ROSH HODESH BOOK GROUP

Shir Tikvah women are invited to be part of the Rosh Hodesh Book Group.  Please contact Anne Whitaker if you would like to be on the e-mail list.  Otherwise check the Week’s Worth and website.

Upcoming Events–all at 2 PM on a Sunday, unless noted

February 19 – The Septembers of Shiraz

We will meet at Anne’s, and Cathy will lead the discussion.  The book is The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer.

Amazon.com Review:
“In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they have known.
As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches for him, suspecting, all the while, that their once-trusted housekeeper has turned on them and is now acting as an informer. And as his daughter, in a childlike attempt to stop the wave of baseless arrests, engages in illicit activities, his son, sent to New York before the rise of the Ayatollahs, struggles to find happiness even as he realizes that his family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger.
A page-turning literary debut, The Septembers of Shiraz simmers with questions of identity, alienation, and love, not simply for a spouse or a child, but for all the intangible sights and smells of the place we call home”

March 18-The Left Hand of God: Healing America’s Political and Spiritual Crisis by Michael Lerner.

We will meet at Anita’s.  Robbie will lead the discussion.

Book Description
Publication Date: March 13, 2007

The unholy alliance of the Political Right and the Religious Right threatens to destroy the America we love. It also threatens to generate a popular aversion to God and religion by identifying religious values with a pro-war, pro-business, pro-rich, anti-science, and anti-environmental stance.

Over the past few decades, the Republicans have achieved political dominance by forging a union with the Religious Right. This marriage has provided a sanctimonious veneer for policies that have helped the rich get richer while ignoring the needs of the middle class and the poor, dismantling environmental and civil liberties protections, and seeking global domination. The Right champions the materialism and ruthless selfishness promoted by unrestrained capitalism and then laments the moral crises of family instability and loneliness experienced by people who bring these commercial values into their homes and personal lives. In response, the Religious Right offers insular communities for the faithful and a culture that blames liberals, activist judges, homosexuals, independent women, and all secular people for the moral and spiritual emptiness so many Americans experience.

Yet, however distorted both the Right’s analysis and its solutions to America’s spiritual crisis may be, it wins allegiance by addressing the human hunger for a life with some higher purpose. The Left, by contrast, remains largely tone-deaf to the spiritual needs of the American people. It is the yearning for meaning in life, not just the desire for money or power, that lies at the core of American politics.

Addressing the central mystery of contemporary politics — why so many Americans vote against their own economic interests — The Left Hand of God provides an invaluable, timely, and blunt critique of the current state of faith in government. Lerner challenges the Left to give up its deeply held fear of religion and to distinguish between a domination-oriented, Right-Hand-of-God tradition and a more compassionate and hope-oriented Left-Hand-of-God worldview. Further, Lerner describes the ways that Democrats have misunderstood and alienated significant parts of their potential constituency. To succeed again, Lerner argues, the Democratic Party must rethink its relationship to God, champion a progressive spiritual vision, reject the old bottom line that promotes the globalization of selfishness, and deal head-on with the very real spiritual crisis that many Americans experience every day.

Lerner presents a vision that incorporates and then goes far beyond contemporary liberal and progressive politics. He argues for a new bottom line in our economy, schools, and government. This is a fundamentally fresh approach, one that takes spiritual needs seriously in our economic and political lives. Presenting an eight-point progressive spiritual covenant with America, Lerner provides a blueprint for how the Democratic Party can effectively challenge the Right and position itself to win the White House and Congress. By appealing to religious, secular, and spiritual but not necessarily religious people, The Left Hand of God blazes a trail that could change our world and reclaim America from the Religious Right.

Books read in 2012

January 22-Walking Israel by Martin Fletcher

Books Read in 2011

January 9-The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz
February 13- The Sacrifice of Tamar by Naomi Ragen
March 27-The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew — Three women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
April 24-Kaballah: A Love Story by Lawrence Kushner
May 22-The Sabbath World by Judith Shulevitz
June 26-Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary
July 31-The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis
September 25-The Evolution of God by Robert Wright
October 30 – Away by Amy Bloom
November 11 – By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan
December 4 – American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Books Read in 2010

January 10-The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finklestein and Neil Asher Silberman
February 21-The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick
April 4-Sarah the Priestess by Savina Teubal
May 16-All Other Nights by Dara Horn
July 11- The Color of Water by James McBride
August- The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan
Sept/Oct. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
November-The Butcher’s Theater by Jonathan Kellerman

Books Read in 2009

February 1 – As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg
March 22 – Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
May 3 – Women’s Minyan by Naomi Ragen
June 14 – The Saturday Morning Murder by Batya Gur
July 19 - The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnano
September 13 – A Double Thread: Growing up English and Jewish in London by John Gross
October 25 – A Life Worth Living by Byron Sherwin
November 22 – Miriam’s Kitchen by Elizabeth Erlich

Books Read in 2008

May 31 – The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks – Our initial meeting
August 13 – Rashi’s Daughters: Joheved by Maggie Anton
September 24 – Rachel Calof’s Story by Rachel Calof
November 12 – The Mezuzah in the Madonna’s Foot by Trudi Alexy

ONLINE BOOK CLUB

Ask about participating in our online Book Club at GoodReads. Send an e-mail to Leah Hershey.