Jewish science fiction and fantasy
Explore the best Jewish science fiction and fantasy books! Discover captivating tales blending Jewish themes with futuristic worlds and magical realms in this curated list.
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Jewish Themes in Star Trek
by Yonassan Gershom
Rabbi Gershom takes you where no rabbi has gone before! You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this well-researched and reader-friendly journey into Jewish themes, actors, writers, in-jokes and subtexts in the Star Trek Universe. Inspired by a class he taught at the Minneapolis Talmud Torah, the book explores such things as: The Jewish origin of the Vulcan salute; How Vulcan culture is based on rabbinical Judaism; "Who is a Jew" among Trek characters in episodes, movies and the novels; How Talmudic logic helped expand the Star Trek universe; Why Ferengi values are NOT Jewish values -- and much more!
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The Red Magician
by Lisa Goldstein
A young European girl, unaware of the Nazi threat, has her life transformed by a red-haired magician who challenges the complacency of her village. "Turns the hidden world of Eastern European Jews during the 1940s into a world of wonders, then transcends the Holocaust with magical optimism".--The New York Times.
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Dante's Equation
by Jane Jensen
From the author of "Judgment Day" and creator of the popular Gabriel Knight computer games comes an edge-of-the-seat science-fiction thriller that weaves together elements of the Kabbalah and physics with doorways to other worlds.
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The Planet of the Jews
by Philip Graubart
Suddenly Judah, a Manhattan comic book editor, is caught up in an enchanting sci-fi fable of the future, a time when Jews, once again, are persecuted and driven not only out of their lands, but off Earth and onto a strange new world. Not only do the characters of this story (and its sequels) mirror Judah's life, but they provide him with materials that become the best selling comic novels of all time.
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Enchantment
by Orson Scott Card
Follows one man from ninth-century Russia to present-day America as he struggles to rescue a princess and her kingdom, find true love, and overcome the blackest of evil.
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Elijah's Violin & Other Jewish Fairy Tales
by Howard Schwartz
In this magical collection, Howard Schwartz has gathered together and retold thirty-six Jewish fairy tales that are at once otherworldly and earthy, pious and playful. Drawn from sources as diverse as Morocco and India, Spain and Eastern Europe, Babylon and Egypt, the stories are characterized by their infusion of traditional Jewish characters with the archetypal forms found in all fairy tales, or by their treatment of Jewish religious themes. The book combines the playfulness of fairy tales that will be loved by children with the author's depth of knowledge of the historical origins of the tales. Throughout one can find the quests and riddles of the traditional fairy tale along with the divine intervention that characterizes the Jewish fairy tale.
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Tradition and Fantasy in the Tales of Reb Nahman of Bratslav
by Ora Wiskind-Elper
One of the most radically innovative of Hasidic masters, Reb Nahman of Bratslav transformed images and concepts basic to Jewish thought into new and compelling forms. Tradition and Fantasy in the Tales of Reb Nahman of Bratslav uses comparative literary criticism, a range of Hasidic commentary, and original exegesis of the source texts to bring the complex artistry of Reb Nahman's thought to light making it accessible to a wider audience.
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Rabbinic Fantasies
by David Stern
This anthology of 16 narratives from ancient and medieval Hebrew texts presents the world of rabbinic storytelling, revealing facets of the Jewish experience and tradition and examining the deep connection between the values of classical Judaism and the art of imaginative narrative writing.
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Zaddik
by David Rosenbaum
Ex-NYPD cop Dov Taylor is called upon to recover the Seer's Stone, a magnificent 72-carat diamond stolen from one of New York's most closed communities, the Hasidim. The gem has fallen into the hands of a former Nazi and notorious war criminal known as the Magician, whom Dov must pursue through New York's many strange worlds.
