Who I am

My life started about 9 months before I was born, but due to an unfortunate circumstance, that of an angel slapping me on my lip, I had forgotten all that happened before that point. Therefore, I will let you know my happenings from this point on.

I was Born and Bred in Brooklyn, to a proud Sephardic family tracing it's routes via Jerusalem to Greece, and Bulgaria after being exiled from Spain. Educated in a community Yeshiva, I eventually found my way to Yeshivat Hevron, in Givat Mordechai in Jerusalem. Immediately after my wedding with my wife, a Jerusalem Native, we settled in Brooklyn, where we now live happily with our 3 growing children.

I found myself obsessed with books from an early age. Where this descended upon me, I do not know, as my parents are not particularly avid readers, but as far back as I can remember, books were my companions. Growing up, anyone who knew me, knew that to gift me, a book would be the way to do it. I knew this as well, and never hesitated to treat myself to a book that I had a desire for. Eventually, I found myself buying books I did not really need, which brought about the selling of these books, and then some more and before I realized where this was leading me, a bookseller I was.

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Confucius first said this thousands of years ago and I feel it's truth every morning when I roll out of bed.  I truly enjoy my work and it helps that it pays the bills. The variety and peculiarity of the people you meet in a bookstore is unmatched in any other setting. It seems that people with out of the ordinary personalities, are much more likely to be booklovers, and I have the greatest honor to have hosted many such in my store. A few fine examples include; a Professor who can speak Phoenician (at this point only to himself), an honorable woman who has dedicated her life to making sure Easter coincides with Passover, a Marrano who believes in God but thinks that God no longer believes in him, a Man who can convince you that he speaks to angels and many such more characters that make this life worth living for the rest of us.

Reading still occupies a large part of my free time, and I love to read anything that is written well. My main reading these days are Sephardic Responsa and Medieval Jewish History though I often find myself reading the most ridiculous things as well, such as the ingredients in my soap, the manual for my printer and other such printed matter which were never intended to be read. Habits can do such things.

Our storefront is located at 3114 Quentin Rd Brooklyn NY 11234, visitors are welcome by appointment. Come and experience an Authentic bookstore before they cease to exist.

You can read more about Mizrahi Bookstore in the Forward here,  In Mishpachah Magazine here in Ami Magazine here, in the Jewish Press here, in the Jewish Echo here, and in Yiddish Forward here. A radio interview discussing Mizrahi Bookstore can be heard here. Please check out my weekly column in the Jewish Press as well, featuring highlights of unusual recent acquisitions at Mizrahi Bookstore.