This wonderful book is divided into 11 sections for 11 holidays, each section with several delicious entries.

The book begins at the beginning, with 12 entries on Rosh Hashanah (the birthday of the world) and Yom Kippur. Like all the sections, this one opens with a description of the holidays and their spiritual significance. Next comes a biblical story of Moshe's mistake, whose epigraph explains that there is no Hebrew word for sin. "Het" (pronounced with a guttural "ch") actually means "to miss the mark."

One of these is the tale of Zuzya, adapted from the Yiddish genius, I.L. Peretz. When Zuzya missed prayers, the villagers claimed he was speaking to God. A stranger laughed. The next day, he followed Zuzya as he dressed as a peasant, walked to the woods, gave an old widow wood and lit her hearth comforting her with the assurance that God would provide her funds to pay him later. The section also gives recipes for honey cake and challah, explains the Shofar blasts, and recounts the Torah portion from Yom Kippur afternoon--the story of Jonah and the great fish.

The Sukkot section explains significance of the harvest festival, the booth (open to the sky) that must be built to mark it and the 4 plant species that help to celebrate the feast. Readers are treated to a story for Sukkot from Chelm, the realm of fools; one on invisible guests and the importance of hospitality; and a short David Adler tale of a city family whose landlord objects to their hut on the apartment building roof. Two entries on Simchat Torah follow a recipe for stuffed pumpkin.

For Chanukah, readers will find the music and words to Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages), a recipe for potato pancakes (latkes), the rules for a game of dreidel--and a delightful Isaac Bashevis Singer tale, Zlateh the Goat.

The remaining sections are each as rich as the first three. The Tu B'Sh'vat (birthday of trees) section includes a Midrashic tale, Honi and the Carob Tree and a story by Janice May Udry. Purim features a play and a story from Sadie Rose Weilerstein on K'tonton, the Jewish Tom Thumb. Pesach (Passover) includes stories about Moses, the Jewish flight from slavery in Egypt and its significance for every Jew today, and Barbara Cohen's modern-day classic, The Carp in the Bathtub.

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust remembrance day, features the most famous entry from Anne Frank's diary and the famous Hannah Senesh poem, Eili, Eili. It is followed by a moving section on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, including Brothers, a story on Jewish flight from the Nazis by Shalom Hetkin.

The book closes with a delightful section on most important Jewish holiday of all, Shabbat. Here we find several prayers and traditions, along with Mrs. Markowitz and the Sabbath Candlesticks by Amy Schwartz.

This book is a treasure chest. Alyssa A. Lappen

Yes, also for Christians, this book is very informative. There's not mere therory but a marvelous mix of a holiday's meaning in life, biblical and other stories about it, backery etc. I find Christian and Jewish holidays are not too far away different in what really they want to express.

On the front cover of "Rescuers" are 12 photographs of some very nice looking people. They are pictures of people that you might meet every day; of friends and family, or someone that you might pass by on the street. They are the faces of very ordinary people, but they are also much more than that. They are the faces of people that risked their lives to save the lives of others during the Holocaust. They are the faces of the rescuers. There are many more photographs inside the book, of rescuers from countries all over Europe. Author Malka Drucker and photographer Gay Block interviewed and photographed the rescuers, seeking the heart of compassion and moral courage. They found that heart in men and women; the young and the old; and in people from all walks of life. Every story told by the rescuers is very moving. Some rescuers saved one person from death; some saved many thousands. All of the rescuers are worthy of the greatest respect and honor. The rescuers were sometimes asked the question of why they helped others to live, when so many other people stood by and did nothing. The rescuers would answer that question by saying that they were only doing what they knew was right. By caring for other people, they were acting the way that everyone should have been acting. One of the most inspiring truths found in the book, is the thought that we all have that same spark of goodness within our hearts, that was shown so nobly by the rescuers. We all have the capacity for doing what is right, even in times of the greatest fear and terror. This is a book that will warm your heart, and it is well worth reading.

This book is wonderfully formatted, arranged by geographic area of Europe. Each interview starts with black and white photos a person who helped Jews and other persecuted people during WWII. A personal narrative of that time in their lives follows, and each interview closes with a color photo of that person as they were in 1992 when the interviews were done. A complicated and moving picture of altruism emerges, and one gets a glimpse of how individuals chose to protect others at the risk of threat to themselves and their families.

Many of my friends have read and suggested this books because of its great expressions of faith and how women are changing the face of religious leadership. They represent a new way of seeing God and a new community of leadership. Never before have so many women served the holy with earthly authority; it's a new paradigm and they might change the destructive and violent energy so prevalent in our time.

Freud asked what women really want. Rabbi Malka Drucker asks what both women and men want and need, spiritually, today. The answer is individual expression within a community, a fellowship, that supports each of us to bring goodness (divinity, God) into the world. The book functions as biography, history, and inspiration all at once, as it introduces the remarkable women--some widely known (Marianne Williamson, Dr. Elaine Pagels), some locally known (Dr. Nahid Angha, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis)- whose stories it tells. I disagree with "Publishers Weekly" reviewer that Rabbi Drucker's personal comments are intrusive. To the contrary, they enliven and bring immediacy to the spiritual biographies she presents and encourage the reader to bring his or her own experience to meeting these leaders. Though the book could be used for study or the classroom, its personal approach is anything but "textbookish." It's substantial, accessible, authentic, exciting and celebratory. A must-read if you are investigating or committed to matters of the spirit.

A wonderful story for the whole family! See how God's hand was on this man and how he was destined to revive the Hebrew language from the time he was a boy. His life is an inspiration.

This excellent Jewish holiday alphabet soup runs from the knedlach (dumplings) to the nuts, beginning with A for Afikomen and ending with Z for Shabbat zemirot (songs). In between are candles for Shabbat, dreidels for Chanukah, etrogs for Sukkot, blue and white Israeli flags for Simchat Torah, groggers for Purim, honey for Rosh Hashonah and a host of other treats. Some letters offer religious explanations-as in 'N' for Neilah, the last service of Yom Kippur. Others offer praises, as in 'U' for universe. But there's plenty of fun, too, as in 'O' for Chanukah oil in which the latkes fry and 'X' for a party xylophone. At one point we owned two copies of this book, which was a good thing, because one of them fell apart from use. Alyssa A. Lappen

I really enjoyed reading Jacob's Rescue. It was a great book with a lot of exciting happenings that keep you on the edge of your seat. This story takes place during World War II. Jacob is separated from his family when he goes into hiding. I have read many books about the Holocaust but this by far is my favorite. I highly recommend that you read this book! I hope you enjoy it!

Jacob's Rescue was about a rich Jewish boy who gets put in the Ghetto with his Aunt Hannah and Grandma. Then Alex (a Polish man with a wife and two two kids) decides to hide him. Jacob has two brothers David and Shalom. There are many problems but in the end it all turns out well. Read the story to find out the true story of Jacob's rescue. It is a very good book about World War II and the Holocaust which lasted from about 1939 to 1945. I liked the way it was always exiting and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Jacob's Rescue was a great book. I like this book because I like books about the Holocaust. I feel bad for the Jewish people because the Germans did horrible things to them. In the story I felt bad for Jacob because he was kind of guilty for everything that the family had to do like move or spend a lot of money. This book was so good that I could read it again. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read books about the Holocaust.