Book Club: February
01/27/2022 10:54:59 AM
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Our next Book Club meeting will be February 23rd at 10:30 am on Zoom to discuss A Remarkable Kindness.
From the Jewish Book Council:
Diana Bletter’s excellent writing makes the characters of A Remarkable Kindness come alive in this moving story about community, family, personal growth, and difficult loss in Israel. All living in an Israeli village close to the border with Lebanon, the four American women support each other through life’s challenges in the chevra kadisha, together preparing bodies of deceased neighbors for burial with respect and love. There is Aviva, who moved to Israel long ago and whose son recently died as soldier in the IDF; Lauren, who followed her Israeli husband home but for whom home will always be Boston; Emily, who followed Lauren after Emily’s first marriage fell apart when her husband left her for another woman; and Rachel, who comes from Wyoming to help, whatever that means, and finds real love instead. And there are the people of their community — the owner of the local inn, Holocaust survivors, the local surfing instructor, and so many more — who add perspective, wisdom, and laughter to everyday life.
Relationships are the cornerstone of this novel: relationships between friends, between couples, between families, between those who came to Israel long ago and those who have recently arrived, between Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis, between kids and adults, and even for those who appear too hurt to be in a relationship with anyone but open up after all. These relationships are not easy; the universal tensions of love, betrayal, and change arise in sometimes typical — and other times surprising — ways. But Bletter’s expert attention to the details of emotion and the authenticity of lived experience carries the reader through sadness and confusion to wisdom.
With her clear, coherent, and poignant writing, Bletter delivers a book that is easy and quick to read but still meaningful and powerful on a deeper level. The end, part shocking and part reality check, combined with detailed descriptions of the work of the chevra kadisha, means the book is best suited to those who are in a position to open themselves to these hard topics. That said, Bletter handles these sensitive subjects with grace and sensitivity, and readers will learn a lot about the world and themselves from this fantastic book.
Fri, April 26 2024
18 Nisan 5784
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Friday ,
AprApril 26 , 2024
Friday, Apr 26th 7:30p to 8:30p
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Sunday, Apr 28th 9:30a to 12:00p
Hebrew and Judaics for grades K-7th -
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Thursday, May 2nd 10:30a to 11:30a
Our next book is A multigenerational family saga about the long-lasting reverberations of one tragic summer by "a wonderful talent [who] should be read widely" (Edward P. Jones). We will meet on May 2nd at 10:30 am via Zoom to discuss As Close to Us As Breathing by Elizabeth Poliner. In 1948, a small stretch of the Woodmont, Connecticut shoreline, affectionately named "Bagel Beach," has long been a summer destination for Jewish families. Here sisters Ada, Vivie, and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage, with children in tow and weekend-only husbands who arrive each Friday in time for the Sabbath meal. During the weekdays, freedom reigns. Ada, the family beauty, relaxes and grows more playful, unimpeded by her rule-driven, religious husband. Vivie, once terribly wronged by her sister, is now the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between the family-centric life she's always known and a passion-filled life with the married man with whom she's had a secret years-long affair. But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, a summer of hope and self-discovery transforms into a lifetime of atonement and loss for members of this close-knit clan. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was twelve years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath, of expanding lives painfully collapsed. Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's hard-won wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others? -
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MayMay 4 , 2024
Shabbat, May 4th 10:00a to 11:00a
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Sunday, May 5th 9:30a to 12:00p
Hebrew and Judaics for grades K-7th -
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Shabbat, May 25th 4:00p to 8:00p
Our Teens and Young Adults are invited to an afternoon of field games, archery, and a campfire! Cook-out style dinner will be served, and s'mores will be available.
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