The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them
Tali Rosenblatt Cohen
41 episodes
1 week ago
The Five Books celebrates the role of books in our lives. Each week we’ll talk with a Jewish author about five books in five categories.
We’ll hear about: two Jewish books that have impacted the author’s Jewish identity; one book (not necessarily Jewish) that they think everyone should read - a book that changed their worldview. We’ll get a peek into what book they're reading now, and we’ll hear the inside scoop on the new book they’ve just published.
The Five Books creates a space for all listeners to explore what it means to live, write, and read as a Jewish American today.
All content for The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them is the property of Tali Rosenblatt Cohen and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
The Five Books celebrates the role of books in our lives. Each week we’ll talk with a Jewish author about five books in five categories.
We’ll hear about: two Jewish books that have impacted the author’s Jewish identity; one book (not necessarily Jewish) that they think everyone should read - a book that changed their worldview. We’ll get a peek into what book they're reading now, and we’ll hear the inside scoop on the new book they’ve just published.
The Five Books creates a space for all listeners to explore what it means to live, write, and read as a Jewish American today.
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on Finding Yourself in the Story
The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them
54 minutes
3 weeks ago
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl on Finding Yourself in the Story
Angela Buchdahl was born in Seoul, the daughter of a Korean Buddhist mother and Jewish American father. One of America’s most prominent rabbis, Rabbi Angela discusses her memoir Heart of a Stranger and the importance of finding yourself in a story. She shares how she discovered belonging within the Jewish narrative itself - seeing in Abraham and Sarah’s journey of boundary crossing a reflection of her own. In Jewish folktales, she recognized her own longing to reach deeper truths, and in Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste, she saw her experience of feeling outside the Jewish community reflected back to her. Stories, she explains, are the quickest way to build empathy. In sharing her own, she invites us all to see how our sense of otherness can become a profound source of Jewish belonging.
Profoundly spiritual from a young age, by sixteen she felt the first stirrings to become a rabbi. Despite the naysayers and periods of self-doubt—Would a mixed-race woman ever be seen as authentically Jewish or chosen to lead a congregation?—she stayed the course, which took her first to Yale, then to rabbinical school, and finally to the pulpit of one of the largest, most influential congregations in the world.
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s Five Books:
1. All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
2. Elijah’s Violin and Other Jewish Fairy Tales selected and retold by Howard Schwartz
3. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
4. As A Jew by Sarah Hurwitz
5. Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela Buchdahl
Also Mentioned:
The Carp in the Bathtub by Barbara Cohen
Grimm’s Fairytales
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s Rosh Hashanah Sermon
Other Episodes featuring Rabbis and Communal Leaders:
- Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding Her Place in the Jewish Community
- Rabbi Benjamin Resnick on the Enduring Precariousness of Jewish Life
- Yehuda Kurtzer on Grappling with History and Memory
The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous (Senior Rabbi at IKAR, and author of The Amen Effect), Yael Van Der Wouden (author of The Safekeep), and Dara Horn (author of People Love Dead Jews.)
Sign up for our newsletter to get new episode reminders, authors’ five book picks, and more delivered straight to your inbox.
Find us on Instagram @fivebookspod or on Facebook at The Five Books Podcast.
For feedback or author recommendations please email us at team@fivebookspod.org
For transcripts and more find us online at www.fivebookspod.org
The Five Books has the advisory and promotional support of the Jewish Book Council. Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and celebrating Jewish literature and supporting authors and readers. Stay up to date on the latest in Jewish literature! https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/events/celebrate
The Five Books is fiscally sponsored by FJC, a 501c3 public charity.
Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen
Produced by Odelia Rubin
Editorial and website support by Amelia Merrill
Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson Studio
Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions.
The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them
The Five Books celebrates the role of books in our lives. Each week we’ll talk with a Jewish author about five books in five categories.
We’ll hear about: two Jewish books that have impacted the author’s Jewish identity; one book (not necessarily Jewish) that they think everyone should read - a book that changed their worldview. We’ll get a peek into what book they're reading now, and we’ll hear the inside scoop on the new book they’ve just published.
The Five Books creates a space for all listeners to explore what it means to live, write, and read as a Jewish American today.
