Adult Nonfiction

Friends usher in the Sabbath – called by its Hebrew name Shabbat – by candlelight, with challah bread and grape juice to complement their chicken nuggets and fries. Shabbat is typically observed at home with family, but here these seniors share in the celebration at a fast-food Wendy’s. Wendy’s Shabbat is a story of rediscovering the joys of community in older age, however unorthodox it may appear.

Durrett, Charles. The Senior Cohousing Handbook: A Community Approach to Independent Living. New Society, 2009.
Senior Cohousing is a comprehensive guide to joining or creating a cohousing project, written by the U.S. leader in the field. The author deals with all the psychological and logistical aspects of senior cohousing, and addresses common concerns, fears, and misunderstandings.

London, Charles. Far from Zion. New York: William Morrow, 2009.
London tells the stories of the Jews who stayed behind, choosing to remain in the countries of their birthAdAdult rather than immigrating to the Holy Land of Israel. At once a riveting modern history of a scattered People of the Book and London’s moving story of his own personal odyssey of religious and cultural discovery.

Parker, Priya. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. New York: Riverhead Books, 2018.
At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show us what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Zakutinksy, Ruth. Around Sarah’s Table: Ten Hasidic Women Share Their Stories of Life, Faith, and Tradition. New York: Free Press, 2001.
Fast paced but reverent, Around Sarah’s Table introduces us to the unique experience of living life as a Hasidic woman, and reminds us that beyond all the labels that tend to keep us apart, we are all very much alike.