Book Of Zev

The Book of Zev is a political thriller that tells the story of two gentle people who change the course of history. Zev Bronfman, a strapping 32-year old-virgin, angry atheist, refugee from a religious Jewish life, and former engineer for the U.S. Patent Office in Alexandria, Virginia, drives a cab and sleeps around in New York City. After a bitter divorce, Sarah Hirshbaum, a beautiful, redheaded, depressed, God-hating kosher chef, seesaws between yoga and too much red wine. Independently, the two consult the same psychic who inadvertently sends Sarah Zev's session tape. When Sarah contacts Zev to pick up the recording, a series of events forces them to connect with a powerful terrorist in order to thwart his plans to destroy the UN and Israel.

Chafets, who grew up on the American heartland, returns after 20 years to journey coast-to-coast reporting on: a political Jew hunt in Iowa, the last Cajun Jews in the Bayou and more. A moving, funny and insightful book on the contemporary Jewish experience.

Klezmer: Music, History, and Memory is the first comprehensive study of the musical structure and social history of klezmer music, the music of the Jewish musicians' guild of Eastern Europe. Emerging in 16th century Prague, the klezmer became a central cultural feature of the largest transnational Jewish community of modern times - the Ashkenazim of Eastern Europe. Much of the musical and choreographic history of the Ashkenazim is embedded in the klezmer repertoire, which functioned as a kind of non-verbal communal memory. The complex of speech, dance, and musical gesture is deeply rooted in Jewish expressive culture, and reached its highest development in Eastern Europe. Klezmer: Music, History, and Memory reveals the artistic transformations of the liturgy of the Ashkenazic synagogue in klezmer wedding melodies, and presents the most extended study available in any language of the relationship of Jewish dance to the rich and varied klezmer music of Eastern Europe. Author Walter Zev Feldman expertly examines the major written sources--principally in Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Romanian--from the 16th to the 20th centuries. He draws upon the foundational notated collections of the late Tsarist and early Soviet periods, as well as rare cantorial and klezmer manuscripts from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. He has conducted interviews with authoritative European-born klezmorim over a period of more than thirty years, in America, Europe, and Israel. Thus, his analysis reveals both the musical and cultural systems underlying the klezmer music of Eastern Europe.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER! The bestselling biography of America’s Anchorman by the journalist who knew him best "Chafets has seen more of the pundit's personal world than any other journalist." -The Washington Post People tend to remember the moment they first heard The Rush Limbaugh Show on the radio. For Zev Chafets, it was in a car in Detroit. The braggadocio, the outrageous satire, the slaughtering of liberal sacred cows performed with the verve of a rock and roll DJ-it seemed fresh, funny, and completely subversive. "They're never going to let this guy stay on the air," he thought. Almost two decades later Chafets met Rush and they spent hours together talking on the record about politics, sports, music, show business, religion, and modern American history. Rush opened his home and his world, introducing Chafets to his family, his closest friends, even his psychologist. What has emerged after months of correspondence revealing Rush Limbaugh's thoughts, fears, and ambitions, is a uniquely personal look at the man who was not only the most popular voice on the radio, but also one of the most influential figures in the conservative movement.

This insightful volume represents the “hands-on” experience in the world of academia of two Jewish scholars, one of Orthodox background and the other a convert to the Jewish faith. As a series of separate but interrelated essays, it approaches multiple issues touching both the historical Jesus (himself a pious Jew) and the modern phenomenon of Messianic Judaism. It bridges the gap between the typically isolated disciplines of Jewish and Christian scholarship and forges a fresh level of understanding across religious boundaries. It delves into such issues as the nature and essence of Jesus’ message (pietistic, militant or something of a hybrid), and whether Messianic Jews should be welcome in the larger Jewish community. Its ultimate challenge is to view sound scholarship as a means of bringing together disparate faith traditions around a common academic table. Serious research of the “great Nazarene” becomes interfaith discourse.

“[A] hilarious, warm look at one of organized crime’s oft-neglected ethnic groups.”—The New York Times Book Review William Gordon’s dear Uncle Max is dead. Dear, crooked, murderous, notorious Mafioso kingpin Uncle Max. But Pulitzer-winning foreign correspondent Gordon always knew Uncle Max to be generous. Now, even in death, Uncle Max comes through, for he leaves Gordon millions—in the form of a Mafia territory. The only catch is that Gordon, the cultured journalist, might have to fight to retain his piece of the mob. On the other hand, who wouldn’t fight for half a billion dollars? But can an educated Jewish reporter who regularly rubs shoulders with world leaders really succeed as a semi-don? Maybe—if he’s greedy enough, and not afraid to get his hands dirty or bloody. . . . Praise for Inherit the Mob “I can’t think of two professions that more richly deserve each other than journalism and organized crime. Zev Chafets does an honor to them both.”—Carl Hiaasen, author of Native Tongue “If you think there’s nothing funny about organized crime, pick up a copy of Inherit the Mob. Zev Chafets makes his fictional debut in this sidesplitting spoof of Mafia family matters, manners, and misadventures. . . . Chafets has perfect pitch for dialogue and an eye for vivid, unforgettable characters.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer “Lively entertainment.”—Chicago Tribune “A full-fledged romp bursting with energy, good humor, and plot curlicues aplenty.”—The Detroit News