations. I am happy that you all have been motivated and understanding that we are doing this maybe 1-2 times a year to balance out the group. I wish I could read everyone’s book but I don’t have the time to or I would.

Brina wrote: "True but four in less than 24 hours is more than we’ve gotten in awhile. I hope enough people see this so that we can close up the thread before the chag starts."

Plus I highlighted it in Latest Group News. Hopefully that's helping to get the word out. 📣

Ok then, I stand to be corrected :)

I would like to nominate my novel Ash on the Vine. No good reviews on Goodreads, unfortunately. but here are a few:
“Very prescient and very moving.” Malcolm Stern, psychotherapist and author of
Slay Your Dragons With Compassion.
“From the ashes of the Holocaust in Europe, across Iraq and India, to the fruit on the vines
in Israel over three generations. This is the journey Michelle Shine takes us on in her
fabulous novel. Ash on the Vine is a story of survival, of Holocaust secrets, love and
revenge. It is a psychological thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end.
It is also packed with information and relationships about the people and conflicts of the
Middle East. Shine is a writer who clearly researches her subject, showing analytical skills
and lateral thought that elevates this novel to a cut above.” Sharon Klaff, independent
journalist.
“In uncertain times, this page-turning book of ordinary people doing extraordinary things,
can give us all the courage we lack - yet need - to face our own fears and uncertainties in
turbulent times.” Tal Hartuv, author of The Rage Less Traveled.
“Beautifully written family saga cum political thriller that encapsulates a breadth of
emotions so prevalent in our time. I couldn’t put it down.” Amanda Weinberg, author
of The Italian Bookshop Amongst the Vines.
“Ash on the Vine is a beautifully written book by a thoughtful writer who understands that to
shut away the painful past exposes us to repeating it.” Dr Ed Bonner, author of Colour
Me White
"Ash on the Vine is a complex family story that offers an emotive and thought-provoking look
at the impact of a traumatic past, secrets kept hidden and wounds that haven’t healed.”
Love Reading
"Not only is this a great story, brilliantly written, but it is also provides an incredibly well researched set of insights into the history, people, politics and geography of Israel (and even its excellent wines!). Anybody who wants to learn more about this (without the usual mainstream bias) while following a real thriller should read this book." Professor Norman Fenton

Thank you Michelle. That is nomination 7 and I will close the thread to new posts. Either I will post the poll today or after the chag. Thank you to all of our authors who nominated books. I’m looking forward to seeing which is our winner.

I wanted to remind everyone that there are now 24 hours left to vote for the June book. Most of our authors here are new authors and would love our support. If we want to allow author nominated books again, show your support and vote this time around so that the mods see that you are receptive to the idea. Thanks.