I was reading one of my alumni magazines recently when I came across a short article about a study at Yale University. According to this study, reading books may help you live longer.

What a perfect tie-in for the coming week which includes Shavuot (evening of May 30 to June 1), the holiday which celebrates the giving of the quintessential Jewish book, the Torah. The Torah has certainly helped the Jewish people live long. To paraphrase an oft quoted statement about Shabbat, Jewish books-starting with the Torah- have kept the Jewish people.

Intrigued, I looked up the study. (https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4377) In essence the results of this 12-year study suggest that individuals who read books at least 3 ½ hours per week live longer than those who don’t read. Reading more than 3 ½ hours per week resulted in a 23% advantage. The study took into account demographics and lifestyle.

I wonder what the implications are for those of us who might read 3 ½ hours a day!

So, take up reading immediately if you are not already a reader and look forward to living two extra years.

Why not begin with one of these books about Jewish books:

Unscrolled: 54 writers and Artists wrestle with the Torah

Anton, Rav Hisda’s Daughter: Book 1: Apprentice: a novel of love, the Talmud and sorcery (FICTION)

Brooks, People of the Book follows the 15^th century Sarajevo Haggadah through centuries of exile and war. (FICTION)

Frankel, The Five Books of Miriam: a woman’s commentary of the Torah

Freedman, The Talmud: a biography: banned, censored and burned: the book they couldn’t suppress

Gidwitz, The Inquisitor’s Tale: or three magical children and their holy dog tells the tale of three children on a chase through medieval France to escape persecution and to save copies of the Talmud from destruction (FICTION ALL AGES)

Glickman, Stolen Words: the Nazi plunder of Jewish books

Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: the search for the secret of Qumran

Hoffman, One Hundred Great Jewish Books: three millennia of Jewish conversation

Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically: one man’s humble quest to follow the Bible as                literally as possible

Hoffman, The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor: the Holy Scriptures missing from your Bible

Kirsch, The People and the Books: 18 classics of Jewish literature

Kugel, How to Read the Bible: a guide to Scripture, then and now

Lansky, Outwitting History: the amazing adventures of a man who rescued a million Yiddish books

Rosenberg, Morality for Muggles: ethics in the Bible and the world of Harry Potter

Tawil, The Crown of Aleppo: the mystery of the oldest Hebrew Bible codex

Wylen, The Seventy Faces of Torah: the Jewish way of reading the Sacred Scriptures

Image: “an open Book” by imanka is licensed under CC BY 2.0