The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them
The Five Books celebrates the role of books in our lives. Each week we’ll talk with a Jewish author about five books in five categories. We’ll hear about: two Jewish books that have impacted the author’s Jewish identity; one book (not necessarily Jewish) that they think everyone should read - a book that changed their worldview. We’ll get a peek into what book they're reading now, and we’ll hear the inside scoop on the new book they’ve just published. The Five Books creates a space for all listeners to explore what it means to live, write, and read as a Jewish American today.
Episodes
September 15, 2026 • 59 mins
Charming and wry, nonagenarian Francine Klagsbrun reflects on her unlikely Jewish education as a girl in the 1930s and 40s, on the seeds of her feminist activism, and on why she is grateful to have reinvigorated Henrietta Szold’s legacy.
Francine Klagsbrun has had a tremendous impact on the story of American Jewish women. Born in 1931, she has been a passionate advocate for women in Jewish religious life. Franc...
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September 1, 2026 • 53 mins
After publishing her essay collection People Love Dead Jews, Dara Horn found her inbox flooded with messages from readers about their own experiences of anti-semitism. She realized that her readers wanted her to come up with an answer to all the problems she had raised. Her response is in her latest book, The Final Solution to the Jewish Question: A Love Story for the Living. In this conversation, Dara explains why reading Yiddish ...
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August 18, 2026 • 45 mins
With the Jewish holiday season fast approaching, many of us are thinking about holiday hosting. Rebekah Lowin has you covered: a challah recipe, an apple themed tablescape, an etrog mold dupe, and a Yom Kippur break-fast recovery packet for your guests. In this episode, Rebekah tells us about she became the Jewish Martha Stewart, reflecting on both her time working at Martha Stewart Living, and growing up in an artistic Jewish home...
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August 4, 2026 • 52 mins
Bruce Feiler speaks to us about the relationship between storytelling and ritual — and why both are essential tools for navigating change, creating meaning and building connection. We also discuss the moments when life takes a difficult turn (“lifequakes” as Bruce calls them), his journey walking the Bible and how it stems from his “rootedness” as a Southern Jew, and the ongoing tension between innovat...
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July 21, 2026 • 62 mins
As this episode is released in the days before Tisha B'Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, it feels especially fitting to sit with a conversation about grief, faith, and what it means to keep living after unimaginable loss. Tisha B'Av commemorates the destruction of both Temples in ancient Jerusalem, along with many other tragedies throughout Jewish history, and has become a day of collective mourning. Rachel Goldberg-Polin...
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July 7, 2026 • 51 mins
Portia Elan tells us about her journey to become a Jew by choice after attending Friday night services and feeling that she had “come home.” We also discuss her fascination with the AIDS quilt as a child, and the beauty in finding queer elders in her synagogue. Portia also reflects on how she understands tikkun olam: rooted in how we care for others and in our responsibility to the balance of entire ecosystems.
Portia ...
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June 23, 2026 • 50 mins
In this conversation, Dahlia Adler discusses the emotional and cultural terrain of love, identity, and storytelling within and beyond the Modern Orthodox world. We explore the particular pressures and expectations around romance in a community where shared values, observance, and belief are foundational. Dahlia also reflects on her unexpected journey to understanding her own bisexual identity as a result of writing a sapphic romanc...
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June 9, 2026 • 54 mins
Is two Jews, three opinions a good thing? In this episode, Laurie Frankel discusses the very Jewish capacity of holding space for many different ideas and views, and how this capacity might be exactly what we need in this moment. We’ll also discuss the power and devastation of Cythnia Ozick’s short story “The Shawl,” its contribution to the conversation around trauma, and how a difficult-to-believe premise f...
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May 26, 2026 • 67 mins
In recognition of Jewish Heritage Month, this episode features a conversation with Nicholas Lemann, whose work and life story open up questions about American and Jewish identity. Nicholas discusses his assimilated Louisianan/ German-Jewish upbringing and his lifelong quest for connection with Judaism. What does it mean to be both Jewish and have ancestors who benefitted from slavery? We’ll also discuss what Tolstoy’s ...
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May 12, 2026 • 42 mins
In this conversation, Fran Fabriczki discusses coming of age between Hungary and Los Angeles and her experiences with cultural richness and antisemitism between the two countries. We also discuss “homelooseness” in The Nearest Thing to Life by James Wood, and JD Salinger’s relationship with Jewishness through his short story “Down at the Dinghy.”
Fran Fabriczki was born in Budapest. She has live...
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April 28, 2026 • 48 mins
In this conversation, Adeena Sussman discusses how reading an (age-inappropriate) short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer one Shabbat afternoon changed the way she thought about writing and storytelling. We’ll also hear about her deep attachment to Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, and how discovering Claudia Roden’s writing about Middle Eastern food expanded her sense of Jewish food.
Adeena Sussman is the author of the New...
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April 14, 2026 • 53 mins
In this episode, Alicia Jo Rabins traces the “red hot glow” of the moments that shaped her, both spiritual and artistic, and how they led her to a life rooted in music, text, and ritual. She’ll tell us how a chavruta (study partnership) with an Orthodox student while at Barnard College paved the way for her to transform her academic study into song in Girls in Trouble. As she details the pendulum swings in h...
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March 31, 2026 • 62 mins
In this conversation, Matti Friedman reflects on the power of foundation stories to shape how we understand ourselves and where we come from – from Noah’s Ark, to the origins of the Bible, to Hannah Senesh and the other parachutists who landed in Nazi Europe during World War II. We also talk about what happens when we look more closely at these myths and encounter the flawed, human figures behind them - and why that oft...
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March 17, 2026 • 54 mins
In this episode, Zeeva Bukai discusses her two novels, Anatomy of Exile and The World Between, both published in the past year and woven with threads of her family history. She traces a legacy of dislocation: her grandmother’s reunion with her husband after years in a Siberian work camp, her father’s escape from Syria at age 13 with his younger brothers, and her own life between Israel and the U.S. Zeeva also reflects o...
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March 3, 2026 • 41 mins
Rob Kutner is an Emmy, Peabody, Grammy, and TCA-winning writer for late-night TV including The Daily Show and TBS’ Conan. He is the author of the humor books including Apocalypse How (Running Press, 2008) and the kids’ comedy-horror graphic novel Snot Goblins and Other Tasteless Tales (First Second, 2023). He has written material for the Oscars, Emmys, and two White House Correspondents Dinners, and was named a &l...
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February 17, 2026 • 45 mins
Allegra Goodman tells us how This Is Not About Us grew like a family tree from her New Yorker short story “Apple Cake,” as she continued writing about the Rubinstein family for over a decade. We discuss how her perspective - and the world - has changed since she wrote The Family Markowitz in her 20s, and how Keats’ concept of negative capability has shaped her writing. We also hear about a book that she found very...
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February 3, 2026 • 56 mins
In this conversation, Jason Diamond unpacks what it means to be an American, Jewish, or Jewish-American author. We also discuss family secrets, Jewish gangsters, the humor and alienation of Franz Kafka, and how Art Spiegelman’s Maus taught Jason to accept his family’s silences.
Jason’s debut novel, Kaplan’s Plot, follows Elijah Mendes, who returns to Chicago after his tech business collapses and discovers t...
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January 20, 2026 • 44 mins
In this episode, Sasha reflects on her childhood in Russia and Ukraine, including the moment she discovered her family was Jewish at a Purim celebration. Cut off from much of the Soviet Jewish experience under communism, Sasha also shares what she is reading to bridge the gap and learn more about the hidden narratives of Soviet Jews. We discuss what Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing taught her about slavery’s impact on American his...
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January 6, 2026 • 51 mins
In this episode, we’ll hear Samantha reflect on her journey to preserve her Iraqi-Jewish heritage even as the language is disappearing from use. She shares how the hand work of cooking traditional recipes became a tangible way to pass culture to her son, how Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother helped her process family histories, and how stories of imprisonment and fear in Iraq shaped her childhood imagination.
Th...
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December 23, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode, celebrated children’s book author, poet and memoirist Judith Viorst brings her irrepressible wit, humor, and insight to every age and stage of life. We talk about growing up, raising children, and living well - including the story of how her family gave up Christmas. She reflects on her lifelong love of “messy” characters, from Max in Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are to...
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