Shira Lankin ShepsLayers: Personal Narratives of Struggle, Resilience, and Growth from Jewish Women

This is a must reade It is so beautifully written. The women profiled share intimate details of their lives and how they overcame their experiences.

Great book, great stories about each of these women and their journeys. Wonderfully diverse in Jewish backgrounds as well. This is a great addition to Jewish literature.

I bought this book for my aunt. We are very close, we didn't see eachother for a few years during covid, the first thing she did when we met was to thank me for this book! She also told me that this book is very special for her and that she wanted to give it to me to read when she was done reading it, eventually she decided to buy me my own copy! I'm excited to read it and so blessed that I could send her a meaningful gift during that time.

Some of the wonderful attributes of this book are immediately apparent:1. It's gorgeous. Every picture is so full of life and light, and each of the women whose stories are shared here practically jumps off the page, brimming with character.2. It gives voice to the kind of women we might never hear otherwise - regular women like you and me who are not celebrities, but are resilient, humane, rich in experience, and have so much to say and share with us.3. since many of the women are religious Jews, and since many of the topics they discuss - and the experiences they reveal - are the kind that certain communities would rather not discuss in public, this book brings to the fore deeply painful issues and invites difficult yet necessary conversations.HOWEVER, after reading (and rereading!) the stories, I think the real magic of this book lies not in who it depicts and what topics it reveals but rather in HOW it depicts and reveals them: each of the stories is presented with so much love, honesty and grace, that I found myself falling just a little bit in love with each woman ---- and learning something not through empty didactic preaching (this book is blessedly free of anything resembling preaching) but rather through true immersion in another human being's life.I love this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves listening to other people's honest voices, or wants to understand some of the complexities of modern Jewish female lives.

I liked the stories of each person told with honesty and sincerity of their struggles to face challenges life presented.

Layers, written by Shira Lankin Sheps was a profoundly beautiful book. I had been skeptical before reading it because there are so many women with so many special stories, I couldn't imagine that these specific stories would be different then many I already know in real life. But the way this book was written and put together, each story came to life as a masterpiece. and each story though very individual, as all stories are, felt relatable because they could have been written about any woman I know. I couldn't put it down once starting it, I was enthralled by each story and as I finished one, I couldnt wait to move on to the next. Really fantastic piece of work, clearly the author spent an immense amount of time and effort bringing this book to life and I am grateful she did. I highly recommend reading this special book.Deborah Cenker

34 Inspiring stories from strong jewish women all around the holy land. What i I loved the most, is the way it is written. Honestly, transparent, raw. These women opened their hearts to the public for us to learn something and grow. To show us that no one is alone in their struggles. Every soul is beautifly captured and displayed along the story. Worth to be read.

This book offers powerful vignettes of Jewish women facing difficult life circumstances, ranging from infertility to trauma to mental health challenges to loss of family members. However, these are not voyeuristic tales of tragedy but thoughtful, nuanced profiles of strong women navigating their lives with all of the ups and downs involved. The photos and words come together to create an intimate profile of a life and the reflections at the end of each chapter provide food for thought. I savored this over the course of weeks and enjoyed each profile. Highly recommend!