A program of Jewish LearningWorksJewish Community Library

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One Bay One Book The Periodic Table by Primo Levi Italian Jews in Film and Literature

Music Poetry=Klezmer=Jazz · Jewish Music from Chile

Jerusalem of Gold · Corey Weinstein

New Fiction & Memoirs The House of Twenty Thousand Books

The Mystics of Mile End · Stumbling Stone

History Peter Schrag · Yiddish Paris · The Vilna Ghetto Library

Jews in America Marc Dollinger · Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum

Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma

Language & Poetry Babel in Zion · Saved by Language

Robert Alter on Yehuda Amichai

Art Exhibitions, Family Programs and more…

MAIN LOCATION

All events are free and held in the Main Location unless noted.

1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco between Scott and Pierce, on the campus of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay

phone: 415.567.3327 email: library@jewishlearningworks.org web: www.jewishcommunitylibrary.org

HOURS Sunday 12 pm – 4 pmMonday 10 am – 4 pmTuesday 12 pm – 6 pmWednesday 10 am – 4 pmThursday 12 pm – 8 pmClosed Fridays, Saturdays, and holidays

The Jewish Community LibraryA PROGRAM OF JEWISH LEARNINGWORKS

LIBRARY STAFF

DIRECTOR

Howard Freedmanhfreedman@jewishlearningworks.org415.567.3327 x 705

READER SERVICES LIBRARIAN

Rose Katzrkatz@jewishlearningworks.org415.567.3327 x 706

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Allison J. Greenajgreen@jewishlearningworks.org415.567.3327 x 703

JCCSF BRANCH COORDINATOR

Sidney Keithskeith@jewishlearningworks.org415.292.1254

Programs are made possible by the Friends of the Jewish Community Library. Books for selected programs supplied by Books Inc.

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JCCSF

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PUSHCART AT THE OSHMAN FAMILY JCC, PALO ALTO3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto papushcart@jewishlearningworks.org

Contact the Library for hours.

BRANCHES AT THE JCCSF3200 California Street at Presidio, San Francisco415.292.1254 · skeith@jewishlearningworks.org

In the Swig Family Beit Midrash: Wednesday 11 am – 2 pm Thursday 5 pm – 8 pm

Pushcart in the Pottruck Family Atrium: Monday 5 pm – 8 pm Tuesday 11 am – 2 pm Friday 11 am – 2 pm

PEDESTRIANS: enter at Ellis Street gate; buzz intercom.

DRIVERS: enter free parking garage on Pierce Street, between Eddy and Ellis; buzz intercom for entrance.

MUNI: 38 Geary, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 31 Balboa

Art Exhibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4• Speak Memory Project

Marina Eybelman and Yuliya Levit• Book/Marks by Mark Faigenbaum

Music, Language, and Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . .6• Liora Halperin

Babel in Zion • Susanna Zaraysky

Saved by Language • Poetry = Klezmer = Jazz • Nick Underwood

Yiddish Paris • Merav Rozenblum

Jerusalem of Gold • Robert Alter

The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai • Reuben Zellman

Jewish Music in Today’s Chile • Corey Weinstein

Erased: Babi Yar, the SS, and Me

Memoir and Family History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10• Sasha Abramsky

The House of Twenty Thousand Books • Julie Freestone and Rudi Raab

Stumbling Stone • Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum

As a Mighty Stream • Peter Schrag

When Europe Was a Prison Camp

Friends of the Jewish Community Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12• Donor Recognition• Donation Information

One Bay One Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14• The Periodic Table by Primo Levi

Drop-in Book Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15• The Periodic Table • The Jewish Husband • The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Film Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16• Primo • The Garden of the Finzi-Continis • Facing Windows

New Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17• Sigal Samuel

The Mystics of Mile End

Book Club in a Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18• Marc Dollinger

American Jewish History • Judy Baston

Documenting the Vilna Library • Kenneth Kann

Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma

Family Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20• Hebrew Storytelling

with Koren Zuckerman• Shadow Puppet Show

with Daniel Barash• A Tu B’Shevat Celebration

with Mr. Palindrome

Lehrhaus at the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22• Introduction to the Bay Area

Community Talmud Circle • Introduction to the Zohar

Genealogy Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Calendar of Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

FALL • W INTER 2015/16Contents

PROGRAMS IN THE LIBRARY

ARE FREE

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Book/Marks: What We Leave BehindMark FaigenbaumON DISPLAY: JANUARY 3 – MARCH 13, 2016ARTIST’S RECEPTION: THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 5 – 8 P.M.

REMARKS BY THE ARTIST AT 6:30 P.M.

ook/Marks, an installation by artist Mark Faigenbaum, is inspired by paper ephemera found in books returned or donated to the Jewish Community Library. Forgotten photographs, jotted phone numbers, menus, doodles, recipes, private musings, and notes in Yiddish offer mysterious fragments— clues to the readers who passed through those pages. Using these scraps as a jumping off point, Faigenbaum has created a collage series exploring memory and the markings we leave behind.

Mark Faigenbaum works in mixed media, collage, and printmaking. He is drawn to objects that physically reflect the passage of time: decaying newspapers, old books, damaged photographs, outdated technical drawings, and discarded machine parts. He combines these assorted materials using layering, repetition, and assemblage to create shapes and patterns that move beyond purely physical representation to suggest invisible connections.Mark Faigenbaum earned a BFA in graphic design at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. He has been an artist in residence at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and at Recology and teaches collage at the San Francisco Center for the Book. His work can be viewed at www.industrialmandalas.com.

Speak Memory ProjectMarina Eybelman and Yuliya LevitON DISPLAY: SEPTEMBER 16 – DECEMBER 13, 2015ARTISTS’ RECEPTION: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1 – 3:30 P.M.

REMARKS BY THE ARTISTS AT 1:30 P.M.

elicate connections to distant times and foreign places inform who we are today. The Speak Memory Project was created by photographers Yuliya Levit and Marina Eybelman in order to preserve the memories, images, and stories of their grandparents’ generation. Although their own grandparents, Russian-Jewish WWII survivors, are gone, Speak Memory allows Yuliya and Marina to preserve stories and images for others. Their hope is that their own generation will take pause, reflect on their heritage, and reconnect with their Jewish identity. And they encourage anyone with living grandparents to reach out and listen. To learn more visit www.SpeakMemoryProject.org. Marina Eybelman grew up in Moscow and moved to the United States in 2002. Having studied Jewish literature and the Eastern European Jewish oral tradition in college, she is passionate about preserving oral Jewish history. Inspired by her own child, her art is devoted to creating a connection between past and future generations. Her work can be found at www.waitingforthecake.com.Yuliya Levit was born in Moscow and moved to the United States in 2001. She has always been fascinated by the link between the photo and its story. For the past five years, she has worked as a documentary and lifestyle photographer in New York. Her work can be found at www.yuliyalevit.com.

Elayne Grossbard is guest curator for art exhibitions at the Jewish Community Library.

Exhibitions

Evsey Abelev (Palo Alto) Frida Lavernchuk (San Francisco) Letters Numbers

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Poetry = Klezmer = JazzA musical, poetical presentationTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 7 P.M.

Philip Terman and Jake Marmer, poets and performers who have written for the page and performed for the stage, will be joined by musicians Ben Goldberg (clarinet) and John Schott (guitar) in a unique conversation that interweaves Jewish-infused words and music.Ben Goldberg received his Master of Arts in Composition from Mills College. In 2012, Ben premiered Orphic Machine, a song-cycle with lyrics from the “speculative poetics” of Allen Grossman. Jake Marmer is the author of the poetry collection Jazz Talmud and a companion CD, Hermeneutic Stomp. A doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, he teaches at Kehillah High School in Palo Alto. John Schott’s CDs include In These Great Times, Shuffle Play: Elegies for the Recording Angel, Typical Orchestra and Drunken Songs for Sober Times. He is at work on a book on the late music of John Coltrane. Philip Terman is the author of five books of poetry and performs his poetry with the jazz group The Barkeyville Triangle. He is co-director of The Chautauqua Writers Festival and directs the Bridge Literary Arts Center in Pennsylvania.

Co-sponsored by Lehrhaus Judaica. Co-presented by KlezCalifornia.

Yiddish Paris: Theater and Culture During the Interwar YearsA presentation by Nick UnderwoodSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1:30 P.M.

During the 1920s and 1930s, approximately 150,000 Jews from Eastern and Central Europe came to Paris, transforming themselves into a transnational community with an antifascist identity. Yiddish institutions, such as the Yiddish theater and the Arbeter-Ring Pariz (Workmen’s Circle Paris), aided in the creation of community identity, while the Modern Jewish Culture Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair put Yiddish Paris on the world stage. Nick Underwood will discuss how Yiddish culture in Paris balanced notions of what it was to be Jewish, as well as what it was to be French, during this period of communal and political upheaval in Europe.Nick Underwood teaches in Sonoma State University’s Jewish Studies program and is a PhD candidate in modern European and modern Jewish history at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Program made possible, in part, by Larry Burgheimer. Co-sponsored by the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring of Northern California. Co-presented by Lehrhaus Judaica, KlezCalifornia, Alliance Française, and the Academic Consortium of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

Babel in Zion: Jews, Nationalism, and Language Diversity in Palestine, 1920–1948A presentation by Liora HalperinSUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 4:30 P.M.

The promotion of Hebrew, traditionally the language of liturgy and religious study, as the spoken language of the Jews in pre-State Israel was one of the central accomplishments of the Zionist movement in Palestine. In the years following World War I, however, Jews remained connected to other languages—including Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic, and English—even as the movement actively promoted the use of Hebrew. Drawing from her book, Babel in Zion, Halperin will explore the shifting power relationships of language in an interconnected world.Liora R. Halperin is assistant professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Babel in Zion is the winner of the 2015 Shapiro Award for Best Book in Israel Studies published in 2014.

Co-presented by the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, the Israel Education Initiative (IEI) of Jewish LearningWorks, and the Academic Consortium of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

Saved by LanguageA presentation by Susanna ZarayskyTUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 7 P.M.

Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew raised in Sarajevo, survived the Holocaust because he spoke Ladino, the language of much of the Sephardic diaspora. He escaped from a train taking Yugoslavian Jews to concentration camps and used Ladino to speak with an Italian colonel who brought him to safety. Years later, he used Ladino to communicate with a Spanish-speaking American pilot, leading him to a secure partisan base. Susanna Zaraysky, the co-producer of the documentary Saved by Language, will use clips from the film and examples of Sephardic music to speak about the history of Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) and the state of the language today.Susanna Zaraysky is a language specialist and the author of Language is Music. She met Albahari after the Bosnian war while working on economic development projects in Sarajevo.

Program made possible, in part, by Richard Krieg, in honor of David Medlin, and by Carla Ruff, in memory of Dr. Robert Mendle. Co-presented by Lehrhaus Judaica and JFCS Holocaust Center.

Music, Language, and Poetry

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Jerusalem of GoldA presentation by Merav RozenblumTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 7 P.M.

“Jerusalem of Gold,” composed by Naomi Shemer in 1967, is one of the best known and loved modern Israeli songs. The Six Day War broke out only weeks after it was first performed in Jerusalem, earning it its almost-prophetic status. Rozenblum will play clips of the song and introduce some of the ancient Hebrew texts that Shemer alludes to. She will also discuss how the song was received, which included intense political debate; the plagiarism scandal that erupted years later, when it was charged that Shemer had copied the melody of a Basque folk lullaby; and the special status that the song has in Israel.Merav Rozenblum is an Israeli translator and teaches Hebrew at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay.

Program made possible, in part, by Tricia Hellman Gibbs. Co-sponsored by the Jewish Community High School of the Bay. Co-presented by the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, the Israel Education Initiative (IEI) of Jewish LearningWorks, and Hadassah, San Francisco Chapter.

The Poetry of Yehuda AmichaiA presentation by Robert AlterSUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 1:30 P.M.

One of the major poets of the twentieth century, Yehuda Amichai created remarkably accessible poems, vivid in their evocation of the Israeli landscape and historical predicament. His are among the most moving love poems written in any language — some exuberant, some powerfully erotic, many suffused with sadness over the fate of separation that casts its shadow across love. Assembled by scholar and translator Robert Alter, The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai gathers the best of the existing translations alongside Alter’s expert renderings of previously untranslated poems.Robert Alter is emeritus professor of Hebrew and comparative literature and founding director of the Center for Jewish Studies at UC Berkeley. He has published more than twenty works on the Bible, literary modernism, and contemporary Hebrew literature. In spring 2015, he was awarded two degrees of Doctor Philsophiae Honoris Causa, one from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and one from the University of Haifa.

Program made possible, in part, by Anne Germanacos, and by Jane and Michael Rice. Co-presented by the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, the Israel Education Initiative (IEI) of Jewish LearningWorks, Congregation Beth Sholom, and the Academic Consortium of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

» Music, Language, and Poetry (CONTINUED)

Sounds from the End of the Earth: Jewish Music in Today’s ChileA presentation by Reuben ZellmanTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 7 P.M.

Reuben Zellman spent a year in Santiago, Chile studying music and learning about Jewish life at the southernmost edge of the Americas. He will show video clips of Chilean Jews talking about music, language, and identity; teach some of the Ladino secular songs he learned there; and discuss some of the particular challenges, strengths, and trends of Jewish musical culture in today’s Latin America. He will also reflect on the globalization of Jewish music and its impact on a once very isolated community within a conservative Catholic nation still emerging from the shadow of a long dictatorship.Rabbi Reuben Zellman is the director of music at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley and a candidate for the Master’s of Music in choral conducting at SFSU. He recently spent a year at the Instituto de Música of the Catholic University of Chile, where he studied Renaissance music theory and Latin American musicology, and at the Instituto de Estudios Sefaradíes in Santiago, studying Djudezmo (Ladino) and music of the Sephardic diaspora.

Program made possible, in part, by Rebekah and Chen Sapirstein. Co-presented by Lehrhaus Judaica and Congregations Beth El and Sha’ar Zahav.

Erased: Babi Yar, the SS, and MeA dramatic reading with songs performed by Corey Weinstein with Saralie Pennington and Tom HerzSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1:30 P.M.

Born in 1944, Corey Weinstein grew up in the aftermath of the Holocaust and was shaped by the memories of his community. Erased is built around fifteen original or adapted songs. It tells the story of Weinstein’s journey in 2008 to Babi Yar, on the outskirts of Kiev, and recalls the devastating events of 1941 in the wake of the murderous Einsatzgruppen assaults. The play ends in the present with Weinstein’s personal resolution of these tragic events.Corey Weinstein is a songwriter and clarinet player. He has published two CDs of music largely inspired by the klezmer and Yiddish stage musical traditions and for the last decade has led the klezmer band Umzist. Saralie Pennington and Tom Herz have sung with the San Francisco Jewish Folk Chorus and in other venues in the Bay Area.

Co-presented by KlezCalifornia, JFCS Holocaust Center, West Bay Chavurah, and Congregations Or Shalom, B’nai Emunah, and Beth Israel Judea.

Performance in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 1.27.16

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The House of Twenty Thousand BooksA presentation by Sasha AbramskySUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1:30 P.M.

The House of Twenty Thousand Books tells the story of Chimen Abramsky, born in 1916 near Minsk, an extraordinary polymath and bibliophile who amassed a vast collection of socialist literature and Jewish history. For more than fifty years, Chimen and his wife, Miriam, hosted epic gatherings in their London home that brought together many of the age’s greatest thinkers.

Journalist Sasha Abramsky re-creates a lost world, bringing to life the people, the books, and the ideas that filled his grandparents’ house, from gatherings that included Eric Hobsbawm and Isaiah Berlin to books with Marx’s handwritten notes and a first edition of Descartes’s Meditations.Sasha Abramsky was born in England and attended Balliol College, Oxford. His most recent book, The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Lives, was listed by The New York Times as among the one hundred notable books of 2013. Abramsky is a Senior Fellow at Demos think tank and teaches writing at UC Davis.

Program made possible, in part, by Judy Baston. Co-presented by the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society and the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring of Northern California.

Stumbling Stone: A NovelA presentation by Julie Freestone & Rudi RaabSUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1:30 P.M.

Julie Freestone, a former East Bay journalist, was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrant parents. Rudi Raab, a retired City of Berkeley police officer and Medieval German scholar, was born in Germany to a high-ranking Nazi eight days after the end of World War II. They met through an accident of fate when Julie interviewed Rudi while reporting a story. Life partners for more than twenty years, they wrote Stumbling Stone as a work of fiction inspired by their own real-life histories. Part romance and part mystery, the novel explores the tangled legacy of Nazism and the Holocaust and bridges the gaps the couple found in the historical record. It also serves as a literary memorial to one German who refused to adhere to the Nazi party line and paid dearly.Co-presented by JFCS Holocaust Center, Goethe-Institut San Francisco, and Hadassah, San Francisco Chapter.

As a Mighty Stream: The Life of an American RabbiA presentation by Rabbi H. David TeitelbaumSUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2 P.M.

Rabbi Herbert David Teitelbaum grew up in San Francisco’s Western Addition, the son of Yiddish-speaking immigrants. Immersed in Jewish culture, religion, and tradition, he became a rabbi, serving as an army chaplain during the Korean War. His postings to the South during his seminary days sparked his anger at the Jim Crow system; he joined Martin Luther King, Jr. in the struggle for civil rights in Selma, Alabama in 1965. In 1976, he travelled to the USSR to assist Soviet Jews and support refuseniks. Rabbi Teitelbaum’s new memoir, As a Mighty Stream: The Life of an American Rabbi, chronicles his full and active life in service to the Jewish community.Rabbi H. David Teitelbaum was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City in 1951. Having served Congregation Beth Jacob in Redwood City for thirty-eight years, he is now rabbi emeritus. After retiring, Rabbi Teitelbaum spent ten years as executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California.

Program made possible, in part, by Marilyn Dobbs Higuera. Co-presented by Lehrhaus Judaica. Co-presented by the Board of Rabbis of Northern California and Lehrhaus Judaica.

When Europe Was a Prison Camp: Father and Son Memoirs, 1940–1941 A presentation by Peter SchragSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1:30 P.M.

In a compelling approach to storytelling, this book weaves together two accounts of a family’s escape from occupied Europe. The first is a memoir written by the father, Otto, in 1941; the other was begun by the son more than forty years later. Peter and his mother escaped from Belgium before the roundup of Jews began; Otto was interned in southern France, but escaped before the start of massive deportations to death camps.Otto Schrag (1902–1971) was among the last Jews to get a PhD from Heidelberg University before the War. In 1935, he fled Germany for Brussels, where he was arrested as an enemy alien following the German invasion. He went on to write four novels.

Peter Schrag is a journalist and the author of Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s Future and Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America, among other books. A former executive editor of Saturday Review and editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee, he has written for major publications.

Co-presented by JFCS Holocaust Center.

Memoir and Family History

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Friends of the JCL

Contributions to the Friends of the Jewish Community Library are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

$1000+ FIRST READERS LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

AnonymousJudy BastonLawrence BurgheimerBruce BurnamChaim Schwartz FoundationThe Contemporary Jewish Museum Book GroupMarc & Marci DollingerLarry & Helene EdelmanNancy FreedmanDonald & Jane FriendAnne GermanacosTricia Hellman GibbsAllison J. GreenMarilyn Dobbs HigueraRichard KriegJane & Michael RiceCarla RuffRebekah & Chen SapirsteinSan Francisco Humanities, Inc.David Zebker

$500 TO $999

Susanne Stolzenberg & Bernard BauerBNY Mellon Community PartnershipDr. Sandra N. CohenSusan Lyon & Howard FreedmanPatrick Margolit & Jonathan SchwartzSam Thal Myrna & Bill VidorBurton WhiteNorman & Lu Zilber

$250 TO $499

Rhonda L. BennonEugene Lewis BergLoren J. BialikEllen & Herb BrosbeGale Mondry & Bruce CohenRobert Herman & Susie ColiverPhilip & Elayne DauberLinda & Eli FrankArthur & Miriam GaussPhil GoldsteinFrances Hoeffel

Rose KatzBarbara & Ron KaufmanAndrea Freedman & Boris KhersonskiMirka KnasterDrs. Betty Miller & Marvin KolotkinBonnie & Martin LindauerJoyce Newstat & Susan LowenbergAdele Dorison & David J. NeumanErnest & Eva NewbrunDrs. Phillip Gordon & Philippa NewfieldEsther NicholRichard & Martha PastcanBarbara & Richard RosenbergAndy Muchin & Laura RosenbergAllen & Cindy RubySF Bay Area Jewish Genealogical SocietyNorman & Adrienne SchlossbergAlexandra Seros

Rabbi Judy ShanksMitchell & Harriet SollodGerald SpindelJoyce B.TalalCorey WeinsteinAvner YonaiAlexey ZelditchMike Zimmerman

$100 TO $249

Pierre & Yvette AdidaFlorence AlbertsCarol AllenSusan AmdurIsabel AuerbachAnatoly Leventon & Galina AverinaZachary BakerYana BalyasnyMurray & Sheila BaumgartenHelen & Robert BergMarsha Lee & Norman BerkmanRay K. BernsteinDoris BlochSusan BreallJethro Busch

Elaine D. CahnDiane J. CallmanHuguette CarletonJames CarlsonKay ChurgelRobert Gutterman & Paul CohenBarbara Cohrssen-PowellCongregation Ner TamidCongregation Rodef SholomBarry CusickHelen DavisBernard & Ruth DeHovitzJanice DownMadelaine EatonRhona Edelbaum SloanFern EisenbergDavid S. FankushenAlex FeldmanNewman FisherDr. Steven & Jennifer ForemanGeorge & Diane FrankensteinGail FreedmanSvetlana Friedland

Ernest J. & Kathleen FriedlanderMarvin & Lee FriedmanBeth GalletoEugene GarfinkleBart GershbeinBooker Holton & Elaine GerstlerDavid Berry & Mary Ann GoldsteinLeo Gulko & Helen GoodmanBettye & Ramon GreenRochelle Alpert & Steven GreenwaldJohn Theede & Gail GrynbaumRoger L. HallPaul & Judith HeimMary HeldmanRudy & Stephanie HoffmanJeffrey HollandMichael HultonLarry & Jonell JacobsonDan & Lyn JacobyAndrew & Susan JokelsonEmanuel & Ahuva Jolish

Laurel Rest & Bill KedemMaxwell & Terry KeithAlan Michels & Laureen KimAllyce KimerlingEmil KnopfKaren KoenigMidge KretchmerRichard & Randy LavinghouseJack LeibmanEmily LeiderEvelyn LevinMarian LiebowMarc LipschutzMark LissMartin LyonRuth A. MaginnisDr. Howard & Siesel MaibachRachel McClungBernard MeyersonDavid Kremer & Marla MillerJacqueline Shelton-Miller & Craig MillerMichael & Jane MillerInara Morgenstern

Lawrence & Judith NeimarkAlexander & Alexandra NemirovskyMiriam OferStephen & Laura OlsonLes & Linda PlackAlexander & Alla PolyakPhyllis PressKatina & Leonard PriceHarriet RafterNaomi RichenHerbert RosenRuth RosenblattJudah & Ruth RosenwaldSheree & Ron RothSylvia SabelLola & David SaferMurray & Marcia SchneiderJohn W. SchulzJonathan SeagleMyron & Janis SeemanSpencer SeidmanEdith SerosShira & Bill Shore

Sol SilverRalph & Mira SinickAlan SmithMarcia SofferJanet SollodEric & Robyn StoneJuliette Hirt & Joel StreickerAlex Ingersoll & Martin TannenbaumDr. Paul & Dorothy WachterMarilyn WacksStephen WaldmanMaurice Kamins & Helaine WeinsteinRuth WeisbergerStan & Elaine WeissLinda & George WertheimElizabeth Ratte & Leah WolfBernard ZimmermanJane ZonesArta Zygielbaum

and many more Friends, too numerous to list here!

Your support makes our programs possible! Thank you to the Friends of the Jewish Community Library 5775 (2014 – 2015).

“ Loving books and study above all, I adore the Library as my personal sanctuary, where I can indulge my version of being Jewish. A kind of sacred space. The Library is where I am Jewish. And always happy.” — library patron

We would love to add your name to the list for 2015–2016!Your donation will help the Library expand the collection and continue our Jewish cultural programming, allowing the community to engage with Jewish thought, history, and culture, and keeping programs and services FREE.

Please use attached envelope for your contribution. You may also call during Library hours at 415.567.3327 x 703, or make a donation at www.friendsofthejcl.org.

Contributions to the Friends of the Jewish Community Library are tax-deductible.

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One Bay One Book

RELATED PROGRAMS

DROP-IN BOOK CLUB: THE PERIODIC TABLE AND RELATED BOOKSBook discussions facilitated by Jim Van Buskirk. Pick up a copy of the book at the Library or at a Pushcart branch at the Palo Alto or San Francisco JCC.

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2 P.M.A chemist by profession, Primo Levi uses the elements as a frame for stories of his life in the Jewish community of Turin, his work with the Partisans, and some extraordinary experiences during and after the War.

The Jewish Husband by Lia LeviSUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2 P.M.

Set in 1930s Fascist Rome, this epistolary novel follows the relationship of Sonia, a Catholic woman, and her suitor, Dino, who has concealed that he is Jewish. Dino enters into a compromise with Sonia’s father, denying his heritage in order to secure her hand. The consequences of this bargain escalate for the couple and their extended families as the Fascist regime imposes increasingly restrictive laws on Italian Jews.

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio BassaniSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2 P.M.

Adapted into an award-winning film by Vittorio De Sica, this classic novel chronicles the relationship between the young middle-class narrator and the children of a wealthy, assimilated family in the provincial city of Ferrara. The events take place on the eve of WWII, against the background of the anti-Semitic legislation and policies of the Italian Fascist state.

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO PRESENTS

The Germanacos Lecture: A Tribute to Primo Levi with Adam Kirsch, Robert Hass, Anne Germanacos, Ann Goldstein, and othersMonday, November 2, 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco

A special evening of readings and discussion to celebrate Primo Levi and the publication of his Collected Works (W.W. Norton, September 2015).Tickets available online at bit.ly/jccsflevi or by calling the Box Office at 415.292.1233. Jewish Community Library Friends receive 25% discount by using the code JCL10 when purchasing tickets. No order fee for tickets purchased at the box office.

One Bay One Book is a yearlong conversation connecting Bay Area readers through shared discussions and events centering around a single book. The 2015–2016 selection, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its publication, is Primo Levi’s beautifully rendered book The Periodic Table.

Defying categorization, The Periodic Table is a pioneering work in its creative approach to memoir. Levi, who was a chemist by profession, used the elements as a

frame for stories of his life in the Jewish community of Turin, his brief career with the Partisans, and his experiences during and after the War. In 2006, the Royal Institution of Great Britain named The Periodic Table the greatest science book ever written.

Primo Levi (1919–1987) was born in Turin and educated as a chemist. Captured shortly after joining the Resistance during World War II, he was eventually sent to Auschwitz. Of the 650 Italian Jews in his transport, Levi was one of twenty who survived the War. His book Is This a Man? (also issued as Survival in Auschwitz), published in 1947 after his return to Turin, was one of the earliest and most influential works to emerge from the Holocaust.

» book groups: consider making The Periodic Table one of your books for discussion. To reduce barriers to participation, a limited number of book sets will be made available free of charge on a first come, first served basis by the Jewish Community Library, through our Book Club in a Box lending program (see page 17).

» organizations & institutions: ask how you can become a community partner.

» information: for resources, book discussions, and additional events, visit onebayonebook.com or contact Allison Green at ajgreen@jewishlearningworks.org or 415.567.3327 x 703

JEWISH LEARNINGWORKS’

One Bay One BookA project of the Jewish Community Library

We invite the community to read The Periodic Table and join in the many Bay Area events to discuss the book, its themes, and the rich heritage of the Italian Jews.

join the conversation!

Primo Levi, 1986

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» One Bay One Book (CONTINUED) New Fiction

The Mystics of Mile EndA presentation by Sigal SamuelWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 7 P.M.

Told in multiple voices, Sigal Samuel’s debut novel, The Mystics of Mile End, follows a family reeling from the sudden death of their mother. In the part-Hasidic, part-hipster Montreal neighborhood of Mile End, eleven-year-old Lev Meyer is discovering that there may be a place for Judaism in his life. As he learns about science in his day school, Lev begins his own study of the Bible’s Tree of Knowledge with neighbor Mr. Katz, who is building his own Tree out of trash. Meanwhile his sister, Samara, is secretly studying for her bat mitzvah with their next-door neighbor, a Holocaust survivor. And their father, a professor of Jewish mysticism who eschews religious observance, struggles with heart problems and challenges to his beliefs. The Mystics of Mile End delves into the heart of Jewish mysticism, faith, and family.Sigal Samuel is a writer and editor for The Jewish Daily Forward and has published fiction and journalism in The Daily Beast, Tablet, and Prairie Fire, among other publications. Her plays have been produced in Montreal, Vancouver, and New York. Samuel earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and lives in Brooklyn.

Program made possible, in part, by Allison Green. Co-presented by Hadassah, San Francisco Chapter.

Everything you need for a great discussion... including the books!We lend your group 12 copies of a book, along with discussion questions and background information. Choose from more than one hundred titles ranging from classics to newly released novels. All at no charge.

NEW: Bring Book Club in a Box to your office! We supply the books and a facilitator.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A COMPLETE LIST OF TITLES

web: www.jewishlearningworks.org/book-club-servicesemail: bookgroups@jewishlearningworks.org phone: 415.567.3327 x 706

Book Club in a Box is made possible by support from the Milton & Sophie Meyer Fund, San Francisco Humanities, Inc., and the Friends of the Jewish Community Library.

Book Club in a Box

Primo THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 7 P.M.

A filmed version of Sir Antony Sher’s astounding one-man show, adapted from Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man. Performing on a spare set with only a few props and music for solo cello, Sher summons the depth of Levi’s humanity and the scientific precision of his powers of observation as he recounts the experience of Auschwitz using only the author’s wrenching, understated prose. 2004, 110 minutes, in English.

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 7 P.M.

In Vittorio De Sica’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Giorgio Bassani’s 1962 novel, the estate of a wealthy Jewish family in Ferrara becomes a haven for a group of young friends as Italy’s racial restrictions in the late 1930s exclude Jews from tennis clubs. Friendships and romantic entanglements develop against the backdrop of rapidly worsening prospects for the town’s Jews. 1970, 94 minutes, in Italian with English subtitles.

Facing Windows THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 7 P.M.

Giovanna, a working-class Roman woman, finds that her endangered marriage only worsens when her husband brings home a confused old man. Her annoyance slowly gives way to curiosity and caring as she embarks on a quest to discover the man’s identity. As the mystery of the man’s past unravels, and as Giovanna discovers that her longing for a handsome neighbor is mutual, she faces her need to make difficult choices about her dead-end life. 2003, 102 minutes, in Italian with English subtitles.

FILM CLASS: ITALIAN JEWS AND WORLD WAR II

In connection with this year’s One Bay One Book selection, we will explore films that relate to the experience of Italian Jews under Fascist and Nazi rule.

Taught by Library Director Howard Freedman. Films will be shown in video projection.

RELATED PROGRAMS

Did you know that the Library has hundreds of films on DVD?Visit the Library or browse the collection online at www.jewishcommunitylibrary.org to find your favorite feature films and documentaries from around the world.

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The Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma: Why Remember?A presentation by Kenneth L. KannSUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1:30 P.M.

What happened to the rich community and culture of the Jewish immigrants who founded the Petaluma chicken ranching community in the early 1900s: their idealistic commitment to agrarian life, their intense shtetl-like community, their fervent socialist and nationalist ideologies, and their rich Yiddish and Hebrew cultural life? How does this story of immigration and assimilation reveal our values and tensions about Jewish life in America today? Twenty years after the publication of his unique work of oral history, Comrades and Chicken Ranchers, Kenneth Kann examines what has been lost and what remains of this rich heritage in the generations that followed.Kenneth Kann is the author of Comrades and Chicken Ranchers: The Story of a California Jewish Community and Joe Rapoport: The Life of a Jewish Radical.

Co-sponsored by the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring of Northern California.

American Jewish History: Exploring the SourcesA presentation by Marc DollingerMONDAY, NOVEMBER 16 7 P.M. RECEPTION / 7:30 P.M. PROGRAM

Historian Marc Dollinger returns to the Jewish Community Library to celebrate the publication of American Jewish History: A Primary Source Reader, which he co-edited with Gary Phillip Zola. This rich collection of documents on American Jewish history ranges from the Colonial period to President Obama’s proclamation of Jewish American Heritage Month in 2013.Marc Dollinger holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University, the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, and the Academic Consortium of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. Co-presented by Lehrhaus Judaica.

History

Documenting the Vilna Ghetto LibraryA presentation by Judy BastonSUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 1:30 P.M.

Vilna—known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania—had a strong cultural tradition that endured even after the Vilna Ghetto was established by the Nazis in 1941. One of the most important cultural institutions in the Ghetto was the Vilna Ghetto Library, with thousands of readers.

When Judy Baston discovered that her three young cousins in the Vilna Ghetto had been on the list of library patrons, she was stunned to realize that the grimness of their daily lives had been relieved by the stories in the books

they read. Further research led her to uncover additional archival documentation: lists of readers, lists of workers at the library, and even a list of those who did not return books. Reports from two Ghetto librarians provide a detailed look at which authors and titles were read by Vilna Ghetto Library patrons.Judy Baston has worked as volunteer staff at the Jewish Community Library for 24 years and coordinates the Library’s monthly genealogy clinic. She is vice president of the Litvak Special Interest Group (LitvakSIG) and is on the board of Jewish Records Indexing-Poland. In July, 2015, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies.

Program made possible, in part, by Marc and Marci Dollinger. Co-presented by the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society, the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring of Northern California, KlezCalifornia, and JFCS Holocaust Center.

“The book unites us with the future; the book unites us with the world.”

— Yitzhak Rudashevski, The Diary of the Vilna Ghetto

opposite page: List of people who did not return books from the Vilna Ghetto Library.

top right: Chart created for the celebration of the 100,000th book to circulate from the Vilna ghetto library shows the number of patrons using the library’s reading room.

bottom right: Library card (cover and inside pages) found in Lithuanian State Central Archive shows books taken out from the Vilna Ghetto Library by Jakob Pogorelski.

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Family Programs

Mr. Palindrome’s You Axed For More Music Show!A Tu B’Shevat CelebrationSUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 10:30 A.M.

No need to pine any longer! What a re-leaf! Mr. Palindrome is coming back to the Jewish Community Library for a Tu B’Shevat performance. Mr. P. will be branching out to perform new repertoire, including the “Backwards Aleph Bet” and much more. Wooden you like to be there? I know yew wouldn’t miss it!

Mr. Palindrome is a children’s songwriter and performer who loves to sing songs that make lots and lots of nonsense. With an unbelievable knack to make you never forget his melodies, Mr. P. sings from both his heart and his toes. Music for kids so catchy, that it’ll make you catch a cold!

Especially appropriate for preschoolers and kindergartners and their families.Natan Kuchar, Mr. Palindrome, recently arrived in San Francisco from Australia, is the music director at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay. To learn more about Mr. Palindrome, visit www.mrpalindrome.com.

An RSVP is appreciated, so we can plan accordingly. Please contact Allison Green at ajgreen@jewishlearningworks.org or at 415.567.3327 x 703.Co-sponsored by the Jewish Community High School of the Bay.

Wake Up! at the Jewish Community Library with the PJ Library®

PROGRAMS IN HEBREW

PROGRAMS IN ENGLISH

Spin Me a Shadow and Tell Me a Tale!A shadow puppet show with Daniel BarashSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 10:30 A.M.

Discover the world of shadow puppetry as we weave a tale about the beauty of giving! Daniel Barash, founding director of

The Shadow Puppet Workshop, will perform his shadow puppet version of a beloved Jewish folktale, “Challahs in the Ark,” a story

of love, family, and lending a helping hand. Children and adults can also make their own shadow puppets, view them behind the shadow screen, and take them home to continue the fun. For more information about Daniel Barash and The Shadow Puppet Workshop, visit www.shadowpuppetworkshop.com.

An RSVP is appreciated, so we can plan accordingly. All ages are welcome! Please contact Allison Green at ajgreen@jewishlearningworks.org or at 415.567.3327 x 703.

These programs will be in Hebrew without translation.

Koren is beloved on the Peninsula for bringing Israeli children’s stories to life at the Oshman Family JCC. Don’t miss this San Francisco opportunity to experience her creativity and have a morning of fun!An RSVP is appreciated, so we can plan accordingly. Please contact Allison Green at ajgreen@jewishlearningworks.org or at 415.567.3327 x 703.

And help us spread the word about this program to Hebrew-speaking families!

Family programs in English are co-sponsored by PJ Library® of San Francisco (www.pjlibrary.org).PJ Library® of San Francisco sends free Jewish books and music monthly to children under the age of 8, and is a program of the Early Childhood Education Initiative of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund with support from generous local funders.

Hebrew Storytelling for Preschoolers with Koren Zuckerman

• Ma’aseh B’Hamisha Balonim Tale of Five Balloons by Miriam Roth

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 11 A.M.

• Ayelet Metayelet Ayelet is Traveling by Rinat Hoffer

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 11 A.M.

Hebrew programs are co-sponsored by the Israeli House of the Consulate General of Israel.

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Calendar of ProgramsPROGRAMS IN THE LIBRARY

ARE FREEART EXHIBITIONS 2015 – 2016Speak Memory Project September 16 - December 13, 2015Mark Faigenbaum January 3 – March 13, 2016

SEPTEMBER 2015Sun 27 1:00 pm LEHRHAUS: Introduction to the Bay Area Talmud Circle

OCTOBER 2015Sun 11 12 noon GENEALOGY: Genealogy ClinicSun 11 1:00 pm LEHRHAUS: Introduction to the Zohar (2 pm public event)Sun 18 1:00 pm ART: Artists’ reception for Speak Memory ProjectSun 18 2:00 pm DROP IN BOOK CLUB: The Periodic Table by Primo LeviSun 18 4:30 pm LANGUAGE: Babel in Zion with Liora HalperinTues 20 7:00 pm LANGUAGE: Saved by Language with Susanna ZarayskyThu 22 7:00 pm MUSIC: Poetry=Klezmer=JazzSun 25 1:30 pm MEMOIR: The House of Twenty Thousand Books with Sasha AbramskyWed 28 7:00 pm NEW FICTION: The Mystics of Mile End with Sigal Samuel

NOVEMBER 2015Sun 1 12 noon GENEALOGY: Genealogy Clinict AT JCC SAN FRANC ISCO

Mon 2 7:00 pm ONE BAY ONE BOOK: JCCSF presents: A Tribute to Primo Levi

Sun 8 11:00 am FAMILY: Hebrew Storytelling with Koren ZuckermanSun 15 10:30 am FAMILY: Shadow Puppet Show with Daniel BarashSun 15 1:30 pm LANGUAGE: Yiddish Paris with Nick UnderwoodMon 16 7:30 pm HISTORY: American Jewish History with Marc Dollinger (reception from 7 pm)

DECEMBER 2015Thu 3 7:00 pm MUSIC: Jerusalem of Gold with Merav RozenblumSun 6 12 noon GENEALOGY: Genealogy ClinicSun 6 2:00 pm DROP IN BOOK CLUB: The Jewish Husband by Lia LeviSun 13 1:30 pm MEMOIR: Stumbling Stone with Julie Freestone and Rudi RaabThu 17 7:00 pm FILM CLASS: Primo

JANUARY 2016Sun 10 11:00 am FAMILY: Hebrew Storytelling with Koren ZuckermanSun 10 12 noon GENEALOGY: Genealogy ClinicSun 10 2:00 pm MEMOIR: As a Mighty Stream with Rabbi H. David TeitelbaumThu 21 5:00 pm ART: Artist’s Reception for Book/MarksThu 21 7:00 pm FILM CLASS: The Garden of the Finzi- ContinisSun 24 10:30 am FAMILY: Celebrate Tu B’Shevat with Mr. PalindromeSun 24 1:30 pm POETRY: The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai with Robert AlterSun 31 1:30 pm HISTORY: Documenting the Vilna Ghetto Library with Judy Baston

FEBRUARY 2016Thu 4 7:00 pm MUSIC: Jewish Music in Today’s Chile with Reuben ZellmanSun 7 12 noon GENEALOGY: Genealogy ClinicSun 7 1:30 pm MUSIC: Erased: Babi Yar, the SS, and Me by Corey WeinsteinSun 21 1:30 pm HISTORY: Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma with Kenneth KannThu 25 7:00 pm FILM CLASS: Facing WindowsSun 28 1:30 pm MEMOIR: When Europe was a Prison Camp with Peter SchragSun 28 2:00 pm DROP IN BOOK CLUB: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani

MARCH 2016Sun 6 12 noon GENEALOGY: Genealogy Clinic

Lehrhaus Judaica’s Introduction to the Bay Area Community Talmud CircleTaught by Rabbi Peretz Wolf-PrusanSUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1 – 2:30 P.M.

Curious about Talmud study? Join us for this introductory program. Registered first-year participants in the Bay Area Community Talmud Circle are encouraged to attend. We will look at the structure of the Talmud and read a foundational text featuring Hillel, Shammai, and the enduring principal of “These and these are the words of God.”Free, but registration is required and space is limited. Please go to www.catalog.lehrhaus.org/course/2015/fall/TC850-JCL.

Lehrhaus Judaica’s Introduction to the ZoharTaught by Daniel MattSUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1 – 3 P.M

In honor of his recently completed epic translation of the first nine volumes of The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Professor Daniel Matt will discuss selections from this groundbreaking work. The first hour is exclusively for students who have registered for the Lehrhaus Philosophy Circle. At 2 p.m., the public is invited to learn a section of the Zohar with Professor Matt.Free, but registration is required and space is limited. Please go to www.catalog.lehrhaus.org/course/2015/fall/T600-JCL.

Lehrhaus Judaica at the JCL

Help with Your Family Tree: Brainstorming with the Mavens

Whether you’re trying to find your great-grandmother’s elusive town or your grandfather’s passenger manifest, take advantage of the Library’s extensive reference

collection and Internet connection to countless searchable databases — all with guidance from a roundtable of experienced genealogists. Bring your materials and your questions to the Library, generally the first Sunday of the month.Roundtable brainstorming session begins promptly at noon. Registration requested, but not required. Call 415.567.3327 x 704.

Genealogy Clinic

ONE SUNDAY PER MONTH, 12 NOON – 2 P.M.

2015: October 11 · November 1 · December 6 2016: January 10 · February 7 · March 6

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