Archive for category Jewish Innovation

Gustav, You Don’t Look A Day Over 149!

Posted by Rachel Feltman in Jewish Innovation on July 7, 2010

Today marks the 150th birthday of Gustav Mahler, famed Jewish composer and conductor. Although he was considered one of the greatest conductors of his day, his compositions (now widely accepted as some of the most powerful music ever composed), were largely ignored, and even criticized, until long after his death.

Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

Mahler was born on July 7th, 1860, to a family that lived a constant uphill struggle. The Mahler family, originally from Bohemia, belonged to two very unpopular minorities: They were German speaking, and they were Jewish. Gustav’s father worked his way into the middle class by purchasing an inn, which would later give his talented son the chance to pursue a career in music. Despite this advantage, Mahler’s Jewish heritage would always be looked down upon. He described himself as “thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, as a Jew throughout the world—always an intruder, never welcomed” [Memories and Letters]

To achieve his greatest career move-Director of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper), Mahler was forced to convert from Judaism to Catholicism. Even after he’d made this sacrifice, his heritage was consistently used against him throughout the rest of his musical career. Rivals and critics of Mahler’s compositions were known to employ the use of anti-Semitic press to defame him. Criticism of his work regularly escalated to full-blown attacks against his person from local papers. Later, despite his intense study of the German nationalists (Nietzsche called him a genius, and Freud supposedly gave him the counseling that saved his failing marriage), Mahler was denounced by the Nazi party. His music was declared to be degenerate, and was not played in his homeland throughout the war. Of course, this temporary disappearance only made it easier for his music to then be rediscovered by a new generation. Long after his death in 1911, Mahler took his place as a great composer of Europe.

Today, some criticize Mahler for what they view as an abandonment of his faith. In truth, Mahler was far from being alone in this flaw (Mendelssohn was another of the many artists who converted). His music continued to be influenced by his heritage, with such bold displays as a klezmer movement in his first symphony. After his conversion, his personal turmoil over the act influenced his music and choices. Many consider his move to New York, where he became the first conductor to direct the Philharmonic as a full orchestra, to have been a final protest of his treatment in Vienna. He wrote, “America is really different from Europe. Only there do you feel like a human being, with no master above you.”

You can find out more about Gustav Mahler at his Wikipedia page or by visiting The International Gustav Mahler Society website. Most importantly, listen to his music! My sister, a self-proclaimed Mahler fanatic, recommends “Ich ben der welt abhanden gekommen” and “Urlicht”. She warns that the latter will make you melt into a puddle of “Mahlered” goo.

Happy birthday, Gustav!

Update: Today is also the 150th birthday of Abraham Cahan, the founding editor of the Jewish Daily Forward!

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Introducing the Future of the Encyclopedia

Posted by Rachel Feltman in Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge on June 29, 2010

The internet has gained a fun and exciting new resource for those interested in Eastern European Jewish culture! The Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe was actually published two years ago, but the online version just launched earlier in June.

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has designed a great online encyclopedia. The site is free, easy to browse, and incredibly thorough. Check it out, whether or not you have any specific research to do. Warning: With all the articles to read and images to enjoy, you’ll probably lose track of the time!

The online version doesn’t just feature text. Each article features relevant images, and even video in many cases. The fully interactive media resources turn the encyclopedia into something of an archive. It’s not to be missed.

For more information, check out Tablet Magazine’s podcast featuring the encyclopedia’s editor in chief, Gershon Hundert, talking about the project.

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The Complete JPS Audio Bible is Finally Here!

Posted by admin in Jewish Innovation on March 9, 2010

The JPS Tanakh is considered the authoritative translation of the Jewish Bible and is certainly the most widely read English edition.  That said, we’ve always known we wanted to make our Bible available to everyone, in any format that a person would want to use. Thus came the idea for an audio version and the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) was the clear partner for collaboration. After 12 months of recording the 2,000 pages of the Tanakh into 60 hours of audio using 13 narrators, the Audio Bible is finally here! Last October we gave readers a sneak peek with our free weekly Torah portion (widget-version below), but now readers have the option to purchase the entire TANAKH, only the Torah, The Five Megilloth and Jonah, or any of the other 36 books of the Bible.

The JPS Tanakh: The Jewish Bible, audio version even makes it easy for you to bring the text wherever you go, and whenever you want. Offered in both MP3 and iTunes download formats you can listen on your iPod or MP3 Player on the road or anywhere on the go.

To celebrate the release of this landmark project, we are offering a special introductory offer – purchase the download of our audio version of the complete JPS Tanakh or Torah and we will send you our Torah eBook FREE of charge!

We could keep going on about how excited we are about this audio Bible, but our Interim Director, Carol Hupping, sums it up best in this recent Q & A session.

Q: How did the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) and The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) come to partner on the JPS Tanakh: The Jewish Bible, audio version?

A: JPS had wanted an audio version of its Bible for years, but we knew that producing it would be very expensive. We’re talking about 2,000 book pages, about 60 hours of listening time. We had gotten a bid from a commercial audio book producer, but it was much more than we could afford. Then we recalled conversations we’d had with JBI a few years back about publishing a large-print Bible and remembered that they also produced audio books. We asked if they would be interested in collaborating on the project. Indeed they were.

Q: How does this project fit into the new direction JPS is taking?

A: For the last 120 years, JPS has been primarily a publisher of print books. But that’s changing now, because the Internet and handheld devices like smart phones and ebook readers have changed the way people access and use information, and the way many people read books. So, in addition to print, we’re now offering ebooks and also audio, starting with this audio version of the JPS Tanakh, directly through our website and via many other distributors. We want to reach as many people, in as many ways, as possible.

Click here to read the rest of the interview with Carol, as well as a Q & A with JBI President and CEO Ellen Isler and several of the Audio Bible narrators [73K PDF]. Feel free to link to the complete Q&A or to excerpt from it, if you wish.

Also, for more information about the JPS Audio Bible go to http://jewishpub.org/books/audiobible/about-bible.php.

-Jill Finkelstein

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Create Your Own Prayer Service

Posted by admin in Jewish Innovation on February 22, 2010

www.flickr.com/photos/rbarenblat

Back when I was a member of BBYO, I was frequently in charge of putting together and leading services. It wasn’t an easy task. When you get a bunch of Jewish teenagers together on the weekend, praying is usually the last thing they want to do. Not only that, but when you’re dealing with Jews from a variety of Jewish educational backgrounds, it can be hard to create a service that everyone is comfortable with. I would make photocopies of common prayers, their English translation, and their transliteration then paste them all together to make one comprehensive prayer packet. We were always trying to spice up services with themes and quotes to make them more fun, only that required more cutting and pasting for each new service.

Now thanks to BBYO International, there is now a website called Build a Prayer dedicated to creating your own prayer service. There, you can choose which service you would like to plan (Friday Evening, Saturday Morning, Saturday Evening, or Blessing After Meal), which type of service you would like (Traditional, Pluralistic, or Custom), which languages you would like to choose (English, Hebrew, and Transliteration), and which template you want. From there you can select which prayers you want to include and add your own commentary, images, audio, video, etc to personalize your service. With this site, you can now quickly make a custom prayer service for any occasion. It also allows you to browse through services created by other users and to learn more about the purpose for each prayer. For an online tutorial, BBYO has even included this online tutorial:

Don’t be fooled! Just because this site is sponsored by BBYO, doesn’t mean it is just for teens. I encourage you to check it out and play around to create your own personalized and meaningful service!

Let us know in the comments section what other online Jewish educational tools you’ve found helpful.

-Jill Finkelstein

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Reviving the Classics

Posted by Alx in Jewish Books, Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on January 28, 2010

We’re going back to basics! As a part of our spring 2010 collection, we have re-launched five of JPS’s classic books! These classic books are for readers of all ages, and we hope that by bringing them back to the shelves, readers will be reminded of some timeless ideas that are essential to Judaism.

Lessons learned in these classic books carry as much weight as ever, containing information that, believe it or not, may be directly applicable to our lives today.

Here is a list of JPS works revived in 2010:

  1. Judaism as a Civilization by Mordecai Kaplan

This book introduced a new way of looking at Judaism, and is considered the origin of the Reconstructionist Movement. Kaplan felt that all Jews – traditional and liberal, religious and secular – could play a part in this “reconstruction.”

2. Book of Tradition by Abraham ibn Daud (author) and Gerson D. Cohen (translator)

This epic on Jewish history from ancient times to the 12th century eulogized Spanish Jewry and reminded readers of a once-thriving culture. No one before had ever attempted to write such a broad history of Jewish civilization, and this unique book is one of the first examples of Jewish historiography

3. Genesis: The Beginning of Desire by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, Ph.D.

This epic breathes new life into the stories of Adam and Even, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Essau, Rachel, and Joseph. Zornberg brings biblical, midrashic, and literary sources together, illuminating the tensions that grip human beings as they search for an encounter God

4. The Life of Gluckel of Hameln  by Beth-Zion Abrahams

Gluckel of Hameln’s memoir is widely viewed as one of the earliest major works written by a Jewish woman and has become a classic. This JPS book is the only English translation of Gluckel’s story from the original Yiddish and is widely considered the most accurate and complete translation available

5. Modern Poems on the Bible  by David Curzon

This is a collection of imaginative and engaging contemporary responses to the Bible. Guided by the classic rabbinic genre of midrash conceived 1,500 years ago, Curzon chooses poems from Jewish and non-Jewish writers alike and places them besides the biblical passages that were their inspiration.

After all, Albert Einstein once said: “Somebody who reads only newspapers and at best the books of contemporary authors’ looks to me like an extremely nearsighted person who scorns eyeglasses.” We’ve certainly learned a lesson or two from Albert, so perhaps we should take his advice!

-Emily

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Audio Bible is now Widgetized!

Posted by Sarah in Jewish Books, Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on December 8, 2009

Probably one of the greatest parts of the latest revamp of the JPS website has to be the audio Bible. Have you had a chance to check it out? If not, you should definitely take a look.

Or, maybe you’ve experienced the weekly audio portions and have been dying to share it with others! If you’ve been wishing you could put the audio Bible on your site, today is your lucky day!

Why? Because the audio Bible has officially been “widgetized”! Just copy the code below and embed the audio Bible in your site, sharing it with all your browsers.

Here’s what the result will look like:

The best part? It updates itself! Each week, the audio segment will automatically change to reflect the correct Torah portion for the week, making your life that much easier!

Enjoy!

-Sarah

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All good things must come to an end…

Posted by Naomi in Jewish Innovation, Uncategorized on October 12, 2009

BE046842Wow.  What a month.  We’ve just been through a bevy of Jewish Holidays: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.  That’s an awful lot of hours clocked in the synagogue.  And an even more awful lot of food.

It’s been, simultaneously, both a fun month, and a difficult one.  Last night, as we marked the closing of Simchat Torah, my friends and I reminisced about our favorite High Holiday tunes, and joked (somewhat seriously) that now that the holidays were over, we wouldn’t see each other again until next year.  But we were also kind of excited – excited to have our regular Sundays back, excited for normal (shorter) synagogue services to resume, excited to not eat quite as much every weekend.

But despite all that excitement, there was still a general sense of gloominess.  Now that the holidays are over, we’ll be entering the holiday-less Jewish month of Cheshvan (in fact, there are no more Jewish holidays until Chanukkah, which this year begins in mid-December).  This month is sometimes also known as “Marcheshvan” – in Hebrew “mar” means “bitter”.  And an entire month with no fun holidays is a bitter month, indeed.

So what can we do to keep away the Marcheshvan blues, and to bring a bit of Jewish joy into our lives?  Well, I have a couple of ideas for ya:

1. Check out the newly redesigned JPS website!  (In particular, check out the all-new feature on the right side, towards the bottom… that’s right, you can now stream the JPS Audio Bible!  Each week, the new Torah portion will be posted, along with the full text, so you can read along as you listen.  Genesis is up right now – check it out!)

2. Find a way to incorporate a bit of Judaism into the upcoming secular holidays.  Thanksgiving (my all-time favorite secular holiday!) is a day ripe for an infusion of spirituality.  Brainstorm with your family how you can make the day meaningful – have a discussion over dinner about the things you are grateful for, compose your own Thanksgiving prayer, or volunteer to serve Thanksgiving dinner at a local soup kitchen.  (I’m a bit stuck on Halloween – “act-of-kindness or treat” just seems a little bit lame.  Any ideas?)

3. Stock up on your Chanukkah gifts.  It’s never too early!  (And FYI: JPS is having an early-bird Chanukkah sale – 40% off select titles!)

4. Get involved with Jewish Social Action Month – KolDor has earmarked October 19th – November 17th as a month for Jews to get involved in social action projects.  Check out their site for a listing of volunteer opportunities, or to put up an event of your own!

5. Now that the weather is getting chilly, it’s time to whip out those fleece blankets, brew a cup of steaming hot tea or apple cider, and crack open a good book.  In fact, now that we’re beginning the Torah reading cycle from the top, how about cracking open the Good Book?

    Do you have any other creative ideas for brightening up Marcheshvan?  Let me know!
    - Naomi

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    The Book of Life Podcast: Why be Social?

    Posted by Alx in Jewish Books, Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on August 20, 2009

    Heidi Estrin who produces the Book of Life Podcast has outdone herself. She has put together a four-part series of podcasts called Why be Social? that pretty much sums up Social Media.  The concept was born from a session given at the AJL convention in Chicago by Mark Blevis.  Below is the series in its entirety.  Enjoy!

    -Alx

    Why Be Social? Part 1, Philosophy

    SHOW NOTES:

    Why Be Social? To add a Jewish point of view to the social media landscape!

    At the Association of Jewish Libraries 2009 convention in Chicago this summer, podcaster Mark Blevis led a session on Social Media that opened the floodgates of people’s curiosity. Convention attendees wanted to learn more about social media: what it is, what it means to participate, and how to get started. As a continuation of that conversation, The Book of Life is offering a series of podcast episodes called “Why Be Social?”

    Part 1 in the Why Be Social series considers the philosophical aspects of technology in our lives. The wide-ranging conversation was held during breakfast at the Association of Jewish Libraries 2009 convention, the morning after the social media convention session.

    AUDIO:

    Click the play button on our traditional flash player to listen to the podcast now:

    Or click MP3 File to start your computer’s media player.

    EMBED:

    If you’d like to place this audio on your own web site, please use this stand-alone player from Entertonement. Click the embed button and copy the code!
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    VIDEO:

    This very funny video (in Norwegian! but with English subtitles) reminds us of how difficult an unfamiliar technology can seem at first, and how simple it can turn out to be. Thanks to Mark Blevis for the link – he showed this video as an ice-breaker during his social media session at the AJL convention.

    CREDITS:

    Produced by: Feldman Children’s Library at Congregation B’nai Israel
    Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries
    Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    Facebook fan page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    Twitter: @bookoflifepod

    Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com!

    Why Be Social? Part 2, Definitions

    SHOW NOTES:

    Why Be Social? To add a Jewish point of view to the social media landscape!

    At the Association of Jewish Libraries 2009 convention in Chicago this summer, podcaster Mark Blevis led a session on Social Media that opened the floodgates of people’s curiosity. Convention attendees wanted to learn more about social media: what it is, what it means to participate, and how to get started. As a continuation of that conversation, The Book of Life is offering a series of podcast episodes called “Why Be Social?” Click here for Part 1.

    This is Why Be Social, Part 2. The morning after the social media session at the convention, I conducted some quick “man on the street” interviews, asking people for their own definitions of blogging and podcasting. Every single person had a good answer!

    AUDIO:

    Click the play button on our traditional flash player to listen to the podcast now:

    Or click MP3 File to start your computer’s media player.

    EMBED:

    If you’d like to place this audio on your own web site, please use this stand-alone player from Entertonement. Click the embed button and copy the code!
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    VIDEO:

    Here are two videos from Common Craft that give additional definitions of blogging and podcasting: “Blogs in Plain English” and “Podcasting in Plain English.”


    CREDITS:

    Produced by: Feldman Children’s Library at Congregation B’nai Israel
    Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries
    Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    Facebook fan page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    Twitter: @bookoflifepod

    Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com!

    Why Be Social? Part 3, Suggestions

    SHOW NOTES:

    Why Be Social? To add a Jewish point of view to the social media landscape!

    At the Association of Jewish Libraries 2009 convention in Chicago this summer, podcaster Mark Blevis led a session on Social Media that opened the floodgates of people’s curiosity. Convention attendees wanted to learn more about social media: what it is, what it means to participate, and how to get started. As a continuation of that conversation, The Book of Life is offering a series of podcast episodes called “Why Be Social?” Here’s Part 1 and Part 2.

    This is Why Be Social, Part 3. I hope the earlier episodes in this series have gotten you interested checking out some real live blogs and podcasts. There are zillions of blog and podcast websites online, so where do you get started? Here with some suggestions of blogs and podcasts relating to Jewish literature is Alx Block, Online Sales and Marketing Manager for the Jewish Publication Society. Scroll down for links to those suggestions, and to a list of blogs and other social media sites that are read by, and sometimes created by, individual members of the Association of Jewish Libraries. Have fun checking them out!

    AUDIO:

    Click the play button on our traditional flash player to listen to the podcast now:

    Or click MP3 File to start your computer’s media player.

    EMBED:

    If you’d like to place this audio on your own web site, please use this stand-alone player from Entertonement. Click the embed button and copy the code!
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    Here are links to the blogs and podcasts we talk about in this episode (in order discussed):



    Social media recommendations by Association of Jewish Libraries members:

    Barbara Bibel says: I like Karen Schneider’s blog, “Free Range Librarian.” I also like the blogs that Booklist Online has. I contribute to one of them, “Points of Reference.”

    Ezra Chwat suggests: Giluy Milta B’’alma
    In this blog, we present primary publications, or announcements of new and interesting findings, in Hebrew manuscripts. Often, significant discoveries are not on the scale of a full-size periodical article, but are nonetheless worthy of knowing about. This department is also a good place to announce preliminary findings, in order to arouse discussion and input of fellow scholars, before the final and complete publication. Your short article, or announcement (subject to the discretion of the editors) will be posted on our blog and will be stored in the blogs retrievable archive, as well as in a hardcopy archive. The archive which will be stored in the stacks of the National Library of Israel, and each accepted post will be allotted a serial number for bibliographic citation (this post is numbered GMB0001). Post your discoveries, findings, and previews in a short article (3 printed pages or less), at giluy.milta@gmail.com.

    Marie Cloutier says: I blog about books (Jewish and non-) at www.bostonbibliophile.com. I also blog about crafts at crafthour.blogspot.com, for Temple Israel at tisraelbostonsummerinthecity.blogspot.com (say that 3x fast) and Hello Kitty collecting at hellokittyboston.blogspot.com. I’m active on Twitter (@bostonbibliophl), LibraryThing, Delicious and other applications. I used to listen to a lot of podcasts but have tapered that off substantially and now listen to Book of Life and Books on the Nightstand.

    Heidi Estrin (me): I host The Book of Life podcast and blog, and I helped AJL establish its blog and podcast. I also blog for AJL’s South Florida chapter at www.sfajl.org, and occassionally for the Sydney Taylor Book Award at sydneytaylorbookaward.blogspot.com.

    I love to listen to these great podcasts:


    And a few of the blogs that I read are:

    Val Morehouse says: My personal blog called HoopDance [poetry, books, podcasts, etc.] is at www.valmorehouse.com.

    Linda Silver is the force behind the Jewish Values Finder database at www.ajljewishvalues.org. She says: I read many political blogs, esp. those having to do with Israel. I read some book-related stuff, such as the (mostly trivial) newsletters from SLJ, Kirkus, and PW that appear among my email messages.

    Karen Ulric gave us two whole lists:

    Library Blogs
    • AssortedStuff
    • Gargoyles loose in the library
    • Google Librarian Central
    • Google Librarian Newsletter Google Group
    • Killin’ time being lazy
    • Librarians’ Internet Index: New This Week
    • Library Garden
    • Library of Congress Blog
    • Library of Congress: News
    • NPR Blogs: As A Matter Of Fact
    • People of the Books
    • The Shifted Librarian

    Literature Blogs
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Brooklyn Arden
    • educating alice
    • Hennepin County Library – Bookspace Blog
    • Judge a Book by its Cover
    • Muller In the Middle
    • NPR Topics: Books
    • Saints and Spinners
    • The Longstockings
    • Ypulse: Media for the Next Generation

    Jane Zande says: Besides The Book of Life and the AJL blog, I regularly read Marie Cloutier’s blog, The Boston Bibliophile. A part of her blog is just for Jewish books:
    http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/search/label/jewish%20interest.

    CREDITS:

    Produced by: Feldman Children’s Library at Congregation B’nai Israel
    Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries
    Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    Facebook fan page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    Twitter: @bookoflifepod

    Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com!

    Why Be Social? Part 4, Create-Consume-Contribute

    Why be social? To add a Jewish point of view to the social media landscape!

    At the Association of Jewish Libraries 2009 convention in Chicago this summer, podcaster Mark Blevis led a session on Social Media that opened the floodgates of people’s curiosity. Convention attendees wanted to learn more about social media: what it is, what it means to participate, and how to get started. As a continuation of that conversation, The Book of Life is offering a series of podcast episodes called “Why Be Social?” Here are the earlier segments: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

    This is Why Be Social, Part 4. In this episode, blogger and podcaster Mark Blevis, the one who started this entire conversation, joins Heidi to talk about what it means to participate in life online. Scroll down for links to Mark’s many online projects and for links to some non-Jewish social media sources I want you to know about (you’ll hear why on the show).

    AUDIO:

    Click the play button on our traditional flash player to listen to the podcast now:

    Or click MP3 File to start your computer’s media player.

    EMBED:

    If you’d like to place this audio on your own web site, please use this stand-alone player from Entertonement. Click the embed button and copy the code!
    Blank

    RELATED LINKS:

    Mark Blevis’s online projects:

    Non-Jewish social media sites worth your participation:

    CREDITS:

    Produced by: Feldman Children’s Library at Congregation B’nai Israel
    Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries
    Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    Facebook fan page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    Twitter: @bookoflifepod

    Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com!

    Why Be Social? The Whole Megillah

    Our “Why Be Social?” series was posted in four parts. Here, for your convenience, are all four episodes together in a single player.


    Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones!

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    Finis: A Jewish Literary Roundup

    Posted by Naomi in Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, Link Roundup on August 3, 2009

    One of the many hats I wear here at JPS is that of Official Internet Surfer.  (It’s a pretty cool hat actually – it’s got this wee little surfboard perched on top…  Ok.  Cue the tomato-throwing.)  In order to keep abreast of what’s happening in the Jewish book world, I keep a close eye on my Google Reader, do a regular scan of the Google Blog Search, and pay attention to the news shared by our many Twitter followers.  As a result, I regularly stumble across tons of interesting blog posts, websites, and articles.

    Well, I’ve decided it’s high time that I start sharing my findings with my gentle readers.  Every once in a while I’m going to do a mini-compilation of my interesting and relevant findings for that day.  So here it is, the catch of the day:

    up-roundup_lrg

    Source: http://mortgagemeltdown.typepad.com

    ● Marc Tracy of Tablet Magazine shares some original, awful Jewish poetry, as a tribute to MyJewishLearning’s Bad Jewish Poetry Contest.  “Shall I compare thee to a matzah ball?”  Oy vey.

    ● At Mixed Multitudes, Tamar Fox looks back at a full year of mourning and saying kaddish for her mother.  She’s been blogging about the experience this entire year – after reading this post, I think I’m going to go back and read her thoughts from the very beginning.  A tremendously moving meditation on an age-old Jewish tradition.

    ● At eJewishPhilanthropy, Joshua Avedon discusses the “innovation pipeline” for new Jewish nonprofit organizations.  His Google Chrome analogy is helpful to those relatively unfamiliar with the world of Jewish innovation and social entrepreneurship.

    ● According to Beattie’s Book Blog, Merlin Digital has just launched the slimmest e-book device in the market.  Is this development good or bad for the book world?  It all depends on how you look at it, I suppose.

    Happy surfing!
    -Naomi

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    Jewish Book Search!

    Posted by Alx in Jewish Books, Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on August 3, 2009

    Finally, people interested in searching for Jewish Book content have a place to go!

    So here on the JPS blog, we try to make sure that our posts are about the Jewish Book World at large, and not just our own titles.  Each time we search on the topic to try to come up with posts it just seems that we are weeding through tons and tons of pages that are not relevant at all to the world that we are so excited about.

    Well.  We decided to do something about it.

    We have put together a list of the highest quality websites with Jewish Book content. This search engine queries those sites and those alone. This will allow you to be sure that your search will only be related to Jewish Books. No more sifting through tons of content for what you are looking for. Search for any and all Jewish Books, articles about Jewish Books, blogs about Jewish Books, and anything about the Jewish Book world. Search by title, author, keyword, or area of interest!

    The Jewish Book Search has been born!

    Jewish Book Search

    We would love to add your Jewish Book related site into the search engine. Just shoot me an email at  jewishbook@jewishpub.org letting me know that you have added a link to the Jewish Book Search and we will see if your site is a good fit. To ensure the quality of the search, not all sites can be added.

    You can even add this search to your site!

    Just copy and paste this code where you want it to display:



    -Alx

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