Synagogue Library

LIBRARY HOURS
The Library is normally open from 9 - 11 a.m. on Sundays, except from July 1 - end of the Yomim Tovim and during the winter and spring public school breaks.

PROGRAMS

FILMS

Films act as a window onto the world. They take you to places and times that would be otherwise inaccessible.

The latest additions to our collection include such instant classics as, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a film that views the Holocaust from the perspective of an upper class German family.

Adams Wall is a movie filmed in Montreal that shows the hidden prejudices of two families that come from cultures in conflict.

A Woman Called Golda, about Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. It was Ingrid Bergman's final and most stirring performance.

Films give you instant access to the secret places of your heart while challenging you to face up to your preconceived notions.

BOOKS

Fables From The Jewish Tradition by Rabbi Manes Kogan

Memory by Philippe Grimbert

Murder in A-Major by Morley Torgov

The Saturday Wife by Naomi Ragen

The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone

Dance of The Demons by Esther Singer Kreitman

A Mad Desire To Dance by Elie Wiesel

THE LIBRARY CORNER

My favorite part of every secular year-end is reading the Top 10 lists of that year's books. This time, there were even lists of the Top 10 books of the decade. It is interesting to see what the literati have read and still remember. I was quite pleased to see that three Jewish writers have found a spot on these lists: the only Canadian, David Bezmozgis - for Natasha and Other Stories (2004); Jonathan Safran Foer for Everything is Illuminated (2002); and Michael Chabon for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000). After receiving several awards for his debut collection, David Bezmozgis crossed into the moving image medium, writing and directing the feature film Victoria Day, which premiered at Sundance Festival in 2009.

For Jonathan Safran Foer it was the movie adaptation of Everything is Illuminated that brought the spotlight onto the book itself. As for Michael Chabon, his "magnum opus" - as it has been labeled by critics almost a decade ago - won him the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, already after his second novel, Wonder Boys, had been adapted into a mainstream movie.

No movie rights sold yet for Rashi's Daughters, but author Maggie Anton is becoming as popular as Naomi Ragen was a decade ago. This is what Naomi Ragen herself comments about Maggie Anton's trilogy: "I appreciated the opportunity to read Rashi's Daughters. As a student of the late, great teacher of Torah, Nechama Leibowitz, Rashi's commentaries have long been a subject of intensive study and interest for me. This carefully researched work of fiction by Maggie Anton provides a rare glimpse into the little-known medieval Jewish world in which Rashi lived and worked." We are looking forward to Maggie Anton's book talk at Beth David this coming April.

A last minute shuffle in the programming schedule has given us the opportunity of inviting Dr. Seymour Epstein to speak about his most interesting years as an international Jewish educator, as presented in his memoir From Couscous to Kasha: Reporting from the Field of Jewish Community Work. The event will take place on Thursday, March 18, 2010, co-sponsored with the Continuing Education Committee.

With the assistance of Brotherhood we are gradually transforming the Reference Library into a more user friendly Adult Learning and Conference Center. The dim, sterile overhead lights have been replaced by bright, daylight-balanced fluorescents, with new clear covers. Now the room is a more cheerful place in which to study and have meetings. The material in the Reference Library has been reorganized by topic and catalogued and wall signs are now being added to make the collection more accessible. While it may seem to be a small item, but the study tables have been mismatched for years, making it awkward for people to sit and work together. This problem is now being rectified. These are all small changes that we hope will lead to a better working environment for the many Continuing Education classes and shul committees that use this room. A special thanks to Brotherhood for making this transformation possible.

We look forward to seeing you in the library.

Purim Samei'ach,

Amit Bitnun and Lew Lightstone, your Library co-Chairs.

library@bethdavid.com