Read Good Books — Words of Torah (my blog!) — Rabbi Amy Josefa Ariel (she/her)

10/10 Recommend inviting Kyle Lukoff to Talk With Your Students

Spill the JEWce, my online Jewish YA book club, welcomed teacher, librarian, and author, Kyle Lukoff, to join our circle in September. If you are in a position to welcome and pay an author to come and speak with your community of kids, teens, or adults online or in person, I 10/10 recommend bringing Kyle to talk about his book, A World Worth Saving. Kyle Lukoff joined our circle with warmth, presence, and curiosity. He modeled what it means to listen deeply and respond with heart. Face to face experiences with authors change everything.

Read Good BooksAmy ArielSeptember 14, 2025Book Club, Spill the JEWce, A World Worth Saving, Rosh HaShanah BooksComment

The Way Back by Gavriel Savit: Join Me for a Book Discussion and Q&A!

Jewish Holidays, Read Good BooksAmy ArielDecember 2, 2024Jewish Book Club, Book Event, Jewish Books, The Way Back, Gavriel Savit, ChanukahComment

Book Review! Who Even Cares? A Rebbe Nachman Tale As Told By Rabbi Gavriel Goldfelder

In which I share my first blogged book review, because this book was just that good.
Thanks to this brilliant work by Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder, I have new language to help me focus my mind and my energy and my intention when I get off-track, even just a little, distracted by rivers of wine and giants, in my quest to find the princess. I even put a quick drawing of an apple on a post-it and affixed it to my computer screen.

This is not a story of a damsel in distress. It is not a love story. It doesn’t have a happy ending. It doesn’t have a tragic ending, either. Looked at a little sideways, it might not have an ending at all.