The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them

“No Jewish thinker has had a greater impact on the American Jewish Community in the last two decades than Irving (Yitz) Greenberg.” - Professor Steven T. Katz Rabbi Greenberg has had a long and notable career in the service of the Jewish people.  He received his smicha, ordination, in 1953 and has a masters and PhD in American History from Harvard. He has served in numerous rabbinic and academic positions. Together with Elie Wiesel, he founded CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. He also served as founding president of Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation which created such programs  as Birthright Israel and the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education. When Elie Wiesel served as chairman of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, Rabbi Greenberg served as its (Executive) Director. He is a leading Jewish thinker, the author of five books, and has written extensively on post-Holocaust Jewish religious thought, Jewish-Christian relations, pluralism, and the ethics of Jewish power. He is married to the Orthodox Jewish feminist pioneer and writer, Blu Greenberg. His latest book, The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, gives people direct access to the big ideas of Judaism in a way that's grounded in tradition, yet fully accessible. It offers a vision of Jewish law and theology that affirms life, dignity, and human partnership with God. In our conversation, we discuss Rabbi Greenberg’s unusual path to the rabbinate, how he sees the messianic intent of tikkun olam, or repairing the world, and how you can translate his idea of maximizing life into everyday actions. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg’s Five Books: Masechet Megillah: a tractate of Talmud The works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Halakhic Man by Joseph B. Soloveitchik  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn The Art of Diplomacy by Stuart E. Eizenstat The Triumph of Life: a Narrative Theology of Judaism by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg Other Episodes about Jewish Ethics & Spirituality: - Rabbi Sharon Brous on Working to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World  - Ilana Kurshan on Books as Blueprints for Life - Sarah Hurwitz on Reclaiming Our Jewish Story - Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on Finding Yourself in the Story

Today we’re sharing a special episode from the show Jewish Insights with Rabbi Justin Pines on JBS, the Jewish Broadcasting Service. Rabbi Justin and I sat down in the JBS studio for a deep dive conversation about Jewish storytelling, and of course his five book selections.  If truth is one of the foundational pillars of any stable society, how do we navigate a world which often feels post-truth? They begin by exploring Tali’s own mission for The Five Books Podcast: the profound power of Jewish literature to foster empathy and a sense of shared purpose, especially during moments of crisis. Tali also shares her insights on the expanding landscape of Jewish storytelling in 2025, from the enduring resonance of Holocaust literature to the rise of stories exploring Sephardi, Mizrachi, and romantic Jewish experiences. Then, in a special twist, Tali turns the tables and interviews Justin about the five books that have shaped his Jewish journey. This conversation is a powerful celebration of reading, identity, and the spiritual journey that connects them both. Justin's Five Books 1. The Catcher in the Rye 2. The Jewish Way: Living the Jewish Holidays 3. The Story of Joseph and His Brothers 4. Living Emunah: Achieving a Life of Serenity Through Faith 5. Ohr Yisrael and Other Writings

Ahead of Thanksgiving, we’re doing something a little different: we’re talking with Jake Cohen about the foods that impacted his identity. Jake Cohen is the New York Times bestselling author of the cookbooks Jew-ish and I Could Nosh, and star of A&E’s Jake Makes It Easy. Jake’s latest cookbook, Dinner Party Animal, is a “self help cookbook” all about throwing a great dinner party and finding community.  In this episode, we’ll hear about how Jake reconnected with Judaism in his 20s and how learning to make kubbeh opened a door to the wide world of Jewish food. Of course he’ll have plenty of recommendations for making Thanksgiving dinner special (and pain-free!) Jake and his recipes have been featured on Rachael Ray, The Drew Barrymore Show, Good Morning America, the Food Network and in The New York Times, among many others. When he’s not posting challah-braiding videos and recipes, he’s eating around New York City. Jake Cohen’s Five Foods & Restaurants: 1. Passover at his Aunt Susi’s (featuring her take on Joan Nathan’s Apricot Chicken) 2. Kubbeh at Azura in Jerusalem  3. The Chocolate Coulant, created by Dominique Ansel at Daniel 4. Hani’s bakery in the Lower East Side 5. Dinner Party Animal by Jake Cohen Other Episodes Featuring conversations about Jewish Food: - Bonny Reichert on Food, Fear, and Finding Beauty - Esther Levy Chehebar on Marriage, Sisterhood, and the Weight of Tradition The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.) ⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox. Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast. For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected] For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org  The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity.  Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen Produced by Odelia Rubin Editorial and website support by Amelia Merrill Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson studio Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions

Sam Sussman’s autobiographical novel Boy From North Country begins with the quest to determine whether Bob Dylan is in fact his father, but gives way to the deeper story of his love for his mother in her final days. In many ways it’s a testament to her having accomplished in its truest form what I think mothers all hope for, which is that their love travels forward and in some way inoculates their children against future pain. In this episode, Sam reflects on his unconventional Jewish upbringing in upstate New York, where Judaism lived in literature and in the spiritual teachings passed down by his mother. He shares how My Name Is Asher Lev gave him a vision of a future for himself where art was central and how A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz helped him sustain a relationship with his mother after her death, redefining for him the bond between the living and the dead. Sam Sussman is originally from the Hudson Valley, and he has lived in Jerusalem, Berlin, and England. He graduated with a B.A from Swarthmore and M.Phil from Oxford, and has taught writing and literature seminars around the world. His writing has been recognized by BAFTA and published in Harper’s Magazine.  Boy from the North Country is his first novel. It debuted as a USA Today bestseller and was picked by our partners at the Jewish Book Council as the next Nu Reads selection, their new bi-monthly subscription series spotlighting remarkable Jewish literature. Sam Sussman’s Five Books: 1. My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok  2. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz 3. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust 4. Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst 5. Boy From the North Country by Sam Sussman  Other Books Mentioned: - Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber - Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre Other Episodes featuring Autofiction & Memoir: Nicole Graev Lipson on the Attention, Intention, and Complexity of Mothers Bonny Reichert on Food, Fear, and Finding Beauty Gila Pfeffer on Finding Meaning and Humor in the Darkest Times The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.) ⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox. Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast. For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected] For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org  The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity.  Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen Produced by Odelia Rubin Editorial and website support by Amelia Merrill Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson Studio Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.

Angela Buchdahl was born in Seoul, the daughter of a Korean Buddhist mother and Jewish American father. One of America’s most prominent rabbis, Rabbi Angela discusses her memoir Heart of a Stranger and the importance of finding yourself in a story. She shares how she discovered belonging within the Jewish narrative itself - seeing in Abraham and Sarah’s journey of boundary crossing a reflection of her own. In Jewish folktales, she recognized her own longing to reach deeper truths, and in Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste, she saw her experience of feeling outside the Jewish community reflected back to her. Stories, she explains, are the quickest way to build empathy. In sharing her own, she invites us all to see how our sense of otherness can become a profound source of Jewish belonging. Profoundly spiritual from a young age, by sixteen she felt the first stirrings to become a rabbi. Despite the naysayers and periods of self-doubt—Would a mixed-race woman ever be seen as authentically Jewish or chosen to lead a congregation?—she stayed the course, which took her first to Yale, then to rabbinical school, and finally to the pulpit of one of the largest, most influential congregations in the world. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s Five Books: 1. All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor 2. Elijah’s Violin and Other Jewish Fairy Tales selected and retold by Howard Schwartz 3. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson 4. As A Jew by Sarah Hurwitz  5. Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela Buchdahl Also Mentioned: The Carp in the Bathtub by Barbara Cohen Grimm’s Fairytales  Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s Rosh Hashanah Sermon Other Episodes featuring Rabbis and Communal Leaders: - Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding Her Place in the Jewish Community - Rabbi Benjamin Resnick on the Enduring Precariousness of Jewish Life - Yehuda Kurtzer on Grappling with History and Memory The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.) ⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter⁠⁠ to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox. Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast. For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected] For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org  The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity.  Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen Produced by Odelia Rubin Editorial and website support by Amelia Merrill Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson Studio Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.