Product description Book by Pollack, Eileen From the Publisher "These fine, lean, elegant stories share two traits that are becoming increasingly rare in contemporary fiction: high intelligence and absolute unpredictability. Like the air conditioner in the story of that title, they fall swiftly, and change the lives of their protagonists, but never in the way one think they are going to. I will find them hard to forget."--David Leavitt

A Charming tale to remind us all that our kindness works miracles. "When the sun sets and stars fill the sky, the square in the little town grows quiet and still. The cool air of distant hills mingles with the sweet scent of baking bread. The moon rises and glows softly. It's the sort of place where miracles could happen." David and Jacob live in the same little, ordinary town, but it's almost as if they're from different worlds. David is so poor he can barely feed his family. Jacob is so consumed with staying rich he thinks about nothing but money. But the two men have one thing in common: they both believe that miracles are big, magical things that can only happen somewhere else, to someone else. But when Jacob wakes up from a nap in synagogue one day, sure that God has demanded twelve loaves of bread from him, all this changes in amazing ways you'd never expect. A delightful, timeless legend based on Jewish tradition, In God's Hands tells of the ordinary miracles that occur when we really, truly open our eyes to the world around us.

This illustrated book recounts the story of The Magic Pomegranate, a well-known Jewish folktale. In this engaging story, three brothers journey to three different lands in search of adventure. When they meet again, each brother has brought back a gift from his travels. One brother has an enchanted looking glass. Another has a flying carpet. The third brother has a magic pomegranate. But no sooner have the brothers begun to enjoy their gifts than they learn some troubling news: a princess in a far-off kingdom has fallen ill. Only the brothers and their magic gifts can save her. Will the brothers be able to help the princess? Which gift will make her well? Read this enchanting story to find out.

In turn of the century Eastern Europe, a brother and sister have been chosen to guard an ancient cemetery of Jewish martyrs situated on an isolated mountain. The endless snows protect them from the pogroms and plagues that rage in the world below, but that same protective blanket cuts them off from their people and tradition. Escape--from loneliness, from wavering piety, and from the burgeoning desire they feel for one another--becomes impossible. A parable for our times, by the writer whom Irving Howe called "one of the best novelists alive," Unto the Soul lays bare the deepest stirrings of religious feeling and despair within the human soul. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Is Jewish education simply an ancient and archaic type of socialization into "customs and ceremonies" or a sophisticated practice, based on rich cultural conceptions of the educated individual, the decent society and the relationship of knowledge and virtue? This author, rather than offering a dry analysis, takes the reader on a leisurely yet careful excursion into the world of Jewish tradition in order to discover models of the educated human being within it. In the process, the refder discovers dialogues between Western philosophy and Talmudic Midrash and is offered a fresh view of culture, faith and identity.