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Book Shuk In the News Free Jewish Books At New
JCC Program Initiatives Created For Adult Education Free Jewish Books At New JCC Program Melissa Goldman Staff Reporter Get ready, book lovers - there's a new bookstore in town, and you can't beat the price. Opening next Thursday, June 12, at the Owings Mills Jewish Community Center, the Book Shuk offers free Jewish books to anyone in the community. Yes, free. "If people have easy access to Jewish books, they'll read them and learn things," says Book Shuk doyen Rivkah Lambert Adler, coordinator of adult education for the Center for Jewish Education. "Just having a library of Jewish books in your home is an expression of Jewish identity. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to explore Jewish books. And giving them away for free is a very good gimmick." Earlier this week, organization of the nearly 2,000 books donated since last November was still under way. But the shelves at the JCC's Liebman-Glick Beit Midrash, or study chapel, were already lined with rows of Jewish fiction and biographies, history books, women's interest books, children's books and cookbooks. Yes, it was a book lover's paradise. And while there were some older volumes with slightly yellowed pages, there were no torn or decrepit books and a surprising number of brand new selections. "They've really done a nice job organizing things," says Deborah Margolis, director of the Joseph Meyerhoff Library at Baltimore Hebrew University, which will be a drop-off point for Book Shuk donations. "I'm impressed by the number of new or newer Jewish books, and the classic titles that remain really important." To further foster an appreciation for Jewish books, the Book Shuk has also worked out an arrangement with all four Hebrew bookstores in town to give out discount coupons for new books. The project was born last year, when Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, director of the JCC's Department of Jewish Life, learned about The Book Thing, a similar project in Charles Village that deals in all kinds of books. "I said, 'We really need this for the Jewish community,'" says Rabbi Cardin, as she recorded Ms. Margolis' selections in a notebook. Book Shuk volunteers will be tracking the books taken by people so they can gauge future offerings accordingly. Book Shuk coordinators aren't especially picky about donations, but they do have standards. "We'll take anything - we'd rather make the cuts here than have someone else make them," says Dr. Lambert. "But we probably don't want people's Hebrew school books from 1967 or books that are falling apart." There are also limits to the Book Shuk's generosity - three books a month per person initially. "We're still developing that policy, but we want to make sure as many people as possible benefit from the community," says Dr. Lambert. At the moment, books awaiting new homes include the award-winning "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Fuller and the Irving Howe classic "World of Our Fathers, " as well as a brand new copy of Joan Nathan's "Jewish Cooking in America." But better hurry - at these prices, they won't be there long! The Book Shuk will be open June 12, 19 and 26 from 9:30 a.m. to noon, with future hours to be determined. For updated hours or information about donations or volunteering, call 410-356-5200, ext. 377. Book giveaway shares themes of HanukkahJewish program promotes renewal through reading Author: SUN STAFF Frank Langfitt December 19, 2003 One of the hardest parts of Rivkah Lambert Adler's new job is persuading people to take something for nothing. "You don't have to return it," Adler told a man yesterday as he dropped off a book at the Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills. "People can't really believe the books are totally free." Adler runs the "Book Shuk," a program that provides free, mostly secondhand books on Jewish subjects to improve adult Jewish education. The Shuk (Hebrew for marketplace) opened last summer to reach people who are only lightly involved in Jewish life, as well as those who are building home libraries devoted to Jewish subjects. The Book Shuk's thrust -- spiritual renewal and resistance to assimilation -- are themes that resonate with the opening night of Hanukkah this evening. Hanukkah commemorates the Jewish defeat of Syrian-Greek forces who tried to wipe out their faith more than 2,000 years ago. After taking back Jerusalem, th! e Jews rededicated the Temple by lighting an eternal flame. Although they had just a day's worth of oil, tradition holds that the flame lasted a miraculous eight nights -- the duration of Hanukkah. "One of the themes of Hanukkah is rededication," said Adler, director of adult education at the Center for Jewish Education. "One of the things we hope the Book Shuk does is help people rededicate to Jewish learning. The impact of a good Jewish book lasts more than eight nights." Begins tonight Thousands of Jews will descend on synagogues around Baltimore tonight to celebrate the opening of Hanukkah, which means "dedication" in Hebrew. Thousands more will celebrate at home. Rabbi Rex Perlmeter expects 600 to 700 for services at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. Many will participate in a dinner of chicken and latkes -- potato pancakes. Families will also bring and light hanukkiot -- nine-branch candelabras that mark the holiday's progress -- an! d place them in the synagogue's windows. Perlmeter hasn't decid ed which small sermon he will deliver tonight. One carries a cautionary message focusing on the militaristic zeal and eventual corruption of Maccabees -- the Jewish freedom fighters who took back Jerusalem in the second century B.C. The other focuses on rededication and the holiday's miraculous nature. "We really are the miracle of Hanukkah," Perlmeter said yesterday by cell phone as he shopped for Hanukkah presents. "The miracle is the survival of the Jewish spirit in the face of negative odds and time." Although the nation's 5.2 million Jews no longer face the sort of threat from anti-Semitism they once did, the community is struggling to maintain its numbers in the face of continued assimilation. A recent Jewish population survey showed that those with more Jewish education had a greater connection to the faith. At the JCC in Owings Mills, the Book Shuk aims to cement those connections. It sits in a new study room with polished wooden book shel! ves that hold 2,000 volumes, including Jewish fiction, biographies, cookbooks, books on Jewish thought, Israel and the Holocaust, and such titles as The Joys of Yiddish and All about Hanukkah. Visitors can take up to three books at a time, filling out a form listing their names and personal contacts. The room, which also serves Jewish education classes, is generally open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Overseas reader Most of the books are donations from Jewish families. The program has distributed about 1,000 volumes, including two that have made their way to Kuwait. In an e-mail this month, Col. Holly Doyne, a U.S. military surgeon based in Kuwait, thanked the Book Shuk for a volume on the travels of Israel's late defense minister, Moshe Dayan, and another called Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust. Doyne received them from a friend in Maryland who had picked them up from the Book Shuk. "Thank you for your support of Jewish Education and learning," Doyne! wrote in an e-mail dated Dec. 9. "We receive a lot of reading materia l via the Red Cross Donation, but little of it is related to Jewish Fiction or Non-Fiction." "After I read them, they will likely be on their way to Iraq." Copyright (c) 2003 The Baltimore Sun Company Initiatives Created For
Adult Education Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler is on a mission. "We want to get more adults in Baltimore involved in adult Jewish study, to convince them that it's worth adding an hour a week of Jewish study to their already busy schedules, to let them know what opportunities exist at whatever level, and to convince people that it's a way of enriching their life," said Dr. Adler, the Center for Jewish Education's coordinator of adult education. There are many Jewish learning options available to adults locally, and Dr. Adler is clearly enthusiastic about letting everyone know. "What CJE is doing with adult Jewish learning is new," she said, "and we want to get the word out about [programs in the community.]" The Book Shuk, which opened in June, is the first of four major adult ed initiatives from CJE. Located at the Owings Mills Jewish Community Center, the Book Shuk offers free Jewish books to people in the community — up to three a month. And soon an annex of the free bookstore will open at CJE's new digs, which just opened last month adjacent to the Park Heights JCC. "But the Book Shuk is only a part of something bigger," said Dr. Adler, who contributes to the Baltimore Jewish Times' weekly Torah portion column. "Basically what we're trying to do is make it as easy as possible for people to get the information they need to make a choice about what they're going to study, where, how ..." CJE also has made progress on its other initiatives, including a Web site launched last October, www.jewishlearningconnection.org, which lists 70 different adult education programs in the Jewish community with contact information and a description. "There are also links to online learning for people who can't get to a class and an opportunity to sign up for our free electronic newsletter, which we'd really like to encourage people to do," said Dr. Adler. "We also recommend Jewish books and recommend other Web sites they can look at for more Jewish information." In addition, the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore is set to introduce its comprehensive community calendar in February. The new calendar will have specific information about events happening across the community, searchable by date and topic, including adult learning. The third component, which CJE hopes to get under way next fall, is the "Power of an Hour" campaign, asking Jews in the community to sign up to commit an hour a week to Jewish study, with raffles and other incentives for those who participate. "We want to celebrate the people who are already studying, and give people who aren't already studying a reason to start," said Dr. Adler. The final element in the four-pronged plan is for CJE to develop a network of people who teach adults because, Dr. Adler said, "Most people who do adult education do a million other things. ... People who teach adults tend not to use other people who teach adults as colleagues." As a first initiative toward this effort, CJE is planning a mini-conference for adult educators March 15 to look at issues of adults as learners, specifically in a Jewish context. The event will feature a national expert on adult Jewish learning, as well as sessions about topics such as: the difference between how adults and children learn, using storytelling in an adult classroom and a presentation on how adult educators can use the CJE as a resource. "What I mostly want to communicate is that overall, adult Jewish learning is a source of incredible intellectual and spiritual richness," said Dr. Adler, "and it's exciting for me to be involved in helping people connect to adult Jewish learning options." |