Most American Jews don’t know a
gemara from a gefilte fish. Are you one of them?
I used to be someone who knew almost nothing about Torah or how to live a Jewish life.
Then I began learning about Judaism and now I can’t stop. I read several books a month and it’s had an incredible effect on my life and the lives of my loved ones.
Do you want a similar Jewish life?
You can start by doing one simple thing: begin a Jewish home library.
In his incredible book, “The Vanishing American Jew
,” noted Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said spending $500 on a Jewish library was a great way to improve your Jewish idenity. I’d concur.
Not ready to splurge on a library? No problem. Start small. Read a book a month and pretty soon, you will find yourself getting hooked on knowledge.
To get you started, I’ve created a list of books you'll want to consider purchasing:
The Torah
An obvious first choice. Here are a few recommended translations:
Hertz, Joseph, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs: Hebrew Text English Translation and Commentary. Check Amazon 
The Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (The Schocken Bible, Volume 1). Check Amazon 
The Chumash: The Stone Edition (Artscroll Series). Check Amazon 
Plaut, W. Gunther, ed. The Torah: A Modern Commentary. Check Amazon
Talmud
Talmud is not for the faint of heart. But, Adin Steinsalz’ “Essential Talmud: Thirtieth-anniversary Edition” is a good introduction. Check Amazon 
Tanach
Tanach: The Stone Edition (The Artscroll Series). Check Amazon
Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures —The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Check Amazon
Jewish mysticism
Scholem, Gershom. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. Check Amazon
Scholem, Gershom. On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism. Check Amazon
Jewish History
Ben-Sasson, H.H. A History of the Jewish People (Harvard University Press, 1976). Check Amazon
Sachar, Howard M. A History of the Jews in the Modern World. Check Amazon
A mish-mash of other titles:
Aleichem, Sholom. Tevye the Dairyman and The Railroad Stories (Library of Yiddish Classics). Check Amazon
Bellow, Saul, ed. Great Jewish Short Stories (1971). Check Amazon
Buber, Martin. I and Thou. Check Amazon
Dimont, Max. Jews, God and History. Check Amazon
Fackenheim, Emil L. What Is Judaism?: An Interpretation for the Present Age (Library of Jewish Philosophy). Check Amazon
Finkelman, Shimon and Berkowitz, Yitzchak. Chofetz Chaim: A Lesson a Day: The Concepts and Laws of Proper Speech Arranged for Daily Study (Artscroll Series). Check Amazon
Heschel, Abraham Joshua. God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. Check Amazon
Heschel, Susannah, ed. On Being a Jewish Feminist (Schocken, 1995). Check Amazon
Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews (Holmes and Meier, 1985). Check Amazon
Kaplan, Mordechai. Judaism as a Civilization: Towards a Reconstruction of American-Jewish Life. Check Amazon
Lipstadt, Deborah. Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory (Plume, 1994). Check Amazon
Malamud, Bernard. The Fixer. Check Amazon
Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. Check Amazon
Roth, Philip. Portnoy's Complaint. Check Amazon
Sharansky, Natan. Fear No Evil: The Classic Memoir of One Man's Triumph over a Police State. Check Amazon
Simon, Leon. Ahad Ha-Am Asher Ginzberg: A Biography. Check Amazon
Telushkin, Joseph. Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things To Know About The Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History (William Morrow, 1991). Check Amazon
Uris, Leon. Exodus. Check Amazon
Wiesel, Elie. Night. Check Amazon