ebookanoid.com

I went to the bookstore to buy a book for a friend today. I had to weave through people, ask employees to look for a copy of the book in the back room, and then wait in line. I’m used to wandering into the store on Sunday, lazily combing through the aisles and then easing up to counter and out the door without having to say “excuse me” once. I go to the bookstore almost every weekend. Usually I like the peace and quite of the bookstore, but today’s buzz and borderline chaos were unexpectedly pleasant. The combination of the holiday shopping season and the closing of Borders earlier this year created what was my most hectic bookstore experience in a long time.

I’ve read countless articles this year about the predicted extinction of books, but also of the book world going full circle from small bookshops, to retail, back to small. I read the articles and compared them to my own experiences with the closing of the Borders in the city and the two near my parents’ house in the suburbs, realizing that the book world was certainly changing whether I liked it or not. I’ve felt a shared sadness with other book lovers over the past year, searching for a way to keep the love of literature alive so that books can be available to younger generations. I’ve felt a different kind of sadness as e-Books have taken storm and the Nook and Kindle became more prevalent around me on my morning commute to work. Today was the first day I didn’t feel any of that sadness when I was in the bookstore.

What I realized today is that books are still among the most popular gifts. Books appeal to a variety of people in ways that few other objects can- they’re living, breathing pieces that readers ingest and interpret in their own way. Books are durable in material and wisdom, traits that few toys or sweaters can boast. It made me so overwhelmingly joyous to watch shoppers select books for others based on preference, popularity, or mere chance. Though the future of books is certainly still daunting for me, today’s experience in the bookstore set my mind at ease. When the cashier asked me if I needed a gift receipt for my book, I told her absolutely not for I was sure that I had made the right choice.

cracked.com

This talented student/author is not the only one who sees the act of exchanging gifts as one synonymous with expressing love. The belief is not unique to those celebrating Christmas, nor is it unique to young people. I do, however, know that in my house Hannukah’s modern gift exchange has never been conflated with an expression of love. Rather, making latkahs, going to the synagogue’s menorah lighting, and scraping wax off of the menorahs each evening are the moments teeming with love. I also know that JPS’ selection of Hannukah books is rightfully small compared to that of Torah commentary and novels about family and ethics. The selection also shares traditions, not of gift exchange, but of story telling, game playing, and food consuming.

A large part of me felt guilty not commenting on my student’s essay, but I also recognize that he’s not to blame. We’ve all grown up in a society hypnotized by material objects. My hope is that more parents will raise their kids the way my parents did me, and that more publishers produce books like JPS’ Hannukah selection, which reinforce the importance of tradition and family. (I also hope that the rest of my students are writing as well as this particular one by the end of the school year.)

*A reference to the 1981 collection of short stories, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver.

Articles in The New York Times and Brandeis Now both discuss the absolute newness of a Jewish text on the New Testament. Jews have always read and discussed the Old Testament, but Brettler and Levine thought it was time for something different. Brandeis Now quotes Brettler as saying that, “’[He] wanted more Jews to read the New Testament and understand the majority religion in America…It also is important for Jews to know their history, and the New Testament is important to that, since the first Christians were Jews.’”

Response to the book has been wildly diverse, ranging from excitement to rejection. The Times speaks specifically about protectve Jewish mothers who may not wish for their children to read the anti-Semitism in the New Testament. Dr. Brettler mentions his recommending the book to a mother for her son. Her response was simply, “’If he wants it, he can buy it for himself.’”

I must admit that my mother informed me of The Jewish Annotated New Testament before I read it about it in The Times or even on Jewcy. From an academic perspective, I’m completely intrigued. Like Dr. Levine, I too grew up in a largely Catholic area and always wanted to know more of their New Testament. The words “New Testament” were almost dirty in my Jewish world growing up, associated with anti-Semitism and non-Jewish stories. Today, however, my parents more than encourage me to explore non-Jewish texts for educational or personal purposes, and I see no reason why The Jewish Annotated New Testament should be any differently approached.

thirteen.org

I want to thank PBS for airing the Woody Allen documentary on television this week. The documentary is three hours in length and part of PBS’ American Masters series. Often I find myself rambling at holiday meals. I stuff my face (my parents are by far the world’s best cooks), think of ways to lovingly tease my brother (I’ll never grow out of the habit), and ponder conversation topics that will solicit the most participation. I already know I’m going to use this Woody Allen documentary as cannon fodder come Thursday, so I’ll share a little with you all as practice.

The first night of the documentary focused a lot on how Woody Allen became the household name he is today. He talks about starting out as a writer, having no intentions of acting. He also had no intentions of being a comedian who performed before an audience. He wanted to be the guy behind the scenes. But people who met him recognized his tremendously entertaining delivery of jokes and lines. Woody was pushed to grow, and thus today we have Woody the writer, actor, director, producer, and personality.

Something else Woody talked about that really struck me was perspective. He explained that early in his career he simply wrote from the male perspective. Not until Hannah and Her Sisters did he really start exploring the female experience. His most recent film, Midnight in Paris, toyed with the idea of perception more than some of his other films. Not only did Woody explore female and male experience, but also simply (and simultaneously complexly) the individual experience with the universe, time, and self-exploration.

Not everyone at my turkey day table will want to talk about Woody Allen, but I’m hoping the topic will be more riveting than the annual conversation about my future.

The New York Times reported that the Shoah Foundation is now expanding to include testimonials from survivors of other genocides/mass slaughters from around the world. They have only just begun interviewing survivors from the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides, but are also planning to record accounts from Armenian survivors from the slaughter in Turkey.

The Times was careful to reassure readers that this expansion will not take away from the original purpose of The Shoah Foundation. Rather, the inclusion of other survivors will bolster their goal: to spread the message of ‘Never again’. By integrating testimonials of other survivors, they will reach new peoples and communities around the world.

For more information, check out the Times article, the official website for The Shoah Foundation, or USC’S Shoah Foundation channel on YouTube.

hazon.org

-  Looking for a place to take your kids for the day? Check out the Mandell Education Campus in Elkins Park for a really great art project!

-  Jewish Federation of Philadelphia’s calendar has their event’s location listed as TBA, but it provides a contact number for those interested.

-  Jewish Federation of Central Jersey is sponsoring an event with PJ Library author and poet Jacqueline Jules that is also geared towards young readers.

-  New York City is hosting a bunch of classes at Mechon Hadar lead by rabbis and educators representing almost 30 different institutions from around the city.

Happy learning!

digitalhistory.uh.edu

Nextbook Press just introduced a wonderful interactive version of Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus.” The tool provides background on allusions and does an excellent job of marrying technology to a sonnet written in 1883. When I clicked on “huddled masses,” a blip about Lazarus’ work with Russian immigrants appeared. It talked about Lazarus’ work at “the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society at 105 East Broadway, where she helped train refugees and she also taught English.”

Reading about Lazarus’ devotion to Russian immigrants made me think about my day in school today. One of my students was asking about my background, particularly wondering from where in Europe my family came. He assumed England or Scotland (kind of amusing because I have no Anglo features), so when I told him Russia and the Ukraine, he was mildly shocked. He didn’t connect Russian ancestry to Jewish ancestry, but for me (and many others), the two go hand-in-hand.

My Bubie’s family hales from Kiev. Sometimes my Bubie shares stories her mother would tell her of the Old Country. During Passover last year, she shared a bunch of stories about continued practices in America. She focused a lot on her parents’ attempt to re-create daily life in Kiev here in Philadelphia. We talked for a long time, mostly her sharing and me commenting. Her stories and my rereading of  “The New Colossus” remind me a lot of JPS’ book 36 Letters. 36 Letters tells the story of one couple as they experience courtship and immigration. The book is amazingly detailed, yet familiar for readers with similar family histories.

As the country celebrates the Statue of Liberty’s 125^th anniversary, spend time with not only “The New Colossus” and Joan Sohn’s 36 Letters, but also stories of your own family’s immigration to America.

The Forward published an article today called, “ Samuel Beckett’s Letters Reveal Roots of Resistance.” The article focuses on Beckett’s intentional and unintentional ties to the Jewish people before, during, and after World War II. Two volumes of Beckett’s letters were recently published, The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 2, 1941–1956 and Samuel Beckett’s German Diaries 1936-1937, both shedding light on Beckett’s ties to the Jews.

hrc.utexas.edu

The article interestingly suggests that, “Beckett and Joyce (both living in exile) identified intellectually with Jews as people of the Diaspora.” I think that Beckett may definitely have drawn similarities between himself and Jews because of the Diaspora, but also because Beckett had a real interest in human value and human control of life. Thinking about Pozzo and Lucky in Godot, I immediately draw ties to Nazis and Jews, and Beckett’s ability to not only write about the absurd relationship between master and subservient, but also how quickly the relationship can flip. Beckett had this great knack for recognizing competing perspectives on a single matter – i.e. master and subservient – that illuminate the undeniable connection between human beings.

I spent a lot of time in my very long paper discussing Beckett’s use of existentialism in Godot, and while I really never thought I would re-visit the idea in my life, here I am. To me, Beckett’s accidental connections to Jewish publishers in Paris, Jewish artists and authors, and a Jewish uncle-by-marriage had a lot less to do with his attraction to Jews, and more to do with his feeling for human beings as individuals free to explore and interact. Beckett saw people as they were- the Nazis as “appalling,” and seemingly common characters like Estragon, Vladimir, Pozzo, and Lucky as extremely complex and worthy of an entire play. He felt connected to human beings in general, whether it be by common experience, common tongue, common interests, or mere proximity. The Forward’s article on Beckett reminded me of how timeless Waiting for Godot is, and how impossibly wonderful Beckett was for being both brilliant and entirely human.

Milo is a remarkable character in fiction because he is simply mild. Unlike other protagonists, Milo is not particularly passionate or brave. He’s marked as a character unaccustomed to strong feeling, and as Michael Chabon points out in a June New York Times article, Milo’s mild curiosity in the appearance of the tollbooth is unusual. Chabon writes that he himself was a mild-tempered kid, but that as he matured and grew out of his serene stage, he began making choices that were less and less Miloeqsue.

In a lot of ways I think that Milo’s curiosity is something I latched onto early in the novel as a kid. Chalk it up to my Jewish upbringing if you want to, but I was full of questions about the world, and still am. This spirit of inquiry is part of what I also think allowed Milo and Tock to survive generations of readers, and eventually reach “children’s literary classic” status, if you will.

In reading Juster and Feiffer’s comments in The New Yorker, I was again amazed by The Phantom Tollbooth when I learned that it was the child of an idea, a $5,000 grant, and a weekend vacation to Fire Island. As you celebrate the beginning of the new Torah cycle, consider also honoring the anniversary of The Phantom Tollbooth with a re-read!

jewishiphonecommunity.org

So you’re looking for Sukkot festivities in the Philadelphia area? Here are a few goings on about town:

- Philly.com announced on Wednesday that Occupy Philadelphia would soon have a sukkah.

- If you’re looking for a less politically charged sukkah, check out http://www.localsukkah.org/ to find one near you.

- Take a look at the event page for a special sustainability Shabbat at the Moishe House in Philly this Friday.

- Indulge in some really unique etrog beer, brewed by David Cohen of Tel Aviv’s Dancing Camel Brewing Company.

- Enjoy fruits and vegetables harvested in the Philadelphia area! The Philadelphia Jewish Voice’s blog has some really tasty sounding suggestions.

- If nothing suggested strikes you as interesting or worthy, look through Jewish Philly’s master calendar to find more Sukkot festivities in your area.

Wishing everyone a chag sameach!