Bonny V. Fetterman

Bonny V. Fetterman was the literary editor of Reform Judaism magazine.

In Ishmael’s House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands

Bonny V. Fetterman
How did Jews and Muslims interact in lands under Muslim rule, from Afghanistan to Morocco? Historian and Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert answers this question with a definite point of view—always referring back to the legal status of Jews as dhimmis , an officially tolerated minority under Islamic law. “The...

Kabbalah: A Love Story

Bonny V. Fetterman
When is a predictable love story more than a predictable love story? When a teacher of mysticism like Rabbi Lawrence Kushner uses it as a parable. Kushner spins fables within fables to explain the history and worldview of the Kabbalists-and has them all taking place concurrently, colliding with and illuminating...

Emma Lazarus

Bonny V. Fetterman
Emma Lazarus' poem, "The New Colossus," affixed to the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903 (twenty-five years after her death), identifies this icon as the "Mother of Exiles." It took time for Lady Liberty to grow into this role. The statue, a gift from France to America, was...

A Seat at the Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices

Bonny V. Fetterman
Joshua Halberstam explains the genesis of this novel in his Acknowledgments: “Rummaging in the closet of my childhood home in Boro Park, I came upon a box filled with typewritten Chassidic stories. These were the tales my father wrote and read on the Yiddish radio station WEVD back in the...

Houses of Study: a Jewish Woman Among Books

Bonny V. Fetterman
Winner of a Sami Rohr Choice Award, Ilana Blumberg’s memoir explores the tensions, struggles, and dreams of a young Jewish woman trying to find her place within Judaism.