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Jacksonville's Jewish Authors Are Writing Books That Matter
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
There's something special happening in Jacksonville's Jewish community. Quietly, without much fanfare, some genuinely remarkable Jewish books are being written right here in Northeast Florida — children's books that are making kids laugh, cry, ask big questions, and feel proud of who they are, and works for adults that speak to the deepest parts of our personal and spiritual lives. Meet the local Jewish authors you should know about.
Rachel Shifra Tal: A Jacksonville Author Writing Books for Every Child
Rachel Shifra Tal is a member of our Jacksonville Jewish community whose children's books have found their way into Jewish homes across the country — and for good reason.
Her most beloved book, If You Give a Frog a Piece of Matzah, turns the Passover Seder into a whimsical adventure. A frog joins the Seder, eats the matzah, drinks the grape juice, and slowly learns the story of the Jews in Egypt — including the uncomfortable discovery that he himself is one of the ten plagues. By the last page, he wishes he could be Jewish. It's funny, it's sweet, and it makes Passover come alive for young children in a way that sticks.
Rachel Shifra Tal is a mom of six daughters, a retired doula and Lamaze teacher, an EMT, and a lover of life in all its messy, beautiful, hilarious forms. After years of talking out babies, teaching breathing, answering emergency calls, and raising a house full of girls, she now finds herself writing children’s books in the in-between moments of real life.
Her books are a mix of heart, humor, Jewish soul, and the kind of imagination that comes from living with children who ask big questions and make life wonderfully ridiculous.
Hashem Cries Too gives children a soft, gentle way to understand the loss of a pregnancy or sibling.
Shmoodle Doodle is full of sweetness, silliness, and for dog lovers of all kinds.
Benguin the Penguin waddles in with charm, warmth, and teaches how to understand feelings. Parrots of the Caribbean brings adventure, and an out of the box experience with some pirates mixed in!
These stories were written for children, but really, they are for the grown-ups reading them too.
Rachel's books are available on Amazon and make meaningful Jewish gifts for kids of all ages.
Shlomit Tal: A Jacksonville Teen Author with a Sharp Wit and a Bright Future
Shlomit Tal is a 14-year-old writer with a gift for seeing the world through a satirical lens. Her humor is sharp, her observations fearless, and her creativity boundless. Her debut book, Capital Punishments, marks her first publication — but certainly not her last.
Talent clearly runs in the family: Shlomit is the daughter of fellow Jacksonville author Rachel Shifra Tal, whose own books have already won over young readers across the community. Between the two of them, the Tal household is proving that great storytelling is practically inherited.
The Jewish Women Series: Two Jacksonville Sisters Bringing Jewish Heroines to Life
If you've been looking for Jewish books for kids that make children feel genuinely proud to be Jewish — two Jacksonville sisters have created exactly what you've been searching for.
Gila Rapoport and her sister Lieba Abecassis are the founders of the Jewish Women Series, a growing collection of Jewish children's books spotlighting remarkable Jewish women whose stories have never been widely told. Until now.
It started on a random Tuesday. Gila was reading a children's book about Amelia Earhart to her daughter Serafina and had a thought: why aren't there books like this about powerful Jewish women? She called Lieba, a writer, and together they built something beautiful.
Their editorial compass is simple and powerful: they search for Jewish women who are not yet well known, and whose stories gave them goosebumps. If it gave them goosebumps, it belongs in the series.
The inaugural collection, launched right here in Jacksonville in December 2025, features four Jewish children's books, each a biography of an extraordinary Jewish woman:
Emma Lazarus — the poet whose words welcome the world from the Statue of Liberty
Vera Rubin — the astronomer whose research proved the existence of dark matter
Judy Feld Carr — who quietly and courageously rescued thousands of Syrian Jews at great personal risk
Sara Fortis — the Jewish Greek teenager who led an all-female partisan unit against Nazi forces in Greece, earning the name "Kapetenissa Sarika" — Captain Sarika
Jewish Women Series - Vera Rubin's Book
These are Jewish women's history books for kids that work beautifully as Jewish gifts for grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and students. Jewish grandmothers, aunties, parents, and educators are already discovering the series — and sharing it widely.
Each book is historically grounded and age-appropriate, designed for Jewish day schools, synagogues, Hebrew schools, and Jewish families who want their children to grow up knowing these names. Because these women deserve to be known.
The Jewish Women Series is available now at jewishwomenseries.com and on Amazon.
Chaya Hagler: A Jacksonville Mom Planting the Seeds of Healthy Living
Chaya Hagler is another local voice using children's books to plant healthy habits — quite literally. A mom to three young children, birth doula, and health restoration coach, Chaya channels her passion for nutrition and nature into stories that make healthy living feel like an adventure rather than a chore. Her book Benny and Leah's First Garden follows two siblings through the experience of planting their very first garden, the kind of story that can turn a child's curiosity about dirt and seeds into a lifelong love of growing (and eating) fruits and vegetables.
She brings that same mission to The Kid's Healthy Eating Activity Book and Cookbook, a hands-on companion packed with interactive activities featuring a wide range of fruits and vegetables, plus kid-friendly recipes children can cook or bake alongside an adult. It's the kind of book that turns "eat your vegetables" into something kids actually want to do. Between the garden story and the cookbook, Chaya gives families two fun, meaningful ways to get children excited about real food.
Rabbi Yaakov Fisch: A Jacksonville Rabbi Bringing New Light to the Haggadah
The Pesach Seder marks our national journey from servitude to salvation, but it's also an auspicious moment on a personal level. Rabbi Yaakov Fisch's new book, The Winding Road of Redemption Haggadah, offers fresh insight into the Seder's timeless wisdom, illuminating a personal path toward redemption for anyone facing health challenges, financial distress, or spiritual roadblocks of their own.
Rabbi Fisch leads Etz Chaim Synagogue, Jacksonville's premier Orthodox shul, where he's guided a growing kehillah of 180 families for over twenty years. He launched the Jacksonville Community Kollel in 2018, founded the Gesher K kashrus organization in 2017 (now certifying eleven facilities), and has taught Daf Yomi in Northern Florida since 2005.
Beyond Jacksonville, he blogs for the Times of Israel, hosts the podcast Journeys of Challenge, and was chosen to give the invocation at Governor Ron DeSantis's inauguration. When he's not working or raising his five children, he's running 5Ks along Jacksonville's bridges or making California rolls as an amateur sushi chef.
The Authors of Our Community
Rachel Shifra Tal, Shlomit Tal, the Jewish Women Series, Chaya Hagler, and Rabbi Yaakov Fisch are proof that Jacksonville's Jewish community isn't just proud of its past, it's actively creating its future, one book at a time. From Pesach mayhem to forgotten Jewish heroines to a child's first garden to a teen's sharp wit to a rabbi's road map for personal redemption, these local authors are showing our community, young and old, who we are, where we came from, and how to grow into good, curious, grounded people. Support local Jewish authors. Share their books.