Aviya Kushner's book The Grammar of God: A Journey Into the Words and Worlds of the Bible is profoundly personal. Kushner grew up in a Hebrew-speaking, scholarly household in which the Bible--read in the original Hebrew--was often the center of conversation and debate.

I love Israel. I loved Israel before I ever visited -- blame it on years of Jewish summer camp, day school, and Hebrew school -- but after spending a collective seven months there in the past two years, my infatuation has only amplified.