This month and throughout this past year, Bet Shira Congregation has celebrated and will continue to celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday. We will have a full day devoted to Israel on Shabbat, May 3 and we hope you will join us for that celebration. But beyond communal gatherings and trips to Israel, each of us can connect to Israel in other ways. Whether it is subscribing to Israeli newspapers and magazines, watching Israeli television via satellite or “Shalom TV” via cable, whether it is through purchasing products from Israel (such as Israeli wine that we have been enjoying every Shabbat over the past year) or attending the Israeli Film festival, we all can find different ways to identify with and connect to the Jewish homeland that has been given to us to love and protect.

Listed below is a wonderful list of several books (fiction) that connect us as Jews to Israel. I urge you over the next month and into the summer months to pick one or two and dedicate our reading to Israel’s 60th year. This list comes from Jews all over American who strongly identified with Israel upon completing each. I hope that whichever book we choose, we can reach the same connection.

Yehuda by Meyer Levin. Based on the author’s own experiences, this book is the first known novel depicting life set on a kibbutz in then-Palestine of 1931 (1931)

A Weave of Women by E.M. Broner. A group of very different women band together to save a shelter for wayward Jewish girls ( they change its official name to “Home for Jewish Future Homemakers”) (1978)

Preparing for Sabbath by Nessa Rapoport. A young woman’s spiritual quest, set in Jerusalem (1981)

The Counterlife By Philip Roth. “Less a linear tale than five riffs revolving around the same set of characters, the book acts as a kind of narrative kaleidoscope on Jewish identity with each slight shift of perspective, a whole new picture emerges,” wrote Alana Newhouse, Arts & Culture Editor of the Forward. Alana was a guest speaker at Bet Shira Congregation this past fall during the JCC’s annual book festival (1986)

The Hope by Herman Wouk. An epic novel about Israel’s fight for statehood (1993)

Damascus Gate by Robert Stone. A journalist in Jerusalem, reared both Jewish and Christian, feels devoid of a true sense of identity, despite the fact that he is surrounded by some of the most devoutly religious peoples in the world (1998)

The Family Orchard by Eve Nomi. Spanning six generations, this epic follows the lives of one family grounded in Jerusalem (2000)

Strange Fire by Melvin Bukiet. A dark comedy about a speechwriter for the Israeli prime minister (2001)

Quiet Street by Zelda Popkin and Jeremy A. Popkin. A woman living in the suburbs of Jerusalem must come to terms with reality as she watches her 18-year-old daughter take on the role of soldier instead of farmer (2002)

Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet Ravel. A novel, set in the 1970s, about the relationship between a Canadian émigré and an army interrogator (2003)

The Place Will Comfort You by Naama Goldstein. In this collection of short stories, American Jews make aliyah and Israelis immigrate to America (2004)

Faith for Beginners by Aaron Hamburger. An American Jewish family teeters on the edge of collapse. In a last resort, they travel to Israel on a package tour with a mission to reinvigorate their spirituality (2005)

The Covenant by Naoi Ragen. Set in 2002, a pregnant Israeli woman, her husband and their child are abducted by Hamas (2004)

We connect to Israel in different ways. We connect through food and film, trips and books, music and news, magazines and newspapers, television and radio. One of our priorities as American Jews should always be staying connected to Israel and celebrating Israel’s independence.

Yom Haatzmaut Sameyakh, Happy Birthday Israel!

Rabbi Micah Caplan