Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Due to the 10 minute limitation of YouTube the video version of yesterday’s event is posted in two parts. The first one contains the mezuzah hanging and dedication and the second the various addresses and appreciations for the people involved.

You may know that the library has a small stack of used books for sale, almost all of them related to Judaism. We usually put them out on a table outside the library on Sundays. You can buy them however any time the library is open, they are in the area under the window. The condition and age of these books vary a great deal. We have paperbacks from decades ago, but also new hardcover books. The pricing is very reasonable, between 50 cents and 3 dollars. However there is one book that the library received recently as a donation that I did not have the heart to price so low. It is a wonderful, large format artbook with hundreds of pictures about American Synagogues, subtitled “A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community“. The library has a copy of it already, otherwise I would keep it. The suggested retail price of the book is $50, but you can buy it in bookshops for $35. We are offering it for $20. It is brand new.  It is a great gift item for weddings, bnei-mitzvot or for any occasions. Think about it. But not too long as it may be gone soon.

Last month I wrote the instructions on how to subscribe to this blog via email. Earlier this week I realized that the instructions were not complete.  In order to avoid confusion I wrote up a  more detailed list of step, see below. It may seem a long list, but the process really simple and fast.

1. Enter your email address to the box on the right of this post under, under the ” Enter your email address:” text.
2. Click the “Subscribe” button.
3. A smaller window, titled “Email Subscription Request” will pop up. In the middle of that window there are some random letters on grey background. Type those in the box under the ” To help prevent spam, please type the text you see in the box above:” text.
4. Click the “Complete Subscription Request” button.
5. Check your email. You will shortly receive a message from “confirmations@emailenfuego.com” titled “Activate your Email Subscription to: CBA Library”
6. Open that message. Click on the link in the message starting with “http://www.feedburner.com…” The next window will say “Email Subscription Confirmed!”

From then one, you will receive an email once a day, if there is a new post in the blog.

If you ever wish to unsubscribe the email messages will always include a link to the page where you can do it.

Libraries have many functions. In communities like the Beth Ami one of them can (and I believe should) be to serve as the archive of the congregation. I plan to strengthen this function in the future and collect all documents from the community’s life both in digital and original paper copies. Therefore I would like to ask any community member who produces flyers for the synagogue, puts up events or creates any other documentation please pass a copy to the library.

The library has been saving copies of the monthly newsletter, Shofar. So did Karen Gould, who has been putting them together tirelessly for many years. This week we consolidated the two collections in the library. Karen’s collection, separated into binders by years, is now located in the library, right next to the reference section. You can come in and look up what was going on at CBA back from 1993. You can also find the digital (PDF) version of the Shofar for the last two years here.

Yesterday’s Purim-spiel was so much fun, wasn’t it? In case you missed it, here is one of the songs from the production: Be True to Your Shul.

As I was fulfilling a mitzvah Thursday night by listening to the Megillah I noticed that some of the younger children were not as attentive at the first few chapters, when the name of the story’s antihero was not mentioned. My wife noticed this too and suggested that I grab a few books retelling Esther’s story from the library specifically written for children. That is why you might have seen me dashing out during the reading and returning a few minutes later with 5 or so colorful books. Next year I will be more prepared and have the books in the sanctuary in advance. This way the kids can also familiarize themselves with the story, before the booing and merry noisemaking starts.

A few days ago a lady walked in the library and dropped off two great items as donation. One of them was the book-on-tape version of Martin Buber’s The Legend of the Baal-Shem. The other is a CD by Hakki Obadia titled Iraqi Jewish and Iraqi Music. This hour long recording has 21 pieces n it. My current favorite is the Dance Zamra, played on violin and oud. Listen in and if you like it borrow it.

The religious school will not be in session on Sunday, March 16. Therefore the library will be closed as well that.

To share something positive though I would like to mention that the ceiling panel in the library just got fixed a few minutes ago. Some of you may have noticed that it was hanging out, creating a small hole, for a while over the books  on the left as you enter. No more! The panel got replaced and is shiny white now, just like the one next to it. I am glad to see that this little eyesore is gone.

As you know Purim is upon us soon. The library has one “serious” book about this most festive of festival, Philip Goodman’s Purim Anthology. This thick volume is really at least four books in one; there is enough material for a whole book on the story alone, another one on Purim’s literary/artistic/musical connection, a third one on joy and one even for young people. Speaking of which, the library has 11 different children book related to Purim. So if you would like your child to enjoy the holiday more, because s/he knows more about fee free to borrow one. We also have an audio tape from Debbie Friedman singing Purim (and Chanukah) songs. The last item maybe the most fun to have around in this season; it is a tape titled “Purim! Stories, songs & blessings for children.” Nine out of the 22 pieces on the tape are songs. You will like at least a few of them.

At the Feast of Jewish Learning last week I attended Rabbi Ted Feldman’s session on “The Transcendent Teachings of Abraham Joshua Heschel.” The rabbi, who was a student of Dr. Heschel (yes, in the academic world he was referred to as a doctor), led us through a discussion analyzing several short Heschel quotes. My favorite one was this,

God is not a hypothesis derived from logical assumptions, but an immediate insight, self-evident as light. He is not something to be sought in the darkness with the light of reason. He is light.

If this wet your appetite, like mine, to read more from this “spiritual radical” I am happy to report that the library has nine books from him. They are:

• The circle of the Baal Shem Tov; studies in Hasidism
• The earth is the Lord’s; the inner world of the Jew in Eastern Europe
• God in search of man
• Man is not alone
• Moral grandeur and spiritual audacity
• The prophets
• A passion for truth
• The Sabbath
• Who is man?

We also have a VHS about him (”Abraham Joshua Heschel remembered“) and a book (”Man of spirit, man of action“) written for young adults in mind about him. Depending on how much time and what kind of interest you have in Heschel you would surely find something that could provide spiritual food for thoughts