Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

I would like to recommend a program tomorrow in Sonoma, organized by Shir Shalom congregation. The Sonoma Jewish Music & Art Festival starts off with an outdoor Art Fair from 1PM to 6 PM. Then from 6PM to 9.30PM an indoor concert will entertain you. For further details check the poster below and/or the festival’s website.

The Friends of the Santa Rosa Libraries are holding their semiannual book fair this weekend. It starts today afternoon and goes on till Monday evening. I know, I know I am talking against the interest of our own library as we are having a book sale ourselves next weekend at Simcha Sunday. But I wanted to share this news anyway with our bookloving readers, hoping that the two would not conflict your time and budget.

Further information at: sonomalibrary.org

Rashi’s Daughters: Three Women and a Talmud

Award winning author Maggie Anton,  will discuss her historical novels and how Jewish women in Medieval France can be an inspiration to us today. Her latest book, “Rashi’s Daughters: Secret Scholar” is written for young adults (Hint: bring your daughters!)

Secret Scholar is the tale of a young girl who challenges conventions to engage in Jewish learning.

Joheved has a secret…
She is no ordinary girl. Smart and independent, she wants more from the world than what is permitted in 11th century France. Her life changes when her father, Salomon ben Isaac (one day to be known as Rashi, the great Jewish Bible and Talmud commentator), begins secretly teaching her Talmud. But Joheved must keep her passion for learning hidden—even from her betrothed, Meir ben Samuel. How long can she continue her deception and what will happen when, inevitably, her scholarship is out in the open?
More information at: rashisdaughters.com

The book will be available for purchase.

Where:    Congregation Beth Ami
4676 Mayette Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95405

When:     Wednesday, October 29, 7 PM

Cost:     Free! (Donations gladly accepted)

Norma Simon’s Simhat Torah tells the story in rhyme of two siblings, a girl and a boy, preparing and celebrating Simhat Torah. It shows (with the help of Ayala Gordon’s illustrations) step by step how they make flags for the festival, how their father makes sticks for their flags, explains what the Torah is and then takes them to the synagogue for the festivities. It is a simple, fun introductory book for children 4 to 8. My only caveat that the synagogue shown, both in text and pictures, is not egalitarian: only the men and the children are taking part in the march.

The “breakfast at the library” event is postponed to November 2. Come join us then for fresh bagels, shmears and coffee.

For your information: We changed the date from October 19 in order not to conflict the religious school’s “Pizza in the Hut” event on the same day. October 26 would not have worked as we are focusing on Simcha Sunday. Furthermore the date for the “breakfast at the library” scheduled for November 16 turned out not to be ideal as Gabor, the librarian, will be out of town, at the California Library Association’s Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Jose.

On October 13, 1881 (127 years ago today, hence my post) Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his friends decided to speak Hebrew exclusively, marking the beginning of the revival of the language in modern times. Rabbi Malka Drucker wrote this extraordinary Lithuanian Jewish medical student’s life story in the “Jewish biography series,” titled “Eliezer Ben-Yehuda: The father of Modern Hebrew.” As an introduction and appetizer let me quote two paragraphs from the author’s short essay about the topic of the book:

All beginnings are hard, and the language of Torah was not a language that could be spoken. In fact, it was like Latin, a dead language, until a man of extraordinary passion, singlehandedly resurrected it as a modern, spoken language. Growing up in Russia, Ben-Yehuda was a brilliant yeshivah student whose passion for the Hebrew language had little to do with religion. The nationalism he saw rising in Europe convinced him that it was time for the Jewish people to revive their native land and language. Only a 20 year-old could believe that he could forge a movement of seven million Yiddish-speaking Jews to leave Europe and speak a new language.

Ben-Yehuda knew that Hebrew had once been the daily language of his people. They told jokes, sold horses, and courted each other in this language. When the Temple was destroyed and they were scattered throughout the world, they abandoned Hebrew for the language of their respective countries. Hebrew was reduced to sacred texts and prayer. It became a substitute for the land of Israel, a sweet reminder of a time when Jews were safe and proud of their place in the world.

Here is how the Sukkah in the yard of CBA looked like Sunday morning:

A few hours later the children finished decorating it:

Right now (Monday 3 PM) it looks like this, after the palm leaves were added:

If you’ve been around Jewish books in the US, then you are familiar with Philipp Goodman’s anthologies. He, often with his wife, had put together thick and rich anthologies on most of the holidays, including on Purim, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah and one even on Jewish marriage. Each of these volumes is about 500 pages and covers thoroughly their topics. But today I only want to talk about “The Sukkot and Simhat Torah anthology“, also edited by him. The best way to show the breadth and depth of the work is to list its chapters:

1. Sukkot in the Bible
2. Sukkot in postbiblical writing
3. Sukkot in Talmud and Midrsah
4. Sukkot in medieval Jewish literature
5. Sukkot and Simhat Torah in Jewish law
6. Sukkot and Simhat Torah liturgy
7. Hasidic tales and teachings
8. Sukkot and Simhat Torah in modern prose
9. Sukkot and Simhat Torah in art
10. The development of the festival
11. The Sukkah
12. The four species
13. Sukkot and Simhat Torah in many lands
14. Sukkot and Simhat Torah in poetry
15. Sukkot and Simhat Torah in the short story
16. Sukkot and Simhat Torah miscellany
17. Sukkot and Simhat Torah humor
18. The festival delicacies
19. Children stories for Sukkot and Simhat Torah
20. Poems for children
21. Programs and activities
22. Dances for Sukkot and Simhat Torah
23. Music for Sukkot and Simhat Torah

Each of these chapters contains so many stories, poems, and references that it is impossible to cover the richness in a short review. Let me just give you an example that spoke to me (from page 95):

Every year Rabbi Zusya of Hanipol invited many simpletons and ignoramuses to his sukkah. When asked why he extended hospitality to such people, the sage replied, “In the future world, where the righteous will dwell in the Tabernacle of Eternal Peace, I will also want to be among them. I fear that I may not be permitted to enter the Tabernacle, because it is unseemly that a lowly person like me can be on the same level as the righteous; therefore, I am establishing a just claim for myself. If the angels ask me, ‘How can you, an ignorant man, expect to be admitted into the Sukkat Shalom?’ I will be able to reply, ‘I welcomed simple people into my sukkah.’”

Don’t let the classification foul you, Malka Drucker’s “Sukkot: a time to rejoice” is a great introduction to the holiday not just for children, despite that you will find this book in their section. It “discusses the longest and happiest holiday season in the Jewish year, and explains the customs, history and meaning connected with it. It includes games, recipes, puzzles and a glossary of terms.” It may be just 100 pages, but it covers all relevant information about the holiday. It may have black and white picture in it, but ten of them are photographs, dozens are drawings, and there are also scores of artworks from previous eras and illustrations from older books. For example at the bottom of this post you will see “The Sukkah” by Moritz Oppenheim from 1865. In short this is not just an informative book, but fun too.

Reviewed by S Miller
Yellow Asphalt, a Film by Danny Verete, is startling story of how western culture infiltrates the Judean desert, once home of the Bedouin tribes. The desert story depicts scenes where Israeli and Bedouin converge. There are three main sub themes happening: an accident on the highway by a Israeli petroleum truck, a frightful marriage between a German woman and her Bedouin husband and lastly a forbidden love affair between an Israeli and his Bedouin maid.

The filmmaker shoots on location with the participation of the Bedouin tribe “Jahalin”. Seeing this film is disappointing as it shows the true human condition and their weaknesses. Most of the Israeli main actors are depicted with their dark side. I don’t want to give the movie away, but ‘Yellow Asphalt’ is a metaphor for placing a highspeed highway where it does not belong. The Highway’s link to modern civilization changes the livelihood of the Israeli’s who live in the desert, but more the culture of the Bedouins. The audience is given a glimpse of how Bedouin society is governed, the role of women and tight grip of their culture in spite of living side by side to a western culture. The movie is shocking, but has an important story to be told.