A Premier Event At A Historic Venue
For the first time in the recent history of the Jewish Book Festival, there will be an evening featuring local authors from nearby communities. The multi-author event is the brainchild of Myra Weiss who passed away recently and who will unfortunately not see the fruit of her labor. Myra was a beloved member of the committee that organizes the Jewish Book Festival each year and was, in fact, one of its founding co-chairs some 26 years ago. May her name be for a blessing.
The venue for this program is also relatively new in the rotation of sites co-hosting Jewish Book Festival events. Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park (TBI) sits on the western boundary of the Jewish Federation’s catchment area and is situated in one of the fastest-growing Jewish neighborhoods in the area. It is housed in the oldest operating synagogue building in Los Angeles.
According to Rabbi Alex Weisz, “The community is a lab for the development of ritual skills.” He describes his community as diverse and hands-on, and he says, “It is in the DNA of the community to bring people in.” The congregation has grown in size to 175 families since Rabbi Weisz took to the bimah just over two years ago. His goal was to have 200 families by the end of the High Holidays. Gentrification has brought in a wave of young people to the area, many in the movie industry. Rabbi Weisz describes the move toward gentrification as an awkward balance between the old and the new.
The fragrant aroma of bubbling cholent, a traditional Jewish veggie stew, filled the air of this elderly but vibrant edifice as Rabbi Weisz was preparing for his Tuesday evening Torah Study. For decades, the synagogue operated as a chavurah, a sort of less structured group of people who gathered to form a small community. With the launch of their Religious School in the early 2000s, TBI became revitalized, attracting new people weekly, and it began providing a warm, welcoming home for young Jewish families, which is thriving today. We welcome TBI into the Jewish Book Festival family and look forward to this unique event.
The five authors featured at the Jewish Book Festival event at TBI on Thursday, November 14, include Katya Apekina, Asaf Elia-Shalev, Ari Gold, Arthur Gross Schaefer, and Eric Z. Weintraub.
The subjects of the books range from funny fiction to boldly serious, from the Spanish Inquisition to 1970s Israel. There is truly something for everyone. Katya Apekina’s book Mother Doll tells the story of a young woman and her connection with the ghost of her great-grandmother whose life choices while growing up in the Russian Pale affect the protagonist’s life today. Asaf Elia-Shalev’s book Israel’s Black Panthers takes us behind the scenes of a successful campaign by a young group of Moroccan Jews in Israel in the 1970s to gain equal rights for Mizrachi citizens. Filmmaker Ari Gold’s offering is a book of poems he and his twin brother penned to correspond with their 96-year-old father while isolated during the pandemic. Their novel way of communicating is captured in the book Fathers Verses Sons.
The Rabbi Wore a Collar is Arthur Gross Schaefer’s newest addition to a series of mysteries featuring a rabbi as the detective. In this book, Rabbi Daniels joins a Jesuit group on an investigative trip to Nicaragua in the Sandinista era, where he saves a priest from an evil fate. South of Sepharad by Eric Z. Weintraub, tells the story of a Jewish physician in Granada during the Spanish Inquisition when Jews were ordered to convert or leave Spain. This created a dilemma in his family, resulting in a risky adventure to Morocco.
Each of these local authors will speak about their books available for purchase and signing. To attend this innovative event, please RSVP at jewishsgpv.org/JBF.
Debby Singer is a Jewish Book Festival Committee member and a contributing writer to Jlife Magazine.
