Joseph's
Bookstore
1257 Finchley Road
Temple Fortune
London NW11 0AD
T: 020 8731 7575
F: 020 8731 6699
Opening Hours:
Mon - Fri:
9:30 - 6:30pm
Sat & Sun:
10:00 - 5:00pm
Opening
Hours:
Mon
- Thurs:
10:00 - 10:00pm
Fri:
10:00 - 5:00pm
Sat
- Sun:
10:00 - 10:00pm
Top Ten Jewish Gift Books
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1.
Rembrandt's Jews
by Steven Nadler £10.50
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| There is a popular and romantic myth about Rembrandt and the Jewish people. One of history's greatest artists, we are often told, had a special affinity for Judaism. With so many of Rembrandt's works devoted to stories of the Hebrew Bible, and with his apparent penchant for Jewish themes and the sympathetic portrayal of Jewish faces, it is no wonder that the myth has endured for centuries. Rembrandt's Jews puts this myth to the test as it examines both the legend and the reality of Rembrandt's relationship to Jews and Judaism. Through his close look at paintings, etchings, and drawings; in his discussion of intellectual and social life during the Dutch Golden Age; and even through his own travels in pursuit of his subject, Nadler takes the reader through Jewish Amsterdam then and now--a trip that, under ever--threatening Dutch skies, is full of colorful and eccentric personalities, fiery debates, and magnificent art.
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| Entertaining America is a captivating look at one of the longest-running and most provocative public discussions in America: the relationship between the nation's Jews and its entertainment media. This colorfully written, lavishly illustrated book surveys how Jews have participated in--and been identified with--American movies, radio, and television from the nickelodeon era at the turn of the twentieth century to the present day.
Throughout, the tone is lively, the design is playful, and key points are visually enhanced by stills, publicity photos, and memorabilia. This anthology of original analyses and primary texts covers a wide range of topics, including the multiple versions of The Jazz Singer, the saga of the Hollywood movie moguls, the irrepressible Goldbergs of radio and television fame, the representation of the Holocaust, how Charlie Chaplin and other non-Jewish stars became "virtual Jews," and the dazzling success of the television series Seinfeld. There is also an illustrated gallery of more than twenty Jewish-American stars from Theda Bara to Adam
Sandler.
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3. The Jews: A Treasury of Art and Literature by
Sharon R. Keller
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| Amos Oz, Bernard Malamud, Emma Lazarus, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud are among the voices in this rich repository of Jewish culture. Opening with selections from the Hebrew Bible as well as from post-biblical literature, the book explores Jews' shared sense of destiny and evokes the texture of Jewish life from Moses' time through Diaspora communities to modern Israel. The magnificent illustrations
range from third-century Syrian synagogue frescoes to works by Rembrandt, Chagall, Ben Shahn, Raphael Soyer and Larry Rivers. There are seminal historical documents such as Menasseh ben Israel's petition urging Oliver Cromwell to readmit Jews into England and Theodor Herzl's call for a Jewish national homeland. Holocaust writings by Anne Frank, Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel are particularly moving. This is an anthology to refer to again and again.
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4.
Diaspora: Homelands in Exile £60.00
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| Since 1978, French photographer Frédéric Brenner has been chronicling the Jewish Diaspora by producing visual social histories of Jewish communities. Diaspora is a
truly breathtaking photographic record of his 25-year search for the Jewish population in 40 countries over five continents. Volume I,
is a collection of 262 of Brenner's more than 80,000 photographs, the most extensive and diverse visual record of Jewish life ever created.
. Volume II is a collection of evocative essays by leading intellectuals on the meaning and significance to each of them of 60 of Brenner's photographs, reproduced here in smaller format. Diaspora is a landmark project that captures the scope and dynamism of one of the world's oldest, most diverse communities, and challenges stereotypes held by Jews and non-Jews alike. |
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5.
Jewish Art £115.00
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In this gorgeously illustrated volume, Sed-Rajna and her team of historians, archaeologists, and art and architecture experts guide readers through nearly 4,000 years of Jewish culture and art, reaping the harvest of recent archaeological finds and new, insightful scholarship. Perpetually persecuted and on the move, Jews built synagogues wherever they settled, incorporating the aesthetics of Hellenistic and oriental culture into their wood and stone carvings, mosaics, and frescoes. Prohibited from practicing many crafts, including gold-and silversmithing, in medieval Europe, Jewish artists channeled their creative and spiritual energies into portable treasures, particularly handwritten and illustrated books; but when European Jewish communities were stable, Jewish artists and artisans created glorious ceremonial objects, paintings, and sculpture, and, naturally, built magnificent synagogues. As Sed-Rajna and company proceed through the centuries, moving from the astonishingly fresh paintings of the Dura-Europos synagogue, built on the bank of the Euphrates in the third century, to modern and contemporary artists, the vitality and resiliency of the Jewish tradition flowers beneath our rapt gaze. |
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6. Treasures of Jewish Art by Shalom Sabar £29.95
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| This beautiful slip-cased volume reproduces the Jewish Ceremonial Art Collection of an extraordinary private collection owned by a Chilean couple, Jacocbo and Asea Furman. The unique objects are lavishly reproduced, each one accompanied by detailed commentary.
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7. Jewish Art Masterpieces: From the Israel Museum, Jerusalem by Iris Fishof £19.95
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| Featuring the world's most comprehensive collection of Jewish art, Jewish Art Masterpieces is a magnificent art book as well as a fascinating survey of Jewish history. It reveals the artistry and craftsmanship of precious objects such as an 8th-century B.C.E. ivory pomegranate from Solomon's temple, an engraved marriage contract from the 15th century, and paintings by modern artists including Marc Chagall and Menashe Kadishman. Illuminated manuscripts, such as the classic Bird's Head Haggadah from 14th-century Germany, are also featured, along with synagogue interiors, Torah decorations, and Sabbath and festival objects. An informative text explores each item's historical, religious, and artistic significance and reminds the reader of the enduring legacy of the Jewish heritage.
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8. The Jewish World 365 days: from the collections of the Israel
museum
by Daisy Raccah-Djivre, Silvia Rozenberg and Yigal Zalmona £19.95
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| This beautiful book is a celebration of Jewish life through the ages, In addition to archaeological finds, ancient manuscripts, artworks, and traditional and ceremonial objects, the book includes images that evoke everyday life in Jewish communities throughout history: jewelry, costumes, toys, household items, folk art, and period rooms. These striking, varied, and surprising images are all accompanied by short, insightful texts by expert curators at the Israel museum, providing fascinating insights into Jewish life and history.
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9. Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of Yiddish by Dovid Katz £16.99
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| From its ancient roots in Hebrew and Aramaic, to its development as the common language of Jews in medieval Europe, and its blossoming as a language of literature, scholarship and a lively press in the nineteenth century, the story of Yiddish mirrors the history of the Jewish people in Europe and beyond. In Words on Fire, leading Yiddish scholar Dovid Katz recounts the sweeping history of this evocative and multifaceted language.
Drawing on thirty years of research, Words on Fire traces the steps of a language once derided as "jargon" and identified with women and uneducated men from medieval times onward, and relates how efforts to raise its prestige were often met by opposition from the powers that be. Katz highlights the rise of literary Yiddish in the Renaissance-widely-read translations of knightly epic poems and guides for daily living-particularly by and for Jewish women. In the wake of secularizing and modernizing movements of the nineteenth century, he demonstrates how Yiddish rose spectacularly in a few short years from a mass folk idiom to the language of sophisticated modern literature, theater, journalism, and scholarship.
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10. From the Ends of the Earth by Martin Gilbert £16.99
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| Bestselling author and historian, Martin Gilbert describe the triumphs and tragedies of a momentous century for the Jewish people.
The Jewish story is an extraordinary one: of a 'chosen race' but a 'difficult people', living in all countries but until recently without one to call its own. Over the last one hundred years and across the world, Jews have been subjects and citizens, refugees and victims, as well as making enormous contributions to business, medicine, science, culture and political thought. The achievements of individual Jews in the 20th century are well known - Einstein and Kafka alone epitomize science and literature - and as a race they suffered that period's greatest tragedy. This powerful photographic history brings the turbulence and dynamism of the century vividly to life.
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