An excellent resource for readers seeking a deeper High Holidays experience.
A Reform rabbi, inspirational speaker, and writer offers a new Jewish High Holidays reader.
The author, who’s written several other books, including Amen: Seeking Presence with Prayer, Poetry, and Mindfulness Practice (2019), presents a guide to spiritual preparation for the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In an anthological format that employs a mix of traditional and creative sources, along with essay reflections, Kedar takes readers through a season that begins with the fast day of Tisha b’Av, which mourns the destruction of ancient Jewish temples. The sources and essays are designed to complement one another, and in some cases, a work may serve as an expansion on the one that preceded it—most notably, the essay that follows the classic story of Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav and the “turkey prince.” The book is divided into several sections, each of which introduces a different theme of the season, from the idea of human beings as “dust and ashes” to the concept of repentance as a process of return to one’s best self, which goes beyond the more familiar Christian concept. Published by a division of CCAR Press—the publishing arm of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (the Reform movement’s rabbinical association)—Kedar’s book is a broad-based Judaism-specific resource that doesn’t subscribe to a particular denominational path. The book doesn’t explore every High Holiday concept, and its selections and essays appear intended to appeal primarily to liberal, as opposed to more traditional, Jewish audiences. Still, Kedar’s book could potentially reach a wide readership, as the sources are wide-ranging and engagingly venture beyond traditional religious interpretations of High Holiday themes.
An excellent resource for readers seeking a deeper High Holidays experience.Pub Date: July 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780881236668
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Central Conference of American Rabbis Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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