The Charlotte Jewish News - August 2000 - Page 17
Speizman Jewish Library
From the Librarian’s Desk
liy \inalia Warsln’iihrot, Lihrariaii, Spciznian Ji n isli l.ihrai \
Ubrarif
From Washington
With Love
The Speizman Jewish Library
is a member of The Association of
Jewish Libraries. Each year about
three hundred librarians meet to
bring the librarians in contact with
the latest developments in the con
stantly expanding field of Judaica
librarianship. This year the
Executive Board of The Charlotte
Jewish Federation recognized the
benefit of my attending this con
vention and voted to fully support
my trip to Washington, D.C.
The Association of Jewish
Libraries is comprised of two divi
sions: The Research Division and
the School, Synagogue Center
Division.
The Speizman Jewish Library
is a JCC library center but mostly
serves as a synagogue and school
library so I attended many stimu
lating and valuable sessions and
had the opportunity to network
with librarians in other syna
gogues and community centers in
similar situations.
Each year the convention takes
place at a different location. This
year we were fortunate to be in
Washington, D.C. Staying in the
nation's capital added up to a
unique experience.
TTie opening event took place in
The Holocaust Memorial Museum
followed by a full day at the
Library of Congress — the
world’s largest library — with
incredible librarians. I felt privi
leged to meet librarians whose
knowledge in Jewish studies and
librarianship is remarkable.
The visit at the Library of
Congress was the highlight of this
year’s convention. I had not been
aware of the magnitude of the
Judaica colletion; from ancient
texts to Hebrew books, or mention
of the Jewish people in secular
books obtained by U.S. presidents
and scholars. I was especially
impressed by the delicate work
that*goes into book preservation.
The phrase “People of the Book”
gained new meaning for me.
The attendees had a chance to
meet many authors who use the
Library of Congress for research.
The keynote speaker was Herman
Wouk, whose most recently pub
lished book is The Will to Live On:
This Is Our Heritage, spoke about
writing and the importance of
librarians in his life. The staff of
the Library of Congress has
always been wonderfully helpful
to Mr. Wouk’s work. He also
described trying to impress the
librarians at his local branch of the
New York Public Library in the
Back to School in the
Speizman Jewish Library
By Amalia Warshenbrot,
Librarian
As of Labor Day we will
resume our school hours which
will include Sunday morning,
Wednesday night and Tuesdays
during Temple Israel Religious
School hours. For detailed hours
please call 366-5007.
We have purchased many new
books thanks to generous dona
tions to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Basket fund raiser and we will
also start new programs which
were introduced to me at the
Judaica Librarians’ Convention
(see article on this page.)>
One of our programs which
The Speizman Jewish Library staff, volunteers and users
thanks the following generous individuals for their contri
butions to the library:
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
FUND
Sara and Michael Schreibman
Joan and Sid Sussman
SPEIZMAN LIBRARY FUND
Mazel Tov on the B’not Mitzvah
of Kimberley and Lauren Stem
from Ruth and Alan Goldberg
In honor of Pat Hamer from Liz
Wahls, Michael and David
Weinreb
In honor of Hadas DeGroot from
Ruth and Alan Goldberg
THE CHERYL KATZ MEMO
RIAL LIBRARY FUND
In loving memory of the sister of
Joe Kodsi and the father of
Matthew Luftglass and in memo
ry of Libby Levinson from Ellie
and Ron Katz
In memory of Hy Winokoer from
Ellie and Ron Katz
THE TULMAN LIBRARY
FUND
In loving memory of the father of
Arnold Snitz from Elkie Tulman
“Our Readers Write”
The Case of the Missing Cards By Ruth Zakutinsky
Review By Andrew Parker
This brok is mainly written for
grades 3 through 5 but anyone
would enjoy reading it or having it
read to them.
The book is a mystery.
The setting of this book is
mainly at Yosef’s house about the
time of Sukkot during current
times. We do not know what city
he lives in which made me imag
ine it could be in my city.
The main idea of this book is
that Yosef is a young Jewish boy
who has a problem. Yosef’s base
ball cards have been stolen and he
and his friend try to find out who
stole the cards. The author gives
us a character that we can relate to
and understand. She puts in famil
iar words and activities that all
Jewish children can relate to like
SuJckot and Shabbat. I think she
wrote this story for Jewish chil
dren.
This book is good, but I think
the book needs to be more excit
ing. I wish the mystery was more
complicated and had several sus
pects. We knew who took the
cards very soon and most of the
story was just about proving who
took them.
I think this book was unusual
because people don’t write about
Jewish kids. The story included
words about Sukkot, Shabbat, and
the children had names like Yosef,
Judah, and Yoni.
The main character of this book
was Yosef, a Jewish boy who did
not like to get in trouble. 1 like him
and could relate to him because
his life was a lot like mine. I like
to collect baseball cards and I
don’t like to get into trouble.
This book had no violence, bad
language, or bad events.
The book was special because
not many books are written with a
Jewish boy as the main character.
It includes Jewish holidays, cus
toms and worship (Shabbat).
The book is illustrated but with
only two illustrations — pencil
sketches of Yosef and Yosef and
the bully. The sketches added very
little to the story and could have
been left out. I like to use my
imagination and imagine that the
character might look like me or
one of my friends. ^
Bronx when he was young by tak
ing out the biggest books he could
manage to carry. Other authors
were Allegra Goodman (whose
book is Temple Israel’s Book Club
choice for September), Cynthia
Ozick, Elie Wiesel and many more
Israeli and American Jewish writ
ers.
The highlight of Tuesday
evening’s Gala Banquet was the
presentation of the Association’s
annual awards for juvenile and
adult books. The Sydney Taylor
Award for Younger Readers, The
Sydney Taylor Award for Older
Readers, The Association of
Jewish Libraries Reference Book
Award, and The Association of
Jewish Libraries’ Bibliography
Award. At the convention’s end on
Wednesday a tour visited the
B’nai Brith Museum.
I came back with renewed ener
gy and many new ideas to use in
our religious schools. I added
many titles to my wish list. I have
learned about cataloging genealo
gy, Jewish music, children’s
books, and of course The Internet.
I thank the Chairperson of the
Library Committee, Roz Cooper,
and Federation liaison Ruth
Goldberg, who recognized the
value of my professional growth.
Thanks to the Federation Board
for their generous support and to
Marvin Goldberg, whose belief in
education is expressed in so many
ways. The convention has
enhanced my skills and knowl
edge, thereby directly benefiting
all library programs. >>
continues from last year is Our
Readers Write. Last year First
Prize winner was Andrew Parker,
a fifth grader from Temple Beth El
(see his essay on this page). Each
month, we’ll publish one winning
essay. Please look for the out
standing essays of Sheina Taub
and Abigail Bennett in the upcom
ing CJN issues.
The Speizman Jewish Library
is open to the entire Jewish com
munity at no cost. Kt
HELENE M. NATHANSON, MHDL
is pleased to announce
the formation of a new adoption agency
NATHANSON ADOPTION SERVICES, INC.
a North Carolina licensed child placing agency.
Offering homestudy (preplacement assessment)
services, postplacement supervision, and completion
of Court Reports for North Carolina adoptions
Nathanson Adoption Services, Inc.
6060 J.A. Jones Drive • Charlotte, NC 28287
(704) 553-9506
“Helping to Create Families Through Adoption”
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