A.B. Yehoshua, Israeli literary giant and ardent humanist, dies aged 85. This headline from The Times of Israel sums up the life of one of Israel’s foremost authors.
A.B. (Abraham Gabriel, called Boli)) Yehoshua was born in Jerusalem in 1936. His father, an author and translator, was a fourth generation Jerusalemite while his mother was a Moroccan immigrant. This “mixed” marriage was not successful leading Yehoshua to vow that his marriage would be for love.
I want to bring to your attention a most timely book. The Family Roe by Joshua Prager is not a “Jewish” book. However, the topic of abortion is of interest to many Jews and is, in fact, a Jewish topic.
Indeed, at the Shavuot tikkun, one of the study sessions was on the Jewish texts that dealt with abortion.
The Family Roe is a big book. There are more than 400 pages of closely written text and over 200 pages of notes. However, though highly detailed, the book reads easily because of the narrative nature of the story. Continue reading
On Monday, the prestigious Pulitzer Prize winners were announced. The satiric, laugh -out-loud, The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family has been awarded the 2022 prize for fiction.
Set in a liberal arts college, the story looks at academia, campus politics, and Zionism with a harsh but humorous eye. Continue reading
Book award season is just about over. The awards have been announced; it’s only the celebration that’s left.
Here are some highlights of award-winning Jewish interest books available in the library: Continue reading
It’s March and Women’s History Month. With Purim occurring in March this year-although it’s always celebrated on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar- it’s appropriate to call to mind Jewish women of achievement.
Don’t be put off by children’s books if you are an adult. Children’s and young adult books cut right to the heart of a topic and are an excellent way to be introduced to a subject that is new to the reader. Continue reading
So many of us either grew up with Arthur the aardvark, his family and friends either in the books by Marc Brown or the long running television show. The series is finally ending its PBS run as the longest running children’s show EVER, according to Mira Fox of the Forward. Did you know that Francine, Arthur’s friend was Jewish? Read the article here. Continue reading
My friend and fellow Association of Jewish Library member Lisa Silverman does such a good job gathering interesting websites that for this week and next I am copying parts of her article that appears in the Jewish Journal, a California publication. I’ve also added some events that look interesting. Continue reading
January 27 is International Holocaust Day, established by the United Nations on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The United Nations urges all 193 members of the organization to use this day to plan programs to memorialize the six millions Jews and millions of other victims of Nazism and World War II and to educate to prevent future genocides.
Here are some programs and websites to help you make this day and depend your knowledge. Continue reading
It may be cold and even snowy outside but inside it’s perfect for curling up with a good book or discovering something new on an informational or entertainment website.
Here are some resources for these cold winter days.
The Museum of Tolerance over the next few days will be offering FREE virtual screenings of Oscar and other award winning short films. Click here for information and registration. Continue reading
Short stories are powerful and versatile. They take tremendous skill as every word counts. A reader can’t skim a short story or skip over the boring parts.
What is a short story? It is a fully developed piece of writing that can generally be read in one sitting. The upper limit is about 20,000 words, which isn’t really that short.
A book of short stories can consist of stories by one author or many and may cover many time periods.
Enjoy stories from this brief selection of stories from the library’s collection. Books of short stories have the word STORIES on the spine label. Continue reading