United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival 2020–2021*
*events shown only through December 16
All events are open to the community with RSVP or tickets required and will take place virtually until further notice.
For more information about the Festival, to register, sponsor, or volunteer, contact Patty Shelanski at 757-452-3184 or Pshelanski@ujft.org or jewishva.org.
To register for events, go to Jewishva.org/bookfest
LATKEPALOOZA!
The Ninth Night of Hanukkah
with author Erica Perl
Tuesday, December 15, 6 pm, free
Erica Perl will share her new book, The Ninth Night of Hanukkah, and lead everyone in song and movement activities that will get the entire family up and moving.
Perl writes picture books, novels, chapter books, plays, and articles. Her books have received accolades and awards, including the National Jewish Book Award, and the Sydney Taylor Honor. They’ve also landed on State Book Award lists, “Best Books” lists, and library lists. Her author visits—in person and virtual—are energetic, educational, and engaging. This may be because she has a theater background, a law degree, and an ice cream truck driver’s license.
In The Ninth Night of Hanukkah, it’s Hanukkah, and Max and Rachel are excited to light the menorah in their family’s new apartment. But, unfortunately, their Hanukkah box is missing. So now they have no menorah, candles, dreidels, or, well, anything. Luckily, their neighbors help, offering thoughtful and often humorous stand-in items each night. And then, just as Hanukkah is about to end, Max and Rachel, inspired by the shamash (“helper”) candle, have a brilliant idea: they’re going to celebrate the Ninth Night of Hanukkah as a way to say thanks to everyone who’s helped them!
The story is heartwarming and fun, as well as an invitation to join in a beautiful new Hanukkah tradition.
Jewish Community Relations Council
Saving Free Speech…From Itself
with author Thane Rosenbaum
Wednesday, December 16, 12 pm, free
In an era of political correctness, race-baiting, terrorist incitement, the ‘Danish’ cartoons, the shouting down of speakers, and, of course, ‘fake news,’ liberals and conservatives are up in arms both about speech and its excesses, and what the First Amendment means. Speech has been weaponized. Everyone knows it, but no one seems to know how to make sense of the current confusion, and what to do about it.
Thane Rosenbaum’s provocative and compelling book helps make clear this important issue at the heart of society and politics.
Rosenbaum is an essayist, law professor, and author. His articles, reviews, and essays appear frequently in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Haaretz, Huffington Post, and Daily Beast, among other national publications. He serves as the Legal Analyst for CBS News Radio and as a Columnist for the Jewish News Syndicate—JNS.
Jewish Community Relations Council’s Combating Hate Task Force and Holocaust Commission
Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech For All with author Suzanne Nossel
Tuesday, January 12, 12 pm, free
Online trolls and fascist chat groups. Controversies over campus lectures. Cancel culture versus censorship. The daily hazards and debates surrounding free speech dominate headlines and fuel social media storms. In an era where one tweet can launch—or end—a career, and where free speech is often invoked as a principle but rarely understood, learning to maneuver the fast-changing, treacherous landscape of public discourse has never been more urgent.
In Dare To Speak, Suzanne Nossel, a leading voice in support of free expression, delivers a vital, necessary guide to maintaining democratic debate that is open, and free-wheeling, but at the same time respectful of the rich diversity of backgrounds and opinions in a changing country.
Nossel currently serves as the chief executive officer of PEN America, the leading human rights and free expression organization. Nossel is a featured columnist for Foreign Policy Magazine and has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Foreign Affairs, Dissent, Democracy, and other journals.
In Case You Get Hit By A Bus How to Organize Your Life Now for When You’re Not Around Later with authors Abby Schneiderman, Adam Seifer, and Gene Newman
Wednesday, January 13, 7:30 pm, free
Jewish traditions for the end of life involve a wealth of practices, both ritual and practical. Join us for a practical “how-to” with Abby Schneiderman, Adam Seifer, and Gene Newman, authors of In Case You Get Hit By A Bus How to Organize Your Life Now for When You’re Not Around Later.
When Abby Schneiderman’s brother was killed in a head-on collision by an impaired driver, her family was thrust into a position many families experience: they were shocked, heartbroken, and unsure what to do next. While her brother had made some financial arrangements, her family had no idea what he would have wanted and had to make all sorts of stressful (and expensive) decisions in an incredibly short amount of time.
In Case You Get Hit By A Bus is a clearly designed and easy-to-follow program to help even the most disorganized take control of modern life’s burgeoning mess of on- and off-line details. Breaking the job down into three levels, from the most urgent (granting access to passwords, outlining a financial blueprint) to the technical (creating a manual for the systems in your home, understanding legal documents) to the nostalgic (assembling a living memory complete with photos, recipes, and significant stories), this plan takes the anxiety and stress out of putting your life in order and covers just about any contingency, helping you leave the best parting gift you could ever imagine.
Abby Schneiderman is the co-founder and co-CEO of Everplans. Previously, she was principal at Tipping Point Partners, an NYC start-up incubator and was a co-founder of one of the first music social networks. Adam Seifer, co-founder and co-CEO of Everplans, is a co-founder of other social media companies and an inventor on US Patent 6175831—”the social networking patent” now owned by LinkedIn. Gene Newman, the editorial director of Everplans and one of its earliest employees, has spent the past 20 years serving as editor-in-chief/editorial director of Maxim.com, Hachette Filipacchi Digital, and other media and lifestyle properties.
What To Eat When Cookbook: 135+ Deliciously Timed Recipes with author Dr. Michael Roizen
Thursday, January 21, 12 pm, free
You loved him last year, so he’s returning to Tidewater! Michael Roizen, M.D. is the #1 New York Times bestselling author and co-founder and originator of the popular RealAge.com website. He is the Chief Wellness Officer and founding chair of the Wellness Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, as well as Chief Medical Consultant to The Dr. Oz Show.
Roizen returns to Tidewater to share his sequel to What to Eat When, an inspiring cookbook/strategic eating plan that offers 125 delectable recipes geared to longevity, weight loss, and success. Each dish is paired with practical information about the nutrients and benefits of the ingredients, plus expert cooking tips, what portion size to eat when, and helpful substitutions.
Konikoff Center for Learning
Getting Good at Getting Older with author Rabbi Laura Geller
Monday, January 25, 12 pm
Learn@Lunch
The baby boomer generation transformed society in the ‘60s and ‘70s and changed the way the world saw young people. While this generation is no longer young, it is still revolutionary and is now confronting and challenging assumptions about aging by living longer, by being more active than their parents and grandparents, and by simply doing things differently as they age. In the process, boomers are changing the way the world sees older people.
Getting Good at Getting Older is a tour for all those of “a certain age” through the resources and skills needed to navigate the years between maturity (building careers/raising families) and frail old age. It brings humor, warmth, and more than 4,000 years of Jewish experience to the question of how to shape this new stage of life.
Rabbi Laura Geller, Rabbi Emerita of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, twice named one of Newsweek’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America, was named by PBS Next Avenue as one of the 50 2017 Influencers in Aging. Prior to becoming one of the first women selected to lead a major metropolitan synagogue, Rabbi Geller served as the director of Hillel of University of Southern California for 14 years and as the Pacific Southwest Region’s executive director of the American Jewish Congress for four years.