An extraordinary work of Jewish ethics, law and tradition, the Talmud, compels readers to engage with its abundance of ideas on living a good life. Full of folk legends, bawdy tales and rabbinical back-and-forth over centuries, it is inspiring, demanding, confounding and thousands of pages long. And, as Liel Leibovitz enthusiastically explores, the Talmud is humanity’s first self-help book, with sage advice on an unparalleled scope of topics, including dealing with grief, choosing friends and communicating with your partner. Weaving together psychology, philosophy and history with examples from Weight Watchers and the lives of Billie Holiday and Aristotle, Leibovitz makes the Talmud’s insights reverberate for our modern age. Each chapter is focused on a fundamental human experience—the mind-body problem, business, love—to illuminate how the Talmud speaks to daily existence. Explaining the Talmud’s origins and its pertinence today, Leibovitz shows how one of the world’s oldest books can, indeed, change your life.

From the hosts of Tablet magazine's wildly popular Unorthodox podcast, The New Jewish Encyclopedia is an edifying, entertaining, and thoroughly modern introduction to Judaism. It offers everything: from an illustrated guide to determining different Hasidic sects based on their garb to practical advice for throwing an unconventional Jewish wedding to humorous, accessible explanations of Judaism's myriad holidays. The book is an alphabetical encyclopedia of short entries - some profane, some profound, and some both - heavy on the graphics and, like contemporary Judaism itself, featuring a panoply of divergent voices, all amusing and well-informed and none in perfect agreement. By weaving together the essential and the esoteric, the snarky and the earnest, the Jewish and the Jew-ish, this book honors its title, offering a truly unorthodox approach to Judaism and allowing each reader to find his or her point of connection with the culture, the tradition, and the religion. Inside, under any given letter, readers will find short essays evocatively explaining Judaism's key holidays and practices and why they still matter today; visual guides to things Jews love, like smoked fish, and how to tell your gravlax from your pastrami-smoked salmon; definitive lists of things that matter, from the best Christmas songs written by Jews to the most essential Seinfeld episodes; advice from an Orthodox sex guru, a bridesmaid-for-hire, and other people whose wisdom would benefit Jews and non-Jews alike; brief histories of Jewish traditions new and old, such as the sacred ritual of eating Chinese food on December 25; a vocabulary of words and phrases only Jews use; and so much more.

Why is it that Leonard Cohen receives the sort of reverence we reserve for a precious few living artists? Why are his songs, three or four decades after their original release, suddenly gracing the charts, blockbuster movie sound tracks, and television singing competitions? And why is it that while most of his contemporaries are either long dead or engaged in uninspired nostalgia tours, Cohen is at the peak of his powers and popularity?

These are the questions at the heart of A Broken Hallelujah, a meditation on the singer, his music, and the ideas and beliefs at its core. Granted extraordinary access to Cohen s personal papers, Liel Leibovitz examines the intricacies of the man whose performing career began with a crippling bout of stage fright, yet who, only a few years later, tamed a rowdy crowd on the Isle of Wight, preventing further violence; the artist who had gone from a successful world tour and a movie star girlfriend to a long residency in a remote Zen retreat; and the rare spiritual seeker for whom the principles of traditional Judaism, the tenets of Zen Buddhism, and the iconography of Christianity all align. The portrait that emerges is that of an artist attuned to notions of justice, lust, longing, loneliness, and redemption, and possessing the sort of voice and vision commonly reserved only for the prophets.

More than just an account of Cohen s life, A Broken Hallelujah is an intimate look at the artist that is as emotionally astute as it is philosophically observant. Delving into the sources and meaning of Cohen s work, Leibovitz beautifully illuminates what Cohen is telling us and why we listen so intensely."

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a meditation on the deeply Jewish and surprisingly spiritual roots of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics Few artists have had as much of an impact on American popular culture as Stan Lee. The characters he created-Spider-Man and Iron Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four-occupy Hollywood's imagination and production schedules, generate billions at the box office, and come as close as anything we have to a shared American mythology. This illuminating biography focuses as much on Lee's ideas as it does on his unlikely rise to stardom. It surveys his cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between celebrated comic book heroes and the ancient tales of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. Was Spider-Man just a reincarnation of Cain? Is the Incredible Hulk simply Adam by another name? From close readings of Lee's work to little-known anecdotes from Marvel's history, the book paints a portrait of Lee that goes much deeper than one of his signature onscreen cameos.

About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: "Excellent." - New York times "Exemplary." - Wall St. Journal "Distinguished." - New Yorker "Superb." - The Guardian

Americans and Israelis have often thought that their nations were chosen, in perpetuity, to do God's work. This belief in divine election is a potent, living force, one that has guided and shaped both peoples and nations throughout their history and continues to do so to this day. Through great adversity and despite serious challenges, Americans and Jews, leaders and followers, have repeatedly faced the world fortified by a sense that their nation has a providential destiny.

As Todd Gitlin and Liel Leibovitz argue in this original and provocative book, what unites the two allies in a "special friendship" is less common strategic interests than this deep-seated and lasting theological belief that they were chosen by God.

The United States and Israel each has understood itself as a nation placed on earth to deliver a singular message of enlightenment to a benighted world. Each has stumbled through history wrestling with this strange concept of chosenness, trying both to grasp the meaning of divine election and to bear the burden it placed them under. It was this idea that provided an indispensable justification when the Americans made a revolution against Britain, went to war with and expelled the Indians, expanded westward, built an overseas empire, and most recently waged war in Iraq. The equivalent idea gave rise to the Jewish people in the first place, sustained them in exodus and exile, and later animated the Zionist movement, inspiring the Israelis to vanquish their enemies and conquer the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Everywhere you look in American and Israeli history, the idea of chosenness is there.

"The Chosen Peoples" delivers a bold new take on both nations' histories. It shows how deeply the idea of chosenness has affected not only their enthusiasts but also their antagonists. It digs deeply beneath the superficialities of headlines, the details of negotiations, the excuses and justifications that keep cropping up for both nations' successes and failures. It shows how deeply ingrained is the idea of a chosen people in both nations' histories--and yet how complicated that idea really is. And it offers interpretations of chosenness that both nations dearly need in confronting their present-day quandaries.

Weaving together history, theology, and politics, "The Chosen Peoples" vividly retells the dramatic story of two nations bound together by a wild and sacred idea, takes unorthodox perspectives on some of our time's most searing conflicts, and offers an unexpected conclusion: only by taking the idea of chosenness seriously, wrestling with its meaning, and assuming its responsibilities can both nations thrive.

In 1872, China ravaged by poverty, population growth, and aggressive European armies sent 120 boys to America to learn the secrets of Western innovation. They studied at New England s finest schools and were driven by a desire for progress and reform. When anti-Chinese fervor forced them back home, the young men had to overcome a suspicious imperial court and a country deeply resistant to change in technology and culture. Fortunate Sons tells a remarkable story, weaving together the dramas of personal lives with the fascinating tale of a nation s endeavor to become a world power. "

At the twilight of the nineteenth century, China sent a detachment of boys to America in order to learn the ways of the West, modernize the antiquated empire, and defend it from foreigners invading its shores. After spending a decade in New England s finest schools, the boys re-turned home, driven by a pioneering spirit of progress and reform. Their lives in America influenced not only their thinking but also their nation s endeavor to become a contemporary world power, an endeavor that resonates powerfully today. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other first-person accounts, Fortunate Sons tells a remarkable tale, weaving together the dramas of personal lives with the momentous thrust of a nation reborn. Shedding light on a crucial yet largely unknown period in China s history, Fortunate Sons provides insight into the issues concerning that nation today, from its struggle toward economic supremacy to its fraught relationship with the United States."