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Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival 2022-2023
Arts and Entertainment
January 31, 2023
From: Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book FestivalThe United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival is an annual celebration of Jewish authors, illustrators, and books, providing the community with opportunities to engage with some of the most popular writers and topics of the year.
Twenty authors, countless stories: This year’s festival features a first responder at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, a former US congresswoman, journalists, doctors, novelists, and more.
Something for everyone: Whether it’s the intersection of basketball and the Holocaust, the history of Italy’s Jewish cuisine, the secrets our families keep, or solutions for ending bias in our community, everyone can find something to connect with at this year’s festival.
Connect in your own way: Attend events in person or from the comfort of your home or office. Get inspired at lunch with thought-provoking speakers, join us for free evening programs, or explore moving illustrations in the Leon Family Gallery.
By purchasing books through BookShop.org, you can receive 10% off the regular retail price. In turn, UJFT and indie bookstores nationwide each receive 10% of the proceeds.
The Arts + Ideas Book of the Month is a collection of books with intriguing topics, characters, and stories for book-club-style conversations that will allow the community to engage personally with some of this season’s most exciting authors.
Whether joining us at the Simon Family JCC for Dr. Alla Shapiro’s discussion about her experience being dispatched to Chernobyl, at the Chrysler Museum of Art with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Barr to discuss the international art scandal in her novel Woman on Fire, or online with one of our other five Book of the Month authors, we hope you can find a book that speaks to you.
Have questions? Feel free to reach out for more information! Hunter Thomas Director, Arts + Ideas [email protected] 757-965-6137
Schedule:
Thursday, November 17, 2023
7:30pm: Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Marital misery, abandoned children, religious transgressions, sexual identity, radical politics, and supposedly embarrassing illnesses are revealed through Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s exploration of the hidden lives of her parents and relatives—revealing truths never discussed before.
By unmasking their charades and disguises, Pogrebin showcases her family’s remarkable talent for reinvention in a narrative that is by turns, touching, searing, and surprisingly universal. Everyone’s family harbors secrets, but Pogrebin’s story may make you question why some of those are secrets at all.
Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a cofounder of Ms. Magazine, and a nationally acclaimed writer, activist, and public speaker. She is the author of twelve books and numerous articles and essays. She is a cofounder of the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Ms. Foundation for Women, a past president of the Authors Guild, and the recipient of numerous honors and awards.
FREE and Open to the Community
Location: Simon Family JCC Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community
Tuesday, November 29, 2023
12:00pm: Malkah’s Notebook : A Journey into the Mystical Aleph-Bet
Mira Z. Amiras
Malkah is a child when her father tries teaching her to read Torah. As Malkah studies, she embarks on a lifelong journey in search of her beginnings—into Jewish mystical texts, far-off places, archaeological digs, ancient gods, and ultimately into the nature of existence itself. With highly evocative illustrations, Malkah’s Notebook is a love letter to the Hebrew alphabet that unlocks life’s greatest mysteries.
Mira Z. Amiras was raised on her mother’s accounts of the Inquisition and Holocaust, and her father’s tales of the Hebrew aleph-bet letters and their role in the creation of the universe. She has taught Jewish mysticism, magic, and folklore along with many other topics in Jewish and Islamic Studies and the anthropology of religion.
In Josh Baum’s work as an artist and Torah scribe, he explores the Hebrew letters as sacred signs, as well as objects of profound beauty.
Together, Baum and Amiras are the creators of the award-winning animated featurette, The Day before Creation.
Illustrations from Malkah’s Notebook will be on exhibit in the Leon Family Gallery at the Simon Family JCC from November – December 2022.
In partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of idewater and UJFT's Konikoff Center for Learning
Location: Virtual - Watch from Home
Monday, December 5, 2022
7:30pm: Cooking Alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy
Benedetta Jasmine Guetta
Join Milan-born food writer and photographer Benedetta Jasmine Guetta on her mission to tell the story of how Jews have impacted Italian food.
Did you know that deep-fried Roman artichokes, Venetian sweet and sour sardines, Apulian orecchiette pasta, and Sicilian caponata - some of Italy’s best-known dishes - are Jewish in origin?
From the comfort of your own kitchen, Guetta will help you prepare a traditional dish as she discusses Italy’s Jewish history, her goal to preserve the recipes dear to the hearts of Italy’s Jewish families, and the stories behind the extraordinary dishes they prepare.
Cook along with Benedetta! Registrants will receive the recipe and grocery list in advance.
Location: Virtual - Watch from Home
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
12:00pm: The Matchmaker’s Gift
Lynda Cohen Loigman
Is finding true love a calling or a curse? This heartfelt and magical story explores two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy societal expectations.
Even as a child in 1910, Sara Glikman knows her gift: she is a seeker of soulmates and a maker of matches. But among the pushcart-crowded streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by devout older men. After working in secret for more than a decade, Sara must fight to gain recognition for her talents.
Two generations later, Sara has passed away and has bequeathed her journals to her granddaughter, Abby, a successful Manhattan divorce attorney. But among the faded volumes, Abby finds more questions than answers.
From Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of the bestselling historical novels The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters comes this heartfelt and magical story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy societal expectations.
Location: Virtual - Watch from Home
Thursday, December 8, 2022
7:30pm: The End of Bias, A Beginning :How We Eliminate Unconscious Bias and Create a More Just World
Jessica Nordell
Unconscious bias: Persistent, unintentional prejudiced behavior that clashes with our consciously held beliefs.
It exists everywhere: in medicine, the workplace, education, policing, and beyond. When it comes to uprooting our prejudices, we still have a long way to go.
With nuance, compassion, and years of immersion in the topic, Jessica Nordell, award-winning author, science writer, and speaker, will explain how minds, hearts, and behaviors can change. Nordell will provide us with the tools needed to spark that change so that we can begin to remake ourselves, our community, and the world.
In partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, and Virginia Wesleyan University’s Robert Nusbaum Center.
FREE and Open to the Community
Location: Simon Family JCC Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
12:00pm: And How are the Children?: Timeless Lessons from the Frontlines of Motherhood
Marjorie Margolies
Marjorie Margolies’ father always said everyone should aspire to change another’s life. From an early age, she was determined to apply that concept to her own family, and she did – many times over.
Prior to serving in Congress, Margolies adopted two girls from Vietnam and Korea. She married Congressman Ed Mezvinsky, who had four daughters. Together, they had two sons, and sponsored a Catholic refugee family from Vietnam, bringing the number of kids under their roof to eleven.
They kept a Jewish home while instilling in all their children respect for all faiths. The family celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas, spent Sunday mornings at Catholic and Jewish religious school, held Passover seders, and attended Catholic masses. It was an organic way to make everyone feel included and respectful of other belief systems.
Margolies will share the story of this journey, and the wisdom, life lessons, advice, and inspiration that came along with it.
Cost:
$12 admission, $6 ages 55+ (lunch included)
$29 for lunch and signed book
Special pricing for lunch and book ends December 7
Location: Simon Family JCC Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
12:00pm: A Play for the End of the World
Jai Chakrabarti
Torn between guilt and love, a Holocaust survivor must decide how to honor both the past and the present, and how to accept a happiness he is not sure he deserves.
Jaryk Smith, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, and Lucy Gardner, a southerner, newly arrived in New York City in 1972, are in the first bloom of love when they receive word that Jaryk’s oldest friend has died under mysterious circumstances in a rural village in eastern India. Traveling there alone to collect his friend’s ashes, Jaryk soon finds himself enmeshed in the chaos of local politics and efforts to stage a play in protest against the government—the same play that he performed as a child in Warsaw as an act of resistance against the Nazis.
A Play for the End of the World won the National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction and is long-listed for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Jai Chakrabarti is also the author of the forthcoming story collection A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness.
Location: Virtual - Watch from Home
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
12:00 PM: The Whole Body Reset: Your Weight-Loss Plan for a Flat Belly, Optimum Health & a Body You’ll Love—at Midlife and Beyond
HEIDI SKOLNIK
$12 admission, $6 ages 55+ (lunch included)
Gaining weight as you age is not inevitable. It’s avoidable and even reversible. In fact, you can help stop—and even reverse— age-related weight gain and muscle loss.
Heidi Skolnik will present the science-based, tested, and proven weight-management plan designed specifically for people at midlife and beyond. Developed by AARP, the plan explains the real reason we gain weight at midlife and lays out a simple and surprisingly satisfying and delicious plan for reversing that trend, including a diet and exercise program that will allow a 60-year-old body to respond as though it were decades younger!
Skolnik oversees Performance Nutrition at the School of American Ballet and The Julliard School and previously served as team nutritionist for the New York Giants, New York Knicks, and New York Mets.
Location: Simon Family JCC, 5000 Corporate Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23462
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2023
12:00 PM: Evolve: A Children’s Book for Adults
JEAN-PIERRE WEILL
Watch from home
Who am I? With this question as its guide, Evolve takes readers on a philosophical and pictorial adventure into the nature of the self. Through the artistic exploration of three foundational biblical stories, Evolve interlaces words with pictures that delve deep into the emotional core. It is a modern midrash told with imagery.
Jean-Pierre Weill is a painter and author of picture books for adults that explore philosophical and spiritual ideas. His work has been sold in galleries and museums throughout the world.
Illustrations from Evolve will be on exhibit in the Leon Family Gallery at the Simon Family JCC from January – February 2023.
On exhibit January – February 2023.
Location: Virtual - Watch from Home
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2023
12:00 PM: Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age
DEBBY APPLEGATE
Madam is the biography of Polly Adler (1900- 1962), the most infamous and influential madam in Jazz Age New York.
A colorful and unusual history of Jewish life told through the perspective of a “good Jewish girl” from a Russian shtetl who immigrated to Brooklyn and rose to become “the Female Al Capone.”
Debby Applegate’s first book won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for biography and she spent the next 13 years working on Madam.
Location: Virtual - Watch from Home
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2023
12:00pm: The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code to Be Younger Today and Even Younger Tomorrow
MICHAEL F. ROIZEN, MD
How can current science and technology revolutionize our ability to live longer, younger, and better? How will longer life spans improve our culture, our economy, our work lives, and our finances?.
Thanks to new medical innovations, living longer will also mean living younger—both physically and mentally—allowing you to extend your best years and live your best life. Dr. Michael Roizen, M.D. will outline concrete steps for you to take to prepare for the changes of tomorrow, so you can stay younger longer by extending your best years.
Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is the Emeritus Chief Wellness Officer at the Cleveland Clinic, a professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Chief Medical Consultant on The Dr. Oz Show, and author of four #1 New York Times bestselling books.
Location: Virtual - Watch from Home
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
12:00 PM: The Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise
MICHELLE SEGAR
Much of what we’ve been taught about eating healthier and exercising is simplistic, outdated, and for many, misguided.
Researcher and lifestyle coach Michelle Segar will explain the surprising reasons why our eating and exercise plans so often crash when they come up against real life. She calls these conflicts “choice points,” and shows they are the real place of power for lasting change.
- $12 admission, $6 ages 55+ (lunch included)
- $37 for lunch and signed book
- Special pricing for lunch and book ends March 8
Discover the easy, flexible, and three-step joy-infused decision tool that works with the chaos of daily life, guiding you to achieve your eating and exercise goals once and for all— and enjoy doing it!
Michelle Segar is an award-winning researcher at the University of Michigan and health coach with almost thirty years studying how to create sustainable changes in healthy behaviors and self-care that can survive the complexity and unpredictability of the real world.
Location: Simon Family JCC Reba & Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community 5000 Corporate Woods Drive
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023
12:00 PM: Woman on Fire
LISA BARR
Woman On Fire is a gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece—forcing the ultimate showdown between passion and possession, lovers and liars, history and truth.
After talking her way into a job with the leading investigative reporter in Chicago, Jules Roth is given an unusual assignment: Locate a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 75 years earlier: legendary Expressionist artist Ernst Engel’s most famous work, Woman on Fire.
Lisa Barr is a New York Times bestselling author of three novels. In addition, she served as an editor for The Jerusalem Post, among other publications, and has been featured on Good Morning America and Today. Actress Sharon Stone is set to produce and star in the upcoming film adaptation of Woman On Fire.
In partnership with the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Chrysler Museum of Art Book Club.
Sponsored by Klein, Rowell, & Shall, PLLC, Attorneys at Law
Location: Chrysler Museum, Chrysler Museum of Art 1 Memorial Pl, Norfolk, VA 23507
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023
12:00 PM: One Hundred Saturdays: In Search for a Lost World
MICHAEL FRANK
The remarkable story of ninety-nine-year-old Stella Levi, the vibrant world of Jewish Rhodes, the deportation to Auschwitz that extinguished ninety percent of her community, and the resilience and wisdom of the woman who lived to tell the tale.
Michael Frank is the author of What Is Missing, a novel, and the award-winning memoir The Mighty Franks. His essays, articles, and short stories have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, Slate, The Yale Review, Salmagundi, The TLS, Tablet, and other publications.
In partnership with the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
Location: Online
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2023
12:00 PM: Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes
IRA ROSEN
- $12 admission, $6 ages 55+, (lunch included)
- $27 for lunch and signed book
- Special pricing for lunch & book ends May 10
Two-time Peabody Award-winning writer and producer Ira Rosen reveals the intimate, untold stories of his decades at America’s most iconic news show. His story is a 60 Minutes story on 60 Minutes itself. When producer Ira Rosen walked into the 60 Minutes offices in June 1980, he knew he was about to enter television history. His career catapulted him to the heights of TV journalism, breaking some of the most important stories in TV news. But behind the scenes was a war room of clashing producers, anchors, and the most formidable 60 Minutes figure: legendary correspondent Mike Wallace.
Rosen has won every major award in broadcast journalism, including 24 national Emmy Awards, placing him in the top ten all-time news Emmy winners in broadcast history. His report on who is responsible for the opioid epidemic won more awards for 60 Minutes than any segment in the show’s 52-year history.
Location: Simon Family JCC, 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23462
TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2023
12:00 PM: The Postmistress of Paris
MEG WAITE CLAYTON
This haunting novel revisits the dark early days of the German occupation of France, both a love story and a tale of high-stakes danger and incomparable courage.
A young American heiress from Chicago, Naneé, helps artists hunted by the Nazis escape from war-torn Europe. Known as the Postmistress because she delivers information to those in hiding, Naneé uses her charms and skill to house the hunted and deliver them to safety.
Meg Waite Clayton is the internationally bestselling author of eight novels, including the National Jewish Book Award finalist The Last Train to London. Meg’s work has appeared more than 100 times in national publications and on public radio.
In partnership with the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
Location: Online
WEDNESDAY JUNE 14, 2023
12:00 PM: To Boldly Grow: Finding Joy, Adventure, and Dinner in Your Own Backyard
TAMAR HASPEL
Journalist and self-proclaimed “crappy gardener” Tamar Haspel shows us that raising or gathering our own food is not as hard as it seems. Haspel will take us on a journey as she goes from cluelessness to competence, learning to scrounge dinner from her surroundings and discovering that a connection to what we eat can change the way we think about food – and ourselves.
Haspel writes the James Beard Award-winning Washington Post column “Unearthed,” which tackles food from every angle: agriculture, nutrition, obesity, the food environment, and DIY. She has also written for Discover, National Geographic’s The Plate, Vox, Slate, Eater, Fortune, and Edible Cape Cod.
Location: Simon Family JCC
Date: November 17 - June 14, 2023
Location: Various Venues in Virginia Beach, VA 23462.
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