Read the first two books first. They are both easy reading and very informative. After that read whatever strikes your fancy!
The Indisputable Truth, by Rabbi Aaron Golfiz: Compelling evidence for the existence of God, the divinity of the Torah, and the purpose of life. Perfect place to start. 225 pages.
Israel, A Simple Guide To The Most Misunderstood Country On Earth, by Noa Tishby: One of my favorite books in this Reading List. It's an easy read from a young, talented, actress, dancer, producer, Israeli-American woman who tells her personal story about Israel with humor and great wisdom without ego. Raised secular she takes Conservative positions on every issue and then admits she votes Liberal every time. This book is a wisdom sandwich! You'll absolutely love it! 290 pages.
Crash Course in Jewish History, by Ken Spiro: This is a good place to start as he goes from Abraham to modern Israel explaining the miracle and meaning of Jewish history. 415 pages.
World Perfect, by Ken Spiro: First two-thirds a little depressing. The last third uplifting, enlightening, hopeful, and inspiring. 275 pages.
Gateway To Judaism, by Rabbi Mordechai Becher: The What, How, and Why of Jewish Life. 502 pages.
Jew vs Jew, by Samuel G. Freedman: The story of the transformation of a Jewish community in New Jersey. Easy reading and explains how the denominations of Jews came about. 359 pages.
The Living Torah, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: This Torah reads more like a book than an old Bible. 600 pages. It’s a good starting point for reading Torah and you’ll probably then want to “graduate” to an older translation.
The Sabbath, by Abraham Joshua Heschel, 101 pages of prose that reads like poetry. Read on the Sabbath day and immerse yourself in the vibe.
The Rational Bible Series, by Dennis Prager: It’s rational to the max and easy to read. Explanations of the Torah that make perfect sense so that you don’t have to believe in a giant father in the sky. He’s finished 4 books so far, “Genesis” (548 pages), “Exodus” (511 pages), Deuteronomy (515 pages), and Numbers (449 pages).
The Ten Commandments, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Rabbi Stewart Vogel:The significance of God’s laws in everyday life. Dr. Laura writes in very clear but also a bit dry and very deep subject matter so you need to be ready to exercise your concentration. If all you know about Judaism is the Ten Commandments then you are probably set for life! 319 pages.
Rebbe, by Joseph Telushkin: Amazing story about an amazing man. You won’t be able to put it down. 515 pages goes very fast.
Daily Wisdom, by Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson: To be read one page at a time on a daily basis. Each daily passage reflects that week's parshah. A very nice and inspiring way to start your day. 441 pages.
Toward A Meaningful Life, by Simon Jacobson: The wisdom of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. 31 chapters explaining everything that happens in life. 305 pages.
Living Legend, by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer: Another amazing story about another amazing man. Again, you won’t be able to put it down. 479 pages.
Here All Along, by Sarah Hurwitz: This book contains so much information on Judaism but I couldn't tell if it was a book about Judaism or a book about how smart the author is. If you can get past the over-active ego and under-active wisdom there's a lot of Jewish facts to be learned. 265 pages.
Two indispensable websites:
(note it's .org, not .com)
https://www.divineinformation.com
Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi also has a huge collection of YouTube videos.
And if you really start “getting into it” you will definitely reference these three forever:
Torah, The First Five Books of Moses: This is very complete: Hebrew, English, daily reading, commentary, Kabbalah, and more. Can be purchased here.
The Tanache: This is the 24 book compilation of the “Old Testament” including the first five books known as The Torah. Artscroll has a beautiful version at https://www.artscroll.com/Books/9781422610398.html $31. 1460 pages
Siddur: This is a book of prayers for every occasion and more. There are many version of the Siddur but I use the Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Koren Siddur but any version of a Siddur will do. Easily found via a duck-duck-go.com search. 1244 pages.
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