New Book Release: A Host to History

A Host to History: The Story of Atlanta Athletic Club by Catherine Lewis

Known internationally as the home course of golfing immortal Bobby Jones, and recognized at one of the best clubs in the nation, Atlanta Athletic Club took possession of the second edition of its highly popular commemorative history book. A Host to History—The Story of Atlanta Athletic Club was originally published by Bookhouse in 2005. The new edition was updated to include recent developments and was redesigned in the process. One particular chapter, “Hosting the Majors,” vividly describes the club’s special role in attracting major golf championships. The Atlanta Athletic Club is one of a handful of elite clubs in the nation that, in the history of golf, has hosted multiple majors for both men and women.

New Book Release: Medical Decisions in Halachah

Medical Decisions in Halachah by Rabbi Moshe Rotberg

The world of medical ethics is often a slippery slope, which, if not governed by halachah, can lead to grave sins - including that of murder itself. The issues surrounding end of life, as well as other life-and-death questions, have become increasingly prevalent over the past few decades, due to both negative and positive developments in society. In today's day and age, it is not uncommon to need to make complex medical decisions, and it is of utmost importance that a patient and his or her caregiver understand the many issues and dynamics at play when it comes to medical care in halachah.

*  Which treatments and procedures must -and must not - be done for a terminally ill patient?

* The doctor says that the surgery he needs to perform has a mortality rate of 50%. Does halachah allow for that surgery to be done?

* A family receives a call that their father's death is imminent. May they go on Shabbos to be with him? 

* What must a family be aware of before allowing their loved one to receive palliative care in a hospice facility?

In Medical Decisions in Halachah, these issues and hundreds of others are dealt with in a clear and concise fashion. This sefer is the culmination of nearly a decade of research, in conjunction with the leading poskim and medical doctors in America, Canada, and Israel. In it, both layman and scholar will discover clarity and up-to-date information about halachah's stance regarding complex medical decisions.

New Book Release: Necessary Mourning

Necessary Mourning: Healing the Loss of a Parent Through Jewish Ritual by Dahlia Abraham-Klein

Necessary Mourning is written in an eloquent account of the traditional customs that are put into practice when a Jewish person dies providing a moving chronicle of the loss of Abraham-Klein's own father. This unique narrative crosses the boundary between psychology, spirituality and traditional Jewish ritual. Not only describing but also explaining the psychological significance behind Jewish practices and traditions, as Abraham-Klein moves through the five stages of mourning where at each stage it opens the door to a wider world and a broader understanding of life through touching death. The richly informative personal account deepens our understanding of the customs and traditions that inform the Jewish psychological response to death.

New Book Release: Kitzur Halachos Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Kitzur Halachos Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by Rabbi Zev Hofstedter

A clear and concise guide to all the halachos of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, based on the Mishnah Berurah, by Rabbi Zev Hofstedter.

New Book Release: Handy California

Handy California by Kevin Hile

California is the country's most populous state. The home of the entertainment industry and silicon valley. It's known for its beaches, its redwood forests, and as the “land of fruit and nuts.” Its people, industries, politicians, climate, and allure captivates the world and draws millions of visitors each year. Exploring the state’s fascinating history, people, myths, culture, and trivia, The Handy California Answer Book takes an in-depth look look at this fascinating, quirky, and diverse state.

Learn about the original Indigenous peoples, the Spanish explorers, the independence from Spain, the secession from Mexico, the Gold Rush, the building of the Los Angeles Aqueducts, the earthquakes, the water shortages, and much, much more. Tour landmarks, learn about famous sons and daughters, the sports teams, and the unique character of the state through a combination of facts, stats, and history, as well as the unusual and quirky. This comprehensive guide to California answers more than 1,100 intriguing questions, including How did “Eureka!” become the state motto? Why is a grizzly bear on the state flag when no grizzlies exist in California? Was the coast of California ever attacked by pirates? How did Silicon Valley become a center for the high tech industry?

New Book Release: The Monster Book

The Monster Book: Creatures, Beasts and Fiends of Nature by Nick Redfern

Monsters have been spotted everywhere, not just hiding under a child’s bed, lurking in the closet, or springing forth from folkloric tales. Exploring the history, mythology, pop culture, and the world of the supernatural, The Monster Book: Creatures, Beasts, and Fiends of Nature is a comprehensive resource of the monster menagerie from around the world. Examining the lore and legends, as well as the first-person accounts of bizarre freaks of nature and spine-tingling paranormal entities, it details each beast with thorough research, while recounting the facts in an engaging narrative.

This fascinating look at monsters investigates nearly 200 beings, beasts, freaks, and fiends, ranging from the renowned and celebrated to the little-known and inglorious, including Werewolves, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, the chupacabra, Mothman, the Abominable Snowman, the Mongolian Death Worm, Living Pterosaurs, Alien Big Cats, Lizard Man, Lake Worth Monster, the Monstrous Monitor, South American Sasquatch, the Jersey Devil, Sea Serpents, Phantom Black Dogs, and much, much more.

New Book Release: The Little Esrog

The Little Esrog by Rochelle Kochin

With just days until Sukkos, the Jews of Sislotch wait excitedly for their beautiful esrogim to arrive. But when a snowstorm delays the delivery wagon, the nervous driver takes matters into his own hands.

The Little Esrog is a touching tale of one modest esrog whose humility saves the holiday for the entire village. 

New Book Release: Handy Geography

The Handy Geography Answer Book by Paul Tucci

Geography is more than just maps and finding your destination. It is about the land, the people on that land, the delicate balance of nature, and our very interdependence upon it, despite the miracles of technology and grocery stores. It’s about the effects of nature on places and people, as well as how politics, borders, cities, and towns affect our lives. The Handy Geography Answer Book traces the history of geography from Eratosthenes and Alexander von Humboldt to latitude and longitude, and the latest advances in the Global Positioning System (GPS). It provides insights into economic, social, historic, culture, religious, political, and climate geography, plus oceanography, demographics, and more.

Completely revised and updated, it tours the world, its natural features, and the ever-changing mark humans make on our planet, answering 1,200 questions from the trivia (longest, hottest, tallest) to how geography has influenced history, religion, architecture, and the location of cities, including Who first had the idea that there is a magnetic North Pole? What is interesting about Google’s “Streetview”? How many people are projected to live on the planet in 2050? Which state has the highest annual divorce rate? What are the largest and smallest counties in the U.S.?

New Book Release: The Handy State-by-State Answer Book

The Handy State-by-State Answer Book: Faces, Places, and Famous Dates for All Fifty States by Samuel Willard Crompton

How did colonies, territories, and land purchases shape the United States of America? What differences—and similarities—are there between the states? What does each state bring to the union? From sea to shining sea, The Handy State-by-State Answer Book: Faces, Places, and Famous Dates for All Fifty Statesexplores the history, growth, politics, people, and more of each of the 50 states. It is a resource for learning about the events and personalities that influenced and affected each state, its history, government, cities, and culture. It is a convenient place to look for state facts and trivia.

In addition to the state motto, nickname, and when it entered the union, The Handy State-by-State Answer Book answers intriguing questions about the people, places, and events that lend a unique character to each state's boundaries, government, and places of interest, such as: How important were the Beach Boys to the making of California’s culture? Are the Hawaiians still in charge of their state and its economy? Why was it so easy for the Pilgrims and the Puritans to take over eastern Massachusetts? Who were the first inhabitants of what is now South Dakota? Does it ever stop raining on the Washington coast?

New Book Release: Haredi Masculinities

Haredi Masculinities between the Yeshiva, the Army, Work and Politics: The Sage, the Warrior and the Entrepeneur by Yohai Hakak

In "Haredi Masculinities between the Yeshiva, the Army, Work and Politics: The Sage, the Warrior and the Entrepreneur," Hakak takes us on a fascinating journey into the world of young Haredi men who dare to leave Jewish Haredi religious seminaries (Yeshivas and Kollels) and explore new territories. Through extensive participant observations in a Haredi army basic training course, an occupational training program in Hi-Tech professions and the Haredi Headquarter of the Likud Party, Hakak explores the interactions between young Haredi men and the cultural and masculine models they meet in these new sites. Hakak's observations expose the varying ways in which Haredi masculinities are being re-shaped through such interactions, and how this is impacting the Haredi minority and Israeli society more broadly."

New Book Release: The Debate in Minsk

The Debate in Minsk

In 1783, an important disputation took place in Minsk between leading Misnagdic geonim and R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi. The debate centered around R. Schneur Zalman's philosophy, which was based on the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov - teachings that the Mitnagdim vehemently opposed.

Penned by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, The Debate in Minsk presents the background and story of this landmark event. Responding to the questions posed to him, R. Schneur Zalman passionately and sytematically outlined the basic doctrines of the Baal Shem Tov, demonstrating their veracity from genuine Torah sources and their place in mainstream Judaism.

New Book Release: Exploring the Soul

Exploring the Soul by Rabbi Shalom DovBer Schneerson

Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies to perform the required duties. Generally, the entry into this innermost sanctuary was forbidden. It was only on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, that permission was granted for the High Priest alone to enter.

The current discourse, delivered by R. Shalom Dovber Schneersohn, fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, on Shabbat Parashat Acharei, 5679 (1919), analyzes the biblican verse which forbids any human being from being present in the sanctuary when the High Priest entered to seek atonement. If, as the verse in Leviticus states: "No man shall be int he Tent of Meeting" at that time, how could the High Priest himself be present?

By Thoroughly exploring the soul and all of its components, the discourse explains how the High Priest, on Yom Kippur, transcended the normative bounds of human limitation and ascended to the sublime level of "no man." This granted him the permission and sanction to enter the Holy of Holies.

In practical terms, says the Rebbe, this is the challenge of man: To access and utilize the sprarational dimension of the soul to reveal G-dliness within the world, through repentance, the study of Torah, and performance of mitzvot.

New Book Release: Shulchan Aruch English Vol. 12: Choshen Mishpat

Shulchan Aruch English Vol. 12: Choshen Mishpat by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi

This volume covers: - Laws regarding Jewish business law and ethics.

New Book Release: Native American Almanac

Native American Almanac: More Than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples by Yvonne Wakim Dennis, et al.

From ancient rock drawings to today’s urban living, the Native American Almanac: More than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples traces the rich heritage of indigenous people. It is a fascinating mix of biography, pre-contact and post-contact history, current events, Tribal Nations’ histories, enlightening insights on environmental and land issues, arts, treaties, languages, education, movements, and more. Ten regional chapters, including urban living, cover the narrative history, the communities, land, environment, important figures, and backgrounds of each area’s Tribal Nations and peoples. The stories of 345 Tribal Nations, biographies of 400 influential figures in all walks of life, Native American firsts, awards, and statistics are covered. 150 photographs and illustrations bring the text to life.

The most complete and affordable single-volume reference work about Native American culture available today, the Native American Almanac is a unique and valuable resource devoted to illustrating, demystifying, and celebrating the moving, sometimes difficult, and often lost history of the indigenous people of America. Capturing the stories and voices of the American Indian of yesterday and today, it provides a range of information on Native American history, society, and culture.

New Book Release: Pirkei Avos

Pirkei Avos by Zalman Glick

The beautifully illustrated Living Lessons Pirkei Avos features a unique commentary blended into the translation and conveys meaningful messages from every mishnah. Throughout its 240 pages, each mishnah is accompanied by multiple tidbits, biographies of the tannaim, commentaries, insights, and stories.

New Book Release: Real Visitors

Real Visitors, Voices from Beyond, and Parallel Dimensions by Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger

Are we alone or are there intelligent life-forms out there? Or are they already amongst us? Can we even know the Truth? Exploring the myths, stories, history, and facts of documented encounters, mysterious experiences, and unexplained visitors, Real Visitors, Voices from Beyond, and Parallel Dimensions by Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger examines the “other” forms, entities and beings inhabiting our universe.

Building on their decades of research into the paranormal, mystical, and supernatural, the Steigers analyze the influences and theories behind these mysterious “visitors,” whether they appear as aliens, ghosts, spirits, angels, demons, monsters, or some other form. The visitors have been called metaterrestrial, extradimensional, interdimensional, ultraterrestrial, and supraphysical intelligences, but regardless of the label, these inscrutable existences have left their mark on the people they've met—and a host of weird, wondrous, and horrifying stories. There are more than 200 thought-provoking stories that make you wonder about the Truth, including stories on UFOs, angels, spirits, ghosts, out-of-body experiences, time-travel, strange energies, dreams, meditation, unidentified terrestrial life forms, and more.

Tracing the perplexing and lasting effects of these otherworldly beings, Real Visitors, Voices from Beyond, and Parallel Dimensions exposes their power and reach throughout centuries of legends, myths, and today's world.

New Book Release: Impassioned Waters

Impassioned Waters by Crymsyn Hart

Being a Storm Rider is no easy task, especially when it comes to ridding hurricanes. Cecilia and Seth are partners in work, but not in love. Their shared feelings have been buried for a long time. When an angel plummets from Heaven, they must face their darkest fears.

Jacob might be an angel, but he’s not who he appears to be. Once he meets Cecilia, he wants nothing more than to love her. However, he has to confront his brethren to avert an oncoming war. When things go horribly wrong, he turns to Seth to help him save the woman they both love.

New Book Release: T-Bone Takes a Stand

T-Bone Takes a Stand for Public Schools by Lisa Willever

After reading about New Jersey's Revolutionary Neighbors and their amazing contributions, T-Bone decides to become a Revolutionary Neighbor himself. When everyone reminds him that he's a couple of centuries too late, he decides to do what they did and take a stand. The only problem is deciding what he will take a stand for. After some no-so-brilliant ideas, he decides to take a stand for public schools. Join T-Bone, Nicky, Wanda, and Timmy as they explore why public schools are so important and what really makes them successful.

New Book Release: Lessons in Tanya

Lessons in Tanya by R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi

A well-lit and accessible gateway to Tanya, and the most authoritative guide to its riches.

A linear exposition and commentary on Tanya based on a popular weekly radio series in Yiddish. Rabbi Wineberg`s commentary draws upon the teachings he received from Chasidic scholars at the renowned academies of Lubavitch in Europe and the writings of seven generations of Chabad Rebbes. Each of the lectures was examined and amended by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn, so that much of the material includes the Rebbe`s insights and explanatory comments.

Lessons in Tanya leads the reader through every paragraph and page, illuminating the mystical, often elusive, Talmudic, Kabbalistic, and Scriptural verses and concepts. It fills many gaps in what the terse Tanya text assumes to be the reader`s background knowledge. 

New Book Release: Jamilah Rising

Jamilah Rising by Anastasia Rabiyah

She wanted what she had lost and what she now had—and it was impossible to have both.

Life has changed for Jamilah. She’s of an age to be married off, and she knows her father will choose the most profitable match to advance his status. Although her heart chooses otherwise, there is no escape from the binding ties of her family and her father’s greed for control.

When Jamilah’s brother invites Vonhadi to visit their family's estate, he jumps at the chance to see her again. Their first kiss seals their fate, leading to secret meetings and the glimmering hope of a future together. But he is a poor man living the modest life of a priest in the temple, the only thing he has to offer, his gift of elemental magic.

From the moment Droma’s future bride pulls the veil from her face, revealing the abuse she has suffered, he falls in love with Jamilah. He vows to protect her, but devoting himself to her happiness could mean letting her go free, something he may not have the strength to do.

New Book Release: Handy Anatomy

The Handy Anatomy Answer Book by Patricia Barnes-Svarney and Thomas Svarney

We all have one. The human body. But do we really know all of its parts and how they work? The Handy Anatomy Answer Book is the key to unlocking this door to a wondrous world. Covering all the major body systems—integumentary (skin, hair, etc.), skeletal, muscular, nervous, sensory, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive, and, for good measure, adds chapters on growth and development and how science can help and augment the body—it follows the fascinating maze of organ systems and shows how much the body does routinely just to let you move, breathe, eat, and fight off disease.

This handy reference helps make the language of anatomy—as well as physiology and pathology—more understandable and less intimidating. Fascinating trivia, plus serious facts, combine to answer over 1,200 questions about the human body, including What is Gray’s Anatomy? What does it mean to have 20/20 vision? Why is blood sticky? How does exercise affect the heart? What is “gluten intolerance”? Is urine always yellow in color? What are the seven warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease? What is a reflex? How much sleep does an individual need? Can humans use organs from other animals for transplants?

New Book Release: Handy Technology

The Handy Technology Answer Book by Naomi Balaban and James Bobick

Technology pervades our daily lives and modern society, and not just when it comes to computers and smart phones. Before there was the computer, there was the abacus. Before the smart phone, there was the telegraph and ball point pen. Electricity, penicillin, and the compass have all led to revolutionary changes in how we live. The Handy Technology Answer Book explains how technology has revolutionized the way people live, work, and play. It covers a broad range of fields, including medicine, mining, buildings, transportation, the military, and agriculture, and how they have been changed by technology.

From the relationship between science and technology to nanotechnology, robots, and predictions for future technology, The Handy Technology Answer Book presents the latest and historical in an engaging and informative format. It brings well-researched answers to more than 1,100 common questions on technology, such as What are the major time periods of technology? Who is considered to be the first engineer? Which individual was granted the most U.S. patents? What is a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL? What products are made from recycled plastic? Can human beings be cloned? What is the future of wearable technology in health care?