I Read This Over Shabbos: Reading Jewish History in the Parasha begins from a deceptively modest ritual: a Jew, a book, a quiet Shabbos afternoon. But what emerges are weekly reflections that situate each Torah portion in conversation with pivotal moments in modern Jewish history — Noah’s saving humanity with the industrial revolution of 1840; conducting censuses of Israelites with the infamous ḥaredi draft dilemma; and the rebellion of Korah with the rise of Marxism in the nineteenth century, among many others. These are not academic lectures or sermon summaries, but reflections that blend philosophy, history, psychoanalysis, and a deep breadth of traditional Jewish wisdom.
Each essay invites us to explore Jewish history alongside the weekly Torah portion and encounter questions of exile, faith, doubt, authority, and memory that have occupied the Jewish people across centuries. Was the State of Israel’s founding the beginning of messianic times? Is rabbinic authority legitimate millennia past its origin? Do political divisions justify Jewish divisions? How has the revival of modern Hebrew redefined
Jewish identity? Each essay concludes with book recommendations that encourage readers to continue the conversation beyond the page.
For readers drawn to Jewish history, the weekly parasha, or the transformative power of reading, I Read This Over Shabbos offers a way to connect individual lives to the unfolding story of the Jewish people — and to rediscover Shabbos as a time not only to unplug, but to connect to our Jewish story.
