Life Bibliography

To go directly to a specific category, click below:

General Books about Jewish Life
Lifecycle Ritual
Newborn Ceremonies
Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Conversion
Weddings
Divorce
Death & Mourning
Jewish Education
Building a Jewish Home
Relationships
Sex & Sexuality

General

Celebration & Renewal: Rites of Passage in Judaism, edited by Rela M. Geffen (Jewish Publication Society, 1993).
Finding Each Other in Judaism: Meditations on the Rites of Passage from Birth to Immortality, by Harold M. Schulweis (UAHC Press, 2001).
How to Be a Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People’s Religious Ceremonies: Vol. I, edited by Arthur J. Magida (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1996).
Life Cycles in Jewish and Christian Worship, edited by Paul F. Bradshaw and Lawrence A. Hoffman (University of Notre Dame Press, 1996).
Teaching Jewish Life Cycle: Traditions and Activities, by Barbara Binder Kadden and Bruce Kadden (A.R.E. Publishing, 1997).

Lifecycle Ritual

The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices: CLAL’s Guide to Everyday & Holiday Rituals & Blessings, edited by Irwin Kula and Vanessa L. Ochs (Jewish Lights, 2001).
Healing of Soul, Healing of Body: Spiritual Leaders Unfold the Strength & Solace in Psalms, edited by Simkha Y. Weintraub (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1994).
Lifecycles, Volume I: Jewish Women on Life Passages & Personal Milestones, edited by Rabbi Debra Orenstein (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1994).
Tears of Sorrow, Seeds of Hope: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Infertility and Pregnancy Loss, by Nina Beth Cardin (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1999).

Newborn Ceremonies

Celebrating Your New Jewish Daughter: Creating Jewish Ways to Welcome Baby Girls Into the Covenant, by Debra Nussbaum Cohen (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2001).
Covenant of Blood: Circumcision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism, by Lawrence A. Hoffman (University of Chicago Press, 1996).
The New Jewish Baby Book: Names, Ceremonies & Customs/A Guide for Today’s Families, by Anita Diamant (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1993).
A Time to Be Born: Customs and Folklore of Jewish Birth, by Michele Klein (Jewish Publication Society, 1998).

Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Basics: A Practical Family Guide to Coming of Age Together, by Helen Leneman (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1996).
Putting God on the Guest List: How to Reclaim the Spiritual Meaning of Your Child’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah, by Jeffrey K. Salkin (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1996).

Conversion

Becoming a Jew, by Maurice Lamm (Jonathan David Publishers, 1991).
Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends, by Anita Diamant (Schocken Books, 1998).
Conversion to Judaism: A Guidebook, by Lawrence J. Epstein (Jason Aronson, 1997).
Embracing the Covenant: Converts to Judaism Talk About Why & How, edited by Allan Berkowitz and Patti Moskovitz (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1996).
Embracing Judaism, by Simcha Kling and Carl M. Perkins (Rabbinical Assembly, 1999).

Weddings

Beyond Breaking the Glass, by Nancy Wiener (Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2001).
The Creative Jewish Wedding Book, by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer (Jewish Lights, 2004).
The Jewish Way in Love and Marriage, by Maurice Lamm (Jonathan David, 1991).
Jewish Weddings: A Beautiful Guide to Creating the Wedding of Your Dreams, by Rita Milos Brownstein (Simon & Schuster, 2003).
The Jewish Wedding Now, by Anita Diamant (Scribner, 2017).

Divorce

Divorce in Jewish Law and Life, by Irwin H. Haut (Sepher-Hermon Press, 1983)
Divorce is a Mitzvah: A Practical Guide to Finding Wholeness and Holiness When Your Marriage Dies, by Perry Netter (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2002).
Jewish Divorce Ethics: The Right Way to Say Goodbye, by Reuven P. Bulka (Ivy League Press, 1992).
Marriage, Divorce and the Abandoned Wife in Jewish Law: A Conceptual Understanding of the Agunah Problems in America, by Michael J. Broyde (Ktav, 2001).
When There Is No Other Alternative: A Spiritual Guide for Jewish Couples Contemplating Divorce, by Sanford Seltzer (Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 2002).
Women and Jewish Divorce: The Rebellious Wife, the Agunah and the Right of Women to Initiate Divorce, in Jewish Law, a Halakhic Solution, by Shlomo Riskin (Ktav, 1988).

Death & Mourning

Grief in Our Seasons: A Mourner’s Kaddish Companion, by Kerry M. Olitzky (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1998).
Jewish Way in Death and Mourning (Revised and Expanded Edition), by Maurice Lamm (Jonathan David, 2000).
Jewish Insights on Death and Mourning, by Jack Riemer (Syracuse University Press, 2002)
The Jewish Mourner’s Book of Why, by Alfred J. Kolatch (Jonathan David Publishers, 1993).
Mourning & Mitzvah: A Guided Journal for Walking the Mourner’s Path Through Grief to Healing, by Anne Brener (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1993).
Saying Kaddish: How to Comfort the Dying, Bury the Dead, and Mourn As a Jew, by Anita Diamant (Schocken Books, 1999).
A Time to Mourn a Time to Comfort (The Art of Jewish Living Series), by Ron Wolfson (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1996).

Jewish Education

What We Now Know about Jewish Education, edited by Paul A. Flexner, Roberta Louis Goodman, Linda Dale Bloomberg (Torah Aura, 2008).
Family Matters: Jewish Education in an Age of Choice, edited by Jack Wertheimer (Brandies, 2007).
“And You Shall Teach Them Diligently”-A Concise History of Jewish Education in the United States 1776-2000, by Gil Graff (JTS Press, 2008).
“How Goodly Are Thy Tents”: Summer Camps Jewish Socializing Experiences, by Amy L. Sales and Leonard Saxe (Brandeis, 2003).

Building a Jewish Home

How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household, by Blu Greenberg (Simon & Schuster, 1983).
Living a Jewish Life, Updated and Revised Edition: Jewish Traditions, Customs, and Values for Today’s Families, by Anita Diamant and Howard Cooper (Collins Living, 2007).
Adoption & the Jewish Family, by Shelley Kapnek Rosenberg (JPS, 1998).

Relationships

How to Be a Jewish Parent: A Practical Handbook for Family Life, Anita Diamant and Karen Kushner (Schocken, 2000).
The Jewish Encyclopedia of Moral and Ethical Issues, by Nachum Amsel (Jason Aronson, 1995).
The Jewish Family Book, edited by Sharon Strassfeld and Kathy Green (Bantam Books, 1981).
Parenting Jewish Teens: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Joanne Doades (Jewish Lights, 2006).

Sex & Sexuality

Does God Belong in the Bedroom?, by Michael Gold (Jewish Publication Society, 1992).
Every Person’s Guide to Jewish Sexuality, by Ronald Isaacs (Jason Aronson, 2000).
Love & Sex: A Modern Jewish Perspective, by Robert Gordis (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1978).
Jewish Explorations of Sexuality, edited by Jonathan Magonet (Berghan Books, 1995).
This Is My Beloved, This Is My Friend, by Elliot Dorff (The Rabbinical Assembly, 1996).