Question 1

Read books to fulfill the following prompts:

Accepted Answer

You may choose to read books to fulfill one prompt from each pair (5 total, "This or That") or both prompts in each pair (10 total, "This and That").

1. Read a book with a religious Jewish main character + Read a book with a secular/cultural/ethnically Jewish main character

2. Read a book published in 2025 + Read a book published before 1975

3. Read a book featuring Jewish foods you've never tasted + Read book featuring a main character from a place you've never been

4. Read a book set in Israel + Read a book set in the Diaspora

5. Read from a genre in which you've never before read a Jewish book + Read a Jewish book from your favorite genre, write a review, and send a note of appreciation to the author

Question 2

Do books need to be different genres? How many books do I need to read?

Accepted Answer

For the This & That Challenge, books can be any genre, and you can read multiple books from the same genre. The only requirement is that the books have a Jewish main character. For books without main characters (e.g. cookbook, essays), both the author and topic must be Jewish.

There are five pairs of ten prompts, but you don't necessarily have to read five or ten books to fulfill this challenge. Some readers like to a read a separate book for each prompt, other readers enjoy the puzzle of trying to fulfill multiple prompts with a single book.

For an extra challenge, you can combine the Genre and This & That challenges by having each book you read for the This & That challenge come from a different genre.

Question 3

I want to participate but I don't think I want to read 10 books!

Accepted Answer

The This & That challenge is really two challenges: A "This OR That" challenge and a "This AND That" challenge. For the "This or That" challenge you're only reading for five prompts, one from each pair.

You are also welcomed and encouraged to find books for the This & That challenge that fulfill multiple prompts at one time. A single book can fulfill multiple prompts for this challenge.

In addition, check out the Genre Challenge described above, which only requires reading a minimum of 4 books.

Question 4

I need more information about these prompt pairs...

Accepted Answer

1. Read a book with a religious Jewish main character + Read a book with a secular/cultural/ethnically Jewish main character

What defines "religious" and "secular?" Use your best judgment, the idea is to read about different kinds of relationships Jews have to Judaism and Jewishness.

2. Read a book published in 2025 + Read a book published before 1975

Pretty self-explanatory. You might ask, "Does it count if the translated version I'm reading was/wasn't published during that time but the original was/wasn't?" and we would answer, "Sure!"

3. A book featuring Jewish foods you've never tasted + A book featuring a main character from a place you've never been

The spirit of this prompt is to read books with Jews from backgrounds that may be new to you. Almost every book has a food scene or two, and we have some incredible cookbooks in our data base as well.

You can choose to interpret "A book featuring a main character from a place you've never been," as either where the main character is actually from, or where their family came from in previous generations, if that lets you read a book you're interested in! Sephardi Jews have ancestors who were expelled from Spain and Portugal during the time of the Inquisition. Mizrahi Jews have roots in the Middle East. Maghrebi Jews have roots in North Africa. Beta Israel Jews have roots in Ethiopia. Bene Israel Jews have roots in India. Bukharan Jews have roots in Uzbekistan. Ashkenazi Jews have roots in Russia and Europe. There is lots of crossover between these categories and that's okay.

If you are curious to read about a certain community but not sure where to start, our Goodreads and Facebook community groups are great places to ask for recommendations from readers and authors.

4. Read a book set in Israel + Read a book set in the Diaspora

Israel here can be historical Israel or modern Israel. The Diaspora refers to any place Jews live outside of Israel.

5. Read from a genre in which you've never before read a Jewish book + Read a Jewish book from your favorite genre, write a review, and send a note of appreciation to the author

When we were planning out the Jewish Genre Challenge we met so many readers who had never before read a Jewish book in their preferred reading genre. That was a big inspiration for this project! And now it seems like there's both growing awareness of Jewish genre books and more are being published (we hope the trend continues). One of the most Jewishly joyful parts of running the JGC has been connecting with and supporting authors, and we want to give you the chance to share in that joy! If the author you read doesn't have a website with a contact form, try googling the author's name + "facebook" or "instagram," or try the same for their publisher.

Question 5

I have other questions that aren't answered here.

Accepted Answer

Please visit our main FAQ page (www.readjewishly.com/faq)for more questions and answers.

2025 Jewish Genre Reading Challenges

challenge no.1

genre
challenge

with jewish main characters

each book a different genre

minimum 2 books from "genre literature"

read 4, 6, or 8 books

challenge no.2

This & That
challenge

read books with jewish main characters to fulfill five pairs of prompts