Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

February is Black History Month. Last year same time I wrote an entry about our books on African-American Jewish relations and another one the book titled Glimpses by Reverend Ann Gray Byrd, who visited our synagogue that month.

This year I would like to recommend two books that relate to the topic in different ways. A patron just inquired about one of them today. (Thank you Susan for pointing me to this item we had and I was not familiar with.) “The flying camel; Essays on identity by women of North African and Mid. Eastern Jewish heritage“  , edited by Loolwa Khazzoom, contains 16 essays. Here is the description from the back cover:

Expanding the very definition of what is Jewish, this collection reveals and explores the often-hidden experiences and identities of Jewish women descended from, two rich and varied regions: North Africa and the Middle East. Writing from their unique perspectives, contributors bridge divisions between East and West, “foreign” and “familiar”, and discuss the impact of historical and contemporary tensions between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have had on them and their families. Essays include a harrowing and desperate flight from persecution in Libya; an exploration of the category “Arab Jew”; discrimination in the Ivy League; and a light-skinned, Moroccan-born woman’s attempts to pass in order to gain acceptance among European Jews in Israel. A tender, honest, and above all, brave collection, “The flying camel” offers a new, critical perspective on the interplay of Arab and Jew and the complexities of people.

The other book also puts Jews and Africa together but in a different way and period. Gary Greenberg‘s “The Moses mystery: The African origins of the Jewish people” asks the question ” Why does the archaeological record show no evidence for the origins of biblical Israel? ” Here is an excerpt from the author’s website with the framework of the answer he gives

According to Greenberg, Moses served as Chief Priest to Pharaoh Akhenaten, whose religious changes provoked a major social and governmental crisis in Egypt. Shortly after Akhenaten’s death, the religious establishment regained control over the government and under Pharaoh Horemheb the government launched a full scale effort to purge the Egyptian record of any reference to Akhenaten’s existence, an effort that included the persecution of Akhenaten’s associates and followers. Moses fled Egypt at this time but returned on Horemheb’s death, claiming the throne as the only legitimate blood heir. This resulted in a civil war between the allies of Moses and Ramesses I, Horemheb’s co-regent at the time. Moses lost and led his followers out of Egypt, an event remembered in the bible as the Exodus.

As today is Abraham Lincoln‘s 200th birthday let me introduce you to a slim volume by Naphtali J. Rubinger titled “Abraham Lincoln and the Jews.” The six chapters on 92 pages are filled with stories and historical references you may not find elsewhere. First we learn about “Jews in the Ante-Bellum Period” and “Lincoln’s Jewish friends.” After touching on “The effects of the Civil War” we get a detailed description of “The Chaplaincy issue,” i.e. whether and how Jewish clergyman can serve the spiritual needs of Jewish soldiers. After a lengthy controversy “Lincoln signed the Bill in July of 1862, permitting Jews to serve as chaplains.” (page 60). Before the concluding chapter of “The final tribute” the specifics of “Grant’s order No. 11,” in which he expelled Jews from the army in December 1862, is discussed. (The short version: the president revoked the order. )

What better way to celebrate president’s day than borrowing and reading this book.

Last week Henry Roth would have been 103 years old as he was born February 8, 1906. He is most known for his 1934 novel “Call it sleep.” He wrote many short stories, but only a few more novels, the first of those 50 years after his first novel. We also have one volume of his final tetralogy, “Mercy of a Rude Stream.”

“Call it sleep” has sold over 1million copies. Time magazine listed it as one of the 100 best English novels from 1923 to 2005. It is a masterpiece on immigration set in the Great Depression era. Instead of trying to entice you to read the novel with a short summary, let me just copy the opening lines. I hope it will show you the literary qualities of the work;

Standing before the kitchen sink and regarding the bright brass faucets that gleamed so far away, each with a bead of water at its nose, slowly swelling, falling, David again became aware that this world had been created without thought of him. He was thirsty, but the iron hip of the sink rested on legs tall almost as his own body, and by no stretch of arm, no leap, could he ever reach the distant tap. Where did the water come from that lurked so secretly in the curve of the brass? Where did it go, gurgling in the drain? What a strange world must be hidden behind the walls of a house! But he was thirsty.
“Mama!” he called, his voice rising above the hiss of sweeping in the frontroom. “Mama, I want a drink.”
The unseen broom stopped to listen. “I’ll be there in a moment,” his mother answered. A chair squealed on its castors; a window chuckled down; his mother’s approaching tread.

Betty Friedan passed away three years, on February 4, 2006 on her 85th birthday. To understand her role in the feminist movement I recommend Justine Blau‘s biography of eponymous title, written for young adults. The 100 page book contains many black and white pictures and covers Friedan’s life in 8 logical and chronological chapters. Friedan as the author of The Feminine Mystique and founder of NOW was the most influential feminist in the US. The last lines of the book sums up her significance:

Friedan has already taught millions of women–and men–to understand the ideas that constrained them and thus has helped them to change themselves, as well as the laws and attitudes of America, so that women now are closer than ever to living in full equality with men. In doing so, she has fundamentally altered the course of life in America. Throughout her career she has moved from analyzing her personal experience as a woman and as an aging American to thinking, writing, and teaching about larger public issues that affect all women and the aged.

She and her work deserves to be remembered. Read the book and be awed how much has changed thanks to her efforts.

Yesterday was Martin Buber‘s birthday. He was born February 8, 1878 and became undoubtedly one of the most influential 20th century Jewish thinker, theologian, author educator. Before listing the 20 books we have written or edited by him (and the 9 books about him.) Let me quote from the introduction of Pamela Vermer‘s short biography of Buber:

He himself emphatically refused to accept that he was a philosopher at all… He similarly rejected the suggestion that he was a theologian… Was he a mystic? Many think so. He undeniably passed through a phase in which mysticism was deeply attractive to him… Another question which may reasonably be asked is whether Buber was basically a teacher. This would seem difficult to contradict. Yet he wished to make sure that his role was interpreted as that of a guide rather than an instructor. Was Buber then a biblical scholar? … Buber aimed primarily at an existential understanding of the text, and thought cold critical methods by themselves to be inadequate for such a task. … At least there can be no doubt that Buber was a Zionist. Can he have been a Hasid?

As you can see from the short excerpt above he was a complex character. But beyond reading about him, let me recommend his books themselves.

• A believing humanism: My testament, 1902-1965
• Between man and man
• Eclipse of God
• For the sake of Heaven
• Good and evil
• Hasidism and modern man
• I and thou
• Israel and the world; essays in a time of crisis
• The knowledge of man
• The legend of the Baal Shem (We have it as a book and as an audio tape.)
• Moses: The relevation and the covenant
• On Judaism
• On the Bible
• Origin and meaning of Hasidism
• Paths in Utopia
• The prophetic faith
• Tales of the Hasidim
• Ten rungs
• Two types of faith
• The way of response

Our books of/about Buber

• Vermes: Buber
• Brown: Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Buber and Barth
• Friedman: A dialogue with Hasidic tales; hallowing the everyday
• Friedman: Martin Buber and the eternal
• Friedman: Martin Buber; the life of dialogue
• Herberg: The writings of Martin Buber
• Hodes: Martin Buber, an intimate portrait
• Rothschild: Jewish perspectives on Christianity
• Schaeder: The Hebrew humanism of Martin Buber

Tomorrow is Tu B’shvat. Many of you will celebrate in ways using or eating fruits and nuts. If you have children I would like to recommend a cookbook for them that has four recipes specifically related to this holiday. “The animated children’s kosher holiday cookbook” is done in the same style as the other books in the “animated” series, meaning that some of the images are photos claymation scenes. In this book the characters from the other books of the series return on the side cooking for all major and some minor Jewish holidays. For Tu B’shvat you, and your children can make granola treats, date delight, “date a nut” and fruity jello. The recipes are simple and fun for all.

Last week, when I posted the winners of this years’ Sydney Taylor Book Award I mentioned that we would like to purchase them and hinted that donations are accepted. The very next day I received an email from Sylvia Sucher with her offer to purchase the first book on the list for us. Thank you, Sylvia.

Thus I am happy to welcome to our collection Richard Michelson‘s book titled “As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom.” My plan was to post this good news yesterday, on Martin Luther King day itself, but I ended up taking a holiday.

Here is the book’s description from the award’s official blog:

Two very special clergymen, one a rabbi, the other an African-American reverend are raised in divergently different countries yet experience similar levels of persecution and bigotry that will one day bring them together. As colleagues in America’s struggle for civil rights, they march together from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965. Raul Colon’s colored pencil and watercolor illustrations “offer a beautiful complement to the text, describing two unique paths from childhood to adult life – Martin’s in the rich, warm brown-tones of the American south and Abraham’s in cool blues and grays that reminded the illustrator of old World War II movies. When the two exemplary men join in their march for tolerance, the palettes merge in full color harmony,” comments Debbie Colodny, a member of the Award Committee. This book is recommended for grades 2-5.

One of the five books we won is a book on CD: the unabridged version of Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis‘ “Life is a test.” The 8 CDs contain more than 9 hours of content read by Mare Winningham. You might be familiar with her playing Meredith’s mother on the popular TV series “Grey’s anatomy.” You may not be ware though that she is also a musician and her latest album “Refuge Rock Sublime” is a country/bluegrass/Jewish folk record. I mentioned these details, because when you are listening to a book a big part of the experience is the voice the book is read. No matter how great a book is, if you dislike the reader’s voice you may end up not liking the book.

But I digress, back to the book the Rebbetzin’s book. She is the founder and president of Hineni in New York City. The subtitle of her book is “how to meet life’s challenges successfully. ” Here are some excepts from the press release

It is written as a trilogy, combining three books in one and takes the reader on a trajectory that is permeated with such a genuine sense of warmth and love that can only be termed palpable. In a society immersed in grotesque materialism, decadence and loss of any real and meaningful direction and purpose, we are clueless about what life is really about and more importantly, who we really are and what our potential could be. Rebbetzin Jungreis is the consummate storyteller and it is through this treasure trove of true stories do we begin to understand that our identity is not inextricably tied to our careers or professions or the external superficialities that our culture imposes upon us. Rebbetzin Jungreis utilizes the timeless wisdom of the Torah to illustrate her points and to lead the reader on the road to true self-discovery. The book begins with the saga of Sam, Phyllis and daughter Kelly (names changed to protect anonymity), yet they could be any one of us. What follows is the story of the personal transformation of these three individuals that is beyond miraculous. By the middle of this book, the reader will feel a tangible connection to these people.

As a final recommendation for the book here is a short video clip of herself sharing what the title of the book refers to.

You have a simple way to support our nursery school tomorrow, Tuesday, and have a great dinner. Just have pizza (or pasta or whatever else is on the menu) for dinner from/at Mary’s Pizza Shack and give a copy of this PDF flyer with your order and 20% of the total of your order will benefit our nursery.

You knew it, right? I rarely can post without mentioning one of our books. You can go beyond pizza when thinking of cooking Italian and we can help you with that. Joyce Goldstein‘s “Cucina Ebraica: flavors of the Italian Jewish kitchen” is en excellent resource in expanding your taste and cooking skills. The introduction covers all areas you might be interested: Jews in Italy, information about the recipes, kashrut laws, and a note on holidays. Then we’re onto the meat of the book, so to speak although only one section is. The rest of the chapters are about antipasti (appetizers), minestre (soups), pasta e riso (pasta and rice), verdure (vegetables), pesce (fish), pollame (poultry), salse (sauces), and dolci (desserts). The book concludes with a bibliography, index and for your convenience a table of equivalents between US and metric system of measurement (liquid, dry, length, temperature). Almost two dozen full page, full color photographs make the volume more enticing and whetting your appetite.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award recognizes the best in Jewish children’s literature. A few days ago this year’s winners were announce. You can read more about the three gold medalists in this blog post or see them below. You can access the full list, including silver medalists and notable mentions here. I added all books to our Amazon.com wishlist, in case you want to purchase any of them for the library.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers:

As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom by Richard Michelson with illustrations by Raul Colon (Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books)

The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Older Readers:

Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse (Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan)

The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Teen Readers:

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti (Bloomsbury)