Show overview
The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them has been publishing since 2024, and across the 2 years since has built a catalogue of 55 episodes, alongside 5 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 40 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence, with the show now in its 2nd season.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 42 min and 53 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Arts show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 1 weeks ago, with 10 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2025, with 38 episodes published. Published by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen.
From the publisher
The Five Books celebrates the role of books in our lives. Each week we’ll talk with a Jewish author about five books in five categories. We’ll hear about: two Jewish books that have impacted the author’s Jewish identity; one book (not necessarily Jewish) that they think everyone should read - a book that changed their worldview. We’ll get a peek into what book they're reading now, and we’ll hear the inside scoop on the new book they’ve just published. The Five Books creates a space for all listeners to explore what it means to live, write, and read as a Jewish American today.
Latest Episodes
View all 55 episodesFran Fabriczki on “Homelooseness” and a Love Letter to Los Angeles
Adeena Sussman on Flavor as a Jewish Language
Alicia Jo Rabins on Composing a Life of Meaning
Matti Friedman On the Stories that Built a People
In this conversation, Matti Friedman reflects on the power of foundation stories to shape how we understand ourselves and where we come from – from Noah’s Ark, to the origins of the Bible, to Hannah Senesh and the other parachutists who landed in Nazi Europe during World War II. We also talk about what happens when we look more closely at these myths and encounter the flawed, human figures behind them - and why that often deepens, rather than diminishes, our admiration for their courage. Along the way, we also discuss Matti’s particular perspective as a Western-born journalist living in Israel, Michel Houellebecq’s Submission, and the gift of reading poetry in uncertain times. Matti’s latest book, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, has been awarded the Natan Notable Book award for Winter 2026 and was released last week. In Out of the Sky, Matti Friedman unravels one of the strangest episodes of World War II: In 1944, a team of young women and men who had escaped the Holocaust made the inconceivable choice to parachute back into Nazi-occupied Europe under the cover of a British military operation. Matti Friedman is the author of five works of nonfiction that have been translated into more than a dozen languages, each of which has appeared on numerous ‘best books of the year’ lists and have been awarded prizes and accolades including the Sami Rohr Prize, the ALA’s Sophie Brody Medal, and the Canadian Jewish Book Award, and more. Matti is a former Associated Press correspondent, his work has appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, the Atlantic, and elsewhere. He currently writes from Israel for The Free Press. Matti Friedman's Five Books: 1. The Bible - Parshat Noach, the Story of Noah 2. Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Friedman 3. Submission by Michel Houellebecq 4. Hebrew poetry by Yehuda Amichai and Lea Goldberg 5. Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe by Matti Friedman Other Media Mentioned: HHhH by Laurent Binet Eli Eli, recorded by Ofra Haza and the Hatikva Neighbourhood Workshop Theatre Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a reflection on Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock with designer and friend of the podcast Dov Abramson. Other Episode You Might Enjoy: Sarah Hurwitz on Reclaiming Our Jewish Story Rabbi Yitz Greenberg on Re-envisioning the Jewish Future Dara Horn on Being the Lorax at Her Seder Table Ilana Kurshan on Books as Blueprints for Life 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 Angela Buchdahl (Senior Rabbi at Central Synagogue, and author of Heart of a Stranger) 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 Thank you to Rob Mank Thank you to Felicia Herman and David Ben-Ur for their generous support.
Zeeva Bukai on the On the Fragments that Make Us Whole
In this episode, Zeeva Bukai discusses her two novels, Anatomy of Exile and The World Between, both published in the past year and woven with threads of her family history. She traces a legacy of dislocation: her grandmother’s reunion with her husband after years in a Siberian work camp, her father’s escape from Syria at age 13 with his younger brothers, and her own life between Israel and the U.S. Zeeva also reflects on her deep connection to Nicole Kraus’ Great House and the “architecture” of memory, and shares a striking moment teaching Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis to a class of orthodox high school students. The Anatomy of Exile was chosen as the winner of the 2025 National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction. Zeeva’s latest book, The World Between was released just a few weeks ago. Zeeva Bukai’s stories have appeared in Carve Magazine, The Master’s Review, Mcsweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and elsewhere. Her honors include a fellowship at the New York Center for Fiction, residencies at Hedgebrook Writers Colony, and Byrdcliff AIR program in Woodstock NY. She is the recipient of the The Master’s Review fall fiction prize, the Curt Johnson Prose Award, and the Lilith Fiction Award. Zeeva Bukai’s Five Books: 1. The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig 2. Great House by Nicole Kraus 3. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 4. Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasiliyuk 5. Anatomy of Exile and The World Between by Zeeva Bukai Other Episodes with Authors who Teach: - Elizabeth Graver on Lost Worlds and new Doorways - Jeremy Dauber on What the Horror Genre Reveals About America - Toby Lloyd on Biblical Horror and being a Jewish Atheist - Mary Morris on Hidden Histories and Jewish Identities 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.
A Purim Episode with Rob Kutner On Where Comedy and Judaism Overlap [REBROADCAST]
Rob Kutner is an Emmy, Peabody, Grammy, and TCA-winning writer for late-night TV including The Daily Show and TBS’ Conan. He is the author of the humor books including Apocalypse How (Running Press, 2008) and the kids’ comedy-horror graphic novel Snot Goblins and Other Tasteless Tales (First Second, 2023). He has written material for the Oscars, Emmys, and two White House Correspondents Dinners, and was named a “SuperJew” by Time Out New York. He is also the host of the new Mama’s Boys: a podcast on what it means to be a Jewish man today. Rob Kutner’s irreverent book on Jewish history, The Jews: 5000 Years and Counting covers every major moment in Jewish history from Adam and Eve to Tuesday’s rerun of Seinfeld. This book will make you laugh, it might inadvertently make you learn, and it might just be a balm for our times that you didn’t know you needed. In our conversation, Rob will tell us about how going to a Christian school reinforced his own Judaism, how he made sure that the diversity of stories were included in his Jewish history, and his story about ordering a lulav and etrog to the Daily Show office. Rob Kutner’s Five Books: 1. The Big Book of Jewish Humor by Moshe Waldoks and William Novak 2. As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg 3. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo 4. Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake 5. The Jews by Rob Kutner Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod For feedback or author recommendations please email us at [email protected] 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 from Amelia Merrill Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions Art by Elad Lifshitz of Dov Abramson Studio
Allegra Goodman on “This is Not About Us” (Or So We Tell Ourselves)
Allegra Goodman tells us how This Is Not About Us grew like a family tree from her New Yorker short story “Apple Cake,” as she continued writing about the Rubinstein family for over a decade. We discuss how her perspective - and the world - has changed since she wrote The Family Markowitz in her 20s, and how Keats’ concept of negative capability has shaped her writing. We also hear about a book that she found very dull until a bad cold taught her patience. Allegra Goodman is a writer of extraordinary range and precision. Across novels and stories, she’s written about faith, ambition, family, science, history, and the quiet negotiations of everyday life, always with clarity, wit, and deep compassion for her characters. Allegra’s many books include among them Sam, a Jenna’s Book Club pick, Paradise Park, Kaaterskill Falls (a National Book Award finalist), and Isola (a Reese’s Book Club Pick.) Her latest novel of interconnected short stories, This Is Not About Us, brings all of that together. It follows the Rubinstein family over many years, through moments that feel small until they suddenly don’t. Allegra Goodman’s Five Books: 1. A book that is in conversation with your latest work: The Family Markowitz 2. A Book You Changed Your Mind About: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James 3. A passage from a book that has stayed with you or has changed how you think about things: A famous passage from one of John Keats' letters about Negative Capability 4. The Book You’re Reading Now: Dickens the Enchanter: Inside the Explosive Imagination of the Great Storyteller by Peter Conrad 5. The Author’s Latest Work: This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman Allegra’s First Appearance on The Five Books can be found here: Allegra Goodman on Making the Exotic Familiar, and Finding the Modern in Ancient Worlds This episode was recorded live in front of an audience in a joint event for subscribers to Nu Reads, a project from Jewish Book Council that brings remarkable Jewish literature straight to your door. This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman is the Nu Reads pick for February. Learn more at https://www.nureads.org/ The Five Books is a partner organization of Jewish Book Council, a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. 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 Support our work lifting up Jewish books and Jewish authors!Donate Here The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity. Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen Produced by Odelia Rubin Live Event Production support by the incredible team at Nu Reads/ Jewish Book Council: Jamie Betesh Carter, Evie Saphire-Bernstein, Miri Pomerantz Dauber and Naomi Firestone-Teeter Editorial and website support by Amelia Merrill Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson Studio Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.
Jason Diamond on being a (Jewish-)American Author
In this conversation, Jason Diamond unpacks what it means to be an American, Jewish, or Jewish-American author. We also discuss family secrets, Jewish gangsters, the humor and alienation of Franz Kafka, and how Art Spiegelman’s Maus taught Jason to accept his family’s silences. Jason’s debut novel, Kaplan’s Plot, follows Elijah Mendes, who returns to Chicago after his tech business collapses and discovers that his family owns a Jewish cemetery, where a man he’s never heard of — his great-uncle Solomon Kaplan — is buried. As Elijah begins to untangle his family’s past, the novel moves between his present-day relationship with his mother, Eve, who is dying of cancer, and the earlier story of his grandfather, Yitz Kaplan. That past narrative traces Yitz and his brother Sol from a pogrom in Odessa to their arrival in America alone, and follows the brothers’ complicated bond as Yitz rises to become a Jewish gangster in 1920s Chicago. Jason Diamond has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, The Wall Street Journal, McSweeny's, NPR, and many other outlets. He is the author of The Sprawl, and the memoir, Searching For John Hughes. He is the co-author (with Nicolas Heller) of New York Nico's Guide to NYC. Jason Diamond’s Five Books: 1. Maus by Art Spiegelman 2. Amerika by Franz Kafka 3. Be Here Now by Ram Dass 4. The Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler and Effingers by Gabriele Tergit 5. Kaplan’s Plot by Jason Diamond Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a bonus book selection by literary insider, Erika Dreifus. ErikaDreifus.com Other Others who Chose Art Spiegelman’s Maus: Benjamin Resnick on the Enduring Precariousness of Jewish Life Georgia Hunter on Discovering her Family’s Jewish History 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.
Sasha Vasilyuk on the Silences of the Soviet-Jewish Past
In this episode, Sasha reflects on her childhood in Russia and Ukraine, including the moment she discovered her family was Jewish at a Purim celebration. Cut off from much of the Soviet Jewish experience under communism, Sasha also shares what she is reading to bridge the gap and learn more about the hidden narratives of Soviet Jews. We discuss what Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing taught her about slavery’s impact on American history and life today, what it means to contribute a “missing puzzle piece” to WWII literature, and how witnessing the present Russia-Ukraine conflict emboldened her to tell her grandfather’s story. Ukraine, 2007. Yefim Shulman, husband, grandfather and war veteran, was beloved by his family and his coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow Nina finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession forces them to reassess the man they thought they knew and the country he had defended. In 1941, Yefim is a young artillerist on the border between the Soviet Union and Germany, eager to defend his country and his large Jewish family against Hitler's forces. But surviving the war requires sacrifices Yefim never imagined-and even when the war ends, his fight isn't over. He must conceal his choices from the KGB and from his family. Sasha Vasilyuk is a journalist and author of the debut novel Your Presence Is Mandatory (Bloomsbury, 2024), winner of the California Book Award and the Sami Rohr Prize. Her nonfiction has been published in The New York Times, CNN, Harper’s Bazaar, Time, The Telegraph, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. Sasha grew up between Ukraine and Russia before immigrating to the United States at the age of 13. Sasha Vasilyuk’s Five Books:1. "An Airplane Went Flying" by Friedrich Gorenshteyn (in Russian) 2. Life and Fate by Vasiliy Grossman 3. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 4. In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union translated by Sasha Senderovich and Harriet Murav 5. Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk Other Episodes featuring Unique WWII Perspectives: - Sharon Kurtzman on the Danger that Lingered Post Holocaust - Mary Morris on Hidden Histories and Jewish Identities - Georgia Hunter on Discovering her Family’s Jewish History and Kindness as Resistance - Bonny Reichert on Food, Fear, and Finding Beauty 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.
Samantha Ellis on Becoming a Keeper of Her Ancestral Language
In this episode, we’ll hear Samantha reflect on her journey to preserve her Iraqi-Jewish heritage even as the language is disappearing from use. She shares how the hand work of cooking traditional recipes became a tangible way to pass culture to her son, how Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother helped her process family histories, and how stories of imprisonment and fear in Iraq shaped her childhood imagination. The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that’s now on the verge of extinction. The realization that she won’t be able to tell her son he’s "living in the days of the aubergines" or "chopping onions on my heart" or reminding him to "always carry salt" opens the floodgates. The questions keep coming. How can she pass on this heritage without passing on the trauma of displacement? Will her son ever love mango pickle? Samantha Ellis is the author of How to be a Heroine and Take Courage. Her plays include How to Date a Feminist, Cling to me Like Ivy and Operation Magic Carpet. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, theTLS, the Spectator, Literary Review and more. She worked on the first two Paddington films. She lives in London, where Always Carry Salt was published under the title Chopping Onions on My Heart. Samantha Ellis’s Five Books: 1. Megillat Esther, The Book of Esther 2. The Book Of Jewish Food By Claudia Roden 3. Lose Your Mother By Saidiya Hartman 4. Scaffolding By Lauren Elkin 5. Always Carry Salt by Samantha Ellis Other Books Mentioned: - Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk Other Episodes about Sephardic Heritage: - Esther Levy Chehebar on Marriage, Sisterhood, and the Weight of Tradition - Elizabeth Graver on Lost Worlds and New Doorways 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.
Judith Viorst on Happiness, Agency, and the Art of Aging
In this episode, celebrated children’s book author, poet and memoirist Judith Viorst brings her irrepressible wit, humor, and insight to every age and stage of life. We talk about growing up, raising children, and living well - including the story of how her family gave up Christmas. She reflects on her lifelong love of “messy” characters, from Max in Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are to her own Lulu. Her wisdom and advice is especially meaningful as we take stock of the year and set our intentions for the year ahead. In Making the Best of What’s Left: When We’re Too Old to Get the Chairs Reupholstered, Judith confesses, “I never ever send a text while driving, and not just because I don’t know how to text.” She discusses the afterlife (She doesn’t believe in it, but if it exists, she hopes her sister-in-law isn’t there). She complains to her dead husband (“I need you fixing our damn circuit breakers. I need you! Could you please stop being dead?”). And she explores the late-life meanings of wisdom and happiness and second chances and home. With a wit that defies age, Viorst navigates the terrain of loss. Judith Viorst is the author of the beloved Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which has sold some four million copies; the Lulu books; the New York Times bestseller Necessary Losses; and four musicals. Judith has written books for each decade of life after twenty, including: It's Hard to Be Hip Over 30 & Other Tragedies of Married Life, Forever 50 & Other Negotiations, I'm Too Young to Be 70 & Other Delusions, and Nearing 90 And Other Comedies of Late Life. Now in her nineties, Judith writes about life’s “Final Fifth” in her latest book Making the Best of What’s Left. Judith Viorst’s Five Books: 1. The Assistant by Bernard Malamud 2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 3. The Odyssey by Homer (Robert Fagles translation) 4. I'll Be Right Here by Amy Bloom 5. Making the Most of What’s Left: When We’re Too Old to Get the Chairs Reupholstered by Judith Viorst Other Books Mentioned: - The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Brundibar by Maurice Sendak - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Other Episodes featuring Children’s Book and YA Authors: - Gayle Forman on Judy Blume, Taylor Swift, and the Innate Goodness of Young People - Dara Horn on Being the Lorax at Her Seder Table - Rob Kutner on Writing for the Daily Show, Conan, and How Comedy and Judaism Overlap - Jeremy Dauber on Jewish Literature, Pop Culture, and What the Horror genre Reveals About America 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.
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg on Re-envisioning the Jewish Future
“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
BONUS: Introducing Jewish Insights with Justin Pines
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
Jake Cohen on the Magic of Gathering Around the Table
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 on Bob Dylan and Being his Mother’s Son
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.
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on Finding Yourself in the Story
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.
Kitty Zeldis On Passing and the Relief of Being “Kitty”
At Vassar College, Kitty Zeldis confronted what she calls a “WASP tsunami,” sparking lifelong questions about what it means to be Jewish in a wider, often unwelcoming world. In our conversation, she reflects on how that tension shaped her new novel One of Them, and shares the moments and stories that shaped her Jewish identity: from a German-Jewish poet who challenged her assumptions about culture and belonging, to her parents’ formative years in Israel, to the haunting family memory of a murdered great-grandfather in Russia. In One of Them, Anne Bishop seems like a typical Vassar sophomore—one of a popular group of privileged WASP friends. None of the girls in her circle has any idea that she’s Jewish, or that her real first name is Miriam. Pretending to be a Gentile has made life easier—as Anne, she no longer suffers the snubs, snide remarks, and daily restrictions Jews face. She enjoys her college life of teas, late-night conversations, and mixers. She turns a blind eye to the casual anti-Semitism that flourishes among her friends and classmates—after all, it's no longer directed at her. But her secret life is threatened when she becomes fascinated by a girl not in her crowd. Delia Goldhush is sophisticated, stylish, brilliant, and unashamedly Jewish—and seems not to care that she’s an outcast among the other students. Knowing that her growing closeness with Delia would be social suicide if it were discovered, Anne keeps their friendship quiet. Delia seems to understand—until a cruelty on Anne’s part drives them apart and sends them scattering to other corners of the world, alone and together. Kitty Zeldis is the pen name of Yona Zeldis McDonough, a Brooklyn based author of nine novels, numerous essays, articles and works of short fiction as well as forty books for children. She has worked for over twenty years as the Fiction editor for the Jewish feminist magazine Lilith. Kitty Zeldis’s Five Books: 1. Dark Soliloquy by Gertrude Kolmar 2. Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth 3. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 4. Empresses of Seventh Avenue by Nancy MacDonell 5. One of Them by Kitty Zeldis Other Books Mentioned: - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Other Episodes Featuring the Challenges of Young Adulthood - Yael van der Wouden on Rage, Desire, and Magic - Samantha Greene Woodruff on Blacklists and being a “Christmas Tree Jew’ - Toby Lloyd on Biblical Horror and being a Jewish Atheist - Jennifer Weiner on Pushing Back Against De-Jewified Last Names 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.
Ilana Kurshan on Books as Blueprints for Life
As we approach Simchat Torah, when we roll the scroll back to the beginning and start reading again, Ilana Kurshan’s Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together reminds us of another sacred cycle: the books we read to our children again and again. Just like the Torah, those familiar stories shape us through their repetition, imprinting meaning with every return. In this episode, Ilana Kurshan invites us into a life shaped by books – first as a child so immersed in All-of-a-Kind Family that its scenes felt like her own memories, and later as a mother discovering how reading aloud could bridge her love of literature with the demands of parenting. She shares how translating beloved works became a way to claim ownership over the stories she loved, and how her study of Jewish texts opened new ways of seeing herself, sometimes identifying more with the men of the Talmud than the women. Through tender, vivid moments, like reading a black-and-white board book to her newborn and connecting it to the creation of the world, Ilana reveals how books can shape not only our inner lives, but the worlds we help bring into being. Children of the Book is Ilana Kurshan’s new memoir. Structured in five parts corresponding to the first five books of the Bible, she traces the profound parallels between the biblical narrative and the daily rhythms of parenthood. Ilana Kurshan is a mother of five and lives in Jerusalem. She is the author of If All the Seas Were Ink, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature. She has worked in literary publishing both in New York and in Jerusalem as a translator and foreign rights agent, and as the books editor of Lilith Magazine. Ilana Kurshan’s Five Books: 1. All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor 2. A Bride for One Night by Ruth Calderon 3. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White 4. Three Days in Summer by Yossi Avni Levy (not yet out in English) 5. Children of the Book by Ilana Kurshan Other Books Mentioned: - From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins and Alexandra Dunietz - ”Pierre Menard, author of the Quixote” in Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges - Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson - Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser - A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary Other Episodes about All of a Kind Family: Jennifer Weiner on Pushing Back against De-Jewified Last Names, “Women’s Fiction”, and Activism in the Face of Despair Tova Mirvis on Community, Belonging, and Forgiveness 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 Sarah Waring Artwork by Dena Friedman Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.
Sarah Hurwitz on Reclaiming Our Jewish Story
As Rosh Hashanah approaches - a time of reflection, renewal, and returning to our deepest selves - I can’t think of a better moment to listen to (and read) Sarah Hurwitz. Best known as a White House speechwriter, Sarah has turned her extraordinary gift with words inward, asking essential questions about how we have constructed our Jewish identities in her new book, As A Jew. Together we explore everything from why Jewish law insists on the tiniest ethical details to why “I don’t know” can be a profound prayer, and how the health of the Jewish ‘body’ depends on honoring all its parts. It’s a conversation about seeing one another more clearly, exactly the kind of soul work the High Holidays call us to do. At thirty-six, Sarah Hurwitz was a typical lapsed Jew. On a whim, she attended an introduction to Judaism class that sparked a journey of discovery that transformed her life. Years later, as Hurwitz wrestled with what it means to be Jewish at a time of rising antisemitism, she wondered: Where had the Judaism she discovered as an adult been all her life? And why had her Jewish identity consisted of a series of caveats and apologies: I’m Jewish, but not that Jewish . . . I’m just a cultural Jew . . . a little different, but not in a way that would make anyone uncomfortable. Seeking answers, she discovered how hateful myths about Jewish power, depravity, and conspiracy have worn a neural groove deep into the world’s psyche, shaping not just how others think about Jews, but how Jews think about themselves. She soon realized that the Jewish identity she’d thought was freely chosen was actually the result of thousands of years of antisemitism and two centuries of Jews erasing parts of themselves and their tradition in the hope of being accepted and safe. In As a Jew, Hurwitz documents her quest to take back her Jewish identity, how she stripped away the layers of antisemitic lies that made her recoil from her own birthright and unearthed the treasures of Jewish tradition. Sarah Hurwitz served as a White House speechwriter from 2009 to 2017, first as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. Her first book, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life – in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There) was a finalist for two National Jewish Book Awards and for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Her second book, As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try To Erase Us, won the Natan Notable Book Award. Sarah has been profiled in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Guardian; interviewed on The Today Show, Morning Joe, and NPR; and named by The Forward as one of 50 Jews who impacted American life in 2016 and 2019. Sarah is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and was a 2017 Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard. Sarah Hurwitz’s Five Books: 1. A Code of Jewish Ethics by Joseph Telushkin 2. As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg 3. Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon 4. The Sirens' Call by Chris Hayes 5. As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us by Sarah Hurwitz Other Books & Articles Mentioned: - Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin - “College-Age Jews Are Heading South” by Rose Horowitch (The Atlantic) - Judaism is About Love, by Shai Held Other Episodes with Deep Cuts on Jewish Peoplehood: - Yehuda Kurtzer on Grappling with History and Memory - Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding her Place in the Jewish Community - Dara Horn on Being the Lorax at Her Seder Table If you loved this interview with Sarah Hurwitz, you can hear more from her on a recent episode of Identity/Crisis with host Yehuda Kurtzer, who was a guest on our podcast last December – Yehuda and Sarah were shaped by one of the same books, check out both episodes to find out which one…
Toby Lloyd on Biblical Horror and being a Jewish Atheist
Toby Lloyd discusses Fervor, his haunting debut novel inspired by a rereading of the Bible. Struck by the richness, ambiguity, and moments of horror in Genesis and Exodus, Toby explores how these ancient stories can speak to modern readers. We talk about his aim to write for a broad audience, the place of British Jews in the heart of English literature, and why Marcel Proust’s portrayal of Jewish identity feels as urgent today as it did a century ago. In Fervor, Hannah and Eric Rosenthal are devout Jews living in North London with their three children and Eric’s father Yosef, a Holocaust survivor. As Hannah prepares to publish an account of Yosef's years in war-torn Europe—unearthing a terrible secret from his time in the camps—Elsie, her perfect daughter, starts to come undone. And then, in the wake of Yosef’s death, she disappears. When she returns, just as mysteriously as she left, she is altered in disturbing ways. Toby Lloyd studied English at Oxford University before moving to America to pursue an MFA in creative writing at NYU. He has published short stories and essays in Carve Magazine and the Los Angeles Review of Books and was longlisted for the 2021 V. S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. He lives in London. Toby Lloyd’s Five Books: 1. The Jewish Joke by Devorah Baum 2. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust 3. The Truce by Primo Levi 4. The Furrows by Namwali Serpell 5. Fervor by Toby Lloyd Other Media Mentioned - Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin - The Witch (film) - The Exorcist (film) - Collected Poems by Phillip Larkin - My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard - Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel Other Five Books Episodes That Discuss Horror Fiction: - Jeremy Dauber on Jewish Literature, Pop Culture, and What the Horror Genre Reveals About America - Allison Epstein on Taking on One of Literature’s Most Antisemitic Characters - Yael Van Der Wouden on Rage, Desire, and Magic 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 Sarah Waring Artwork by Dena Friedman Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.