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Archive for the ‘Resources’ Category.
12th November 2008, 02:33 pm
The Association of Jewish Libraries, of which our library is a proud and accredited member of, launched a podcast series. Right now these six podcasts are available from the site.
- Bergson, Steve: From Tintin to Migdal David: Representations of Israel and Israelis in Comic Books, Comic Strips, and Graphic Novels
- Frankel, Ellen: How the People of the Book Became the People of the Book Business: A History of Jewish Publishing in America
- Kampen, John: The Changing Face of the Study of the Qumran Texts
- Levitin, Sonia, Carol Matas & Margo Rabbl: Real Life, Real Teens: Jewish Literature for Life’s Challenges
- RAS Awards Committee: The 2007 Reference, Bibliography & Body-of-Work Awards
- Sydney Taylor Award Committees: The 2008 Sydney Taylor Book Award & Manuscript Award
I hope many of our patrons will listen to these and future recordings. Below is the program’s official press release:
ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH LIBRARIES LAUNCHES PODCAST
For more info, contact: Heidi Estrin, AJL PR Chair heidi@cbiboca.org
For immediate release–November, 2008
Author talks, lectures on Jewish literature, panel discussions, and workshops are among the offerings of the newly launched Association of Jewish Libraries Podcast. Available at www.jewishlibraries.org/podcast, the program provides audio that enhances and enriches the listener’s appreciation of Jewish book culture.
The podcast will include material recorded at the Association of Jewish Libraries annual convention, as well as recordings of Jewish literary events across North America. A wide range of topics will be covered, from the academic to the hands-on, from children’s literature to technology.
“Jews are book lovers, and Jewish librarians even more so,” says Susan Dubin, President of the Association of Jewish Libraries. “The AJL Podcast gives us a way to share our enthusiasm with others, without geographical or scheduling restrictions. Now everyone can learn and enjoy!”
New podcast episodes will be posted every few weeks. Listeners can hear the show online at www.jewishlibraries.org/podcast, subscribe via iTunes or other feed readers (using the feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/ajlpodcast), receive episodes by email via FeedBlitz, or listen by phone at (651) 925-2538.
To celebrate the launch of the podcast, AJL is offering a Jewish book give-away. Forward this press release or post its contents on a blog or web page to be entered into a drawing for five Jewish interest books from Hachette Book Group. Be sure to CC jewishlibraries@gmail.com on any forwarded messages or to send a message about any posts to that same address. Complete contest rules and information about the give-away titles can be seen at jewishlibraries.org/podcast - click on the Contest page in the sidebar. Deadline for entry is December 12, 2008.
4th November 2008, 04:01 pm
SephardicMusic.org is a brand new website, created by Joel Bresler, chronicling the first 100 years of commercial Sephardic recordings. It includes survey articles on the 78 and modern eras, a comprehensive discography of Sephardic 78s, and a sample of what a proposed discography of modern-era recordings could look like. I encourage you to explore this site’s resources, including its list of labels, songs, and artists and the sample MP3 files.
One of the singers featured on the site is Yehoram Gaon. Our library has one audio tape by him, titled Shabbath Songs–in the Sephardic tradition. At the website dedicated to Gaon you can listen in to 40 of his hits. Our tape, see the cover below, contains these 14 songs:
1. L’cha Dodee
2. D’ror Yikra
3. Hashkiveynu
4. Azamer Beshvachin
5. Mizmor l”David
6. Eyn Ke’Elokeyno
7. Yigdal
8. Yah Reebon
9. Adon Olam
10. Nakdishach
11. Tsur Mishelo
12. Eli-Eliyahu
13. El Dio Alto
14. Hamavdil
15th September 2008, 05:24 pm
In preparation for Saturday’s Sonoma County Book Festival I reformatted a bibliography on thought-provoking books published from 1990 to present related to women and Judaism. It was originally put together two years ago by Susanne Batzdorff. In order to fit onto two pages and in order to avoid having to use smaller font than 10 point I had to remove a few books from the list. Later, I will re-add them and even more books to make the whole list a six or eight page booklet. But for now let me present this double sided, two page version (PDF, 200 kb). I hope you and the visitors on Saturday will find it useful.
1st September 2008, 02:33 pm
As you prepare for the New Year of 5769 you probably look back what you accomplished this last year. You may realize though that you did not act or think always from the heart. I would like to offer help for your development in this area via the Jewish way: reading and contemplation. The library has a cornucopia of books that can inspire you and act as catalyst of the mind and heart in one or more of three kinds of relationships. As Reimer and Kates put it in Beginning Anew (page 272):
Teshuva demands honest self-scrutiny and reflection.
It is a process between me and my own self.
Tefila embodies my relationship with G-d.
Tzedaka regulates my relationship with my
fellow human beings.
I believe that improvement in any of these three enhances the others. If you manage to improve your self-knowledge and relationship with yourself, it will have positive effect: how you relate to other people and to the Eternal as well. Let me give you three examples from the many offerings we have.
Olitzky’s and Sabbath’s guide titled Preparing your Heart for the High Holy Days has the advantage that you can read and internalize it slowly. For every day, starting with Elul 1–a month before Rosh Hashanah–and ending with Yom Kippur you will find a Biblical or classical quote and two or three paragraphs of thought-provocative text. While reading them you may encounter truths that hit you like revelations about yourself.
Apisdorf’s Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Survival Kit is designed for personal growth. Through gaining a better understanding of the prayers you will appreciate more the hidden meanings and will be able to connect to them personally. The results will also include that you will be more compassionate to the people sitting next to you, because you have more of an inkling of what they are going through: same as you.
No matter how short I have to cut my recommended books for the holidays due to space considerations I cannot omit S. Y. Agnon’s Days of Awe. It is the best and richest source in a single volume I know of that opens the gates of wisdom hiding the treasury of Jewish literature about the High Holidays. Agnon integrated quotes from more than 300 sources into a coherent and eloquent narrative. This overview of relations with G-d can help any open-minded person to fine-tune her/his own. As you can read on page 109:
‘Seek ye the Lord while he may be found’ (Isa. 44:6). Said Rabbah bar Abuha: “He may be found” during the ten days between Rosh h-Shanah and Yom Kippur.
One of the best things you can do for yourself and for your various relationships is finding a book in the library that will grab your attention and can lift your spirit.
6th August 2008, 12:04 pm
The book discussion’s group yearly planning meeting was held this morning. A lot of good books were suggested for consideration to be included in the program. See the full list below, out of which nine will be selected to be read by the group. You can of course read any or all of them independently from what we will read together. (Clicking the book titles will take you to the books’ pages at Amazon.com.)
1st August 2008, 10:31 am
As the library is gearing up for the year 5769, or if you prefer the next school year, we are taking stock of what we need to serve the community even better than we did in the past. We already have great books, movies, music and enthusiasm. What we need is you to tell us what you would like to see in the library happening. Drop us a line any time with your ideas, requests, and questions: library _ at _ bethamisr.org or 360-3006.
For example, we would like to expand our open hours, so you could come in when it is the most convenient for you. To accomplish this we need more volunteers. If you like to help people, if you like books and if you can volunteer your time regularly please join our small but eager team.
We also need funding to ensure our continued existence and develop new programs. Some of the ideas we entertain if we would have the money for include inviting authors to lecture or read form their books, installing a modern computer for the patrons to use with internet connection and built in DVD player, create, index, digitize and maintain an archive of the synagogue records and documents from the beginning to date, purchase more movies on DVD and current Israeli fiction… As you see there is no shortage of ideas it is a question of finances. We are asking for your contribution to support bringing to fruition any or all of these ideas. If you would like to sponsor a specific cause or program we can work out the details with you. We are also grateful for any donation you can offer to the library for our own discretion to use.
Meanwhile the library’s summer filmclub was so successful that we extended it to the month of August. We listened to our patrons and moved the movie nigh to Wednesdays, so you could go to the rabbi’s Torah/Talmud class on Thursdays. Here is the schedule:
- August 6: Walk on Water (2004) [Rated R] - Following the suicide of his wife, an Israeli intelligence agent is assigned to befriend the grandchildren of a Nazi war criminal.
- August 13: Edges of the Lord (2001) [Rated R] - 12-year-old Jewish boy hides with a family of Catholic peasant farmers to escape the Nazis.
- August 20: Monsieur Ibrahim (2003) [Rated R] - In Paris, a Turkish shop owner befriends a Jewish boy in his mid-teens.
- August 27: Keeping Up With the Steins (2006) [Rated PG13] - The story of a 13-year-old boy who uses his upcoming bar mitzvah to reconcile the strained relationship between his father and grandfather.
31st July 2008, 12:42 pm
 Last night I posted my review of Jacob Neusner’s Learn Talmud. This morning the author himself posted a comment to my blog entry, confirming my suspicion that it was written for younger readers, specifically eight graders in mind. Professor Neusner also wrote:
But they [the series of books Learn Talmud] is part were adopted for college and adult education courses. A lot of credit for the success of the books goes to my editor, Seymour Rossel, and consulting editor, David Altshuler. It’s nice to think that the series still lives.
For those of you who are not familiar with Jacob Neusner’s name: he wrote or edited hundreds of books. The wikipedia page devoted to his bibliography lists over 600 of them. His own homepage lists his articles and reports as well. Do not be fooled by the sheer volume and assume that the quality of these works are not high. Professor Neusner is amongst the most acknowledged scholars of Rabbinic literature.
Our library has six of his books. Here are their quick summaries (with the exception of the one covered yesterday),
Vanquished Nation, Broken Spirit. The Virtues of the Heart in Formative Judaism.
The author “analyzes the place of emotions in Jewish society and culture. Explaining that emotions are learned and represent judgments, Neusner then postulates that from the 2nd century onwards emotions, politics, and social culture conformed to one another in Jewish society, permitting the nation to survive. Turning to the Rabbinic texts, he finds important change in form but not in what the proper emotions should be: restraint and genial acceptance and concern for the feeling of others.”
The Oral Torah. The Sacred Books of Judaism. An Introduction.
Normative Judaism accepts a dual divine revelation: the written Torah (the five books of Moses) and the oral law, both given by God to the lawgiver on Sinai. Neusner’s excellent introduction explains how the oral law handed down from generation to generation was eventually put into writing and became the Mishnah, and how the Mishnah generated the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. Neusner adeptly elucidates two important points: that God speaks to humanity even today through a continuous interpretation of the oral law, and that Judaism differs from its daughter religions, Christianity and Islam, in its acceptance of the equal validity of the oral law.
The Enchantments of Judaism. Rites of Transformation from Birth through Death.
An excellent explanation of the whys and wherefores of the basic rites and practices of Judaism, including circumcision, marriage, the Passover Seder, grace after meals, mourning and burial, the Sabbath, and the synagogue. This is not a “how-to” book but an in-depth philosophical argument showing why some of these rites exert such a powerful influence on contemporary believing Jews while others do not. Beautifully written, this moving work is reminiscent of the thinking of the great theologian A. J. Heschel of whom Neusner is a disciple.
Invitation to the Talmud. A Teaching Book.
The foreword opens with ” This book invites the reader to try to get in the Talmud. Nowadays, people are scarcely able to try. They do not know how to begin or where–or why. Getting into the Talmud is no easy matter, even for those Jews who are ardent to recover for themselves what their ancestors once knew. This invitation is to join a community of learning men and women, for Talmudic learning is collective. You do not “read” the Talmud, you “learn” it, preferably with a haver, or a fellow student, and always with a rabbi.”
The Way of Torah. An Introduction to Judaism.
The book introduces students to Judaism via a three-pronged examination of its history, its scriptures, and its practices. Neusner first defines Judaism across time, showing its changes and development. He then introduces students to the classic texts of Judaism, the Hebrew Bible, and beyond. Finally, the Torah and Judaism are presented in their living contexts. It is the only interpretive work that addresses Judaism within the context of religious studies in general as opposed to the many other texts that use an historical or scriptural approach exclusively.
28th July 2008, 10:04 am
Those of you, who came to services Friday night, had a chance to meet with Nathan Roller, my friend and roommate from college, who eventually became my best man. Amongst his many ventures he has been the librarian at the Santa Barbara Hillel. In the course of his work he noticed that there wasn’t a single source where one can find the list of winners of various Judaica book awards. Filling in this gap he created the list of lists and compiled the winning books, going back as far as he could. If you visit his Amazon page you will find the winners for the
- Samuel Goldberg & Sons Foundation Prize for Jewish Fiction
- Sophie Brody Award for Outstanding Achievement in Jewish Literature
- Harold U. Ribalow Prize
- Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature
- Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction
- National Jewish Book Award Finalists for the last two years
This post is not just an unsolicited plug for his work and page, but also a suggestion to check those lists to find good Judaica books. If the library doesn’t have an item already you are interested in, ask for it and we might be able to purchase it.
10th July 2008, 09:27 am
As I received the following announcement the last few days from four different sources, I can no longer resist and am ready share it with the readers of this blog too:
You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language. Essentially, we’re asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America. We’re turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like “shmooze” and “daven” and phrases like “Money, shmoney”? Why do some people say “temple” while others say “shul”? Who prefers biblical names for their babies? Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process. Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9eQwWyblG_2b8ixLqbt6QFhg_3d_3d
Please forward this e-mail to your friends and family. We are hoping to get thousands of responses from people of all religions, ages, and regions of the United States and Canada. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor <sbenor@huc.edu> or Prof. Steven M. Cohen <Steve34nyc@aol.com>.
Sincerely,
Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor
Prof. Steven M. Cohen
Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
29th May 2008, 05:12 pm
LibraryThing is a popular website, where people can easily catalog the books they own. (More than 400,000 people already did.) The site has a multitude of other features; a lot of them are geared to social networking, i.e. finding people with similar tastes, sharing reviews and ratings, getting and giving recommendations, forming groups… The “local” section of the website lists book related venues and events by geographic area. Earlier today I added our library to the listing. Later, when I wanted to add our first movie night I noticed that somebody already did the same. Therefore right now we are listed there twice. Once I figure out how to remove the second listing I will. Meanwhile I am happy to report that it is an important site in the word of bibliophiles where the library is linked from.
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