Mandel JCC celebrates Book Festival from November 4-18

The Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland’s 13th Annual Festival of Jewish Books and Authors, produced in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Public Library, is slated to serve up 12 of the best and brightest authors of the season during a two-week literary buffet certain to please every booklover’s appetite.

The Book Festival is co-chaired by Jill Katz, Karen B. Newborn and Miriam Vishny and is made possible with generous support from the Eugenia and Henry Green Memorial Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland.

Tickets are now on sale. More information about this year’s book festival is available at www.mandeljcc.org/bookfest or by calling (216) 831-0700 ext. 1316.

The 2012 Festival of Jewish Books and Authors features:

“Cleveland’s Own” Isaac Yomtovian Leaving Iran: A Glimpse Into the Persian Mind

• 11 a.m. Nov. 4, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 Community

 In Leaving Iran- A Glimpse Into the Persian Mind, Yomtovian tells lively stories about his fascinating childhood, which was spent in a multicultural neighborhood.

Isaac Yomtovian emigrated from Iran to Israel in 1966 to join Kibbutz Gan Shmuel. He later obtained a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska, attended a post-graduate program in engineering at Cornell University and received an MBA from Case Western Reserve University. He now lives in Pepper Pike.

“Cleveland’s Own” Marlene S. Englander & Hinda Z. Saul My Dear Hindalla, Remember Me - Letters from a Lost World May 1937 – January 1940

• 3 p.m. Nov. 4, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 Community

My Dear Hindalla, Remember Me is a tribute to friendship and a testament to the rich heritage of a world that is lost, but not forgotten. Englander compiles a series of letters, translated from Yiddish, between her mother Hinda Zarkey Saul and her friend Nochum Berman.

Englander is a medical librarian at the Cleveland Clinic, and she lives in Shaker Heights. Saul was born in Lithuania and emigrated to the U.S. in 1937. She lives in South Euclid.

“Cleveland’s Own” Judge Linda Rocker Punishment: A Legal Thriller

• 7:30 p.m.  Nov. 4, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 Community

In her debut novel, Judge Linda Rocker opens a rare window into the behind-the-scenes lives of prosecutors, the prosecuted and judges in a high-profile murder trial. Punishment: A Legal Thriller tells the story of an ambitious young prosecutor who rolls the dice on a charge of intentional first-degree murder in the case of a young woman who was killed by her lover’s pit bull.

Linda Rocker practiced defense litigation at a major law firm in Cleveland and also served as a full-time Judge and Visiting Judge on the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County. She lives with her husband in Lyndhurst.

OPENING NIGHT: Dr. Daniel Gordis The Promise of Israel: Why Its Seemingly Greatest Weakness Is Actually Its Greatest Strength

• 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8, Mandel JCC
• $15 Mandel JCC members • $20 Community

In a world where differences between cultures, religions and national traditions are either denied or papered over, Israel’s critics insist that no country devoted to a single religion or culture can stay democratic and prosperous. Rather than relentlessly assailing Israel, Gordis argues in The Promise of Israel, the international community should see Israel’s model as key to the future of culture and freedom. Given Israel’s success, it would make sense for many other countries, from Rwanda to Afghanistan and even Iran, to look at how they’ve done it. In fact, rather than seeking to destroy Israel, the Palestinians would serve their own best interests by trying to copy it.

Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President and the Koret Distinguished Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. He is a regular columnist for the Jerusalem Post, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times. Gordis and his wife live in Jerusalem.

Jennifer Miller The Year of the Gadfly

• 1 p.m. Nov. 11, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 Community

Jennifer Miller’s exhilarating tale of double-crosses and long-buried secrets, told with all the charge of adolescence, reminds us of how the high school years can haunt our lives forever, and is perfect for adults and young adults.

Jennifer Miller’s works have appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor and more. She lives in Brooklyn.

Anna Funder All That I Am

• 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 Community

Anna Funder’s award-winning novel All That I Am details the risks and sacrifices people make for their beliefs and of heroism hidden in the most unexpected places. When Hitler is elected chancellor of Germany in 1933, a tight-knit group of friends and lovers become hunted outlaws and are forced to flee to London.

Before turning to writing full-time, Anna Funder worked as an international lawyer for the Australian Government. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and three children.

Dr. Moshe Arens Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto - The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

• 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 Community

In this groundbreaking work, Professor Moshe Arens, Israel’s former Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs, recounts the riveting tale of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Moshe Arens immigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1939. An aeronautical engineer, Arens taught at Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, and for ten years was senior vice-president of Israel Aerospace Industries, where he won the Israel Defense Prize. In 1982 he served as Israel’s ambassador to Washington.

Yoram Hazony The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture

• 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13, Siegal College, 26500 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood
• FREE • Reservations required

In The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, Hazony proposes a new framework for reading the Bible. What if the book is not about miracles or the afterlife, but about how to lead our lives in this world?

Yoram Hazony is founder and provost of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. He has written several books and writes a regular blog on philosophy, Judaism, Israel and higher education.

Delia Ephron The Lion Is In

• 1 p.m. Nov. 14, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 Community

Written with the deftness, humor and sparkling wit that have marked her books, plays and movies, Delia Ephron’s The Lion is In is an unforgettable story of friendship, courage and love between three women who decide to go on the lam together one summer night.

Delia Ephron is a bestselling author and screenwriter known for co-writing the screenplays of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and You’ve Got Mail. She collaborated with her late sister Nora Ephron on the play Love, Loss and What I Wore.

Rabbi Richard Address Seekers of Meaning - Baby Boomers, Judaism, and the Pursuit of Healthy Aging

• 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14, Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, 23737 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood
• FREE • Reservations required

Using key texts from the Torah in Seekers of Meaning, Rabbi Address shows the foundation of a happy and healthy life is the meaning we seek in the community of others and in our most fundamental relationship with God.

Rabbi Richard F. Address is a renowned speaker and teacher, and author or editor of dozens of books.

Jesse Kellerman Potboiler

• 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15, Mandel JCC
• $12 Mandel JCC members • $15 General Public

Jesse Kellerman’s outrageously funny, provocative new satire tells the story of middle-aged writing professor Arthur Pfefferkorn, who stumbles upon his late friend Bill de Valle’s unfinished manuscript and covertly re-writes it as his own.

The author of five novels and numerous plays, Kellerman has won several awards for his writing. He is the son of bestselling authors Jonathan and Faye Kellerman.

Kids Day Character Breakfast with Maisy

• 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Nov. 18, Mandel JCC
• Kids: FREE
  Adults: $10 Mandel JCC Members • $12 General Public

Come have breakfast with Maisy and enjoy a jam-packed morning with lots of activities for the whole family including story time with Bunni Union, songs, The Bubble Lady, a magic show, arts and crafts, balloon animals and more. Light breakfast and snacks will be provided by Giant Eagle

Leslie Maitland Crossing the Borders of Time A True Story of War, Exile and Love Reclaimed

• 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18, Suburban Temple-Kol Ami, 22401 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood
• FREE • Reservations required

In this powerful, historical memoir, Leslie Maitland tells the remarkable story of her journey to find her mother Janine’s lost love. Separated by war and her family’s disapproval, the young lovers – Janine and Roland – lose each other for five decades. Maitland successfully traces the lost Roland and is able to reunite him with Janine.

Maitland is an award-winning former New York Times investigative reporter who spent a decade researching this book. She appears regularly on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR to discuss literature.

The Festival of Jewish Books & Authors is sponsored by The Cuyahoga County Public Library, The Ohio Arts Council, Donby Packaging, The Jewish Book Council, PJ Library, The Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Key Bank, Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, Giant Eagle, Kol Nashim – The Women of Suburban Temple-Kol Ami and The Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learnin g Program of Case Western Reserve University.