Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Erich Kimmel’s “The jar of fools: Eight Hanukkah stories from Chelm” mostly delivers the goods its title promises. As you may know Chelm is the (in)famous village known for the unique logic and common sense (or lack of the above) of its inhabitants. I wrote “mostly” above, because the first of the eight stories, bearing the main title of the book, is not about Hanukkah, but instead an alternative tongue in cheek creation story that explains the origins of Chelm’s special characteristics. The other stories are:

• How they play dreidel in Chelm – how and why to remove all the letters from dreidels
• Sweeter than honey, purer than oil – how to buy something better than chicken fat for making latkes
• The knight of the golden slippers – how to protect the golden part of the honorary slippers
• Silent Samson, the Maccabee – how one modern Maccabee saved Chelm
• The magic spoon – how to make latkes with ingredients from the people using an expensive spoon of a stranger
• The soul of a Menorah – how a hay fork can be viewed as menorah
• Wisdom for sale – how to buy and use sample wisdom from a university

Each tale is decorated by a single full page, full color drawing by Mordicai Gerstein. The book concludes with the author’s note, explaining the history and origins of the stories.

We have 8 different videos about Chanukkah for children, so you could watch a different one for every night of the holiday. Here is a quick rundown of them, the description taken from the covers.

Chanuka at Bubbe’s (30 minutes)

Kids of all ages will find pure enjoyment celebrating Chanuka at Bubbe’s. Join in a joyful romp with a host of colorful puppet characters. There is Anton the bully who insists on having things his way, Rhino who “horns” in before he understands the situation, Chester who tries too hard to fit in, practical Zachary, adorable Muffin and of course, Bubbe herself – everybody’s beloved grandmother. While this fascinating group prepares for the holiday feast we witness the past as Bubbe relates the story of Chanuka – the fight between the Greeks and the Maccabees – the miracle of the burning oil – the importance of religious freedom for all people.

A Chanukah Mitzvah (30 minutes)

The entire family is looking forward to another wonderful Chanukah – except for David who would rather play the part of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer in the upcoming scool play. But when their magical friend Mitzvah Mouse introduces them to Judah Maccabee (Don Diamont), David and his sister Rachel join the Maccabee army to make sure that the light of Judaism is forever kindled.

Lights: A Hanukah fable about then and now (24 minutes)

On one level, this animated video is a charming retelling of the Hanukah story, the struggle of a people to maintain their religious beliefs and observances in the face of adversity. On another level, it addresses the issue of religious freedom and “the right to be different.” Children will enjoy watching the program, with its colorful animation and beautiful music.

Lovely Butterfly Chanukah (24 minutes)

Join puppets Butz and Uza along with their human friends Ronnie (Uzi Hitman) and Effl (Effl Ben-Isreal) in songs and stories about the traditions surrounding this holiday known as the “Festival of Lights’. Participate In a kindergarten Chanukah party, spin the dreidel and learn–first hand–who ‘Latkes’ were made with the help of Karen Cutting Board and company.

A Rugrats Chanukah (30 minutes)

It’s Chanukah the Rugrats way: Tommy the Macabee, an ancient idol named Cynthia (isn’t that the name of Angelica’s favorite doll?), and Stu’s own turbo-charged menorah, which promises to bring down the house in every sense. This very good holiday special will certainly satisfy Rugrats fans, but also has crossover appeal to anyone looking for a very funny holiday program.

Shalom Sesame: Chanukah (30 minutes)

Don’t miss the fun as Shalom Sesame celebrates the “Festival of lights!” Journey with Jeremy Miller on a trip down memory lane to ancient Modin -the land of the Maccabees! Play an exciting r round of Dreidel of Fortune with everybody’s favorite host Lavana White! Watch as Joan Rivers, Alan King, Nell Carter and Joshua Rifkind pay special tribute to a famous little Chanukah hero. Moishe Oofnik, the grouchy gourmet, creates his own Chanukah specialty - jellyfish doughnuts! And tune in to the Rechov Sumsum World of Sports as Kippi becomes the first porcupine to finish the Chanukah torch run to Jerusalem!

There’s no such thing as a Chanukah bush, Sandy Goldstein (23 minutes)

Robin is a young Jewish girl who desperately wants a Chanukah bush, which, according to her Jewish classmate is “like a Christmas tree… but it’s for Jews.” Robin’s mother says no to the Chanukah bush, but does allow Robin to accompany her grandfather to his union’s Christmas party. Robin is confused, until Grandfather lovingly explains the difference between celebrating something because you believe in it, and helping friends celebrate something because they believe in it. Chanukah Bush teaches children to honor the differences between cultures, to take pride in their own heritage, and to share their traditions with others.

Susanne M. Batzdorff read the following book, reviewed it for the AJL Bulletin and donated it to the library.

Schulweis, Harold M. Conscience: The Duty to Obey and the Duty to Disobey. Woodstock , Vt. : Jewish Lights Publishing, 2008. 131p. $19.99 (ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-375-0, ISBN-10: 1-58023-375-9).

Through examples taken from Biblical, Talmudic and Midrashic sources, Rabbi Schulweis demonstrates how Judaism encourages questioning authority, even when it is the highest authority, i.e. God. Obedience should never be blind, and when moral rectitude and authoritarian law are in conflict with one another, a person must do what is right and not what is commanded. Abraham confronted God to reason with Him before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah . Moses often reminded God of His covenantal commitment to give the people another chance. If God’s actions can be questioned by mortals, how much more should they stand up to fallible secular governments and other authorities. The author cites examples of righteous people who took risks in the name of justice and morality, particularly in the Holocaust. His final chapters describe ways in which we can rear children whose conscience is well enough developed to respond fearlessly to instances of injustice, racism, or bigotry. Listen to your children’s questions respectfully and answer them honestly. Teach them kindness and consideration. Judaism encourages questioning rather than accepting dictates from above. Protecting the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and pursuing justice are important Jewish values.

In a world where the weak are all too often crushed and might prevails over right, where the lessons of the Holocaust are not remembered, where genocides occur almost everywhere, the lessons contained in this book are urgent and very timely. This volume contains notes but neither bibliography nor index. The reviewer must mention one serious error. In writing about the Commandant of Auschwitz, the author calls him Rudolf Hess. Actually, it was Rudolf Hoess, an entirely different individual. This book is recommended for academic and synagogue libraries.

I missed the deadline for submitting our wishlist for the December Shofar, where you can read the nursery school’s and the office’s. But I started a wish list of items I would like to see in the library. Any time you feel giving something to the library you can visit our wish list at Amazon.com and pick an item or two. They will be delivered to us, with the information who gave it. Thus we can and will put a bookplate into the item with your name in it. The list is at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3LVCZKI4XFOUR

A few words about what you will see on the page linked above. As mentioned elsewhere the library’s collection development policy (i.e. what new items to get) is focused on four areas. So all the 60 items currently on our wish list belong to one of these categories:

• Great Jewish children books
• DVDs of feature films from Israel or with Jewish characters or themes
• Kabbalah books from a religious Jewish or academic perspective
• Newly or recently published novels by Israeli authors or with Jewish characters or themes

If you have a recommendation in the above categories or beyond, what you think we should have please let us know.

Yesterday, I received an email, asking for recommendation for books on life in Poland in the late 1800’s, suitable for 8-12 year old children. Here is what I wrote,

Funny how things can coincide. Right before I opened your email I finished a book written for sixth graders that is partially set in Poland. However only the book’s first third is there and the timeframe is a bit after what you are asking about: 1915-1925. I posted a blog entry about the book, “The night of the burning.”

I am sorry to say that we do not have exactly what you are looking, but I would like to mention a few items that might interest you.We have three books set in Poland written for children, but they are all in the Holocaust era: In the shade of the chestnut tree, The feather-bed journey, and Flowers on the wall. We also have a short VHS video (with Eli Wallach) suitable for children about life in the Shtetls. Finally I would like to recommend Roman Vishniac’s “Polish Jews; a pictorial record“. It has lots of excellent black and white photographs, many of them showing school age children. It also has an introductory essay, titled “The inner world of the Polish Jew,” which might be a bit too advanced for a your daughter’s reading level.

I hope you will come in and pick one or more of these items.

A few weeks ago Linda Press Wulf, the author of “The night of the burning: Devorah’s story” announced on the Jewish librarians’ email list that a benefactor is sponsoring sending five copies of the aforementioned awards winning book. It was a first come, first served opportunity, but I responded fast enough to the message to be one of the lucky ones. The book has arrived last week and today I managed to finish cataloging and adding it to the library’s collection. You’re welcome and encouraged to borrow it, particularly if you have a child in the 5th to 7th grade age group. But the book is good read for adults as well.

The description from the author’s website summarizes the story in these words:

The novel tells the story of sisters Devorah and Nechama, who survive a brutal pogrom in Poland after the First World War. A Jewish philanthropist (based on real-life hero Isaac Ochberg) offers to take them to safety in South Africa, in a group of 200 war orphans. But their new-found security in Cape Town is cut short when the two are sent to live with different families.

Following the link above you will also find a number of resources related to the book, including questions of a reading guide, an explanation to what extent the book is fiction and history at the same time, and reviews.

What I enjoyed most in the book, besides the heartbreaking and heart warming storyline were the descriptions. As Chanukkah is coming up let me just quote a brief passage about that from page 5-6, set in the orphanage.

I must have drifted into sleep no my mattress. I was dreaming about Mama’s latkes. Usually Mama would cook the potato pancakes on the iron sheet on top of the stove, but at Chanukkah she fried them in precious, expensive oil.
“Ah, Mama,” Papa would sigh with satisfaction. “The pancakes are like angels singing.”
“More, Mama, more, Mama, more!” I would chant, and of course Nechama copied me.
Someone was shaking my shoulder gently. I groaned, trying to hold on to my dream. I was so happy being in my old life again.

As you might have read in the Shofar or in yesterday’s post the Jewish Book Month, organized and promoted by the Jewish Book Council started right before Thanksgiving this year and will last till December 22. Yesterday we received this year’s poster. See below the small version or in our window the full size variety. We also have lots of new bookmarks for this occasion. One of them, the one with the pink background has lists and annotations of great new children and young adult books. The other, the blue bookmark is for adults and one size has novels, while the other lists non-fiction books. Come on in to the library and pick up one.

We are in the enchanted world of the Wishniak, a shtetl, where dybbuk’s can wreak havoc, wonder rabbis perform miracles, or—as it happens in Moishe’s Miracle by Laura Krauss Melmed—frying pans can produce unlimited amount of latkes, potato pancakes, for Hunakkah. The catch: only Moishe, the generous milkman can use the new pan effectively. When it is used for free to feed the whole villages it works great. When his wife sets out to earn a few kopeks it fails miserable. The final outcome however is shalom habayit, peace in the house. That’s worth of not having free latkes, isn’t it?

The whole book is bursting with energy and humor. David Slonim’s oilpaintings and Al Cetta’s gorgeous typography round up the user experience to pure pleasure. The penultimate page includes the almost unavoidable summary of what Hanukkah is about and the last page contains a short glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew words used in the book. There were a few I was not familiar with myself.

This year, Jewish Book Month starts November 22 and ends December 22. We challenge you to celebrate it by coming into the library, picking up a book that interests you and rediscover the joy you can get from reading. As always, we are here to help you, providing reference service, answering questions, and directing you to books on the topic you are looking for. We are also happy to announce that our DVD collection now contains over 30 movies, all related to Jews, Judaica and/or Israel.

We also have a treat waiting for you this month. Frances Dinkelspiel will come and speak about the research behind her book, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California. The book is just as intriguing as its title! If you’ve never heard of Hellman, the great-great-grandfather of the book’s author, you are not alone. Had you lived a hundred years ago in California though, you probably would have been alone. Hellman arrived to Los Angeles from Germany in 1859 with almost nothing. He founded and developed Wells Fargo Bank and two other major banks. Some of his other accomplishments include leading the construction of Los Angeles’ first synagogue, donating the land for the University of Southern California, and serving as Regent of the University of California for 38 years.

If this intrigues you as it does me, please come to Ms. Dinkelspiel’s lecture mid-December. The date and time are being finalized as this goes to print!
This month we are happy to report on our new books related to Kabbalah and spirituality:

• Gershom Scholem: Zohar, The Book of Splendor – The greatest authority on Jewish mysticism culled selected passages from the Zohar on the wonders of creation, soul, love, suffering and death, exile, and redemption.
• Daniel C. Matt: The Essential Kabbalah – You can find the most important tenets of Kabbalah topics including G-d as infinity, Sefirot, mystical nothingness, alphabet, creation, meditation, and revelation.
• Jerry Winston: Colors from the Zohar – Amazing poetry inspired by (and expounding upon) the Zohar in a beautifully designed book.
• Aryeh Kaplan: Meditation and the Bible – A radical interpretation of the Bible demonstrating the methods of meditation used by the Prophets to attain their unique states of consciousness.
• Estelle Frankel: Sacred Therapy – Frankel uses biblical, Hasidic, Talmudic and kabbalistic traditions to shape her thesis: healing begins with brokenness and leads to transformation, wholeheartedness and renewal.

Too often, when reading books to children we skip the dedication. In the case of Nathan’s Hanukkah Bargain by Jacqueline Dembar Greene I would advise against it. It reads, “Affectionately dedicated to all our Grandpas, because they always understand. – J.D.G.” Surely, the 9-12 year old target audience wuold understand it. The multidirectional affection shows up throughout the pages. Grandpa is shown as wise, warm, understanding figure both in text and in Steffi Karen Rubin’s three-tone pictures. In return his grandson Nathan respects him and inspired him. In his search to find the perfect menorah for Hanukkah he could buy with the five dollar he saved they set out shopping. The first few shops had lots of options, but none of them was right. After Grandpa shares his childhood memory of bargaining with peddlers, Nathan takes the initiative and talks down the price of the kind of Hannukah he was looking for at an antique (or thrift store if you wish) store. They return home with the great experience, a new skill, some bonding memories and last but not least the object they set out for. Don’t we all wish for this kind of grandpas and days?