Hillel Halkin Libri

The narrative revolves around an older man's poignant letters to and reflections on his wife, exploring themes of love, loss, and memory. Through his intimate correspondence, the complexities of their relationship unfold, revealing deep emotional connections and the impact of time on their lives. This debut novel showcases the author's talent for capturing the nuances of human experience, blending personal history with broader reflections on life and relationships.

The book explores the contrasting perspectives of Hillel Halkin, an American-born Jew deeply committed to Israel, and an imaginary American Jewish friend who argues for the viability of Jewish life outside the country. Through their dialogue, Halkin presents a passionate defense of his views while engaging with the complexities of Jewish identity and belonging in a global context. The narrative delves into themes of nationalism, diaspora, and the personal stakes involved in the Jewish experience today.

An insightful new biography of the most controversial and perhaps most fervent of all Zionist political figures

Of all the characters in modern Jewish fiction, the most beloved is Tevye, the compassionate, irrepressible, Bible-quoting dairyman from Anatevka, who has been immortalized in the writings of Sholem Aleichem and in acclaimed and award-winning theatrical and film adaptations. And no Yiddish writer was more beloved than Tevye’s creator, Sholem Rabinovich (1859–1916), the “Jewish Mark Twain,” who wrote under the pen name of Sholem Aleichem. Beautifully translated by Hillel Halkin, here is Sholem Aleichem’s heartwarming and poignant account of Tevye and his daughters, together with the “Railroad Stories,” twenty-one tales that examine human nature and modernity as they are perceived by men and women riding the trains from shtetl to shtetl.

After One-Hundred-and-Twenty provides a richly nuanced and deeply personal look at Jewish attitudes and practices regarding death, mourning, and the afterlife as they have existed and evolved from biblical times to today. Taking its title from the Hebrew and Yiddish blessing to live to a ripe old age- Moses is said to have been 120 years old when he died- the book explores how the Bible's original reticence about an afterlife gave way to views about personal judgment and reward after death, the resurrection of the body, and even reincarnation. It examines Talmudic perspectives on grief, burial, and the afterlife, shows how Jewish approaches to death changed in the Middle Ages with thinkers like Maimonides and in the mystical writings of the Zohar, and delves into such things as the origins of the custom of reciting Kaddish for the deceased and beliefs about encountering the dead in visions and dreams.

Elegant and learned, personal and universal, literary, philosophical, and historical-Hillel Halkin's finely wrought essays on themes of Jewish culture and life are an education in themselves.