My Jewish Year 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew

In the tradition of The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs and Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses by Bruce Feiler comes Abigail Pogrebin’s My Jewish Year, a lively chronicle of the author’s journey into the spiritual heart of Judaism.

Although she grew up following some holiday rituals, Pogrebin realized how little she knew about their foundational purpose and contemporary relevance; she wanted to understand what had kept these holidays alive and vibrant, some for thousands of years. Her curiosity led her to embark on an entire year of intensive research, observation, and writing about the milestones on the religious calendar.

Whether in search of a roadmap for Jewish life or a challenging probe into the architecture of Jewish tradition, readers will be captivated, educated and inspired by Abigail Pogrebin’s My Jewish Year.

Abigail Pogrebin, a former 60 Minutes producer for Mike Wallace, is the author of Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish (Doubleday/Broadway Books), which went into eight hardcover printings, was featured on Good Morning America and Charlie Rose, and was adapted for the Off-Broadway stage in a Daryl Roth production. Pogrebin’s second book was a deep examination of twinship titled One and the Same: My Life as an Identical Twin and What I’ve Learned About Everyone’s Struggle to be Singular, published in 2009 and featured on The Today Show, NPR and in Newsweek.

Pogrebin is also the author of Showstopper, a 2011 bestselling Kindle Single about her adventure in the original cast of the Sondheim misfire, "Merrily We Roll Along.” She has written for numerous publications including Newsweek, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Forward and Tablet. She lives in New York. He lives in New York.

A.J. Jacobs is the editor of What It Feels Like and the author of The Two Kings: Jesus and Elvis and America Off-Line. He is the senior editor of Esquire and has written for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, New York magazine, New York Observer, and other publications.