izzun books is an independent publisher of Jewish books, focussing on bringing balance and equilibrium (izzun) to Jewish publications.
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We focus on four main areas: siddurim, haggadot, poetry, and out-of-print s'farim in translation.
06/06/2024
This is a fun little side project: Tefillat haNesher is a small weekday siddur I made for my own purposes. It's an experiment in Liturgical Minimalism. Only the very essential parts of the prayer service (according to Rambam) are here and only in Hebrew. There's English instructions, but otherwise it's very simple. Trying to create the feel of 'dark mode' on paper, the all 97 pages are a rich dark grey with high contrast white and coloured text. The nusah is almost entirely Rambam with a few small changes that I wanted to make for myself. It's a radically self-indulgent endeavour - to make a siddur for oneself, but it's a beautiful way to reconnect with Tefillah. If this wacky project speaks to you, Tefillat haNesher is now for sale on our site, but be warned: it's not for everyone! 🦅
12/05/2024
Good news: Ohelibah is now available via Amazon worldwide (as well as direct from us)!
Ohelibah: Quiet on the Mountain & Memory
08/05/2024
Studio Shamah - סטודיו שמע
03/05/2024
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02/05/2024
Our next release, Ohelibah, will go live on Wednesday 8 May! So excited about this one, a product of the amazing collaboration between Yonah Greenblatt and Peter Moshe Shamah!
27/04/2024
Shavua Tov! Lovely coverage of one of our newest releases, Torah & Technology and its fabulous author, Rabbi Daniel Nevins!
GOA’s Rabbi Danny Nevins explores that brave new world
10/04/2024
We have *yet another* release of poetry slated for this month - Ohelibah, a collection of two song cycles written by Yonah Greenblatt and illustrated beautifully by Shamah - סטודיו שמע. See this lovely and timely eclipse excerpt from the poem Etz Hadar and stay tuned for more!
05/04/2024
Our next release drops Rosh Hodesh Nissan and is a beautiful and beautifully-illustrated modern poetic Midrash on some favourite as well as some unfamiliar Hebrew heroines! Look out for N'shei Chayil (Women of Valor) from Max Halperin
02/04/2024
Our newest book: Torah & Technology by Rabbi Daniel Nevins is now live! Pick it up from our store below or on Amazon worldwide!
Torah and Technology Circuits, Cells & the Sacred Path What does Judaism teach about killer robots? Cultured meat? Genetically engineered people? What does it mean to rest on Shabbat when electronics are embedded all around? In a pandemic, whose life should be saved first? Can a person be declar...
29/03/2024
It's here! Pleased to share that our next release, Rabbi Daniel Nevins's Torah and Technology will be available on 2 April from our site (izzunbooks.com) and from Amazon.
Torah and Technology is made up of eight teshuvot (responsa) written regarding halakhic implications of modern technology. Electricity on Shabbat, virtual minyanim, lab-grown meat, self-driving cars, and so much more.
It's 425 pages, printed hardback in 6x9 format and features a Foreword from Rabbi Elliot Dorff.
Here's what Rabbi Steven Gotlib had to say in his recent review:
"The amount of care and research that went into each teshuvah in the volume is breathtaking. His sensitivity to broader concerns (be they protecting human dignity, the dignity of the environment, or the dignity of his thoughtful readers) and his commitment to Halakhah as a Divine path towards a holier life is evident. One cannot help but be reassured that someone with his scholarship, erudition, and integrity has had such an impact on the next generation."
12/03/2024
TOMORROW, 7PM!
To celebrate the launch of the Izzun Books Megillat Ester, join Rabbi's Jeremy Gordon and Adam Zagoria-Moffet and artist Sarah Lightman in welcoming the publication of the new version of the Megillah for use in congregational settings.
This Izzun books Megillat Ester is dedicated in honour of Lester Kershenbaum.
There is no charge but all donations are gratefully received.
18/02/2024
Estér is now live on our site: izzunbooks.com 🥳
16/02/2024
Ready, Steady, Megillah! Pick up yours this Sunday!
11/02/2024
It's Adar – and that means it's time for Estér! Pick up all the all-new Izzun Books Megillat Estér next Sunday from our website. 🥳
06/02/2024
05/02/2024
It's not quite Adar yet, but it's not too early to get psyched about The Izzun Megillat Estér! Cover reveal to come – but check out this beautiful, full-colour, newly-translated, brilliantly-commented edition of Estér's story. Not one but *two* commentaries by Rabbi Jeremy Gordon of New London Synagogue - Masorti, with a new translation by Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet of SAMS - St Albans Masorti Synagogue, TIME comes in at about 80 pages and £8. משמשמשמש....
20/01/2024
Sheheheyanu time! Siddur Or uMasoret (formerly Siddur Masorti) is back, bigger and better than ever, along with a revised Siddur Or veShalom (Shabbat/Festival) and a new bonus, a paperback Friday Night edition of SOVS. Find them all on our site: izzunbooks.com
19/01/2024
A sneak preview of one of our Spring releases! Torah & Technology is by Rabbi Daniel Nevins and collects some of his best writings on halakhic questions related to the modern and medical worlds, including: electricity on Shabbat, lab-grown meat, AI, virtual minyanim and more! Follow us for more updates on this exciting volume!
16/01/2024
Coming very soon - Sidduré Or - revamped and relaunched 📚
28/12/2023
Did you see this fabulous piece in the The Jewish Chronicle about Stories of New North London Synagogue? The book is available now for £24+shipping on our website!
08/12/2023
חג אורים שמח! 🕎
23/11/2023
About last night: the launch of Stories of New North London was a huge hit! If you didn't make it, the book is now available from our site (izzunbooks.com) for £24 plus shipping. 🤩📚🕍
21/11/2023
Wow! Come hear several of our amazing contributors live online and in-person with JW3 newt Wednesday (29th Nov)!
Join us to mark the publication of Voices of Hope: Essays in Response to 7 October. This event will bring together 4 leading scholars from Israel and the UK to explore the themes of Home, Healing and Hope. With the best insights of the mind and the heart, this event frames a response to the brutalit...
16/11/2023
Less than one week to go! Book your place at izzunbooks.com 📚
12/11/2023
Good news! Voices of Hope is now up for sale direct from our site – it will still be available via Amazon on Wednesday (Kindle and paperback), but you can now order via our shop, worldwide – if you'd prefer. Our printers are slower than Amazon so it probably won't come any faster – but you'd be supporting a small business directly!
Voices of Hope is a collection of thirty six essays written in response to the events of 7 October, 2023 by Jewish scholars around the world and collected here by the Louis Jacobs Foundation. Exploring the themes of Home, Heal, and Hope – these short pieces frame a response both theological and pe...
09/11/2023
The first proofs are in! Can't wait to share this wonderful collection with the world on Wednesday. So amazed by our cast of contributors! x
08/11/2023
Voices of Hope will be released 15 November on Kindle ($4.99) and paperback ($8.99) via Amazon worldwide as well as on our website (izzunbooks.com). This little volume is a real gem with 36 beautiful essays written by leading Jewish intellectuals and scholars providing their response to the events of 7 October. A portion of proceeds from all sales will go towards helping Israeli communities in the South as they are relocated and begin to recover. 🇮🇱
07/11/2023
Today, a month after the 7 October attacks by Hamas, we're proud to announce that Izzun, together with Friends of Louis Jacobs are publishing a short book of more than 30 essays written by leading Jewish scholars in response to the war. It will be available for sale shortly on our website and on Amazon and a portion of the profits will go to help evacuated families from the south of Israel. #עםישראלחי 🕊
03/11/2023
Book now for our launch of Stories of New North London Synagogue! 📚
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"What do have in your hands during the reading of the Megillah? 📜 For years I've disliked the increasingly tatty booklets we've used at New London Synagogue so... with friend and colleague Adam Zagoria-Moffet, we've made something fit for purpose.It's a newly produced, very beautiful, freshly translated and comes with Brachot and some fun rubrics (the unmentionable one's name is printed in red, all the better to spot opportunities to boo).The commentary is, ahem, by me. I've tried to be engaging, generative and provocative - as I think we are called to be by the original Sefer." - Rabbi Jeremy Gordon
We've been getting incredible feedback from those who have seen the first copies hot off the press - from both more and less committed folk. Are you interested? Either personally or for your communities?
Pricing is $10 a copy for single editions, coming down to $8 for bulk-orders (>20), printed and despatched from within the States and £8, coming down to £6 for bulk orders for print and despatch from the UK. Last date for guaranteed pre-Purim arrival is 10 March (Rosh Chodesh Adar II), so get yours today!
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Equilibrium
Up until recently, the realm of Jewish publishing has been largely dominated by presses which operate from within the Ḥaredi sectors of the Jewish world. If you find an English book of Jewish interest, especially one which has traditional sources or a religious outlook, chances are it has been published by ArtScroll, Feldheim, or Koren. All of these have their merits, but they also have problems; ArtScroll and Feldheim in particular are guilty of censoring texts they find inconvenient and disguising interpretations which disagree with their community’s outlook on Judaism.
As a result of this frustration, together with the rise of internet-based Print-On-Demand (POD) businesses, I decided a few years ago to try my hand at adding something new to the realm of Jewish books. After securing a grant from the Jewish Theological Seminary and the backing of several dozen strangers via Kickstarter, I set out on my first such project. That first project was a three-year long endeavour to create a Sefaaradi siddur which reflected egalitarian practice and gender-neutral language– the result of which was Siddur Masorti, launched in November 2019.
Since then, Siddur Masorti has sold over 500 copies, and reached thousands of people via word of mouth. Having seen this surprising result, my collaborator Isaac Treuherz and I, set to work right away on creating a Shabbat edition (the first volume was a Weekday siddur), and, I’ve decided to expand the effort beyond this one project and to open a small publishing ‘house’ called Izzun Books.
Izzun means ‘equilibrium’ in Hebrew, and the idea is that I want to try and bring more balance to the Jewish books available. I’ll be focussing on liturgical texts, siddurim and haggadot, but also poetry, art books, cookbooks, and translations of out-of-print classic words of Rabbinic literature. Realistically, I’m aiming to print and sell one new publication a year, slowly helping to re-balance the Jewish book-o-sphere from a different point of view.
All sales will be direct, meaning no middle-people, and little overhead. This allows the artists, designers, and content-creators on our end to reap the most from publishing their work. If you have an idea, pitch, or book which you’d like to see made- contact me at [email protected]
