On My Nightstand: Spring 2024

This book offers a compelling exploration of the hospitality industry, drawing from Meyer’s extensive experience as a restaurateur in New York City. Through storytelling and his wisdom, Meyer shares the journey of building his iconic dining establishments, such as Union Square Cafe and Shake Shack. At the core of his narrative is the concept of “enlightened hospitality,” which emphasizes genuine care and connection in all aspects, whether with employees, customers, or business partners.

Meyer argues that hospitality is not just about providing excellent service; it’s about creating meaningful experiences that leave a lasting impression. He emphasizes the importance of fostering a culture of hospitality within organizations, where employees are empowered to go above and beyond for guests. Meyer’s approach challenges traditional perceptions of business success, placing equal importance on profitability and creating a positive impact on the community.

Aside from being a big foodie and a frequent patron of Meyer’s establishments, I'm excited to now incorporate his teachings into my day-to-day life. Danny imparts valuable lessons and encourages an innovative way of thinking that I find incredibly inspiring.

Reviewed by Abby Weisman

Perfect Enemy, By Alex Sinclair

This memoir of a woman raised in a fundamentalist home in Utah is an intimate tale of a family both held together and broken apart by mental illness, religion and a love that runs even deeper than blood. The story is crafted so beautifully, so intricately, that it’s hard to believe that the author is the same narrator who lacked any kind of formal education until she was 17 years old. And yet Westover, clearly a talented artist in so many ways, paints a picture of a life that is so devastating yet so love-filled that I often found myself making sharp turns between sobbing in pain, cringing in fear and laughing out loud. 

The book dives deep into themes that connect powerfully to those of us who spend our lives thinking about Jewish education. It begs questions like, What does it mean to educate a child? Where is the line between religious devotion and fundamentalist obsession? What do we as a community do when parents cross this line and bring potential harm to their children, even as they are doing it because of a deep love for their family combined with crippling paranoia? Lastly, how much of our education is ours to shape when no one paves an easy path for us, and how can we learn to navigate a world that is built for those with textbook knowledge if we are lacking? 

Perhaps Westover’s biggest accomplishment is telling the story of her youth—deprived of schooling and friends, filled with violence and danger—in the most loving and respectful way possible. She communicates a deep understanding of imperfect parents who adored each other and their family, and yet failed their children in the most fundamental ways. She accepts great losses in her life because of their mental illness, alongside great responsibility to succeed against all odds, relying only on herself. 

Reviewed by Cheryl Rosenberg

City of Laughter, by Temim Fruchter

It’s the bits and pieces of people’s stories that makes the unknowable a bit more… knowable. And even for people who have more access to their families’ lore, so many people were cut off from their ancestors, you know, by the war, which has kind of necessitated invention. Inference… My work deals with folklore, but specifically with stories that are really just parts of stories. Questions, fragments, scraps. How those clues get under our skin, individually and collectively. And how so many people from so many fragmented places have worked to make not only a usable history out of those but also a usable present.