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It’s a tricky thing for an author to let us hate his or her main characters. Yet somehow Yael Van Der Wouden opens her absolutely stunning debut novel The Safekeep by doing just that. The novel is told through eyes of Isabel, who strikes the reader as extremely paranoid, stodgy, and overall just plain rude. Which does not bode well for her when her brother dumps his girlfriend, Eva, on her for the summer at their family home. Seen through Isabel’s eyes, Eva is loud, uncouth, and particularly grating. I hated them both instantly. Yet by the end of the book I loved them so fiercely I would literally put myself between them and harm. It’s quite the feat.

The Safekeep is described as horror, mystery, erotica, literary, and just about everything in between. For me, I never felt the creeping dread or mystery that other readers report experiencing, but this is likely due to my particular family background. I understood where this was going from the first chapter. At the point when most of my fellow readers gasped in shock, I simply nodded in recognition. The only difference between me and Eva is that for my family you can replace the words “taxes” and “bureaucracy” with the names of various firearms. There are reasons I don’t visit certain countries despite them being locations my grandparents once lived. So I’m having a hard time placing this particular novel into a neat category, but I don’t have any difficulty describing it. It is magnificent. It is queer. It is full of longing, and also forgiveness. It is vicious, and it is gentle, and it will alter you forever. 

Part of what underscored the plot is the interplay of hate and desire. The things that I hated when I met Isabel and Eva were the things about them that I knew lived somewhere deeply within myself – Isabel’s hoarding tendencies, and social anxiety. Eva’s inability to get her manners right in upscale society. Those things are a part of me too. I’m too shy, too loud, too much, too Jewish, too formerly poor to ever feel like I fit in. I am all too familiar with how one can both hate and love themselves. What I recognized most in both of them though, was the desire that lurks in their hearts. For Isabel, she misreads her own desires as loathing, channels them into cherishing objects. When Eva presents her with an actual outlet for all that pent up longing it releases with all the pent up energy of a volcano erupting. For Eva, desire is more complicated. Without spoiling the entire plot, let’s just say when Eva thinks she desires possessions I suspect she actually wants the security they represent. Not just physically, she well knows that safety can be a transient thing, but emotionally. To be secure in the presence of the people she loves. To have her desire received and reciprocated. Essentially, to be wanted.

If you have had the fortune, (or misfortune as the case may be), to experience this kind of want you’ll know that no object can fulfill it. You options are limited. You can pray you find a person (or persons) that can make even a dent in that yawning chasm of desire. You can accept that the yearning will always be a part of you, smoldering below the surface, waiting for a chance to burn you whole. Or you can be like me and let it out by writing stories about Jewish girls kissing on spaceships while they low key dabble in mysticism. As a coping mechanism, it is adequate, but I can’t say I highly recommend it. 

In the end, the joke is on me for waiting all those months to read The Safekeep because my library hold took forever. Because the thing I want right now is a copy of the book, which I have indeed ordered, so that I can carry around with me like a security blanket in case I miraculously run into the author (who I think doesn’t even live on my continent?) so I can be too embarrassed to approach and get it signed anyway. I suggest you go read it, so that you too can be forever changed and forever wanting. 

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Find It: Bookshop | Amazon

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish review

Find It: Bookshop | Amazon | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

In the days leading up to Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I saw many reminders that living survivors of the Holocaust are dwindling. I don’t dispute the importance of documenting these first hand accounts while we still can, but I would like to contend that we have generations of survivors yet to come. Because in some way, a lot of us are still surviving what happened to our parents and grandparents, still living in the long shadow the Holocaust casts over us. In The Baker of Lost Memories by Shirley Rusaak Wachtel we see this second hand trauma play out. 

Lena is growing up in Brooklyn, the second daughter of parents who have survived both the camps and the loss of their previous child. The first section of the book takes us back to the Łódź ghetto where we experience the unthinkable cruelty they endured. It’s the kind of thing I don’t often read due to personal trauma, but I wasn’t expecting it in here and I had already committed so I shouldered my way through. After that, the book changes tone as we learn what it is like for Lena to spend her formative years carrying the weight of that past.

On the outside, Lena has what most people would consider a charmed existence. She certainly doesn’t face the persecution her parents did. Yet still, something is not quite right. Her parents can’t love another child in the same way after their experiences in the ghetto and camps. They can’t move on, and Lena can’t help but trip over their memories. Even the simple act of Lena baking a cake inadvertently reminds her mother of the past, triggering a spiral of sadness that threatens to consume them all. Lena feels she is never enough, and really how could she be? Nobody could fill the void in her parents hearts. Which might explain why such a bright young lady makes such awful choices. 

The second half of the book follows Lena as she gets married, drops out of college, and opens a bakery. While she is afraid of failing in her parents eyes, they are equally afraid of being rejected by her. Indeed, she goes ballistic on them for even daring to ask that she check in once a week to let them know she’s still alive. Meanwhile they worry the way only Holocaust survivor parents can. They are generous, they are caring, but their communication is seriously lacking. They all talk both too much and too little without truly discussing what actually matters. It’s a pattern that many survivor children will recognize. 

The main issue I had with this book was the disconnect between the cover copy and what was found in the pages. We are told Lena has everything she ever wanted – a wonderful man and a thriving business – meanwhile Lena never wanted a bakery and the reader never sees her fall in love with her husband, probably because she never did. We see this relationship for the abusive codependency it is right from the start and are exasperated by Lena’s inability to do so. The “surprise” the cover copy promises is evident to the reader several chapters in. Plus, nothing gives you the hint that you will be experiencing many chapters in the ghetto and even the camps. I would have entered this book with a different mind set had I known what I was actually getting into. I suggest avoiding the cover copy altogether. It’ll make for a better reading experience. 

Lena ends up being a survivor in many ways, including carrying a lot of her parents pain. For anyone wondering if there will still be survivors left in a decade, the answer can be found in The Baker of Lost Memories. We are all surviving in our own imperfect ways. Sometimes it’s the only thing we can do.

Note: BookishlyJewish received an ARC of this book from the publisher

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Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | Bookishlyjewish Review

In advance of her new novel, Ravenguard, which completes the Rvenfall series, we sat down to chat with author Kalyn Josephson.

BookishlyJewish: Hi Kalyn, it’s so great to talk with you again. I’m super looking forward to Ravenguard. Did you always know this would be a series of 4?

Kalyn Josephson: It’s great to chat with you again too, thanks for having me! I did not know the Ravenfall series would span four books when I wrote it. Ravenfall was originally a standalone YA fantasy that I ultimately trunked, so when we sold it in a two-book middle grade deal, I only knew the second book would focus on Anna’s relationship with her father, with a new magical mystery. But we got such a great reception to the series that my publisher asked for two more!

BookishlyJewish: I have bragged before about how much I love the physical copies of these books, because the covers are so stunning. My personal favorite is Hollowthorn. Do you have a favorite cover?

Kalyn Josephson: Ah, thank you! The artist, Ramona Kaulitzki, has done a stunning job with all of them. But I agree, Hollowthorn is my favorite too!

BookishlyJewish: One of the things I have loved about being on this journey with Anna and Colin is watching their personal growth. Particularly, we have seen Anna go from not feeling “Jewish enough” to embracing her heritage and even learning some Jewish magic. Will this line continue into the next book?

Kalyn Josephson: It definitely does. Throughout the series, Anna has grown so much in relation to her identity, and in Ravenguard, I finally get to let her sit comfortably in it, which was a nice change of pace. It’s much more Colin having the identity crises in book 4!

BookishlyJewish: How about Colin’s evolving thoughts on exactly when and how to use his powers? Does this theme recur?

Kalyn Josephson: It’s a core theme, in fact! How to be a Raven, what kind of Raven to be, how to help people and keep them safe—these questions have always been at the core of Colin’s journey, and Ravenguard is where he finally gets some answers. With everyone else’s help, of course.

BookishlyJewish: Any chance we learn more about Colin’s King of the Dead magic and the legends behind it?

Kalyn Josephson: It’s like you’re in my head! A big part of Colin’s arc in Ravenguard focuses on going back to his roots. We revisit both Fin and Faerie in RAVENGUARD, bringing the series full circle. I really enjoyed digging into this because it’s been such a continuous thread throughout the books for Colin!

BookishlyJewish: I am a sucker for a sentient house, and Ravenfall is a pretty awesome sentient house. I have, however, wondered how the house feels about Anna and Colin potentially heading to college one day.

Kalyn Josephson: I think you’d break its little heart asking it logical questions like that. Unless of course, that also meant that Max went to college too, in which case it would organize the going away party itself.

BookishlyJewish: Ravenfall always makes me think of Halloween, and Hanukkah has been featured as well. Do you have a favorite holiday, either secular or Jewish?

Kalyn Josephson: The Halloween season is by far my favorite, but I honestly just love holidays. I’ll take any excuse to get a bunch of friends together over some good food and fun traditions!

BookishlyJewish: Ending a series is a huge milestone, how are you feeling about this?

Kalyn Josephson: Very grateful to have been given the opportunity! Ravenfall is the longest series I’ve written, and will likely keep that title, as drafting a third and fourth book inspired challenges I hadn’t faced before. It’s very difficult to keep a story both familiar and fresh across so many books, and I’m in awe of the authors who do it!

BookishlyJewish: But also…what are you planning next?

Kalyn Josephson: I have two new series announced, including my next middle grade book, GRIMLORE MANOR, which I’m very seriously pitching as “what if Wednesday Addams and Eeyore had to team up to win The Inheritance Games.” I also have my adult fantasy debut, THE LIBRARY OF AMORLIN, releasing next spring, about a con artist who has to infiltrate a magical library. 

BookishlyJewish: I always end by asking if you have a Jewish book you’d like to recommend to our readers.

Kalyn Josephson: TALES OF THE FLYING FOREST by RM Romero! Think Jewish Narnia.

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Find the Books:

Ravenfall: Amazon | Bookshop

Hollowthorn: Amazon | Bookshop

Witchwood: Amazon | Bookshop

Ravenguard: Amazon | Bookshop

Hessed, or lovingkindness is the sefirah for the first week of the Omer. It encompasses many forms of love, but also generosity and care for ones fellow man. Acts of hessed are things we do for one another out of love, not obligation.

Find it: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Bookshop | Amazon

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop

Find It: Bookshop | Amazon

Passover was one of my favorite holidays as a kid. Much more so than the holiday most people associate with Jews – Hanukkah – because it came with a two week vacation from school and usually a gift, no matter if I found the Afikomen or not. 

As I grew older, I began to appreciate the cultural and religious traditions just as much as my time off, because really it wasn’t time off anymore- we spent the days right before the holiday helping my mother “turn over” the kitchen from chametz to kosher for Passover. For my orthodox family, that meant boxing up all the usual dishes and foods and schlepping up the special Passover dishes from their boxes in the basement. They would then dwell in our newly scrubbed kitchen that was covered in so much silver foil it resembled a space ship. This might be where my love of space ships first began. Also possibly the origin story for my almond macaroon obsession.

I would made a special trip to the library prior to the holiday to check out enough books to last me through the eight days. Back then, I read one a night minimum, which made for a hefty haul. Yet almost none of these books were Passover related, or even Jewish at all. Because back then, outside of orthodox publishers whose books rarely made it to public libraries, there wasn’t much available available in Jewish Interest for kids after they graduated from picture books. Obviously, Passover has its own special book – the Haggadah – but now there’s also new offerings for our younger readers. Hopefully this turns some of them on to reading Jewish literature – and maybe even writing some of their own! – as they grow. Plus, they make a great afikomen gift.

These kids are dealing with a heavy family history – most historical Jews did not exactly lead happy, persecution-free lives- plus the struggle of explaining how a person can be both Japanese and Jewish to classmates who insist their intersectional background makes them unable to fully claim either heritage. They learn a lot about identity, which is thematically very relevant to the Passover holiday when our identity as a people was formed.

Find It: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish Review

Find It: Bookshop | Amazon | BookishlyJewish Review

The book features different stories arranged around to the order of the Seder itself. Kadesh, urchatz… I understand it’s impossible to include everyone – we contain multitudes! – but I hope some kids find themselves in this book this Passover. 

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It’s a story of quiet growth, of appreciation for what one has, while also an acknowledgement that one must take care of oneself in order to be a fully realized person. It’s one of my favorite reads this year and I highly recommend it for Passover. 

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What she fails to realize is that all Golems eventually have a mind of their own, and often turn on their creators or those around them. As the only Jew around, Leah is having to explain a lot, including Passover, to her classmates. She’s also facing her own redemption story. Much like the Jews in Egypt. 

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Counting the Omer is one of the lesser known Jewish traditions, but this year BookishlyJewish is hoping you’ll count with us! So what is the Omer? Well, starting from the second night of Passover we count the days until we receive the Torah during the holiday of Shavuot. It takes 49 days and is a time of personal and spiritual growth as we prepare to receive the Torah. 

Traditions surrounding the Omer are numerous – including some that are usually associated with mourning- but the actual process is simple enough. Every day you add a new day to the tally. Sound easy? It is and it isn’t. Jewish days start at night, so every night you can count and make a blessing. If you forget at night, you can still count right up until sundown starts the next day. You simply wouldn’t make the blessing when counting during daytime hours but would be welcome to do so the next night, as you’ve gotten credit for the day and your count is unbroken. Miss an entire day from sundown to sundown and you won’t be able to say the blessing for the rest of the count. Which means lots of kids and adults have fun asking each other if they’re “still in it” – meaning they haven’t forgotten an entire day and are are still eligible to make a blessing. It’s a big accomplishment, and a lot of fun! It’s also kind of hilarious, because you don’t want to accidentally count without intention and before making the blessing, which is why if someone asks you what day it is you promptly respond with “yesterday was…” 

Where does the spiritual growth come in? Well, remember those mourning rituals I mentioned? In addition to being the time when the Jews leveled up spiritually by preparing the receive the Torah in the dessert, The Omer is a time that has been associated with the death of a generation of Torah scholars who tradition holds were beset by plague due to not respecting one another. Therefore, we do not have weddings, cut our hair (some men even grow full Omer beards), and other such stringency that is typically part of mourning. Mostly we’re trying to work on ourselves to be better people, and repair what went wrong. In kabbalistic tradition, each of the seven sets of seven is associated with one of the seven aspects of the God – the sefirot. Each day within that seven days focuses on a different feature of that aspect of the divine. Therefore, a person can strive to emulate to God, one day at a time. In this way we prepare ourselves spiritually to receive the Torah while also participating in tikun olam – repairing a broken world.

So where do the books come in? We’re going to feature one book a day that we think pairs well with that days sefirah. Some of those connections may be loose – don’t worry we will explain them! We also don’t expect anyone to be able to read a book a day. That would seriously crush anyone’s Goodreads challenge. Instead, we’re hoping you might pick the book out of each set of seven that most speaks to you. The Omer is counted up rather than down – we track how many days have passed rather than how many we have left to go, because each day is an accomplishment. Each day we get to be better people. Focus on your achievements- each book you have been able to read – rather than mourning the ones you haven’t gotten to yet. 

We can’t wait to start counting with you!

As shown in my 2024 recap post, many of the books I cover on BookishlyJewish come to me from either the author or the publisher. Frequently the author (I especially love when it’s the author) or the publicist will reach out. Sometimes, I hear of a book and I email the publisher with varying success. If I can’t accomplish a copy that way, or the title is older than a few years and therefore the publisher is not actively promoting it, I’ll place a hold at one of the many libraries where I am a proud member. Sometimes, I’ll obtain titles at bookish events. Rarely do I buy them, because I funnel that budget into maintaining this website. I figure it benefits the largest numbers of Jewish authors and readers. So when I tell you that I slammed the buy button on Gila Fine’s nonfiction work, The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud, it should tell you something about the quality of the work.

I’ve noted before that I’m in my rediscovering Jewish learning years. I had a very good grounding in Tanach (written tradition) as a child, but as a person assigned female at birth I was not allowed to study the written tradition including mishnah and Talmud. Now, with the burgeoning women’s movement within even Orthodox Judaism, there are so many more resources and safe spaces for me to do that. It has been truly life altering, but one cannot help but notice how much of our tradition is written by men, about men, for men. As Fine points out, women are typically mentioned tangentially and often derogatorily. They aren’t given names, but are instead known by their relation to men – “wife of so-and-so man” or “mother of so-and so man.” However, there are six named women, each with their own chapter in the book, and they are often held up as stereotypes of everything that is wrong with women. Bruriah in particular has suffered a smear campaign by the later male patriarchy misinterpreting the Talmud that is so vile it make ones blood boil, so I was very glad to se Fine coming forward to set the record straight.

In addition, Fine focuses on a concept often ignored in traditional scholarship. The Rabbi’s of the Talmud were not just focused on transmission of law. They deserve more credit than that. They were also master story crafters, and they used those tales to caution those who would use the letter of the law to disenfranchise the “other” – particularly women who were not allowed to participate in the legal system. There are numerous tales of women who after being dealt with unfairly, and without kindness, by Rabbinic courts resorted to a woman’s last weapon – pleas to God. Indeed, the very last character of Fine’s book – Ima Shalom – and her story show just how disastrous the consequences are of such actions. She makes an impassioned case for realizing that The Rabbi’s actually had surprisingly kind and liberal views towards women, we’ve simply been too lazy to properly delve into these stories and glean their true meaning. It doesn’t help that years of male scholars with derogatory opinions of women influenced by the outside secular world and it’s inherent misogyny were the only ones interpreting these stories for a long time.

Most people likely think I would gravitate to Bruriah for her scholarly nature – and indeed I was very gratified at what came out in her chapter – but for me the most meaningful analysis was of the very first character- Yalta. It is a chapter dealing with reproductive issues, but also the right of women to be angry without being deemed ‘hysterical’ or ‘overreacting.’ If you have ever identified as a woman in your life, I guarantee you’ve been there and the urge to literally murder the person gaslighting you in this way is real. However, Fine does not give in to that rage, and she shows that neither did Yalta. The moves made in this story were calculated lessons and they hit with a force. I had to pause reading and just bask in the cleverness of it all.

Reconciling traditional Orthodox and textual Judaism with a feminist outlook on life can be an uphill battle. With The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic, Fine lends a guiding hand. It should be required reading for men and women Torah scholars alike. Who cares if I blew the entire gift card I had to spend on myself by purchasing it because I couldn’t find it in the library and I wasn’t sure the publisher would send me a copy? I’d do it again. In fact – I eagerly await her next book so that I have the chance to do so.

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Some of my most distinct childhood memories are from Passover Seders. This makes sense, as one of the largest goals of the ritual is to teach the next generation our collective history. If the kids don’t remember it, then what’s the point? That being said, I also remember the Seders being very, very long. Which is probably a distortion of time since, unlike my friends families who were still telling the stories into the wee hours of the morning, I was never awake past midnight. But STILL, when you have to tell the whole story before eating the meal, things can get pretty long for a kid. Which is why I near lost my mind laughing at the premise of One Little Goat, the graphic novel by Dara Horn and illustrated by Theo Ellsworth – a Seder that never ends.

You see, typically the end of the meal is signified by eating a special piece of matzah called the afikomen. This morsel is supposed to symbolize the sacrificial lamb Jews ate in the time of the temple, and no other foods are supposed to be eaten after it. Of course, once you give a piece of food such hefty meaning new traditions are bound to spring up – including the one that has the leader of the Seder hide the afikomen and all the children search for it throughout the meal so that later they can bargain for a gift in exchange for its return. After all – without the afikomen the Seder cannot end. Which is exactly the problem faced by the family in the One Little Goat. The baby has snatched the afikomen and thrown it somewhere nobody can find, leaving them to continue the Seder for 6 entire months! A time crunch made all the more real by the mother who goes from announcing she is pregnant at the beginning of the book to being nearly ready to deliver by the end.

Now, my father was a big fan of reminding me that technically speaking he was allowed to designate any piece of matzah as an afikomen and therefore I should not be making my demands too high. Halachikally (according to Jewish law) he was right. This Seder could have ended long ago with a random piece of matzah substituted in for the missing one, but I think he would agree to suspend his disbelief because one of his favorite parts of the seder is the singing of the song Had Gadyah. The title refers to one little goat and the song details all the tragedies that befell it. Interpretations are numerous, but the major one insists the goat is the Jewish people and each tragedy is another tragic diasporic event we experienced until God came and rescued us. However, in One Little Goat the goat is the scapegoat, blamed for everything that has gone wrong in anyones life since the beginning of time. Turns out he is the one who threw the afikomen through some kind of time portal, and then forgot where he put it. My Dad was a fan of tricksters too. I think he’d be down for this development.

In any case, the eldest child of the family sets off with the goat through a series of Seders past to hunt down the missing afikomen. Along the way he and his siblings are compared to the four sons in the Haggadah, and he learns about many pivotal historical moments that occurred on Passover – like the Warsaw ghetto uprising and the very first Seder. He also meets such notable Jews as Dona Gracia Nasi and pairs of Talmudic scholars. With each encounter, his appreciation for the Seder and his family grows.

I found the story charming, and well worthy of the time spent reading it. I also think the average middle schooler will enjoy the jokes and gain a deeper understanding of the customs that make the Seder seem so long. I didn’t particularly love the art work, which is a shame since that’s half the battle with a graphic novel, but the story line pulled me through. When the Seder finally ends, the afikomen is not the only thing restored to its rightful place. Our wise son is ready to lead his siblings in a greater appreciation for Jewish history, their ancestors, and their beautiful growing family. It’s a sweet lesson, packaged with humor, and makes a great pre-Passover gift.

Note: Bookishlyjewish received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

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