While cities such as Detroit and St. Louis were holding major Jewish book festivals year after year, drawing celebrity authors such as Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, observers here asked, Why isn’t there a Jewish book festival in Los Angeles?
Seville Porush and her colleagues at the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles decided to change all that last year, and proceeded to create a book festival from scratch.
They formed a committee, polled existing festival directors and decided what they didn’t want in a book fair. “Many festivals emphasized selling books, while we wanted to emphasize transmitting Jewish culture,” Porush says. She was rewarded when more than 5,000 participants turned out to last year’s fair.
This year, “People of the Book: The Jewish Book Festival” is back, Nov. 14-22, bigger and better than before. Porush and the JCCs have put together a veritable literary feast.
You can catch Rich Cohen talking about his book, “Tough Jews,” which outlines the personalities and bloody deeds of criminals such as Meyer Lansky.
You can hear Thomas Cahill speaking of his tome, “The Gifts of the Jews”; Rabbi Naomi Levy on “To Begin Again,” her book about faith and loss; and Rochelle Krich on her Orthodox potboiler, “Fertile Ground,” a tale of murder inside a posh Brentwood fertility clinic.
Also among the some 40 speakers will be talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Rabbi Stewart Vogel, co-authors of “The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God’s Laws in Everyday Life.”
There will be a family storytelling day at My Jewish Discovery Place Children’s Museum and even a screening of an “X Files” episode involving a golem, with author Howard Gordon on hand for the Q and A.
One hub of the festival will be the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus in West Hills, where the lobby is being transformed into a bookstore, with hundreds of titles provided by Barnes & Noble. Watercolor landscapes of the Galilee and the Negev, Dorothy Rice’s travelogue of her trip to Israel (the artist will be on hand for a book signing Nov. 15), will be on display in the boardroom. Also on Nov. 15, the West Valley JCC will house CyberFest, featuring a wide range of computer hardware and software and Judaic Internet web sites. A multicultural day will spotlight authors who have been published in Hebrew, Russian, Farsi and Spanish.
“We want people to become aware of the wealth of Jewish literature that is out there, and is coming out every day,” Porush says.
For festival tickets and information, call (818) 464-3353. To volunteer, call (818) 587-3277.
A family storyelling day is part of festival events. Last year’s festival attracted more than 5,000 participants. Painting by Max Liebermann, “Portrait of the Artist’s Wife and Granddaughter,” 1926 from “Jewish Art,” 1995.
Schedule of Events
Saturday, Nov. 14
Reception: 7:00 p.m.
Program: 8:00 p.m.
Dvorah Menashe Telushkin
“Master of Dreams: Anecdotes and Tales of Isaac Bashevis Singer”
West Valley JCC
Sunday, Nov. 15
10:00 a.m.
Shira Schmidt
“Old Wine, New Flasks: Reflections on Science and Jewish Tradition”
(slide show)
Valley Cities JCC
10:00 a.m.-noon
Character Breakfast
Lori Hartz
Live storybook characters & storytelling (ages 3 to 8)
West Valley JCC
11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Cyberfest
Computer hardware, software and Internet demonstrations
West Valley JCC
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Howard Gordon
“The Golem”
Screening and discussion of “X-Files” episode with screenwriter
West Valley JCC
5:00-6:30 p.m.
Pajama party with storyteller Amy Koss
Storytelling (ages 3 to 8)
Hollywood-Los Feliz JCC
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Pajama party and storytelling (ages 3-8)
Bay Cities JCC
7:30 p.m.
Carol Orsborn
“Return From Exile”
Westside JCC
7:30 p.m.
Rich Cohen
“Tough Jews”
Valley Cities JCC
Monday, Nov. 16
1:00 p.m.
Faye Levy
Jewish cooking
North Valley JCC
7:30 p.m.
Joan Nathan
“Jewish Cooking in America”
Stephen S. Wise Temple
Tuesday, Nov. 17
10:00 a.m.-Noon
Jeffrey and Craig Weiss
“I Am My Brother’s Keeper”
West Valley JCC
7:30 p.m.
Rabbis Edward Feinstein, Steven Carr Reuben, Chaim Seidler-Feller, Dr. Elliot Dorff
Moderator: Gladys Sturman
Preserving Judaism in the next millennium
(panel discussion)
Stephen S. Wise Temple
7:30 p.m.
Mystery Night:
Janice Steinberg
“Death in a City of Mystics”
Rochelle Krich
“Fertile Ground”
Temple Emanuel
7:30 p.m.
Jerry Bobrow, Bea Gordon, Bobbi Yanke
Selecting and Preparing for a Career
West Valley JCC
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Phyllis Rose Eisenberg
Bedtime stories for children (ages 6 to 8)
Valley Cities JCC
Wednesday, Nov. 18
1:00 p.m.
Carol Diament
“Jewish Women Living the Challenge”
North Valley JCC
7:30 p.m.
Thomas Cahill
“The Gifts of the Jews”
West Valley JCC
7:45 p.m.
Dr. Paul Krivonos
Are Teens Being Censored by Society?
West Valley JCC
Thursday, Nov. 19
11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Lunch and Learn program
Dr. Ron Wolfson
“First Fruit: A Whizin Anthology of Jewish Family Education”
Kol Tikvah
7:30 p.m.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Rabbi Stewart Vogel
“The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God’s Laws in Everyday Life”
Temple Aliyah&’009;
7:00 p.m.
Janet Bode with Rabbi Edward Feinstein
“Food Fight: A Guide to Eating Disorders for Preteens and Their Families”
West Valley JCC
Friday, Nov. 20
1:00-2:30 p.m.
Rabbi Naomi Levy
“To Begin Again”
West Valley JCC
Saturday, Nov. 21
8:00 p.m.
Jonathan Kirsch
“Moses: A Life”
West Valley JCC
7:00 p.m.
Rabbi Harold Schulweis, Florence Weinberger, Malgert Cohen, Sam Applebaum, Richard Grosslight, Sherman Pearl
Poetry readings on the Jewish life cycle
Westside JCC
Sunday, Nov. 22
1:00-4:00 p.m.
Jewish Family Storytelling Festival
Storytelling and related activities
My Jewish Discovery Place
2:00 p.m.
Stan Mack
“The Story of the Jews”
Valley Cities JCC
2:00 p.m.
Multicultural Programs
Nouri Kharrazi (Farsi)
“Tattooed Arms — Punctured Souls”
Dr. Zvia Ambar (Hebrew)
Stress Management
Dr. Andrea Labinger (Spanish)
Translator of “Musicians and Watchmakers” by Alicia Steimberg
Marina Genchikmakher (Russian)
Poetry
West Valley JCC
2:30-3:30 p.m.
Maralyn Soifer
Creative writing and poetry workshop for children (ages 8-11)
Conejo Valley JCC
7:30 p.m.
Dr. Sam Kunin
“Circumcision: Its Place in Judaism Past and Present”
with Rabbi Brad Artson
“It’s A Mitzvah”
Valley Cities JCC
All events are subject to change. For additional information, contact the festival hot line at (818) 464-3353.
Addresses:
Bay Cities JCC: 2601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica
Conejo Valley JCC: 5004 Lewis Road, Agoura Hills
Hollywood-Los Feliz JCC: 1110 Bates Ave., Los Angeles
Kol Tikvah: 20400 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills
My Jewish Discovery Place: 5870 West Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles
North Valley JCC: 16601 Rinaldi St., Granada Hills
Stephen S. Wise Temple: 15500 Stephen S. Wise Dr., Los Angeles
Temple Aliyah: 6025 Valley Circle Blvd., Woodland Hills
Temple Emanuel: 8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills
Valley Cities JCC: 13164 Burbank Blvd. Sherman Oaks
West Valley JCC: 22622 Vanowen St. West Hills
Westside JCC: 5870 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles