Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

A six minute excerpt from Maggie Anton’s lecture at our shul October 29, 2008

Invitation to the 2009 Susy Raful essay contest for Jewish high school students in Sonoma County, CA

Essay contest details at: http://bit.ly/essaycontest09
Written and read by Kyla Wegman
Produced by Bob Raful
Shot and edited by Gabor Por

I personally know Ari, who sent the message below, which should be of interest to readers of this blog,

We are pleased to announce that on March 1, 2009, the Jewish Women’s Archive will launch the free, online version of Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Previously available only on CD-ROM, the Encyclopedia is the first comprehensive source on the history of Jewish women and includes more than 1,700 biographies, 300 thematic essays, and 1,400 photographs and illustrations (minus a few for which we do not have web display permission). The Encyclopedia nearly doubles the content available on our website (jwa.org) and gives Internet users all over the world free and easy access to a wealth of information. A press release is attached. We encourage you to forward it to your friends and colleagues.

For the next two weeks we will making final pre-release adjustments. If you are interested in participating in the Preview/Beta, please email adavidow@jwa.org ; if you would like to get a sense of who is in the Encyclopedia, or to find out more, please visit http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/preview

Our formal press release is at http://qa.jwa.org/press/2009/2009-0202-encyclopedia.html

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.

Today I attended the second meeting of the PJ Library Committee at Jewish Community Federation’s Levitas Library in San Francisco. (Reminder: the PJ Library is a program sending children’s Jewish bedtime stories and music every month FREE!) The program is going great, lots of new families signed up. We are working to sign up many more. In order to do so I will spread the word about it more actively in Sonoma County. Now I have not only printout of the signup sheets, but beautiful postcards and posters too. Meanwhile you can sign up online as well for your own child or grandchild.

As a mere coincidence the monthly email newsletter was also sent today. Here are the books that will be sent out this month:

Age 1: When It’s Purim
Age 2: The Bedtime Sh’ma
Age 3: Five Little Gefiltes
Age 4: The Shabbat Box
Age 5: Bone Button Borscht

The winners for the Sophie Brody Medal, “an award for the U.S. author of the most distinguished contribution to Jewish literature for adults,” was announced earlier this month.. Excerpt from the announcement:

This year’s winner is Peter Manseau for “Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter” (Free Press). The narrator of this book, an American Catholic translator, tells the colorful story of an elderly Yiddish poet, covering a century of events in Israel, Poland, Russia and the United States. The interwoven stories are a tour de force of writing styles demonstrating the power of passion and commitment to Jewish culture.

Three books received honorable mentions. “Beaufort,” by Ron Leshem (Delacorte Press), winner of Israel’s highest literary award, the Sapir Prize, depicts a group of young Israeli soldiers occupying an ancient Crusader fort in Lebanon. The dialogue of these young men engaged in a battle against an unseen enemy depicts the absurdity and futility of war in a very real way.

“Friendly Fire,” by A.B. Yehoshua (Harcourt), one of Israel’s best known novelists, has given us a beautifully written portrait of a close-knit Israeli family. The slice of daily life in contemporary Israel, the issue of identity raised by a character’s rejection of all things Israeli and Jewish and the imagery of “friendly fire” make this a compelling story.

“From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books,” by Arie Kaplan (Jewish Publication Society) recognizes that the “story of Jews’ involvement in comic books is a reflection of Jews’ changing status in American society.” Kaplan’s illustrated history details the ways in which Jews–and traditionally Jewish beliefs–contributed to what is now called the graphic novel. “From Krakow to Krypton” is engagingly written, a popular history whose readability often conceals a wealth of original research.

I am happy to announce that we just purchased a copy of the medal winner book. If everything goes well by the end of next week it will be borrowable.

Absolute Music presents a Chamber Music Concert not to be missed!

On Sunday, February 15 at 2 p.m. at the Friedman Center in Santa Rosa, String Circle, fine and talented classical string artists Katie Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violins; Anthony Martin, viola; and Thalia Moore and Robert Howard, cellos will perform:

• Haydn‘s Sunrise Quartet (Opus 76, No.4)
• Schubert‘s Quintet in C Major

Please come and support our efforts to bring great artists and great music to our community at affordable prices. Tickets at the door are $18. Students are free.

The Jewish Publication Society is one of the most prestigious publishing house in the US. The published hundreds of books throughout their 120 year old history, including their  deservedly famous TaNakh. They have a monthly email newsletter. In order to encourage people to sign up they are sending a $25 gift certificate to everybody who does so till the end of the month and stays on the list for three months. Their pitch: “Be the first to receive special discounts and sales offers on JPS books and gift certificates. Get news about our JPS Mitzvah Project and Legacy Libraries, new JPS titles, author events, and more.” There are no strings or other requirements so I encourage you to do so if you are interested in their offerings and can use $25.

Sign up here: http://www.jewishpub.org/contact/mail.php

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.