The Book of Life

Shamash Night is the brainchild of author Erica Perl, whose book The Ninth Night of Hanukkah will be published in 2020. Her synagogue, Temple Micah in Washington DC, is holding the first ever Shamash Night celebration, and they explain it this way: " It is a community celebration of helpers and helping. It takes place on the “ninth night” of Hanukkah because the shamash candle spends the entire holiday helping its neighbors in the menorah. We’ll gather to give thanks to the shamash candle, and to all the helpers in our lives." What a beautiful idea this is! Personally, it's exactly what I needed to hear as we come to the close of the most violent Hanukkah of my lifetime, after multiple attacks on Jews in the New York and New Jersey area, and after a friend emailed me this morning with a photo of her children's elementary school outside Chicago with a swastika freshly spray painted on its bricks. Hanukkah commemorates the Rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerus

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE PRINT BOOK      🕮    ANNOUNCING: The World Premiere of the audiobook version of Hanukkah with Noshy Boy & Friends by Anne-Marie Asner, voiced by Anne-Marie Asner and Ed Asner (yes, that Ed Asner!), on The Book of Life Podcast! Plus, we've got an interview with Anne-Marie about the story's creation! Noshy Boy, Schmutzy Girl, Kvetchy Boy, and their other friends are characters in a series from Matzah Ball Books , which shares Yiddish vocabulary and culture with young children through humor. For all you Yiddish-lovers out there, this is just the beginning of a mechaye for you: in January we will have an episode called A Bisl Yiddish , in which we'll hear from authors Sue Macy ( The Book Rescuer ), Debbie Levy ( Yiddish Saves the Day ) and Valerie Estelle Frankel ( Chelm for the Holidays ) about their Yiddish-related stories. Watch this space! CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT       🕮    On The Book of Life, we talk a lot about Jewish kidlit. But where do you go to find Jewish children's books? In this episode, Marjorie Ingall joins me to talk about how to discover and how to access the best Jewish kidlit. Marjorie is a columnist at Tablet Magazine and is well-known for her year-end "best of Jewish kidlit" lists, and she's the author of Mamaleh Knows Best : What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children , which was featured on The Book of Life in April 2017 . Marjorie Ingall Resources mentioned in this episode, in order of appearance:  Podcast: Kidlit These Days, Diversity-Focused Publishing episode Blog: Jewish Books for Children (Barbara Bietz) Blog: The Whole Megillah (Barbara Krasner) Podcast: The Kiddush Book Club Website: Kveller Award: Sydney Taylor Book Award (Association of Jewish Libraries) Award: The National Jewi