Popular Judaic Literature in an Online Age

Popular Judaic Literature in an Online Age

Since the inception of the Tanakh, the written word and study of the holy scripture has become a central part of Judaism. The historical and scholarly literature of the Jewish life and faith has likewise had an impact that extends far beyond its own community. The world has experienced enlightenment, challenge, and culture through the works of Simon Wiesenthal, Chaim Potok, Saul Bellow, and Bernard Malamud, to name a few. The bonds of common history, culture, and faith create common ground among varying themes, backgrounds, and eras.

From exploration of the basics of Judaism, such as the history and ritual of the High Holidays, to modern Jewish novels and short stories, literature reaffirms faith and experience. Unfortunately, popular but down-to-earth choices like The Practical Guide to Teshuvah and scholarly texts such as the Hirsch Commentary on the Torah sometimes can be difficult to find from chain booksellers. To further complicate the acquisition of Jewish literature, many small niche bookstores have fallen during the rise of the Internet, threatening distribution of such texts.

Judaic Literature in the Modern Age

However, with the online boom has come the rise of niche, internet booksellers, some of which carry an array of Judaic literature. Readers can select online from commentaries on Jewish mysticism to halachic texts regarding grief or reflective explorations of Jewish prayer. This literary boom has given rise to an increased online presence by traditional Jewish publishers, such as Jack Goldman's Judaica Press, already established offline with a rich 40-year publishing history.

Today, such online booksellers have expanded beyond Talmud and Torah study, to include children's books and stories, faith-based software offerings, and textbooks. Further aspects of Jewish life, history, and culture are integrated via kosher cookbooks, yarmulka design books, and family- and relationship-centric offerings. Such online booksellers offer near-effortless distribution of Judaic texts of all kind, reaching the mass audiences of the online world, both Jewish and gentile.