BOOK REVIEW

My Father’s Paradise,
by Ariel Sabar

Reviewed by Miriyam Glazer, Rabbi, Ph.D., Author and Chair of the Literature, Communication and Media Department at AJU

How well do we actually know people  we’ve “known” for years? This is neither a metaphysical question nor a psycho-spiritual one; I’m not talking about those who are close to us, our life-partners, our children, our dearest friends. I mean it much more casually. For example, how well do we know professional colleagues whom we’ve greeted warmly over many years, whose paths we have crossed repeatedly, or next to whom we’ve sat at gatherings of our particular professional tribe? Read More.

AT THE LIBRARY

AJU’s Ostrow Library
Houses Ben Maslan’s
Rare Bible Collection

"You wouldn't happen to have a slightly used copy of the Gutenberg Bible?" the Maslan boys would ask when they went to second-hand bookstores and thrift shops with their father, Ben Maslan. Although Mr. Maslan never acquired a copy of the first printed Bible, he did amass a collection of close to 4,000 other rare and unusual bibles in dozens of languages. These were donated upon his death to the Ostrow Library at American Jewish University. Maslan’s daughter, Ruth Maslan Sassoon, an alumna of AJU’s Brandeis-Bardin Institute, didn’t accompany him on these expeditions, but she still is very much a part of the story... Read More

interview

One Author’s Perspective

Dr. Michael Berenbaum is the Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute, a think tank that explores the ethical and religious implications of the Holocaust and other genocides. He is the author and editor of eighteen books, scores of scholarly articles and hundreds of journalistic pieces. Read More