Joe Bobker's easy-to-read, indispensable and educational tour de force of the complexities of the laws of Shabbas and the beauty of the lores of Shabbas!Did you ever wonder? Is long-life relative to Shabbas? What s the essence of Shabbas? How did Shabbas observance become the standard of Judaism itself? What s the difference between to remember and to observe? How is it possible to suddenly become holy just because it s Shabbas? Is Shabbas good for the Jews or are the Jews good for Shabbas? What does Shabbas have to do with God s DNA? Why candles? Why not start the Shabbas with cake or herring? Why do Jewish women get the mitzva of lighting Shabbas candles? What does Sheki a mean? Why does my mother cover her eyes when lighting Shabbas candles? I only have enough money to buy Shabbas candles or wine? Which one do I buy? What if I can t light candles on time? Can I make ice cream for the kids on Shabbas? Can I go to a baseball match on Shabbas if someone else carries my ticket for me? Can I go jogging on Shabbas? Can my children build lego sets on Shabbas? Can I pet my dog on Shabbas? Can I set a mouse trap on Shabbas? I was raised in the outback of Australia and we often came across rattlesnakes on Shabbos. What were we supposed to do? Have you seen the price of fish lately! It s more than a barrel of oil! Must I buy it for Shabbas? Can I make ice cubes on Shabbas? Can I open a beer bottle on Shabbas?...

"Early in the 20th century, Jewish camp leaders had little interest in creating spiritual experiences for their campers. Yet Jewish camps have gradually provided primal Jewish experiences that campers could enjoy, parents appreciate, and alumni fondly recall. This book considers how Shabbat at camp became the focus for these experiences"--

Genna Sosonko is widely acclaimed as the most prominent chronicler of a unique era in chess history. In the Soviet Union chess was developed into an ideological weapon that was actively promoted by the country’s leadership during the Cold War. Starting with Mikhail Botvinnik, their best chess players grew into symbols of socialist excellence. Sosonko writes from a privileged dual perspective, combining an insider’s nostalgia with the detachment of a critical observer. He grew up with legendary champions such as Mikhail Tal and Viktor Korchnoi and spent countless hours with most of the other greats and lesser chess mortals he portrays. Sosonko was born in Leningrad, where he lived for 29 years and worked as a chess coach. After emigrating to the Netherlands, he became a world-class chess grandmaster, participating in the strongest competitions around the globe. In the late 1980s he began to write about the champions he knew and their remarkable lives in New In Chess Magazine. First, he wrote primarily about Soviet players and personalities, and later, he also began to portray other chess celebrities with whom he had crossed paths. They all vividly come to life as the reader is transported to their time and world. Once you’ve read Sosonko, you will feel you know Capablanca, Max Euwe and Tony Miles. And you will never forget Sergey Nikolaev. This monumental book is a collection of the portraits and profiles Genna Sosonko wrote for New in Chess magazine. The stories have been published in his books: Russian Silhouettes, The Reliable Past, Smart Chip From St. Petersburg and The World Champion I Knew. They are supplemented with further writings on legends such as David Bronstein, Garry Kasparov and Boris Spassky. They paint an enthralling and unforgettable picture of a largely vanished age and, indirectly, a portrait of one of the greatest writers on the world of chess. Garry Kasparov wrote the Foreword.

Yehuda Amichai is one of the twentieth century’s (and Israel’s) leading poets. In this remarkable book, Nili Scharf Gold offers a profound reinterpretation of Amichai’s early works and reconstructs his poetic biography. Her close reading of his oeuvre, untapped notebooks, and a cache of unpublished letters to a woman identified as Ruth Z. that Gold discovered convincingly demonstrates how the poet’s German past infused his work, despite his attempts to conceal it as he adopted an Israeli identity.

The consummate encyclopedia of holiday activities.