Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi in Space

Isaac Fietlebaum is a fluent speaker of Yiddish and a Talmudic scholar. But he's not your typical Jewish boy. He was born on the planet Hijdor, and he works as a psychiatrist at the student health clinic of the Transgalactic Merchant Marine Academy on the backwater planet of Polmod. Fietlebaum is coerced into a drug war over the illegal jorftoss plant that bestows immortality. The conflict leads him across the galaxy, where he fights not only the unusual mental disturbances of aliens, but also a jorftoss killing virus, and the murderous Galactic Intelligence agent, Erd Glesh, who is bent on gaining control over the galaxy's last living jorftoss plants. Fietlebaum is driven to defeat Glesh, who has kidnapped his grandson. Glesh threatens to kill the boy, Fietlebaum, and the charming schlemiel, Teysoot Motzo, a drug-crazed, Janpooran labor leader and hapless crook who accompanies Fietlebaum in his star-hopping adventures. Drugs and delicatessens in space? Who knew?

This collection of books featuring Jewish main characters is decidedly non-comprehensive. As we come across books that are described as having Jewish main characters, we add them to this database. The creators of the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge have not read all (or even most) of the books in this database. We have gathered information from many sources and not all may be accurate. Inclusion of a book in our database does not imply endorsement or approval. There is always the possibility that antisemitism may be present in a book, either written into a character's experience or through malicious or ignorant caricature or stereotypical portrayal of Jewish characters and culture. Please take care of yourselves as you read.

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