Are you looking for ideas for your seder? Are you bored with your haggadah because of the dated language? Is the text too long for your family? Do you need something more family oriented? Are you seeking seder energy?
Come to the Lampert Library and take a look at our selection of Passover haggadot. There are long ones- and short ones; beautifully illustrated ones and very plain ones; thematic texts and traditional texts with no off topic references. Continue reading
What’s a hero or heroine? Shortly we will be celebrating the story of a quintessential heroine, Esther, also known as Hadassah. She exhibits so many qualities of a heroine from her initial reluctance to get involved to her final confrontation with the villain. Heroes are not always brave-at least not at the beginning of their journeys: heroes overcome their fears to undertake difficult tasks, often ones that they are totally unprepared for and challenge authority. How much more difficult it must have been to be CHOSEN as queen than to be BORN to take that role. Continue reading
As one might expect, a Judaic library has a large number of books about the Holocaust, which has cast its shadow over almost every event in modern Jewish history.
On January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be marked by a decree of the United Nations. This date is not arbitrary for it commemorates the day 80 years ago in 1945 when the Red Army entered Auschwitz, where more than 1.1 million Jews were murdered. Continue reading
The glow of the Hanukkah lights will shortly fill our homes and shine through the windows. The Hanukkah story is a great story with heroes and villains, suspense, and a satisfying ending. Even when the story is modified for young readers, it still retains its majesty and provides many opportunities for reinforcing Jewish values.
This year’s crop of Hanukkah books includes some excellent retellings as well as a look at Hanukkah in settings other than the U.S. There have been several books with interfaith families as the focal point. And there’s a delightful handful of Hanukkah books for adults. Continue reading
Begun in 1924 as Jewish Book Week by a Jewish librarian who worked at the Boston Public Library, it has stretched to the entire month before Hanukkah. Jewish Book Month is a time to highlight and celebrate libraries, books and Jewish writers.
Jewish books have been around for a very long time: even if not everyone was literate, each person knew the value of the Torah and the highest aspiration was to be a scholar of Jewish books. Continue reading
Aileen Grossberg shared this tribute at the Shabbat service on November 23, 2024. Additional comments were made by Katherine Delaney.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Jewish Book Month which begins tomorrow and has been going strong for 99 years.
It’s so appropriate that today when we celebrate the many years that the Lampert family has supported the library and made books available to the Shomrei community, we also celebrate the 60th anniversary of Judy Wildman’s bat mitzvah. As Jews, as People of the Book, we hold both bound books and the Torah scroll in high esteem. Continue reading
The story of Noah and the ark has something for everyone: there are cute animals for the little ones, a lesson in architecture for older readers, and some bawdy details for adults …. as well as a couple of serious issues of respect for one’s elders and by way of midrash, respect for the earth.
However, it’s those cute animals or the rainbow that most often become the focus. Pass a preschool classroom and you might hear a chorus of bass and moos when Noah is introduced or children drawing brightly colored rainbows. Continue reading
How time flies! It’s Sukkot again. And why should I be surprised? We just celebrated the High Holidays. Turn, Turn, Turn…the seasons come and go.
While Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur reading for both adults and kids has a decidedly solemn bent, there’s mostly pure joy in the Sukkot and Simhat Torah books.
We rejoice in the bounty of the land and the natural beauty of the land and sky; we revel in the holy words of the Torah.
Quite some time ago when I first became involved with Jewish libraries, there was not much to choose from in the way of modern secular literature, especially for children. K’tonton was alive and well; the All-of-a-Kind-Family were doing what families did; there were a few laughs as the Chelmites stumbled through life; folktales were here and there. Continue reading
The poet, T.S. Eliot, wrote that April is the cruelest month, a quote often taken out of context.
But I think that in the cycle of the year, September may be the cruelest month. Although it is a month of beginning for those who never seem to shake the shackles of a school schedule, it often coincides with Tishrei which marks the beginning of our religious year, and is beautiful with full greening of the trees and bursts of color from the dahlias, marigolds and mums, the month is the last gasp before the slow decline to winter. Continue reading