The Charlotte Jewish News - August 2001 - Page 9
Speizman Jewish Library
Recommended Reading
A Walking Tour of the Holy Texts
Walking the Bible, by Bruce
Feiler, William Morrow, New
York,2001
Review by Rabbi Jessica
Spitalnic, Temple Beth El
If you have ever traveled to
Israel with a tour group, you know
that your tour guide will make
quite a dramatic introduction to
the group’s very first visit to the
Kotel, the Western Wall. My hus
band, who for several summers
guided Reform Jewish teenagers
for NFTY (North American
Federation of Temple Youth) in
Israel, would lead the group on a
particularly dramatic build-up to
their first visit to the Western
Wall. His shtick would include a
dramatic retelling of Jewish histo
ry that had led to this exciting
moment, inspirational selections
about the Western Wall, the shar
ing by the teenagers, most visiting
Israel for the first time in their
lives, of the significance of this
moment and the writing of notes
to place in the cracks of the Wall.
At the height of suspense before
one such visit to the Wall, a loud
voice yelled from the back of his
group, “Could you cut the chit
chat and get me to the Kotel?”
It is that tone of anxiousness
that pervades Bruce Feiler’s new
book. Walking the Bible. Feiler, a
writer on secular topics like
clowning and country music, by
trade, felt that since he had left his
Savannah home and childhood
synagogue he had grown up at, he
was more and more removed from
his religious identity. After doing
much research and networking,
Feiler realized what he wanted to
attempt to do. Feiler wanted to lit
erally, as the book’s title suggest,
walk the Bible. Connecting with
the Israeli archeologist Avner
Goren, the two of them set out to
explore both the physical and spir
itual journey laid out in the Five
Books of Moses, the Torah.
Torah is about cycles. We read
through the words of Torah over
the course of the Jewish year and
come to contemplate these works
from different perspectives
througout our lives. As a young
child, Torah is drama with excit
ing stories of adventure. As a bar
or bat mitzvah, Torah becomes the
focus of a ceremony that will pre
pare the thirteen year old for his or
her role as an adult in the Jewish
community. For adults, words of
Torah can be. an affirmation of
faith, a guideline for living and a
continued inspiration for our
belief in God. But what Feiler
does with Torah in Walking the
Bible is special. He takes Torah
and slows it down. He forces him
self and the reader to enter the
minds of the biblical characters, to
walk in the steps that they walked
in and to be truly present in that
relationship between God and
humankind that Torah shows us.
And boy, does he do this in an
engaging way.
Feiler rushes breathlessly from
one biblical location to another, all
the time updating us on where the
site connects us to the Torah text.
A visit to the Dead Sea becomes at
the same time a geology lesson on
the salt formations that have come
to be known as “Lot’s wife” and a
review of the destruction of
Sodom. A visit to the monastery at
St. Catherine’s in the Sinai, the
considered site of the burning
bush, becomes a quirky image as
Feiler remarks on the bush and the
fire extinguisher only a few feet
away.
Feiler and Goren also come
across as a traveling United
Nations. Goren, who was chief
archeologist of the Sinai when
Israel controlled that region, had
made many lasting friendships
and as the two men trace the bibli
cal path they are warmly hosted
by Israelis, Arabs and Christians
alike, often in remote areas of the
Middle East. Feiler spends much
of the books trying to get a
glimpse of the souls of those he
encounters along the journey, but
ultimately, it is his own spiritual
life that he finds nurtured. As he
puts it, he comes to feel that, “It’s
as if the godliness of the land and
the godliness of my being had
fused.”
Walking the Bible serves as a
wonderful review of the biblical
stories, an interesting resource on
the field of bible studies and ulti
mately, when the book is finished,
a great reason to once again read
the original. O
Library Summer Hours
Mondays and Thursdays: 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM
and 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Tuesdays: Closed
Wednesdays and Fridays: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
From the Librarian’s Desk
By Amalia Warshenbrot, Librarian, Speizman Jewish Library
A Note From Amalia and
Cynthia
The Speizman Jewish Library
has a number of books which can
enhance your knowledge of the
Bible and Biblical history and
archaeology. One of our newest
titles is The Bible Unearthed :
Archaeology’s New Vision of
Ancient Israel and the Origin of
the Sacred Texts by Israel
Finkelstein and Neil Silberman.
Rabbi Spitalnic discussed this
year King David: the Real Life of
the Man Who Ruled Israel by
Jonathan Kirsch.
The following is a small sample
of books on the Bible and Biblical
history:
The Zealots of Masada, Story of
a Dig by Moshe Pearlman
Archeology of the Bible by
Magnus Magnusson
Oxford Bible Atlas by Herbert
May
Student’s Atlas of the Bible pub
lished in Israel
Atlas of Bible Lands by Harry
Frank
Bible Lands by Jonathan Tubb
The Bible as History:
Confirmation of the Book of Books
by Werner Keller
Noah’s Flood: the New
Scientific Discoveries About the
Event that Changed History by
William Ryan and Walter Pitman
These are just a few of the titles
we have in our library. During the
last of these hot summer days,
come by the library, pick out a
book, and take it home. Stretch out
in your favorite chair, have a tall
cold glass of tea by your side, and
expand your horizons. ^
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TURN HEADS
We acknowledge
the following
donations to the
Speizman Jewish
Library:
BECKY SHULIMSON
MEMORIAL CHILDRENS
LIBRARY FUND
In memory of Blanche Jaffa by
Meddie Joffe and Larry Gerber.
In memory of the mother of
Mary Gordan by Sue and Mike
Littauer and Philip Brodsky,
Marilee and Joseph Kodsi.
In memory of Arthur Frank by
Trudy Packard.
JcWtA
In honor of Patti Weisman by
Bob Brodsky.
SPEIZMAN LIBRARY FUND
In memory of Ida Wax by Cheri
and Phil Wolff, Laurie and
Andrew, Kelly and Josh.
In appreciation of Linda Hindel
from Kathryn Nystrom.
TULMAN LIBRARY FUND
In honor of the graduation of
Bea Gibbs by Elkie Tulman.
THE CHERYL KATZ MEMO
RIAL TRIBUTE FUND
In memory of the father of Jack
Lash by Ellie and Ron Katz,
Goldie and Ben Weinrib, Jane and
Leon Tigler, Toby and Lewis
Spitzer, Loretta and Murray
Bodner, Beverly and Arthur Tirsun
FRIENDS OF THE SPIEZ-
MAN JEWISH LIBRARY
Temple Israel 5th, 6th and
Katan classes, Linda and John
Babich, Tammy Seigel and Adam
Bernstein, Allison Tobin Clark and
Dennis Clark, Drs. Randy and
Gary DeFilipp, Susan and Jeffery
Edwards, Jacob Frushtick, Ruth
and Alan Goldberg, Patricia and
William Gorelick, Donna and
James Kozlowski, Abbey Leach,
Drs. Kathryn and Jay Levy
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