Shavuot books

Shavuot, perhaps the least ritually enriched holiday of the three festivals. But fear not: there are books and CDs about Shavuot. See Shavuot books at - where else? the Jewish Book Mall.

Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim)

Today is Jerusalem Day. Celebrate with a book, music, movie, game, magazine, software, Judaica item, or even clothing related to Jerusalem.

Operation Solomon reviewed

Few in the Western world are aware of the story: in a day and a half in May, 1991, Israel airlifted 14,310 black Jews from Ethiopia to safety in the Jewish state.

Stephen Spector has written a thoughtful account of this rescue, titled Operation Solomon: The Daring Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews (Oxford, 2005) with in-depth analysis of all the people and organizations involved. It's now available in both hard and soft covers, and should be required reading for anyone who has ever heard (false) charges of racism thrown at Israel and Zionism. Really, how many countries would have done the same?

Divahn is delightful

Not long ago, we had the pleasure of attending a benefit concert for the people of Darfur. One of the two acts perfroming was the delightful Divahn, a musical mix of Persian and other Middle Eastern Jewish rhythms with...believe it or not, instruments that include a banjo.

The vocals are powerful. The instrumentation is cool. You never heard Dror Yikra at double time before? Give Divahn a listen.