Guess who's finally a Hadassah lady???

It seems only fitting that Poppyseed and I received our Hadassah welcome packets on the first day of Adar for I have always associated the month with this American Jewish women’s volunteer organization, founded by Henrietta Szold in 1912.

It all stems from Megillat Esther Chapter 2, verse 7:

ז וַיְהִי אֹמֵן אֶת-הֲדַסָּה, הִיא אֶסְתֵּר בַּת-דֹּדוֹ–כִּי אֵין לָהּ, אָב וָאֵם; וְהַנַּעֲרָה יְפַת-תֹּאַר, וְטוֹבַת מַרְאֶה, וּבְמוֹת אָבִיהָ וְאִמָּהּ, לְקָחָהּ מָרְדֳּכַי לוֹ לְבַת

7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was of beautiful form and fair to look on; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

During the annual Megillah reading, BossGiraffe would tease the congregation: “And he brought up…Jewish Women International, formerly known as B’nai Brith Women…National Council of Jewish Women…Women of Reform Judaism, formerly known as the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods…And he brought up Ha-DAAAAAAA-ssah.”

Even before I understood the particular missions of each of these women’s organizations, I knew that they had a place in our larger American Jewish story. And now, thanks to BubbeGiraffe, Poppyseed and I are life members of this worthwhile organization.

Finally…I’m a Hadassah lady!!

A week away from home meant a week’s worth of mail! And, as I’ve mentioned, Frume Sarah loves mail. Especially packages.

SO I was particularly thrilled to be handed a box upon my return. I opened this by mistake, confessed PC, I think it’s for you. And out came this =====>

I didn’t order this, said I.
Are you sure? asked he.
I’m sure, said I, perhaps you ordered it for me as a surprise?
Nope, confirmed he.

But here’s the weird thing; I’d pinned it on Pinterest. I meant to buy it…just hadn’t gotten around to it.

Are you sure you didn’t buy it as a surprise? pressed I.
Nope, insisted he.

It turns out that Syl, who follows me on Pinterest, saw that I wanted this and had it sent for my birthday. Somehow, the gift note never made it inside the package.

How much fun it is to receive something you wanted from someone without knowing that they knew what you wanted!

Happy birthday to me!

That’s right. A cookbook.
I bought myself a new cookbook.

Admittedly, it is the first time that I ever received a cookbook as a gift outside of our engagement and wedding. Of course, it’s also the only time that I received a cookbook as a gift that I knew I’d use. Right away. In fact, I tried a tomato crisp that very day as part of my birthday dinner.

Ah-ha — I was reminded that I recently received a no-occasion gift from Mom-&-DadGiraffe that would fall into the general category of ‘cooking.’ Inside the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking is about baking and not cooking. I know so little about such things that I don’t even know if one can correctly refer to a book about baking as a cookbook. One day, please God, I’ll have enough skill confidence to attempt the delicacies in it.

Over last Shabbat, I poured over the pages in order to determine what I wanted to try in the upcoming week. A new dish on Tuesday. One on Thursday. But it was Shabbos dinner that captured my fancy.

• challah
• Za’atar Chicken with prunes, dried apricots, and Spanish olives
• Tzimmes Puffs
• Citrus-Hazelnut Green Beans
• Basmati Rice (white and brown, combined)
• Zebra cookies

A few things to note:

Before we moved to the middle of a corn field, we lived in an area with a considerable Arab (Muslim, Christian, AND Jewish) population and a sizable Israeli population. Za’atar is widely available. Here? Not so much. The za’atar I did {{finally}} locate turned out to be a very anemic version. [And it went directly down the drain upon receipt of a care package from the Ima.]

Tzimmes. We were not a tzimmes family when I was a kid. Or kugel. Sure, they made their seasonally-appropriate, cameo appearances, but were not regulars on the Shabbos rotation. Also, I don’t like sweet unless it’s a dessert. Or during breakfast. Otherwise, I’ve never been a fan of sweet potatoes, candied yams, etc.

And did I mention that for about two months when I was a kid, we had a dog named Tzimmes? A blog post for another time…

Just as I was about to start the green beans, I had what turned out to be a perfectly-timed change-of-heart. And replaced the fancy-shmancy green beans with simple, rather unoriginal, canned French-cut green beans. And it was a very, very smart move.

Because PC and I were the only ones who enjoyed my culinary efforts.

The kids were unimpressed. The chicken looked weird. The tzimmes tasted weird. The basmati rice wasn’t sticky enough.

Later that night, Beernut did the math for me:

For Shabbos, Mom, you can only make one new thing. We look forward to Shabbat dinner all week. And it needs to be stuff we like or else it’s ruined. So three old things and one new thing would be good.

Yael, I really loved the book! Before we get into the artwork, I’d like to step back and ask, first, where did the idea first originate? What was the initial spark that made you think, “a book about Shabbat observance around the world?”

I’ve always loved the thought that on every Shabbat, Jews all over the world are doing the same things: cooking a special meal, setting the Sabbath table, lighting candles, reciting blessings, going to synagogue, reading the weekly Torah portion, eating great food and relaxing. It’s easy to imagine children everywhere who are just like my own daughter growing up with this tradition. I want all children to have an inside peek at what the Sabbath is really like; and I want parents to know how much it supports family life to have a sanctified day of rest.

I’ve written and/or illustrated a number of books that explore the commonality of children all over the world. A Ride on Mother’s Back (1997, written by Emery Bernhard, still in print) shows how babies in many cultures are still carried through daily activities, and what they learn from that unique perspective. While You Are Sleeping: A Lift-the-Flap Book of Time Around the World (2011, just named as a Children’s Book Council Notable Book) shows one moment in time in the lives of children all over the world. These books explore the universality of children’s internal experience as they move through the daily rhythms of their lives. Similarly, Around the World in One Shabbat: Jewish People Celebrate the Sabbath Together invites readers to share in a tradition that marks the cycle of each week. What better window on the Jewish Diaspora and the world?

Which comes first to you: the text or the images? And at what point did the notion of weaving the appropriate blessings through the primary text come to you?

What came to me first was the core concept of the book. Since I am first and foremost a visual artist, images always come next. In this case, the first sketch I did was a challah as a weaving of many household scenes “braided” together. From the oval shape of this drawing came the idea that each illustration would occupy the basic shape of a horizontal oval, symbolizing the world and the cyclical and inclusive nature of Shabbat. Other drawings grew from there. The blessings seemed only natural, as they are the verbal consecration of Shabbat – and children’s knowledge of language and music are indelibly interwoven with their memories and experience.

I really like how you use the different time periods of the Shabbat as a framework. Did that idea come first or did you just write the vignettes and then realize that the framework was inherent in the text itself?

The framework came first. Like the spokes of a wheel, the various stages of the cycle of Shabbat give us opportunities to participate. I began by asking: when does the Sabbath really begin each week? Since observant Jews do not cook during Shabbat, the cycle begins with food shopping and preparation. One visit to the Machane Yehudah in Jerusalem confirms that by Friday morning, something is already different. Torah study for the weekly parshah begins even earlier than that. The benefits and effects of the Sabbath extend beyond the 25-hour cycle of the actual day of rest. Each stop along the way involves children in one way or another.

How did you arrive at the particular locations? I know that you have a passion for African culture and Eastern religions. Did that love influence your choices?

No. My goal in choosing locations was not to show what attracts me personally (which is always changing), but to create a well-rounded portrait of the Diaspora. My editor and I wanted to portray a diverse selection of Jewish cultures. We decided to include some of the largest Jewish communities in the world (France, Germany); some that may be lesser known to American readers (Argentina, Australia, and Morocco); some that are waning (Ethiopia, Russia); some that are growing (Mumbai); and some that are not indigenous at all but composed of international travelers (Thailand). We wanted to include rural scenes (Ethiopia, New England) and city scenes (Montreal, Istanbul); older synagogues (France) and a brand new synagogue that is based on a real one (Germany). Anchoring all this are scenes from Israel which are the “bookends” of the story – and the soil in which the Sabbath tradition finds its roots.

Are there any stories in the book that particularly resonate with you? What about the illustrations? Any favourites?

Yael at the shuk

The scene from New England resonates because I have been to that synagogue, and watched my own daughter reaching for the challah during the Hamotzi blessing there. But the opening scene from the Machane Yehudah is my personal favorite, because I took all my own photographs there specifically for this book. In fact, I have painted myself into that scene, wearing a blue shirt and straw hat while shopping with a friend. The little boy, Avi, in the scene is based on a photo from that friend’s childhood. The teenager, Rachel, is based on an Israeli friend’s daughter. And the grandmother carrying the challah is based on a woman in Jerusalem who became my friend on that trip.

Because you have characters from around the globe, what type of research is involved in making certain that you are portraying them accurately, as far as the illustration goes? And the scenery? And the overall timbre of each scene?

A great deal of research is involved. I use everything from personal photos and notes taken on my own travels, to interviews, library research, images found on the internet, newspapers, websites such as JewishEncyclopedia.com, and museums such as Beit Hatfutsot (the Museum of the Diaspora) in Tel Aviv. Researching contemporary first names in other cultures was especially tricky, as children’s names gain and lose popularity with each generation. I wrote a blog post “What’s In a Name?” just on this subject.

In your YouTube clip, I recognized snippets from all different pages in the book on one page. What motivates you to tackle them in either a particular or random order? Do you wake up and think…”aha! I dreamed the perfect texture and design for the rug in the India scene and I must sketch it immediately”…and then think…”and I am in the mood to work on the hut over in Ethiopia as well?”

I only grouped those illustrations together because they are all “spots” (small, free-floating images) that would be placed later on each page amongst the text. I did not paint these spots at the same time, but rather worked on each one simultaneous with the main scene to which each one belongs. This way, skin coloring, clothing, and details such as fabric, furnishings and architecture in each scene are done all at the same time for consistency.

I normally begin working on each scene by gathering books and photos, then making a desktop collage out of many images from that culture. The collage covers my whole computer screen. This allows me to view many things at once in an effort to establish the overall look or “timbre” of each culture.

How did you arrive at Hinei Mah Tov as the song? Was there something about this particular song? For that matter, does music play any role in your act of creating?

I often listen to the music of a particular culture while working on a illustration from that culture, in order to evoke the right feeling. Somehow, it puts me in the right mood. I chose Hinei Mah Tov because it is so well-known, and represents well one of the main themes of Shabbat. While I was working on that illustration of the little boy singing zemirot in his grandfather’s lap, what came to mind most of all were memories of the sounds of singing coming from residential windows as I walked with a friend through the streets of Jerusalem one Erev Shabbat – mingled with the sounds of clinking silverware and babbling babies – all clearly audible in the striking absence of city traffic. This was a real treat for me. I live in a rural area of the Catskill Mountains of New York, and am more likely to hear an owl hooting or a coyote howling on Erev Shabbat than the sound of human voices.

Thanks so much, Yael, and mazal tov on this achievement!
Around the World in One Shabbat: Jewish People Celebrate the Sabbath Together is available at Jewish Lights. And, like all quality children’s lit, isn’t just for kids.


*The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. Presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) since 1968, the Award encourages the publication and widespread use of quality Judaic literature. Gold medals are presented in three categories: Younger Readers, Older Readers, and Teen Readers. Honor Books are awarded silver medals, and Notable Books are named in each category. Thirty-three outstanding books were selected from among the over one hundred and twenty titles evaluated by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee during 2011. The Committee recommends them for library, classroom, and home use. A complete list of all 2012 Award, Honor, and Notable Books can be found here.

It was hard to create the kind of vibrant Jewish home I wanted for my children when I was so busy bringing Judaism to others.

I couldn’t find the time. I lacked the energy.

So I see it as a blessing that my new “career” affords me the time (actual, mental, emotional) to infuse our home with the Yiddishe ta’am, best translated as ‘Jewish flavour,’ that surrounded me as a child.

Today is Tu BiShvat – the birthday of the trees. A beautiful explanation, written by one of my Rabbis Without Borders colleagues AND a fellow IC alumna, can be found here. Taking inspiration from some of my rebbes (Ima on the Bima and Homeshuling, I’m looking at you!), we enjoyed a Tu BiShvat feast last night. An aromatic meal with herbs and seasonings from the land of Israel, rounded off with a fruity fondue.

Will this one moment be THE ONE that they recall when they are parents themselves? Who knows. For now, PC and I enjoyed watching them discover how yummy fondue can be. And which fruits they liked the most when dipped in chocolate. And catching one of them (any guesses??) eating forkfulls of just chocolate. A sweet way to begin the holiday.

Conversations about the importance of trees and what we can do to protect God’s gifts. Acknowledging the many, many ways our lives are enhanced by nature.

And before school began, a song and hug for a dear friend.

Related articles

• Tu Bishvat 2012: Environmental Jewish Holiday Celebrates Mystical Fruit (huffingtonpost.com)
• Happy Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees (mnn.com)
• Rabbi Yonah Bookstein: Tu Bishvat Seder: A Kabbalistic Celebration Of Trees (huffingtonpost.com)

Squealed with glee when I saw this...

The author of this letter apologized for the lack of fancy stationary. And was worried about spelling errors.

She need not have worried.

When I brought the post into the house this afternoon, I was delighted to discover an envelope that could have come from one of my memory boxes. Written in longhand. With highlighter doodles on the envelope. Simple paper. Filled with tangential lines of the author’s stream of consciousness. A glimpse into her life.

And — a newspaper clipping too!!

Reminded me of the countless letters I’d written (and received) in high school, college, stateside, & abroad. Took me back to an earlier time. An easier time. When communication wasn’t instantaneous. And letters were opened, unfolded, read, refolded. Only to be unfolded and read again.

JaneTheWriter — you made my day.

P.S. You have such lovely penmanship.

Each day this week, you can find interviews around the Jewish blogosphere. Please take the extra time to visit and leave your comments. You’ll thank me later.

********

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be celebrating and showcasing its 2012 gold and silver medalists and a few selected Notables with a Blog Tour, February 5-10, 2012! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on a wide variety of Jewish and kidlit blogs. For those of you who have not yet experienced a Blog Tour, it’s basically a virtual book tour. Instead of going to a library or bookstore to see an author or illustrator speak, you go to a website on or after the advertised date to read an author’s or illustrator’s interview.

Later this spring, we’ll follow up with an episode of Katie Davis’s Brain Burps About Books devoted to the Sydney Taylor Book Award!

Below is the schedule for the 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. Please follow the links to visit the hosting blogs on or after their tour dates, and be sure to leave them plenty of comments!

THE 2012 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD BLOG TOUR

Sydney Taylor Award Winners – Wrap-Up
All winners, all categories
at The Whole Megillah

B-day Gift from Mom & DadGiraffe

During a time of tremendous upheaval, the prophet Isaiah taught:

וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבוֹתָם לְאִתִּים, וַחֲנִיתוֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת–לֹא-יִשָּׂא גוֹי אֶל-גּוֹי חֶרֶב, וְלֹא-יִלְמְדוּ עוֹד מִלְחָמָה
…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Was this meant to be taken literally? Israeli artist, Yaron Bob, seems to think so. Living near the Gaza Strip, Yaron Bob has seen firsthand the destruction caused by the more than twelve thousand Kassam rockets that have been fired onto the Israeli civilian population in southern Israel. Utilizing the rocket metal, Bob turns weapons meant for destruction into symbols of enduring faith and life.

Today I received a lovely necklace, made by Bob, from Mom-&-DadGiraffe for my birthday. [Actually, it arrived some weeks ago and has been sitting in the living room, waiting for my actual birthday to arrive. Don't like to open gifts ahead of time...bad luck.] All day, I kept touching it and marveling at the chutzpah of creating something so lovely out of something so hateful.

For more information, see Rockets into Roses. And thanks, Mom and Dad, for a gift that is both lovely and meaningful.

A Month of Letters 2012

The art of letter writing, feared to be a relic of a slower time, has been embraced recently by a number of well-known authors. This particular challenge, which begins today, has caught national and international attention, much to the excitement of Kowal. Who reported that she nearly “swooned” when asked for an interview by The Guardian.

I, for one, am looking forward to making good use of the many notecards that I have accumulated over the years. Years, I tell you. Not to mention just imagining the excitement that will come when my recipients open their mailboxes to discover that a handwritten note awaits.

Let the games begin!