In honor of Transgender Awareness Week, the Dorot Jewish Division celebrates transgender Jews with these inspiring stories and recommended reading.

Youth Leading the Way

The Forward recently honored 13-year-old Tom Sosnik, who came out as transgender to his Jewish day school class this year, while theForverts and the New York Post interviewed Abby, a young Hasidic transwoman. Haaretzwrote about a young Moshe’s transition to Miriam, and Keshet shared parents’ stories of their children’s transitions and community reactions.

Transgender Jews in the Media

Writer and executive producer Jill Soloway (herself the daughter of a transgender parent) received accolades for her television series Transparent, about gender transition in a Jewish family. The Jewish Journal wrote about gender identity issues among Jewish Los Angelenos, while the Huffington Post devoted a section to transgender Jews, as did the Forward. The Union for Reform Judaismofficially welcomed transgender people with a resolution, and the New York Jewish Weekwrote about reactions in the transgender Jewish community. TheJewish Telegraphic Agency, the Times of Israeland Haaretzwrote about Mai Peleg’s life and her will. The Daily Mail and TabletinterviewedYiscah Smith about her religious and gender journey.

Life Stories

Memoirs and autobiographical fiction are a powerful window into the lives of transgender Jews. Here are a few favorites.

The thrilling novel Stone Butch Blues and the pioneering Transgender Warriors are just two works by the late author and activist Leslie Feinberg (shown above with Minne Bruce Pratt). Feinberg also interviewed the late Sylvia Rivera (pictured below), a legendary transwoman, activist, and Stonewall veteran.

Joy Ladin, a poet, author, and Yeshiva University professor, is the first openly transgender person employed at an Orthodox Jewish institution. Her beautifully written memoir is called Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders.

"A Queer and Pleasant Danger: the true story of a nice Jewish boy who joins the Church of Scientology and leaves twelve years later to become the lovely lady she is today" is an intimate and inspiring memoir by transgender icon, performer, and author, Kate Bornstein.

Resources on Transgender Issues in Judaism

Did you know that the Talmud recognizes many different gender categories? Dr. David Teutsch of the Reconstructionist Jewish movementwrites about transgender ethics with a nuanced understanding of gender identity in rabbinic texts.

Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community, edited by Noach Dzmura, is a groundbreaking collection on transgender and gender identity issues in Jewish law and community. Dzmura also directs Jewish Transitions, an organization that encourages Jewish communities to celebrate the sacred in every gender.

The organization Keshet works for the full equality and inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life, with resources such as “TransTexts: Exploring Gender in Jewish Sacred Texts,” created by pioneering transgender rabbis Reuven Zellman and Elliot Kukla. The Union of Reform Judaism recently published its Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Non-Gender-Conforming People. The Berman Jewish Policy Archive has also compiled an annotated bibliography of transgender Jewish resources.

Want to learn more?

Find recommended reading, blog posts, and more on transgender issues at NYPL.

Keshet's site highlights Transgender Day of Remembrance with personal stories, video interviews, and tools for inclusion.

See also the NYPL blogpost “Celebrating Jewish LGBT Pride”

From dances and banquets to health insurance and free loan societies, landsmanshaftn helped immigrants in New York and many U.S. cities. Landsmanshaftn are Jewish community organizations of immigrants from the same city in Eastern or Central Europe. Documents from landsmanshaftn (spreadsheet of our collection) provide important information for genealogical research and for understanding immigrant life.

Getting started

Town of origin

Are you researching a specific person or family? Check Ancestry for vital records, such as immigration, census and military documents, for the town that they came from. Also, check for documents in personal or family archives.

Town or city name

Find the official, modern name of their hometown town and its location. Use JewishGen's Town Finder to look it up, or consult the gazetteer Where Once We Walked.

Organizational publications

Some landsmanshaftn published souvenir journals, by-laws, and constitutions, which often include photos of members and background information. Yizkor books were published by survivors and landslayt, and usually contain photos, essays about town history, communal life, wartime and lists of residents.

View our list of landsmanshaftn publications, compiled by Roberta Saltzman

Landsmanshaftn records

Use these sources to find information about organizational records of landsmanshaftn.

Burial records

Many landsmanshaftn had their own burial societies and established burial areas in local cemeteries. The information on the graves themselves, such as names, dates, and symbols can also provide research clues.

Want to learn more? Try these books.

• Kliger, Hannah. Jewish hometown associations and family circles in New York : the WPA Yiddish Writers' Group study
• Sorkin, Sidney. Bridges to an American city: a guide to Chicago's Landsmanshaften, 1870 to 1990
• Soyer, Daniel.Jewish immigrant associations and American identity in New York, 1880-1939
• Weisser, Michael R. A brotherhood of memory: Jewish landsmanshaftn in the New World

See also Jewish Genealogy: A Quick Online Guide

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division. Catalog entries for the books can be found by clicking on their covers.

Several books are also available through our e-book catalog, Project Muse, Oxford Scholarship Online and University Press Scholarship Online.

• Chic Made Simple: Fresh, Fast, Fabulous Kosher Cuisine by Esther Deutsch
• Chosen Calling: Jews In Science In The Twentieth Century by Noah J. Efron (E-book through OverDrive and Project Muse)
• Dislocated Memories: Jews, Music, And Postwar German Culture by Tina Frühauf (ed.) (E-book through Oxford Scholarship Online)
• Divine Courtroom In Comparative Perspective by Ari Mermelstein (ed.)
• Ethics In Ancient Israel by John Barton (E-book through Oxford Scholarship Online)
• Excavations In The Western Negev Highlands by Benjamin A. Saidel (ed.)
• Framing Jewish Culture: Boundaries And Representations by Simon J. Bronner (ed.)
• Gustav Landauer: Anarchist And Jew by Paul Mendes-Flohr (ed.)
• Hanukkah In Alaska by Barbara Brown
• Imagined And Real Jerusalem In Art And Architecture by edited by Jeroen Goudeau
• Jewish Women Writers In Britain by edited by Nadia Valman (E-book through Project Muse)
• Meals In Early Judaism: Social Formation At The Table by Susan Marks
• Purity, Body, And Self In Early Rabbinic Literature by Mira Balberg (E-book through Project Muse and University Press Scholarship Online)
• Sephardim: The Jews From Spain by Paloma Díaz-Mas
• Temple In Text And Tradition by Timothy McLay (ed.)
• Three Thousand Years Of Hebrew Versification: Essays In Comparative Prosody by Benjamin Harshav
• Vision From The Prophet And Counsel From The Elders by Hayyim J. Angel
• Zodiac Calendars In The Dead Sea Scrolls by Helen R. Jacobus

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division. Catalog entries for the books can be found by clicking on their covers.

• Apostasy And Jewish Identity In High Middle Ages Northern Europe: 'Are You Still My Brother?' by Simha Goldin
• At Home In Exile: Why Diaspora Is Good For The Jews by Alan Wolfe (also available as an e-book)
• Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors In Poland And Slovakia, 1944-48 by Anna Cichopek-Gajraj
• Bible's Many Voices by Michael Carasik (also available as an e-book)
• Britain, Germany And The Road To The Holocaust: British Attitudes Towards Nazi Atrocities by Russell Wallis
• David R. Blumenthal: Living With God And Humanity by Hava Tirosh-samuelson (ed.)
• From Yoga To Kabbalah: Religious Exoticism And The Logics Of Bricolage by Véronique Altglas (also available as an e-book)
• Gluten Free Canteen's Book Of Nosh: Baking For Jewish Holidays & More by Lisa Stander-Horel
• Jewish Meaning In A World Of Choice: Studies In Tradition And Modernity by David Ellenson (also available as an e-book)
• Jewish War Under Trajan And Hadrian by William Horbury
• Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism And Autonomy In Late Imperial And Revolutionary Russia by Simon Rabinovitch (e-book)
• Jews Of Italy: Antiquity by By Shlomo Simonsohn
• Lives In Common: Arabs And Jews In Jerusalem, Jaffa And Hebron by Menachem Klein
• Outsider: Albert M. Greenfield And The Fall Of The Protestant Establishment by Dan Rottenberg (also available as an e-book)
• Oxford Handbook Of The Psalms by William P. Brown (ed.) (also available as an e-book)
• Pious Ones: The World Of Hasidim And Their Battles With America by Joseph Berger (also available as an e-book)
• Religious And Spiritual Life Of The Jews Of Medina by By Haggai Mazuz
• Reorienting The East: Jewish Travelers To The Medieval Muslim World by Martin Jacobs (also available as an e-book)
• Sisterhood: A Centennial History Of Women Of Reform Judaism by Carole B. Balin (ed.)

... because it's time for some binge-reading.

It’s still the beginning of resolution season, and we suspect that some of you have vowed that this year, you’ll turn off the TV, stop looking at your phone, and open a book instead.

We wanted to start 2016 with some series that you might want to race through the same way you once raced through Master of None and Making a Murderer.

We asked our NYPL book experts to name the first book (in a series of at least three) that’s worthy of binge-reading all in one go. Lots of young-adult titles came up, and lots of fantasy that takes you out of this world. Binge on!

Wizards, Dragons, & More

A new beginning… something epic to warm the cold months… perhaps tales of heroic exploits against giants, wyrms, and forgotten horrors will do the trick. John Gwynne’s debut novel, Malice, is the first in The Faithful and the Fallen series. The tag line? “Even the brave will fall.” —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

His Majesty’s Dragon is the first book in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. The premise is essentially Horatio Hornblower with dragons (!), and I fell so in love with the protagonists and supporting cast that I read the first seven books in a marathon session on vacation one week. The final book is being released this year, so it’s a good time to catch up! —Jennifer Moakler, New Dorp

Eragon (book #1 of the Inheritance cycle) by Christopher Paolini. I am a gigantic sucker for anything resembling the Middle Ages; it could be a really cool era to live! And the citizens of the fictional country of Alagaesia do just that in a phantasmic world where elves exist and dragon riders once reigned. —Joseph Pascullo, Grand Central

I’ve always loved the Earthsea trilogy; the first book is A Wizard of Earthsea. The books are dark, brooding and nuanced. Perfect for cold winter days! —Jennifer Craft, Mulberry Street

Perhaps the next Game of Thrones, the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss have recently been signed over to Lionsgate for a movie, TV, and video game deal. This means it’s the perfect time to read the series so that you can be the person who says, “well you know, the movie wasn’t as good as the book!” I’m currently reading the first book, The Name of the Wind.—Andrey Syroyezhkin, Dorot Jewish Division

Well, I won’t say Game of Thrones (even though I truly binged that series!) because I know from the constant hold list that many of you are already binging it. How about Wild Seed by Octavia Butler? It’s the first of five books that span several centuries, beginning with two immortal (or nearly so) creatures—one a healer and one a manipulator who breeds humans with special powers. —Danita Nichols, Inwood

I love Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas—an entertaining Cinderella-inspired tale about an assassin on a great journey. —Lilian Calix, Hamilton Grange

Fablehaven (book #1 in the Fablehaven 5-book cycle) by Brandon Mull. Every several months, I reread this series! I am almost done re-reading the series for my fourth time. Check out the book, ebook, or the entire series on ebook. —Alexander Mouyios, 67^th Street

Magic-Based Fantasy

I love the Rachel Morgan series by Kim Harrison, which are super-quick reads for readers who would enjoy an alternate history story about a magical law enforcement agent with a little steamy side action thrown in.  I also love that all the titles are based on Clint Eastwood movies. —Lauren Bradley, George Bruce

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima. Amazing characters, awesome action sequences, steamy romances, political intrigue, and a unique magic system make this series a must read for epic fantasy fans. —Althea Georges, Mosholu

The Magicians series by Lev Grossman, or as I like to call it, “Harry Potter with wine and sex.” :) —Ronni Krasnow, Morningside Heights

Historical Fiction

It’s not be the most cheerful binge-read, but each book of Pat Barker’s slim-volumed Regeneration trilogy left me feeling haunted and appreciating anew the political importance of arts and letters. They’re WWI novels for those of us who don’t usually gravitate toward military history. —Carolyn Broomhead, Research Division

Who wouldn’t want to escape into a life of luxury in a New York brownstone during the early 20^th century with Rex Stout’s hero detective Nero Wolfe? The first novel in the series is Fer-de-lance. Always captivating are the discussions of food, whether Wolfe is planning the menu with his personal chef Fritz or in conversation with the maitre d’ about the goulash at his favorite restaurant, Rusterman’s. And Archie always has a sandwich or a piece of pie with a glass of milk when he’s dispatched from the house at meal-time. If you are not satisfied with reading about the food you might even arrange to have a copy of the Nero Wolfe cookbook handy in order to whet your own appetite while you binge-read. —Virginia Bartow, Special Collections

The convenience of round the clock e-borrowing made this binge-reading possible. The Daughters of Caleb Bender series by Dale Cramer is an Amish historical fiction series that literally kept me up all night—I downloaded part 2 at 11 p.m. and part 3 at 4 a.m. It’s the sad saga of an Amish family that moves from 1920s Ohio to escape U.S. authorities who wanted them to conform to “American culture.” They sought sanctuary in the wilds of Mexico, far from government interference, only to find their pacifism severely challenged by terrorizing bandits who threaten their very existence. —Jean Harripersaud, Bronx Library Center

For historical and fantastical binge-reading, how about the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. The first book is about a World War II nurse who travels back in time from 1945 to 1743 Scotland, where she meets Scottish highlanders before the Jacobite risings.  With elements of fantasy, romance, mystery and historical fiction, there’s a little to appeal to everyone. —Leslie Bernstein, Mott Haven

Crime writer James Ellroy brings American history to life in the Underworld USA trilogy: American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood’s a Rover. Historical figures and Ellroy’s own creations mingle as he imagines the intersection of American politicians and the criminal underworld between 1958-1973. I think he described the theme of the trilogy best when he stated, “The essential contention of the Underworld USA trilogy…is that America was never innocent.” —Charlie Radin, Inwood

Scandanavian Lit

To start the New Year, read the books that started the Nordic Noir wave: the Martin Beck series of 10 crime novels by the Swedish husband-wife team of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. The Beck books were first published in 1965–1975, and their popularity has scarcely waned since, in Sweden and around the world. Roseanna, about the mysterious body dredged out of a cross-country canal, is the first in the series; there’s a list of the titles in order here. —Kathie Coblentz, Special Collections

I have to recommend My Struggle by Karl Ove Knaugaard. The first four have already have published English translations, and they’re each pretty long. It’s enough to keep you company until the weather gets warm again. There’s no murder mystery, but if you like people-watching, books set in Scandinavia or autofiction, they are pretty tough to put down. —Alexis Walker, Epiphany

Transport yourself into medieval Norway with the trilogy of well-researched books that form the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy. This series won Sigrid Undset the Nobel Prize when it was originally written in the 1920s and has since captivated readers by its authentic depiction of the everyday hardships and strict religious and moral codes proscribing rural life in the Middle Ages. —Jeremy Megraw, Library for the Performing Arts

Manga & Graphic Novels

I have to forcibly look in another direction if anything from the world of Neil Gaiman’s dark fantasy series The Sandmanis within eyeshot. I might say the same for the Japanese manga series about cooking Oishinbo. Both are quite different from each other, but are similarly addictive. —Melisa Tien, Library for the Performing Arts

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moonby Naoko Takeuchi is the binge-worthy beginning to the greatest space romance ever told in panels, in which the bumbling and ordinary blossoms into the epic and extraordinary. Featuring what is arguably the most beautiful art in manga, with a full cast of relatable characters, the tale told within these pages is a rare confection that will elicit smiles, tears, and a belief that even the least likely to succeed can find a hero inside. —Daniel Norton, Mid-Manhattan

Strobe Edge! It's a relatively short manga series (10 books) that's considered a "slice of life" since there are no magical elements involved. The story focuses on Ninako's first crush and coping with the fact that he has a long-term girlfriend. It's really light-hearted and super fun. Highly recommended if you're interested in trying manga!

Mysteries

I’m a fan of the Wake trilogy—Wake, Fade, Gone—by Lisa McMann. They’re about Janie, a 17-year-old high school student who is inexplicably pulled into the dreams of others in close proximity to her. She has no power to stop it, which proves to be chilling and intriguing. —Maura Muller, Volunteer Office

Reading Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is like eating popcorn for me...one handful after another with a smile on my face. One for the Money introduces Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter in Jersey with a trash-talking grandmother, an on-and-off boyfriend, and some questionable partners. —Melissa Scheurer, Mid-Manhattan

Alexander McCall Smith is my go-to author for binge reading. He has so many series that take a reader on a journey to foreign countries, usually Botswana and Scotland, and by the end of each book, he’s painted vivid portraits of the recurring characters while you’ve laughed and empathized as they solved mysteries. My favorite series are The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and 44 Scotland Street. —Shayla Titley, Membership Programs

When you run out of books in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, you realize that Camilla Läckberg writes a very similar style of book, where she uses character arcs to get you pulled into the storyline and make you want to read more. Try The Ice Princess and its numerous following books. —Erin Arlene Horanzy, Francis Martin

I was thrilled to discover the thrilling Victorian William Monk series of mysteries by Anne Perry. (The first one is Face of a Stranger, available only as an e-book.) Not only did I have many more Monk mysteries to discover, but I could also circle back and pick up on her other series, featuring the socially mismatched Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. —Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Library for the Performing Arts

A Touch of Humor

Thursday Next is a literary detective who jumps—literally—into books to solve mysteries and keep wayward characters in line. In the first installment, The Eyre Affair, Thursday has to chase Hades (really) through the pages of Jane Eyre to rescue Bronte’s heroine and save the day… and the madcap action only gets crazier and funnier from there. Perfect for anyone looking for a literary laugh. —Gwen Glazer, Readers Services

If you’re jonesing for some 1930s, screwball comedy look no further than prolific mystery writer Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness series. Starting with Her Royal Spyness, our amateur sleuth is Lady Georgianna Rannoch, 34th in line for the English throne (not that anyone is counting). The mysteries are slight, but the cast of screwball characters, royal family cameos, and Georgie’s indomitable spirit make for loads of yummy fun! —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

In addition to Harry Potter, my favorite binge read series, I have to add Gail Carriger’s Finishing School series. The first book is Etiquette and Espionage. It’s a fun steampunk YA series with humor and suspense all in one. —Dawn Collins, West Farms

John Fante's The Saga of Arturo Bandini. The four semi-autobiographical novels are readable and comically self depreciating. Read as a series, we view the whole of a life of limited potential and mediocrity, relatable to many of us. I found them hard to put down. —Seth Pompi, Ottendorfer

Dystopian Novels

Wool, the first book in the Hugh Howey’s Silo series, captivated me from the get-go. The postapocalyptic mystery set in a subterranean city starts out by following a sheriff’s search for the reasons behind his wife’s death. The twists and turns had me racing through the rest of the books; as soon as one mystery was solved, another quickly developed. —Rosa Caballero-Li, Ask NYPL

I highly recommend the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. It’s the story of a girl named Tally who expects to undergo a medical procedure that will make her pretty when she turns 16, but she learns that the procedure is not what she expects. It’s the beginning of a YA dystopian science fiction series that will make readers think about identity, standards of beauty, and brave new worlds. —Andrea Lipinski, Kingsbridge

Sagas of Families and Friendship

The Weetzie Batseries by Francesca Lia Block is so intensely vivid that it is worth binge re-reading. These stories of free-spirited youth living in LA and dealing with love, friendship, and heartache will make you wish for a Secret Agent Lover Man all your own. Block’s poetic and musical writing style creates a unique voice that will stay with you. —Rebecca Dash Donsky, 67^th Street

My favorite book of all time is the first in a series. In Ten Tiny Breaths by KA Tucker, Kacey Cleary survived a car crash that killed her parents, best friend, and boyfriend. Now she is trying to leave her past behind using her mother’s advice to take 10 breaths when times get tough, as she moves herself and her sister to Miami. This is a story of redemption, forgiveness, and second chances as Kacey falls for her neighbor Trent. Each book in the series tells a different person in the friends’ story. The second book is One Tiny Lie, third is Four Seconds to Lose and the fourth is Five Ways to Fall. —Morgan O’Reilly, Aguilar

The Dollanganger/Flowers in the Attic series by V.C. Andrews was my go-to binge-read as an angsty tween. Not only did it improve my budding vocabulary by introducing concepts such as “dopplegangers,” but it has a wealth of Southern Gothic embellishments that drip off the pages like wisteria on a late spring evening. This twisted family saga has the stuff that series addictions are made of. —Sherri Machlin, Mulberry Street

Children

Jenny and the Cat Club series by Esther Averill. It’s a real oldie, beautifully reissued by the New York Review of Books. You cannot find a better role model than Jenny Linsky, the adventurous red scarf-wearing black cat whose New York stories are captured in such books as The School for Cats, The Hotel Cat, and Jenny’s Moonlight Adventure.  I think I love these books more now than when I read them as a child. —Jeff Katz, Chatham Square

As a kid, I loved reading the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. The author never talked down to his readers, and I learned quite a lot of vocabulary words from these richly detailed adventure books, which feature a large cast of animal characters. —Christina Lebec, Bronx Library Center

I recommend this series to everyone, even if they aren’t asking for my opinion! I am obsessed with Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy. Red Rising is the first of the series. When Darrow learns the truth about society’s caste system and his own status, he is determined to bring it down by any means necessary. The last book in the trilogy will be coming out this year! —Susen Shi, Mid-Manhattan

Tamora Pierce (Gets Her Own Category!)

I read the Immortals series by Tamora Pierce nearly every year. The series, originally intended for younger readers, begins with Wild Magic and tells the story of Daine, a young girl who finds that she has a remarkable gift: She can talk to animals. This four-book series has a lot of adventure, a ton of magic, and an unforgettable cast of characters. I find myself not only reading it over and over, but recommending it just as often. —Alexandria Abenshon, Yorkville

Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series. I recommend First Test to patrons looking for books about strong girls who don’t let themselves get pushed around.—Louise Lareau, Children’s Room

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

The United Nations commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

Survivors’ personal stories are a powerful primary source for learning about the Holocaust. Explore the Library’s collection of oral histories, autobiographies, biographies and memoirs of Holocaust survivors.

Oral Histories

Vladka Meed (Feigele Pelte Miedzyrzecki) was a teenager when the Nazis occupied Poland. Active in the underground youth movement, she lived as a Polish non-Jew in Warsaw, outside of the ghetto, and worked as a courier, carrying out illegal missions such as hiding people, smuggling documents, and organizing the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. She was the only one in her family to survive and came to the United States in 1946, writing a memoir about her experiences. Read her interview in our Digital Collections.

Egon Loebner was an accomplished student in Czechoslovakia, who dreamed of becoming a diplomat but chose engineering because he knew he would have to emigrate due to antisemitism. He survived the ghettos, the camps Theresienstadt and Auschwitz, and lost nearly his entire family. His engineering skills saved his life many times during the war. He later came to the U.S. where he met Albert Einstein and got Einstein's recommendation to study physics, helping to develop today’s flat screen televisions. Read his interview in our Digital Collections.

Maria Rosenbloom grew up in Kolomija in a wealthy and religious family. She battled antisemitic quotas and violence to study Polish literature in Lviv in the late 1930’s. During the Second World War, she lost her husband, parents, and virtually her entire family, in an atmosphere of horrific violence and starvation. She lived as a non-Jewish Pole but her Jewish appearance frequently put her life in danger and caused her to flee. She was shot while participating in resistance activities. Working with displaced persons after the war, she eventually became a leading psychiatric social worker and teacher. Read her interview in our Digital Collections.

Aryeh Neier was born in Berlin in 1937, the child of Galician Jews. His family fled to England just a few years later, where his father was held in an internment camp on suspicion of being a possible spy, and Aryeh lived in a home for refugee children for a year. Virtually all of his relatives in Germany and Poland were killed during the Holocaust. In London, their house was bombed. After the war, the family settled in New York. Aryeh studied labor relations at Cornell and became a well-known advocate for civil liberties and human rights. A prolific author and professor, his most famous and controversial case was ACLU’s defense of the Nazis’ right to march in Skokie. Read his interview in our Digital Collections.

The above individuals were interviewed for the American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection, which includes 2,250 individuals, among them approximately 250 Holocaust survivors. Read more oral histories of Holocaust survivors online and onsite. Search the catalog using the keywords “oral” and survivor” to find more.

See NYU’s page for more collections of Holocaust survivor oral histories: Holocaust Studies: Oral Histories, Memoirs, etc.

Personal Narratives

Explore the Library’s collection of autobiographies, biographies and memoirs of Holocaust survivors.

Search the catalog:

By call number: *PWZ - then click “modify search” and choose  subject word “Holocaust”

Search for personal narratives by thematic subject heading :

• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish

Yizkor Books

The Library’s collection includes approximately 700 yizkor books, memorial books of Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust. Yizkor books were largely written and compiled by survivors, and by landslayt (townspeople who had left before the war) and often include personal essays, memoirs and eyewitness accounts from wartime.

Search Jewish Gen’s bibliographic yizkor book database by the names of towns or cities, and check NYPL’s website for an alphabetical list of our yizkor book holdings. Read yizkor books online and onsite, and find English translations at JewishGen.

For yizkor book narratives of Holocaust survivors in Poland, see From A Ruined Garden: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry, translated and edited by Jack Kugelmass and Jonathan Boyarin ; with geographical index and bibliography by Zachary M. Baker.

Additional subject headings for Holocaust research

• World War, 1939-1945 -- Jewish resistance -- Poland.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
• Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements.
• Gays -- Nazi persecution
• Jehovah’s witnesses -- Nazi persecution
• Jewish Women in the Holocaust
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
• People with disabilities --Nazi persecution
• Romanies - Nazi persecution

Need additional research help? Contact us at dorotjewish@nypl.org

With special thanks to Chava Shervington, President of the Jewish Multiracial Network.

What do prominent legal scholar Lani Guinier, bestselling writer Walter Moseley, and renowned late singer and actress Nell Carter have in common? They are all outstanding achievers who are African American and Jewish. In honor of African American History Month, the Dorot Jewish Division celebrates African American Jewish authors and achievements.

According to the Pew Forum’s 2014 survey, 2% of Jews in the United States described themselves as black, and a 2011 population survey by United Jewish Appeal (Federation) found significant racial diversity in the New York Jewish community, noting that “the large number of biracial, Hispanic, and other “nonwhite” Jewish households—particularly pronounced among younger households—should serve as a reality check for those who are accustomed to thinking of all Jews as ‘white’.”

Award-Winning Authors

Among African American Jewish authors you’ll find numerous award winners, such as author and scholar Carolivia Herron, known for her children’s book, Nappy Hair, as well as Always an Olivia, and many other works about African American and Jewish heritage and history; author and scholar Julius Lester, whose prolific works for children and adults address topics including racism, African American history, and his path to Judaism; the Antiguan-born Jamaica Kincaid, a writer of fiction and nonfiction for adults and children; Walter Moseley, a bestselling writer of mysteries and science fiction; author and musicianJames McBride (watch his NYPL performance here); professor and memoirist Carol Conaway; author and Third Wave Feminist leader Rebecca Walker; philosophy professors Lewis R. Gordon, Naomi Zack and Laurence Thomas, cartoonist and author Darrin Bell; and professor Ephraim Isaac, pioneering specialist in African, African-American and Semitic Studies.

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division. Catalog entries for the books can be found by clicking on their covers.

• American Christian Support For Israel by Eric R. Crouse
• Antisemitism In The German Military by Brian Crim
• Bar Mitzvah: A History by Rabbi Michael Hilton. E-book available through Project MUSE
• Belsen And Its Liberation by Ian Baxter
• British Fascist Antisemitism by Daniel Tilles
• Eating Delancey by Aaron Rezny
• Filming The End Of The Holocaust by John Michalczyk.
• Hair, Headwear, And Orthodox Jewish Women by Milligan
• Israel: Is It Good For the Jews? by Cohen, Richard. E-book available through 3M Cloud Library
• Jews, Ukrainians, And The Euromaidan by Lubomyr Luciuk
• Knaanic Language by Ondřej Bláha
• Losing The Temple by Hindy Najman
• Neighboring Faiths by David Nirenberg. E-book available through Chicago Scholarship Online
• Pioneers by S.A. An-sky
• Secrets Of The Four Temples District by Beata Maciejewska
• Sephardi Lives by Julia Phillips Cohen (ed.)
• Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text by Michael Coogan. E-book available.
• Unwanted Legacies by Gottfried Wagner. E-book available through Project MUSE.

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division. Catalog entries for the books can be found by clicking on their covers.

• Alles Hat Seine Zeit: Rituale Gegen Das Vergessen = A Time For Everything: Rituals Against Forgetting by Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek
• Autobiography Of A Delicatessen: Katz's by Baldomero Fernandez
• Between Sepharad And Jerusalem: History, Identity And Memory Of The Sephardim by by Alisa Meyuhas Ginio
• Beyond The Forest: Jewish Presence In Eastern Europe, 2004-2012
• David In The Muslim Tradition: The Bathsheba Affair by Khaleel Mohammed
• Fantastic In Holocaust Literature And Film: Critical Perspectives by edited by Judith B. Kerman

• God, Faith & Identity From The Ashes: Reflections Of Children And Grandchildren Of Holocaust Survivors by Menachem Z. Rosensaft (ed.)
• Greeted With Smiles: Bukharian Jewish Music And Musicians In New York by Evan Rapport
  (available electronically through Oxford Scholarship Online)
• Jewish Stories Of Love And Marriage: Folktales, Legends, And Letters by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
  (available as e-book)
• Leadership And Conflict: Tensions In Medieval And Early Modern Jewish History And Culture by Marc Saperstein
• Naming God: Avinu Malkeinu-our Father, Our King edited by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD.
• Power, Ethics, And Ecology In Jewish Late Antiquity: Rabbinic Responses To Drought And Disaster by Julia Watts Belser (available electronically onsite through Cambridge Books Online)
• Radical Responsibility: Celebrating The Thought Of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks by Michael J. Harris

• Rethinking The Messianic Idea In Judaism by Michael L. Morgan (ed.)
  (available electronically through Project Muse)
• Soldiers' Tales: Two Palestinian Jewish Soldiers In The Ottoman Army During The First World War by Glenda Abramson
• Spinoza And Medieval Jewish Philosophy by edited by Steven Nadler
• A Street Divided: Stories From Jerusalem's Alley Of God by Dion Nissenbaum
  (available as e-book)
• Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren (available as e-audiobook)

From the beautiful Rose Family Seder Books to preparing a seder plate, the Library has something for everyone.

Learn about the holiday of Passover through the magnificent artwork now on display in the Rose Family Seder Books, generously donated by the Rose Family to the Dorot Jewish Division. Stop by the McGraw Rotunda on the third floor of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building to view the recently completed fourth volume in this series of unique books featuring over sixty years of Passover-themed artwork.

An interactive monitor accompanies the display, allowing viewers to explore the fourth volume’s pages for the first time. These stunning volumes will be on display from April 15–May 8, 2016.

In Jewish tradition, a seder (ritual meal) is held on the eve of Passover (this year, Friday, April 22).

The traditional book of the seder is the haggadah (Hebrew for “telling”), which Encyclopedia Judaica calls “a set form of benedictions, prayers, midrashic comments and psalms recited at the seder ritual on the eve of Passover.”

Hundreds of Haggadot

From old favorites to stunning rare editions, NYPL’s outstanding haggadah collection includes hundreds of titles representing diverse geographic and linguistic traditions and time periods: Aramaic (Jerusalem, 1986), Amharic (Jerusalem, 1984), Danish (Berlin, 1922), Dutch (Amsterdam, 1941),  English (London, 1787, online), French (Bordeaux, fascimile 1813), German (New York, 1857), Hungarian (Budapest?, 1942), Judeo-Arabic (Tunisia, 1938), Judeo-Italian (Venice,1609), Ladino (Amsterdam, 1695), Marathi (Bombay, 1891), Polish (Kraków, 2002), Portuguese (São Paulo, 1950), Russian (New York, 1979), Samaritan Aramaic (Tel Aviv, 1958?), Spanish (Buenos Aires, 1943), Swedish (1983, Stockholm), and Yiddish (Offenbach, 1795). For more, look at one of our haggadah bibliographies.

Among the most visually fascinating are a facsimile of the Birds Head Haggada, the oldest surviving Ashkenazi illuminated haggadah (S. German, c. 1300), which used bird heads in place of human heads in its illustrations, explored in Professor Mark Epstein’s book; and the stunningly beautiful Szyk Haggadah by Polish-born Arthur Szyk, an artist known for his virtuosic works and provocative satires.

Familiar classics include the once-ubiquitous Maxwell House Haggadah; the Survivors’ Haggadah, created in the aftermath of World War II; the secular Yiddish and English Workmen’s Circle Haggadah, and the Sephardic Passover Haggadah by Rabbi Marc D. Angel with special commentaries and songs. In keeping with the haggadah’s emphasis on liberation, the Library’s collection also includes haggadot associated with vegetarianism (Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb), feminism (The Women’s Haggadah), lesbianism (A New Haggadah: A Jewish Lesbian Seder) and social justice (The Shalom Seders), not to mention the timely topical haggadot available online such as the Mixed Multitudes: Nobody’s Free ’til Everybody’s Free, A Racial Justice Haggadah and the  #BlackLivesMatter Haggadah Supplement compiled by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

Passover Cooking

With about 100 cookbooks for Passover alone, in 6 languages, you can find something for everyone here. The Dorot Jewish Division’s cookbook collection, built in large part by the late Roberta Saltzman, includes about 2,700 Jewish cookbooks, many of them community publications from far-flung locales. Some food companies even published their own Passover cookbooks, such as Borden’s Farm Products (1948, pictured below), Planter’s Peanut Oil (1940s, 46 Ways to Better Passover Meals, see illustration) and Rokeach’s Savory Passover Recipes.

Do you need Passover cooking for special diets? You can get vegetarian, healthy, gluten-free, non-gebrochts, free of wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts and fish, no cholesterol or even no potato Passover cookbooks, find recipes for kids, explore regional cooking (Yemenite, Hawaiian, international) or simply find matzah recipes).

Speaking of matzah, don’t forget to check out Manischewitz: The Matzo Family: The Making of an American Jewish Icon, by Laura Manischewitz Alpern, a fascinating history of America’s best-known matzah and Passover products company. Manischewitz also sponsored Bay tate-mames tish (Around the Family Table), a Yiddish radio melodrama by Nahum Stutchkoff, whose archives reside in NYPL. Read or listen to episodes, including on the wonderful Yiddish Radio Project website. The programs were accompanied by Stutchkoff’s highly creative commercials for matzah, including his famous Manischewitz Matzo jingle, with music by Sholom Secunda, where the matzah is “always fresh and always crunchy and snaps on your teeth.” Find more Passover-themed music in our catalog.

Visit us

Stop by today to view the Rose Family Seder Books (though May 8), and visit our reading room. Need books? Request in advance to save time: request offsite items through our catalog, and for onsite items call us at 212-930-0601 or email dorotjewish@nypl.org

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division. Catalog entries for the books can be found by clicking on their covers.

New Diaspora: The Changing Landscape Of American Jewish Fiction by Victoria Aarons (ed.) (E-book available through Project MUSE)

Yiddish And Power by Dovid Katz

Cultural History Of Aramaic: From The Beginnings To The Advent Of Islam by Holger Gzella

Philo Of Alexandria by Jean Daniélou

In God's Image: Myth, Theology, And Law In Classical Judaism by Yair Lorberbaum (E-book available through Cambridge Books Online)

Maimonides And The Book That Changed Judaism: Secrets Of The Guide For The Perplexed by Micah Goodman (E-book available through Project MUSE)

Kabbalistic Revolution: Reimagining Judaism In Medieval Spain by Hartley Lachter (E-book available through Project MUSE)

Longest Night: A Passover Story by Laurel Snyder

Between Gods by Alison Pick (E-book available through OverDrive)

Herod The Great: The King's Final Journey by Silvia Rozenberg (ed.)

Practicing Piety In Medieval Ashkenaz: Men, Women, And Everyday Religious Observance by Elisheva Baumgarten (E-book available through  Project MUSE)

Jews Of Iran: The History, Religion And Culture Of A Community In The Islamic World by edited by Houman M. Sarshar

Jews Of Karnobat: Chapters From The Depths: The History Of A Vanished Community by Zvi Keren

Contested Treasure: Jews And Authority In The Crown Of Aragon by Thomas W. Barton

Vintage Glamour In London's East End by Boris Bennett

Vienna Stories: Viennese Jews Remember The 20th Century In Words And Pictures by Tanja Eckstein

Lincoln And The Jews: A History by Jonathan D. Sarna

World Of The Child In The Hebrew Bible by Naomi Steinberg

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division.

Anglo-American Diplomacy and the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1948-51 by Simon A. Waldman

Bringing Zion Home: Israel in American Jewish Culture, 1948-1967 by Emily Alice Katz.

Divine Scapegoats: Demonic Mimesis in Early Jewish Mysticism by Andrei A. Orlov.

Holocaust Versus Wehrmacht: How Hitler's "Final Solution" Undermined The German War Effort by Yaron Pasher (e-book available through Project MUSE)

In the Shadow of Zion: Promised Lands Before Israel by Adam Rovner (e-book available through OverDrive and Project MUSE)

Israeli Feminist Scholarship: Gender, Zionism, and Difference by Esther Fuchs (ed.).

Jewish Anxiety and The Novels of Philip Roth by Brett Ashley Kaplan.

Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis Edited by Patrick Henry (e-book available through Project MUSE)

Le-vashel Be-ṭaʻam Ladino by Matilda Koén-sarano

Memorials in Berlin and Buenos Aires: Balancing Memory, Architecture, and Tourism by Brigitte Sion.

Patronage, Production, and Transmission of Texts in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Cultures Edited by Esperanza Alfonso (e-book available through Brepols Miscellanea Online)

Reading Maimonides' Mishneh Torah by David Gillis.

Scripture and Tradition: Rabbi Akiva and the Triumph of Midrash by Azzan Yadin-israel (e-book available through Project MUSE)

Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts Edited by Marc Michael Epstein

Splintered Divine: A Study of Ishtar, Baal, and Yahweh Divine Names and Divine Multiplicity in The Ancient Near East by by Spencer L. Allen.

Wine and Thorns in Tokay Valley: Jewish Life in Hungary: The History of Abaújszántó by Zahava Szász Stessel.

With my Many Chariots I Have Gone up The Heights of Mountains: Historical and Literary Studies on Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel by Hayim Tadmor

Zionism in Damascus: Ideology and Activity in the Jewish Community at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century by Yaron Harel

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division.

Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History by Marc B. Shapiro

Community Table: Recipes and Stories From the Jewish Community Center In Manhattan and Beyond by JCC Manhattan; with Katja Goldman

Exiles In Sepharad: the Jewish Millennium In Spain by Jeffrey Gorsky

Holocaust and the Germanization of Ukraine by Eric C. Steinhart (e-book available through Cambridge Books Online)

Human Nature & Jewish Thought: Judaism's Case For Why Persons Matter by Alan L. Mittleman

Imagining the Kibbutz: Visions of Utopia In Literature and Film by Ranen Omer-Sherman

In Suffering and Fighting: the Jews of Brno In Fateful Moments of the 20th Century by Jiří Mitáček

Intrigue and Revolution: Chief Rabbis In Aleppo, Baghdad, and Damascus, 1744-1914 by Yaron Harel

Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image In the More-than-Human World by David Mevorach Seidenberg (e-book available through Cambridge Books Online)

Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation In Modern Jewish History by Todd M. Endelman

Metropolitan Jews: Politics, Race, and Religion In Postwar Detroit by Lila Corwin Berman (e-book available through University Press Scholarship Online)

Myth of the Cultural Jew: Culture and Law In Jewish Tradition by Roberta Rosenthal Kwall (e-book available through Oxford Scholarship Online)

Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Joshua D. Zimmerman (e-book available through Cambridge Books Online)

Post-Holocaust France and the Jews, 1945-1955 edited by Seán Hand and Steven T. Katz (e-book available through Project Muse)

Samaritan Version of Saadya Gaon's Translation of the Pentateuch: Critical Edition and Study of Ms London Bl OR7562 and Related MSS edited by Tamar Zewi

Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture After the Holocaust by Jan Schwarz (e-book available through Project Muse)

Yosef Haim Brenner: A Life by Anita Shapira (e-book available through University Press Scholarship Online)

Zionism and Judaism: A New Theory by David Novak (e-book available through Cambridge Books Online)

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division.

Between Tel Aviv And Moscow: A Life Of Dissent And Exile In Mandate Palestine And The Soviet Union by Leah Trachtman-Palchan
Can A Seamless Garment Be Truly Torn?: Questions Surrounding The Jewish-catholic Löb Family, 1881-1945 by Peter Steffen
Double Diaspora In Sephardic Literature: Jewish Cultural Production Before And After 1492 by David A. Wacks (also available as an e-book)
Eugenio Montale, The Fascist Storm And The Jewish Sunflower by David Michael Hertz.
Forging Shoah Memories: Italian Women Writers, Jewish Identity, And The Holocaust by Stefania Lucamante.
How Was It Possible? A Holocaust Reader by edited by Peter Hayes (also available as an e-book)
Jewish Space In Contemporary Poland by Erica T. Lehrer (ed.) (also available as an e-book)
Kabbalah: A Neurocognitive Approach To Mystical Experiences by Shahar Arzy (also available as an e-book)
Leo Strauss On The Borders Of Judaism, Philosophy, And History by Jeffrey A. Bernstein.
Looking Jewish: Visual Culture And Modern Diaspora by Carol Zemel. (also available as an e-book)
Mapping Jewish Loyalties In Interwar Slovakia by Rebekah Klein-Pejšová. (also available as an e-book)
Obligation In Exile: The Jewish Diaspora, Israel And Critique by Ilan Zvi Baron.
Origins Of Organized Charity In Rabbinic Judaism by Gregg E. Gardner. (also available as an e-book)
Psalms Of Solomon: Language, History, Theology by Eberhard Bons (ed.)
Rabbinic Discourse As A System Of Knowledge: "The Study Of Torah Is Equal To Them All" by Hannah E. Hashkes.
Recetario Light Para Una Vida Más Sana by introducción, Esther Finkenthal de Mughinstein
Slave Labor In Nazi Concentration Camps by Marc Buggeln
Sweet Burdens: Welfare And Communality Among Russian Jews In Germany by Sveta Roberman. (also available as an e-book)
Women Writers Of Yiddish Literature: Critical Essays by edited by Rosemary Horowitz.

August is Women in Translation Month. Celebrate Yiddish women writers in English translation with poetry, fiction, memoirs, prayers, and cookbooks from the Library’s collection.

Women writers in Yiddish constitute a significant group, both creatively and demographically. An informal survey uncovered roughly 900 women writers in Yiddish primarily in book form, without even attempting to document those who wrote for the press.

Some of these writers have gained more prominence in recent years, thanks in part to new translation efforts. This is certainly a welcome development, considering that only 2% of Yiddish literature, primarily that by male authors, has been translated. This statistic comes from the Yiddish Book Center, which has also recently highlighted some of the female translators active in their translation initiatives.

Below are Yiddish books by women translated into English in book form, arranged by genre. Translations also appear in journals such as Bridges, In Geveb, Pakn Treger, and on the Yiddish Book Center’s website.

Yiddish Books by Women in English Translation

Poetry

Hayah Rahel Andres

• For whom do I sing my songs Far ṿemen zing ikh mayne lider. an araynfir un opshatsung fun Shalom Shṭern; iberzetsungen oyf English fun Yudl Ḳohen; [redaḳṭirṭ fun Dzshaneṭ Ḳohen].

Celia Dropkin

• The Acrobat: Selected Poems, translated from the Yiddish by Faith Jones, Jennifer Kronovet, and Samuel Solomon; foreword by Edward Hirsch.

Fell-Sara Yellin

• Songs of Days and Years; Poems. Translated from the Yiddish by Herman Eichenthal, Lila B. Hassid and Max Rosenfeld.

Rukhl Fishman

• I Want to Fall Like This= Azoy ṿil ikh faln: selected poems, translated from the Yiddish by Seymour Levitan; with an introduction by David G. Roskies.

Troim Katz Handler

• Śimḥe: episṭolarishe libe-lider = Simkhe (Celebration): Love-Letter Poems; poetry translated by Shimon Beyles.

Irena Klepfisz

• A Few Words in the Mother Tongue: Poems Selected and New (1971-1990); introduction by Adrienne Rich.

Rokhl Korn

• Generations: Selected Poems, edited by Seymour Mayne; In praise of Rachel Korn by Elie Wiesel; translated from the Yiddish by Rivka Augenfeld et. al.
• Paper Roses= Papirene royzn,  translated by Seymour Levitan  

Anna Margolin

• Drunk From the Bitter Truth: The Poems of Anna Margolin; translated, edited, and with an introduction by Shirley Kumove.

Kadya Molodowsky

• Papirene briḳn = Paper bridges: Selected Poems, translated, edited, and introduced by Kathryn Hellerstein.
• Paper Towers = Papirene ṭurems prints by Sarah Horowitz; poems by Kadya Molodowsky; translation by Kathryn Hellerstein.

Kady Molodowsky, Anna Margolin, Malka Heifetz Tussman

• The Other Voice: Twentieth-Century Women's Poetry in Translation edited by Joanna Bankier; foreword by Adrienne Rich.

Sarah Moskovitz

• Ḳumṭ tsum ṭish= come to the table

Chava Rosenfarb

• Exile at Last: Selected Poems; Goldie Morgentaler, editor.
• Yiddish Poets in Canada: Chava Rosenfarb

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman

• Poems = Lider. Bilingual ed., translated byThomas E. Bird.

Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath

• Plutsemdiḳer regn: lider, iberzetsungen fun Yeḥiel-Abo Sandler un Sholem Berger; haḳdomeh fun Sheve Tsuḳer

Songs to a moonstruck Lady: women in Yiddish poetry [collection]- selected and translated by Barnett Zumoff ; with an introductory essay by Emanuel S. Goldsmith [includes a significant amount of work by women].

Sylvia Siegel-Schildt

• Tsayṭṿayliḳe lider: gezamlṭe poezye = Temporary Songs: Collected Poetry.

Dora Teitelboim

• All My Yesterdays Were Steps. Edited and translated by Aaron Kramer; illustrations by Stan Kaplan.

Malka Heifetz Tussman

• Am I Also You? translated from the Yiddish by Marcia Falk.
• With Teeth in the Earth: selected poems translated, edited, and introduced by Marcia Falk. Editions published in 1992 and 2011

Rosa Newman Walinska

• Ink and Clay

R. Zychlinska

• God Hid His Face. Translated from the Yiddish by Barnett Zumoff, Aaron Kramer, Marek Kanter, and others; with an introductory essay by Emanuel S. Goldsmith.

Fiction

Bella Goldworth

• Across the Border. Short Stories trans. from the Yiddish by Max Rosenfeld.

Esther Singer Kreytman

• Blitz and other stories, translated from Yiddish by Dorothee van Tendeloo; edited by Sylvia Paskin. 
• Diamonds [Brilyantn]. translated from the Yiddish and with an introduction by Heather Valencia.
• Dance of the Demons [Sheydim-tants]. Translated from Yiddish by Maurice Carr; introduction by Ilan Stavans; afterword by Anita Norich; biographical essays by Maurice Carr and Hazel Karr (2009)
• Deborah [Sheydim-tants]. With a new introduction by Clive Sinclair; translated by Maurice Carr (1983)

Blume Lempel

• Oedipus in Brooklyn & Other Stories, translated by Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, 2016.

Lili Berger, Rochel Brokhes, Sheindl Franzus-Garfinkle, Shira Gorshman, Chayele Grober, Sarah Hamer-Jaclyn, Rachel Korn, Blume Lempel, Ida Maze, Rikudah Potash, Chava Rosenfarb, Dora Schulner, Mirl Erdberg Shatan

• The Exile Book of Yiddish Women Writers, edited by Frieda Johles Forman, 2013.

Dvora Baron, Celia Dropkin, Rochel Faygenberg, Rachel Korn, Esther Singer Kreitman, Blume Lempel, Helen Londynski, Kadya Molodowsky, Fradel Schtok, Yente Serdatzky

• Beautiful as the Moon, Radiant as the Stars: Jewish Women in Yiddish Stories: An Anthology, edited by Sandra Bark; introduction by Francine Prose, 2003.

Lili Berger, Rochel Brokhes, Shira Gorshman, Hamer-Sarah Jacklyn, Rachel Korn, Esther Singer Kreitman, Malke Lee, Blume Lempel, Ida Maze, Kadya Molodowsky, Rikudah Potash, Miriam Raskin, Chava Rosenfarb, Dora Schulner, Yente Serdatzky, Chava Slucka-Kestin

• Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers edited by Frieda Forman; introduction by Irena Klepfisz, 1994.

Bryna Bercovitch, Rochel Brokhes, Frankel-Paula Zaltzman, Hamer-Sarah Jacklyn, Malke Lee, Rikudah Potash, Chava Rosenfarb, Anne Viderman

• Arguing With the Storm: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers, edited and with a preface by Rhea Tregebov; introduction by Kathryn Hellerstein, 2008.

Kadya Molodowsky

• A House With Seven Windows: Short Stories; translated from the Yiddish by Leah Schoolnik.

Adele Mondry

• Wyszkowo, A Shtetl on the Bug River; translated from the Yiddish by Moshe Spiegel.

Chava Rosenfarb

• Bociany; Of Lodz and Love, translated from the Yiddish by the author.
• Survivors: Seven Short Stories; translated by Goldie Morgentaler.
• The Tree of Life: A Novel About Life in the Lodz Ghetto[Trilogy translated from the Yiddish by the author in collaboration with Goldie Morgentaler]:
• On the Brink of the Precipice[Book 1]
• From the Depths I Call You, 1940-1942[Book 2]
• The Cattle Cars are Waiting, 1942-1942[Book 3]

Memoirs

Hayah Rahel Andres

• Years Have Sped By= Zaynen yorn gelofn [bilingual autobiography and poetry]; forrede un iberzetsungen oyf English fun Yudl Ḳohen; [edited by Jeanette Cohen].

Hinde Bergner

• On Long Winter Nights: Memoirs of a Jewish Family in a Galician Township (1870-1900); translated from the Yiddish, edited, and with an introduction by Justin Daniel Cammy.

Bertha Ferderber-Salz

• And The Sun Kept Shining; foreword by Menachem Z. Rosensaft.

Glueckel of Hameln

• The Life of Glückel of Hameln, 1646-1724, written by herself; translated from the original Yiddish and edited by Beth-Zion Abrahams.
• The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln translated by Marvin Lowenthal; introd. by Norma and Robert Rosen.

Puah Rakovska

• My Life as a Radical Jewish Woman: Memoirs of a Zionist Feminist in Poland; edited and with an introduction by Paula E. Hyman; translated from the Yiddish by Barbara Harshav with Paula E. Hyman.

Religious writings

Women such as Sore bas Tovim, Seril Rappaport, Sore of Krasny, and Rokhl Ester bas Avikhayl, as well as men, wrote and published tkhines—described in the YIVO Encyclopedia as “private devotions and paraliturgical prayers usually in Yiddish, primarily for women.”

September is an opportune time to try some festive gluten-free recipes: it is when Food Allergy Awareness Month coincides with the Jewish month of Elul, which culminates with Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) on the eve of October 2.  

Chances are that you or someone you know is gluten-free. Gluten, a mixture of proteins in wheat, rye, barley and their crossbreeds, can be life-threatening for the 1 in 100 Americans who suffer from celiac disease, according to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Gluten can also cause health problems for those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, according to the National Institutes for Health. Consequently, one in five Americans actively tries to include gluten-free foods in their diet, according to a 2015 Gallup poll.

From traditional recipes with modified ingredients to naturally gluten-free dishes, enjoy Jewish holiday cooking this fall with these gluten-free options from the Library’s collection.

Gluten Free Jewish Holiday Cookbooks

• The New Yiddish Kitchen: Gluten-free and Paleo Kosher Recipes for the Holidays and Every Day
• Nosh On This: Gluten-free Baking From a Jewish-American Kitchen
• Gluten Free Canteen's Book of Nosh: Baking For Jewish Holidays & More

General Gluten-Free Cookbooks with Rosh Hashana Recipes

• Silk Road Vegetarian: Vegan, Vegetarian and Gluten Free Recipes for the Mindful Cook
• Gluten-free and Vegan Holidays: Celebrating the Year With Simple, Satisfying Recipes and Menus
• Chickpea Flour Does It All: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Vegetarian Recipes for Every Taste and Season
• Gluten-Free Baking For The Holidays: 60 Recipes for Traditional Festive Treats
• Gluten-free Wish List: Sweet & Savory Treats You've Missed the Most
• My Kid's Allergic To Everything Dessert Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes for Sweets and Treats the Whole Family Will Enjoy

Gluten-Free and Allergy-Friendly Jewish Cookbooks

• A Taste of Tradition: Pesach And Beyond: The Complete Guide To Non-Gebrochs and Kosher Gluten-free Cooking
• 250 Kosher Gluten Free Recipes: Discover How Tasty Gluten Free Can Be
• Simply Tempting: The Allergy Friendly Kosher Cookbook
• The Gourmet Jewish Cookbook: More Than 200 Recipes From Around the World
• A Taste Of Freedom: Recipes for Passover (or Anytime) Without Wheat, Dairy, Eggs, Nuts & Fish

Find more gluten-free Rosh Hashana recipes online:

• Tori Avey’s Mediterranean and Sephardic specialities
• Est Gezunterheyt Yiddish cooking videos (Eve Jochnowitz& Rukhl Schaechter, Forverts)
• Afro-ashkefardi Recipes from kosher soul chef Michael Twitty.

Need more? Explore NYPL’s Jewish cookbooks with this handy collection guide by the late Roberta Saltzman, who donated and cataloged many cookbooks. Find books about celiac disease and general gluten-free diet recipes in the Library’s catalog.

Contact the Dorot Jewish Division at dorotjewish@nypl.org or 212-930-0601 to ask questions or request books.

All The World: Universalism, Particularism And The High Holy Days by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman (ed.)
Alphabet Of Memory by Giuseppe Barbieri (ed.)
Being Jewish In 21st-Century Germany by Haim Fireberg (ed.)
Formation Of The Jewish Canon by Timothy H. Lim. (available as an e-book)
Hebrew Of The Late Second Temple Period by Eibert Tigchelaar (ed.)
Helen Nash's New Kosher Cuisine: Healthy, Simple & Stylish
Jaffa Shared And Shattered: Contrived Coexistence In Israel/Palestine by Daniel Monterescu. (available as an e-book)
Jerusalem: A Medical Diagnosis by Nirit Shaleṿ-Khalifah
Jewish Community Of Cuba: Memory And History by Margalit Bejarano
Love Of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, And Mutual Faithfulness In Judaism by Jon D. Levenson.
Masorah And Text Criticism In The Early Modern Mediterranean by Jordan S. Penkower.
Medieval Jews And The Christian Past: Jewish Historical Consciousness In Spain And Southern France by Ram Ben-Shalom
On The Tip Of My Tongue: 500 Yiddish Proverbs by Yoysef Guri.
Polin: 1000 Year History Of Polish Jews by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, And Priests: The Culture Of The Talmud In Ancient Iran by Jason Sion Mokhtarian. (available as an e-book)
Reframing Holocaust Testimony by Noah Shenker. (available as an e-book)
Stories Of Khmelnytsky: Competing Literary Legacies Of The 1648 Ukrainian Cossack Uprising by Amelia M. Glaser (ed.) (available as an e-book)
Tracing Jewish Heritage: A Guidebook To Slovenia by Janez Premk

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division.

Bergen-Belsen, History of the Memorial by Dr. Habbo Knoch

Festschrift Darkhei Noam: the Jews of Arab lands edited by Carsten Schapkow

Children of La Hille: Eluding Nazi Capture during World War II by Walter W. Reed

Full Severity of Compassion: the Poetry of Yehuda Amichai by Chana Kronfeld

Heart of the Matter: Studies in Jewish Mysticismand Theology by Arthur Green

Hollywood and the Holocaust by Henry Gonshak

Jacob L. Talmon: Mission and Testimony: Political Essays by Isaiah Berlin (Fwd.); David Ohana (ed.)

Jewish and Non-Jewish Spaces in the Urban Context by Alina Gromova

Jews and Christians in Denmark: from the Middle Ages to Recent Times ca. 1100-1948 by Martin Schwarz Lausten

Jews and the Renaissance of Synagogue Architecture, 1450-1730 by Barry L. Stiefel

Memory Work: the Second Generation by Nina Fischer

New Jewish Table: Modern Seasonal Recipes for Traditional Dishes by Todd Gray

Nietzsche's Jewish Problem: between Anti-Semitism and Anti-Judaism by Robert C. Holub

On Biblical Poetry by F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp

Schindler's Krakow: the City under the Nazis by Andrew Rawson

Shades of a Nation: the Dynamics of belonging among the Silesian and the Jewish populations in Eastern Upper Silesia (1922-1934) by Anna Novikov

Strong as Death is love: the Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel  by Robert Alter.

Yiddish Printing in Hungary: an annotated bibliography by Szonja Ráhel Komoróczy.

The following titles on our Recent Acquisitions Display are just a few of our new books, which are available at the reference desk in the Dorot Jewish Division.

Lingering Bilingualism: Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literatures in Contact by Naomi Brenner

Viewing Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology by Vehinnei Rachel.

Food in Ancient Judah: Domestic Cooking in the Time of the Hebrew Bible by Cynthia Shafer-Elliott.

Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible: Metaphor, Culture, and the Making of a Religious Concept by Joseph Lam.

Roots in the Air: Construction of Identity in Anglophone Israeli Literature by Nadežda Rumjanceva.

Survivors: Hungarian Jewish Poets of the Holocaust byThomas Ország-Land (ed.)

Celebrate: Food, Family, Shabbos by Elizabeth Kurtz to benefit Emunah of America.

Primo Levi's Resistance: Rebels and Collaborators in Occupied Italy by Sergio Luzzatto

Tales of High Priests and Taxes: the Books of the Maccabees and the Judean Rebellion Against Antiochos IV  by Sylvie Honigman.

Hasmoneans: Ideology, Archaeology, Identity by Eyal Regev.

Jews in Christian Europe: a source book, 315-1791 by Jacob Rader Marcus

Jews and the Indian National Art Project by edited by Kenneth X. Robbins

Mizrahi Era of Rebellion: Israel's Forgotten Civil Rights Struggle, 1948-1966 by Bryan K. Roby.

Israel and the Cold War: Diplomacy, Strategy and the Policy of the Periphery at the United Nations by Howard A. Patten.

Jews and Photography in Britain by Michael Berkowitz.

Belzec: Stepping Stone to Genocide by Robin O'Neil.

Goethe and Judaism: the Troubled Inheritance of Modern Literature by Karin Schutjer.

Deciphering the New Antisemitism by Alvin H. Rosenfeld (ed.)

This profile is part of a series of interviews chronicling the experiences of researchers who use The New York Public Library's collections for the development of their work.

Rabbi Debbi Prinz  lives in New York City and lectures about chocolate and religion around the world. She also blogs at On the Chocolate Trail, The Forward, JW Food & Wine, and ReformJudaism.org.   

What brought you to the Library?

I first used the New York Public Library at 42nd Street to research my first book, On the Chocolate Trail: A Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, Religions, History, Travel, Rituals and Recipes to the Magic of Cacao. I continue to explore resources for my current Chocolate Babka project about celebratory yeast breads by looking at food history, encyclopedias, ancient texts, and cookbooks.

Describe your research routine

I use my local branch as well as the Schwarzman Building. To maximize my time at the 42nd Street Library, I generally photograph the documents. I try to get to the Library when I have a particular question to look into or when I have accumulated a bunch of references. Later I read and file the photos at home. Truthfully, I always feel behind with my list and also at “processing” what I have gathered at the library. Also, I keep a bunch of the book request forms at home so that I can fill them out as I find a reference I want to review.

What's your favorite spot at the Library?

I love sitting in the Rose Main Reading Room. More recently I settled into the Dorot Jewish Division since I learned that my requests could be delivered to me there, too. It is quiet and the staff is extremely helpful. (Maybe I should keep that secret?)

When did you first get the idea for your research project?

My current project started with chocolate, specifically questions around the chocolate in New York’s plentiful babkas.  

What's the  most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

That ancient Egyptians enjoyed sophisticated skills in baking leavened breads. And, their bakeries and breweries were located next to the other, with beer and bread providing significant sources of nutrition. 

How do you maintain your research momentum?

I just plug away. I also balance the research with selecting and trying recipes as well as writing short form pieces. This pushes me to to clarify my thoughts and questions. In 2019 I baked over 50 distinct recipes and wrote more than 10 stories.

What's your guilty pleasure distraction? 

Streaming videos and a nibble of chocolate.