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TBA Book Club with Rabbi David Z. Vaisberg, M.A.R.E, M.A.H.L.

The Temple B’nai Abraham Book Club has engaging, meaningful, and edifying conversations about a different book each month. Books are available for purchase on Amazon and at other booksellers.

Meetings are held monthly, both in-person and zoom, from 7:30-8:30 PM.

Oct 29, 2025 - The Gates of Gaza by Amir Tibon

A harrowing memoir-documentary detailing Tibon’s family’s survival during Hamas’ 2023 attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Interwoven with Israeli-Palestinian history and interviews, it critiques security failures and reflects on trauma, earning the 2025 National Jewish Book Award.

November 5, 2025 - The Last Dekrepitzer by Howard Langer

Shmuel Meir Lichtbencher, the last rebbe of a vanished Hasidic sect, survives the Holocaust by posing as a Black soldier in Mississippi. He marries a Black woman, plays blues music, and eventually busks in NYC, wrestling with faith and identity. Langer’s novel blends Jewish mysticism, racial tension, and musical resilience.

Hands of Gold by Roni Robbins - December 10, 2025

Sam Fox, a Jewish immigrant, navigates 20th-century America while grappling with loss, resilience, and a recovered Holocaust-era heirloom. Robbins’ multi-generational saga, praised for multicultural themes, won the 2023 Global Book Award for biographical fiction.

January 28, 2026 - Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari

Zohara, a Yemeni-Israeli in 1990s NYC, returns home after her mother’s death, uncovering tapes revealing her mother’s clandestine artistry and a hidden love story. Tsabari interweaves immigration history, intergenerational trauma, and Israeli-Palestinian tensions in this dual-timeline novel.

February 25, 2026 - Confidential by Mikołaj Grynberg

This darkly comic novella traces three generations of a Jewish family in modern Poland, haunted by the Holocaust and enduring anti-Semitism. The grandfather, a survivor, pursues hedonism; his son, a physicist, avoids Germany despite career opportunities; and the mother secretly attends strangers’ funerals to grieve. Grynberg’s spare prose dissects trauma, memory, and the struggle to express love in a society where Jewish identity remains fraught.

March 25, 2026 - Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore

A trans man navigates grief and romance while communicating with ghosts, including his deceased husband. The story balances LGBTQ+ representation, Jewish burial traditions, and found family, offering a tender exploration of healing with humor and low-key supernatural elements.

April 29, 2026 - The Anatomy of Exile by Zeeva Bukai

The Abadi family flees 1960s Israel for Brooklyn after a traumatic loss, only to face cultural clashes and internal strife. Tamar, an Israeli Jew, and Salim, a Syrian-Jewish immigrant, grapple with assimilation, while their children straddle identities. Bukai’s saga intertwines personal and geopolitical exile, set against the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars.

May 20, 2026 - Jerusalem Beach by Iddo Gefen

This debut short story collection, likened to Etgar Keret’s work, features surreal yet heartfelt tales of Tel Aviv residents. A geriatric military unit, a man outsourcing his life’s meaning, and a woman living near the sun exemplify Gefen’s witty, philosophical style, rooted in neurocognitive research.