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Question 20.12:
I'm interesting in ordering books or music on the internet. Where should I look?

With the growth of the Internet, there are now many, many, many retailers of both secular and Jewish products on the Internet. This FAQ cannot claim to list them all; however, we can identify some of the largest ones. Note that the FAQ makes no claim as to the quality of any of these services. They are likely all good, but the FAQ can provide no guarantees.

The line has blurred between book retailers and music retailers. In an effort to grow their business, many book retailers stock music and videos, and many music retailers stock books.

Secular Services

The following commercial concerns all provide a large selection of books and/or music, including a fair selection of Jewish books and/or music:

• Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/

• Barnes and Noble. http://www.bn.com/

• CDNow. http://www.cdnow.com/

Jewish Retailers

The following retailers all provide a large selection of Jewish books and/or Music:

• Broders Rare and Used Books. http://www.brodersbooks.com/
  A good sources for the rare or used books, often not stocked by other retailers.

• Jewishmall http://www.jewishmall.com/
  A collection of online Jewish retailers

• Jewishmusic.Com http://www.jewishmusic.com/
  Operated by Tara Publications. Stocks both books and music.

• Judaism.Com. http://www.judaism.com/
  Operated by US Judaica, formerly Pinsker's Bookstore in Pittsburgh PA. This concern is well known from their land-line number: 1-800-JUDAISM.

• J. Levine Books and Judaica. http://www.levinejudaica.com/
  Based out of New York, NY. Sells books, media, and Judaica.

• My Jewish Books. http://www.myjewishbooks.com/
  An online discount Jewish bookstore. Orders are fulfilled by Amazon.com, and proceeds go to tzedakah.

• Virtual Jerusalem Shops. http://vjshops.virtualjerusalem.com/
  A collection of Judaica shops in a wide variety of categories.

Publishers

The following are publishers of Jewish Music or Jewish texts. You can often order directly from them. An additional source of Jewish Publishers is the Association of Jewish Book Publishers (http://www.avotaynu.com/ajbp.html). There is another list of publishers at http://www.lights.com/publisher/db/topics-Religion-Jewish.html. Additionally, almost all "mainstream" publishing houses, such as Simon and Schuster (http://www.simonsays.com/), Macmillan Publishers (http://www.macmillan.com/), Doubleday (http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/, another division of Random House), Random House (http://www.randomhouse.com/), Harper Collins (http://www.harpercollins.com/hc/), among others, all offer popular Judaica in their catalogs.

Some good publishers that focus specifically on Judaica are:

• Artscroll/Mesorah. http://www.artscroll.com/
  Publishers of timeless Jewish classics, including Talmud commentaries.

• Jasob Aronson Inc. http://www.aronson.com/
  Publishers of Judaica

• Behrman House. http://www.behrmanhouse.com/
  Behrman House is the leading publisher of Judaica and educational materials for Jewish religious schools in North America and in English-speaking countries around the world.

• Ben-Simon Publications. http://www.swifty.com/bensimon/
  Publishes Jewish and family themed books.

• CCAR Press. http://www.ccarnet.org/press/
  Publishers of liturgical and reference material for the Reform movement.

• Feldheim Publishers. http://www.feldheim.com/aa/index.shtml
  "Bringing you the finest in Torah Literature for the Entire Family"

• Five Star Publications. http://www.fivestarsupport.com
  Various categories including kosher cookbooks, Holocaust memoirs, consumer-oriented (Profits of Death, an expose of the funeral industry) and children's books.

• Jewish Lights Publishing. http://www.jewishlights.com/
  Publishers of a large amount of contemporary Jewish thought and practice books, including Anita Diamont's stuff.

• Jewish Publishing Society. http://www.jewishpub.org/
  The oldest publisher of Jewish literature published in the English language. Since 1888, JPS has providing titles that further Jewish culture and education

• Jonathan David Press. http://www.jonathandavidonline.com/home.htm
  A New York-based nonfiction trade book publisher that specializes in sports, biography, reference, and popular Judaica. The parent corporation, Jonathan David Co., Inc., markets and distributes Jonathan David publications throughout the world. In addition, it issues Judaica Book Guide, a mail-order catalog offering the very best in Judaica from the lists of all publishers at bargain prices.

• Kehot Publishing. http://www.kehotonline.com/
  The publishing arm of Chabad.

• KTAV Publishing Company http://www.ktav.com
  Publisher of fine Jewish books and gifts, including prayer books, books for children and young adults, toys, games, school supplies and textbooks. KTAV also produces distinguished scholarly books on topics ranging from Biblical study to contemporary issues.

• Milah Press. http://www.milahpress.com/
  Books on the holocaust, Hebrew language, and Zionism.

• Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. http://pelicanpub.com
  Publishes books of Jewish interest for all ages, including A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe, Passover Lite Kosher Cookbook, Kosher Cajun Cookbook, Kosher Creole Cookbook, Kosher Southern-Style Cookbook, Toby Belfer's Seder: A Passover Story Retold, Toby Belfer Never Had a Christmas Tree, and A Belfer Bar Mitzvah.

• The Reconstructionist Press. http://www.jrf.org/pub/listmain.html
  Publishing arm of the Reconstructionist movement. Publishes over fifty titles dealing with Reconstructionist philosophy, liturgy, education and current issues in daily Jewish life. The press also publishes and distributes the works of Mordecai M. Kaplan.

• Schocken Books. http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/schocken/home.html
  A division of Random House, Schocken is well known for publishing scholarly books on a wide variety of Jewish subjects.

• SHJ Press. http://www.shj.org/gift.html
  The publishing arm of the Society for Humanistic Judaism movement.

• Soncino Press. http://www.soncino.com/
  Publishers of Judaic classic books.

• SoundWrite. http://www.soundswrite.com/
  The publisher of Jewish music for a large number of contemporary Jewish artists, including Debbie Friedman, Julie Silver, Rabbi Joe Black, and others.

• Targum Press. http://www.targum.com/
  A major publisher of Jewish books. A subsidiary of Feldheim Publishers.

• Torah Aura Productions. http://www.torahaura.com/
  Publishers of Jewish educational material.

• Transcontinental Music. http://www.uahcweb.org/transmp/
  The music publishing arm of the Reform Movement.

• UAHC Press. http://www.uahcweb.org/press/
  Publishers of a large amount of material dealing with the Reform movement.

• USCJ Bookstore. http://www.uscj.org/mall/bookservice.htm
  USCJ is the publisher of books for the Conservative movement.

The FAQ is a collection of documents that is an attempt to answer questions that are continually asked on the soc.culture.jewish family of newsgroups. It was written by cooperating laypeople from the various Judaic movements. You should not make any assumption as to accuracy and/or authoritativeness of the answers provided herein. In all cases, it is always best to consult a competent authority--your local rabbi is a good place to start.

Hopefully, the FAQ will provide the answer to your questions. If it doesn't, please drop Email to questions@scjfaq.org. The FAQ maintainer will endeavor to direct your query to an appropriate individual that can answer it. If you would like to be part of the group to which the maintainer directs questions, please drop a note to the FAQ maintainer at maintainer@scjfaq.org.

© (c) 1993-2004 Daniel P. Faigin <maintainer@scjfaq.org>