A Jewish Reading List

I’m putting together a list of books and articles that have helped me in acquiring a broader perspective on Judaism. It will include some classics as well as more “out-there” material. I will try to keep this list updated and will continuously add to it, so please check by every so often on Substack. If you feel I am missing something, feel free to comment or E-mail me, I’d be thrilled to check it out.

History

1. A History of the Jews by Paul Johnson

2. Jewish History: A Trilogy by Berel Wein

3. Judaism’s Encounter With Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?, Essays by various authors

4. The Religion of Israel: from its beginings to the Babylonian exile by Yehezkel Kaufmann

5. Ancient Judaism by Max Weber

6. The Culture of The Babylonian Talmud by Jeffery L. Rubinstein

7. From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism by Lawrence Shiffman

8. Studies in Halacha and Rabbinic History by R’ Eitam Henkin

9. Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy by Hayyim Soloveitchik

10. Between Berlin and Slabodka by R’ Hillel Goldberg

11. Men and Ideas by Alexander Carlebach

12. The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History by Tzvi Ben-Dor Benite

13. Mavericks, Mystics & False Messiahs: Episodes from the Margins of Jewish History by R’ Pinni Dunner

14. The 'Mussar' Movement and Lithuanian Jewry by R’ Jechiel Jacob Weinberg

15. The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand

16. Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947 by Norman Lebrecht

17. Hasidism: A New History by Various Authors

18. Haskalah and History by Shmuel Feiner

Philosophy

1. HaEmunot V’ Hadeot by R’ Saadia Gaon

2. Moreh Nevuchim by Rambam

3. Kuzari by R’Yehudah Halevi

4. Treatise on Logic by Rambam

5. Yesod Moreh VeSod HaTorah by Abraham Ibn Ezra

6. Milchamot Hashem by Ralbag

7. Israel and The Nations by R’ Elya Benamozegh

8. 19 Letters by R’ Shamshon Raphael Hirsch

9. Horeb by R’ Shamshon Raphael Hirsch

10. Halchik Man by R’ Yosef B. Soloveitchik

11. The Lonely Man of Faith by R’ Yosef B. Soloveitchik

12. Faith After the Holoucaust by R’ Eliezar Berkovits

13. Essential Essays on Judaism by R’ Eliezar Berkovits

14. The Halakhic Mind by R’ Yosef B. Soloveitchik

15. On Teshuva by R’ Yosef B. Soloveitchik

16. The Return to Zion by R’ Yosef B. Soloveitchik

17. Fate and Destiny by R’ Yosef B. Soloveitchik

18. Not in Heaven: The Nature and Function of Halacha by R’ Eliezar Berkovits

19. God, Man, and History: A Jewish Interpertation by R’ Eliezar Berkovits

20. Faith and Heresy by R’ Reuvain Agushewitz

21. Collected Writings (Volumes I-IX) by R’ Shamshon Raphael Hirsch

22. The Living Hirschian Legacy by Various Authors

23. Torah Study by Yehudah Levy

24. Illuminating Jewish Thought (Volumes I-II) by R’ Netanel Weiderblank

25. And From There You Shall Seek by R’ Yosef B. Soloveitchik

26. The Modern Jew Faces Eternal Problems by Aron Roth

27. Strauss, Spinoza, and Sinai by Various Authors

28. Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning by R’ Jonothan Sacks

29. God in Search of Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel

30. Man Is Not Alone by Abraham Joshua Heschel

31. On Judiasm by Martin Buber

32. Reason and Hope by Hermann Cohen

33. The Great Partnership by R’ Jonathan Sacks

34. The Dignity of Difference by R’ Jonathan Sacks

35. A Guide for the Jewish Undecided by Samuel Lebens

36. Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith by R’ Dr. Joshua Berman

37. Perpetuating the Masorah: Halakic, Ethical, and Experiental Dimentions by R’ Yitzchak Twersky

38. Faith Shattered and Restored: Judiasm in the Postmodern Age by R’ Shimon Gershon Rosenberg

39. Torah U’ Madda by R’ Norman Lamm

40. Jewish Meditation by R’ Aryeh Kaplan

41. I and Thou by Martin Buber

42. Torah and Western Thought: Intellectual Portraits of Orthodoxy and Modernity by Various Authors

Biography

1. Maimonidies by Joel Cramer

2. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch by Eliyahu Klugman

3. The Silver Era by Aaron Rakkefet-Rothkoff

4. Rav Breuer: His Life and Legacy by Dr. David Kranzler

5. The Rogatchover Gaon by Dov Ber Shwartz

6. Maimonidies: Life and Thought by Moshe Halbertal

7. Rav Kook by Yehuda Mirsky

8. Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy by Marc Shapiro

9. Nahmanidies: Law and Mysticism by Moshe Halbertal

10. Moses Mendelssohn by Shmuel Feiner