Joshua Halberstam

This very good short book begins with a most important piece of information. In fact there is an entire chapter devoted to it. "You and Your Professor" There is a subchapter heading "Your Professor IS the Course". It explains where the professor is coming from personally, why tenure is important, does age make a difference. In the years to come you may well maintain a relationship with your teachers.

There are chapters devoted to studying for varying kinds of exams, but the most unusual chapter is the last. "Screwing up." How to succeed even if there are problems along the way.

Excellent if old. Not something that will go out of date.… (mere)

"A Seat At the Table" is a must read for anyone interested in Judaism. Joshua Halberstam is a wonderful writer and this is his first novel and hopefully he will be writing more of them. This is a story about a young Chassid, Elisha, who at the age of twenty decides to go to City College in New York. He is from Borough Park a Chassidic community in Brooklyn. He finds himself emotionally and spiritually torn between his close ties to his Chassidic community and his desire to integrate into the "modern" world even eating in nonKosher restaurants and dating a nonJew.
The author succeeds in drawing us into the anxst of Elisha's journey to manhood and we sympathize with his desire to please his father and mother while finding his true self. An exquisite portrait is drawn of a young man who carries with him the pride and destiny of his lineage of famous Chassidic rabbis, yet his curiousity overwhelms him and he delves into experiencing people and places that are forbidden to him.
This theme of a young man or young woman on a spiritual journey has been dealt with before in books like "The Chosen" or "The Outsider". What makes this book unique is the incorporation of Chassidic tales within the text and the wisdom the reader gains as he/she accompanies Elisha on his journey. A wonderful story that will bring tears to your eyes for sure!!!!… (mere)