The Charlotte Jewish News -February 2002 - Page 10
Speizman Jewish Library
L’Dor V’Dor (From Generation to Generation)
By Amalia Warshenbrot, Librarian, Speizman Jewish Library
What to Do When Your Library Book is
Overdue
OVERDUES
What do I do? What do I do?
This libraray book is 42
Years overdue.
I admith that it’s mine
But I can’t pay the fine —
Should I turn it in
Or hide it again?
What do I do? What do I do?
In this poem by Shel Silverstein
(copyright I98J by Evil Eye Music
Inc. used by permission of
HarperCollins Publishers), our
“hero” knows that he has bor
rowed this book from the library.
He can’t pay the fine, so he hides
the book and the overdue fines
keep growing. I am sure that 42
years ago, overdue fines were less
than five cents a day. Now in the
Public Library of Charlotte and in
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Douatious to Library
Fuuds iu December 2001
the Speizman Jewish Library the
fines were gradually raised and
are now 20 cents a day.
Can you calculate our guy’s
fine? I can’t, but I can explain to
you our reasons for charging over
due fines.
We are here to serve the entire
community. Borrowing privileges
are three weeks with one renewal
for an additional three weeks.
Most adults finish a book in less
than six weeks. People who bor
row a book for research can sum
marize the information or make
copies of some pages.
All library users need to respect
other users. If someone requests a
book that is checked-out, we tell
them when the book is due back.
At that time they expect to get the
book. Many times a popular book
is on demand. Many community
members wish to read the book of
a guest speaker before he/she
comes or borrow a book for a cur
rent event.
For example, before Chanukah,
parents who volunteer to talk
about the holiday in a public
school need a simple children’s
book that explains the historical
background and our traditions.
Children’s books are due one
week after check-out because a
pre-school child or his parent
reads the whole book in one night.
While we are trying to order
multiple copies of such books, we
know that after Chanukah there
will be very limited demand for
the book, or a month after the
guest speaker event, only a few
will ask for his/her book.
In order to give the entire com
munity the best service possible,
we are asking our users to return
the book by the due date that we
stamp on a form in the book.
We also realize that if a child
does not return the book on time
he usually loses it and it starts the
story of Shel Silverstein's hero. In
the poem he finds it but hides it
because he can’t pay the fine.
By the end of the year 2001, the
Public Library of Charlotte
offered one week to forgive fines.
In a conversation with Carol
Myers, chief of Public Services of
the Public Library, I found out that
there were two main reasons for
this one time gesture. The Public
Library director hopes that out of
print and other valuable books
will be returned to circulation.
They also hope that young people
who are unable to boiTow books
because their fines exceeded the
(Continued on page 18)
BECKY SHULIMSON
TRIBUTE FUND
In honor of the birth of the son
of Mamie and Kenny Abramowitz
from Sue Littauer.
In loving memory of Sherwin
Palmer, father of Janice Bernstein,
from Sue and Michael Littauer.
FRIENDS OF THE
SPEIZMAN JEWISH
LIBRARY
In honor of the engagement of
Barry Speizman and Heather from
Aileen and Sam Polk.
DECEMBER DONATIONS TO
THE FRIENDS OF THE
SPEIZMAN JEWISH
LIBRARY
Mr. and Mrs. Shai
Richardson, Ms. Cynthia
Chapman, Ginny Rosenberg
and Bishop Cheen Mr. and
Mrs. Steven Hockfield, Mr.
and Mrs. Abe Banner, Ms Linda
MacDonald, The Rubin Family,
Mr. and Mrs. H. Michael
Schreibman, Mr. and Mrs. Donald
Jacobs, The Leon Levine
Foundation, The Marc and Mattye
Silverman Family Foundation,
Mr. and Mrs. Jay Goldstein, Mr.
and Mrs. Alan Katz, Mr. and Mrs.
Sam Polk, Dr. and Mrs. Daniel
Bernstein, Howard Widis and
Kathy Consorte, The Charlotte
Jewish Preschool, Mr. and Mrs.
Paul Orland, Mr. and Mrs. Shelton
Gorelick, Ms. Evelyn Raflo, Dr.
Susan Cernyak-Spatz,,
Mr. and Mrs. Ron
Weiner, Mr. and Mrs.
Samuel Bernstein, Seth
Bernanke and Ellen
Goldberg, Mr. and Mrs.
Sam Lebowitz, Mr. Brett
Gelb. 0
Best-Selling Author Devotes
Energy to Unexpected
Project — A Mikvah
By Julie Wiener
New York (JTA) ~ With her
novel “The Red Tent” in its 44th
week on the New York Times
bestseller list, one might expect
Anita Diamant to be basking in the
glow of literary and financial suc
cess.
Instead, the 50-year-old Boston
author is using much of her new
found clout to build a mikvah, or
ritual bath, in the Boston area.
Called Mayyim Hayyim,
Hebrew for “living waters,” the $3
million mikvah is scheduled to
break ground this summer and to
open in 2003. Half the money will
go for the building, the other half
to endow programming.
The pluralistic mikvah —
which will include not just baths
but an educational center and
reception room — is part of what
Diamant calls a “mikvah boom”
among liberal Jews.
Until recently, mikva’ot were
used primarily by Orthodox
Jewish women, who are required
to avoid sexual contact with their
husbands while they are menstru
ating, and end the period of sepa
ration by going to the mikvah.
And mikva’ot have had nega
tive associations for liberal Jews.
Feminists in particular cringed
at the term for the monthly mikvah
ritual — taharat ha’mishpachah,
or family purity — which they felt
implied that menstruating women
were unclean.
But as mikvah immersion
becomes a standard part of
Reform conversions, growing
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
The Speizman Jewish Library is dire need of
volunteers for an hour or two per week.
Please call Amalia at 704-944-6763 during
library hours.
Sundays: 9:00 AM -1:00 PM
Mondays: 9:00 AM -1:00 PM and 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM
Biesdays: 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM and 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM
Wednesdays: Evenings only, 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Thursdays: 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM and 2:30 PM - 5:15PM
Fridays, Saturdays: CLOSED
The hours change during schools vacations.
numbers of Jews adopt or convert
non-Jewish children, and new
healing rituals are developed that
use the mikvah for healing from
rape and miscarriages, the baths
are gaining new attention and
acceptance.
“We’re living in a time when,
for the most part, liberal Jews are
less defensive about old practices
and are willing to re-examine,
rethink and reclaim,” Diamant
says.
In the past decade, at least ten
Conservative synagogues and sev
eral Reform temples in North
America have built mikva’ot.
Sensing the change, some
Orthodox groups — like Chabad
Lubavitch — have started promot
ing monthly mikvah use more
actively to non-Orthodox Jewish
women.
A new Chabad-sponsored Web
site (www.mikvah.org) displays
photos of luxurious-looking mik
va’ot and describes the monthly
ritual as a way for a “woman to
integrate her spiritual nature with
her physical being, to connect
with Jewish women throughout
the world and across time, and to
move closer to God.”
It is perhaps not surprising that
Diamant, who has introduced a
whole array of Jewish traditions to
readers and whose best-seller
chrohTcles the tfe*cfitions and ritu
als of biblical women, would take
the lead promoting a ritual site
associated with women.
“The Red Tent,” which is nar
rated from the perspective of the
Biblical character Dinah, was
described by one reviewer as
“what the Bible would be like if it
had been written by women.”
It became a sleeper success,
popular with many book clubs. It
also has been optioned for a
movie.
Until “The Red Tent.” Diamant
had been known primarily as a
journalist and as author of “The
New Jewish Wedding,” “The New
Jewish Baby Book” and other
books on tradition and ritual.
But Diamant says her passion
for the mikvah project had less to
do with her books than with
her experiences accompanying
(Continued on page 12}