Greenberg Families Library

Never Again: How the West Betrayed the Jews and Itself by Jake Wallis Simons 

When seen through Jewish eyes, the global future looks darker than it has for generations. Fuelled by venomous Israelophobia, violence against Jews, from Amsterdam to New York and from London to Melbourne, is back. Jews across the West are forced to hide their identities, while in the supposed safe haven of Israel they live under constant threat of rocket fire, shootings and stabbings. To make matters worse, in the United States and across Europe, digitally fuelled nationalist chauvinism is on the march. It is no exaggeration to say that we are seeing the end of the golden age of post-war safety for Jews. This speaks volumes about the health of the West. Although Jews are among the first in the firing line, liberal democracy itself is under threat from radicals on both sides of the political spectrum. Unforgivably, we have spent decades undermining our own values of patriotism and tradition, loyalty to peoplehood and homeland, a belief in borders and our peculiar religious and cultural sensibilities. These instincts, which had anchored human society since the dawn of history, were repressed in the name of Never Again, but they slowly gave birth to the opposite. Never Again: How the West Betrayed the Jews and Itself is an urgent new polemic from the author of the acclaimed Israelophobia, which discloses the social and historical causes of the maze of hostility in which Jews are now trapped. Charting the development of this dangerous cultural and geopolitical moment through a collapse in Western leadership since the Second World War, award-winning columnist, broadcaster and foreign correspondent Jake Wallis Simons offers a searing analysis of the state of the West, arguing that we must remember our older values and stand up for them before it is too late.

The City of Slaughter by Aden Polydoros 

The World’s Fair has packed up, and the tents and food stalls have disappeared. The dybbuk, a restless spirit that possessed Alter, is gone. Life returns to normal for Frankie and Alter as both boys inspire each other to start a detective agency, using skills from Frankie’s dark past and Alter’s desire to do good in their community. But when children start to go missing, Frankie is certain the supernatural is once again to blame as they race to track down a sheyd, a demon-like entity. In order to save his future with Alter, Frankie will have to confront his past.

Solly and the Elephant: A Folktale from the Bene Israel of India by Sandy Sasso 

A young man’s kindness to a royal elephant saves his life after he is accused of stealing from the powerful Maharaja. Solly’s family makes the best sesame oil in Bombay, India. When he is invited to visit the royal palace one day, he is fascinated by the baby elephant in a parade. He befriends the elephant and sings him his favorite song, the Shema prayer. When Solly grows up, he comes to work as a guard at the palace until one day he is accused of theft. Despite his innocence, Solly is found guilty and sentenced to be trampled by the wild elephants. But the elephant seems familiar to Solly, and after singing the Shema prayer, he reconnects with an old animal friend. From the award-winning team of Rabbi Sandy Sasso and Bene Israel artist Siona Benjamin, this eighteenth-century folktale from the Bene Israel community of Jews in India shows how kindness can be repaid where you least expect it.