[NFBJ] Hello from JBI Library

Tue May 6 21:03:22 UTC 2025

Hi everyone,
I'm Jill, former Chief Librarian at the NYC's Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, and now Head Librarian at JBI Library (established in 1931 as the Jewish Braille Institute)

Would it be nice/wanted if I share our monthly newsletter on this listserv? We have a lot of free virtual events that might be of interest, a newly revamped, Jewish-focused news and culture magazine digest, and alerts about new accessible titles.

Here's our May Newsletter:

JBI Library May 2025 Newletter of Events, News, and New Titles

Dear friends,

This May we are introducing JBI's Memoir Series! Our stories make us who we are: they let us connect, express ourselves, and share our wisdom and foibles. Through reading other people’s life stories, we can find solace and validation or have our eyes opened to different views and experiences. There are so many stories! Join JBI Library for our “Year of the Memoir” as we explore life writings from diverse Jewish authors, experiment with writing, and share some of our own. This series will continue over the year with many wonderful programs.

Also, a reminder that we have revamped our JBI Voices (audio) and Jewish Braille Review (braille) offerings, so please subscribe if you are interested in getting a bimonthly digest of news articles on science, culture, history, Jewish lives, humor, personal stories and more. In honor of Shavuot, the May/June issue’s special theme will be Reading, Libraries, and the Written Word. You’re also all invited to discuss the theme and the articles in our new bimonthly Voices/Review chat hour, see details below.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to our librarians with any questions or requests at 212-545-8025 or library at jbilibrary.org<mailto:library at jbilibrary.org>!

Enjoy the warmer weather,

Jill Rothstein
Head Librarian

Programs:
Memoir Writing Workshop 
Monday, May 12 at 4:30-5:30 PM  
Virtual (Zoom), FREE 

Join us on Monday, May 12th, for a day of creativity, introspection and community gathering. As the first part of our new and ongoing memoir series, writer Julia Edelman will take you through guided meditation and journaling prompts to help you reflect and explore. Express memories and moments and see where your writing leads you. Surprise yourself with what will be unearthed. Participants will have the opportunity to share what they've written with other members of the group.  

You don't need to be a writer or professional artist for this workshop, and you don't need to prepare anything beforehand! Just come with curiosity and a desire to create. This is a chance to meet others looking for a way to ground, connect and share work. If you would like to audio record your responses rather than write them, that is also possible. The workshop is intended to be as accessible as possible. Please let us know of any helpful modifications beforehand. 

Zoom captioning will be available and ASL interpretation can be provided upon request. Register for free at the following link: https://jbilibrary-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/R2A22e0RQ2KqvH780DFR-A  

Series: Social History of Jewish Food: Co-Hosted by JBI Library and ACB, led by Rabbi Andrew Goodman

Wednesday, May 21, at 3pm EST 
Wednesday, June 4, at 3pm EST 
Wednesday, June 18, at 3pm EST 

Virtual (Zoom), FREE 

Join us and members of the ACB for the first in a three-part series, "Social History of Jewish Food," facilitated by Rabbi Andrew Goodman on Wednesday, May 21 at 3 pm ET. Dive into the rich culinary traditions and cultural significance of Jewish cuisine, as we explore the historical and social contexts that have shaped these beloved dishes. Using the book "Eat and Be Satisfied," this program promises to be a delightful journey through the stories and importance of Jewish food. Each program in this series will focus on a different time period in history. Feel free to join us for any or all the programs in this series!  

Please note: The book “Eat and Be Satisfied” is available to request at JBI Library. Reach out to our library at 212-545-8025 or library at jbilibrary.org<mailto:library at jbilibrary.org> and we will be happy to help you access the book.   

Register at the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/iF1gFHeQcF

Book Club with Lori 
Wednesday, 5/28 at 2:45pm EST 
Book: Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner 
Virtual (Zoom), FREE 

It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds. Olivia is the sister in the spotlight until her stunning confidence becomes erratic and unpredictable, a hurricane leaving people wrecked in her wake. Younger sister Amy, cautious and studious to the core, believes in facts, proof, and the empirical world. None of that explains what’s happening to Olivia, whose physical beauty and charisma mask the mental illness that will shatter Amy’s carefully constructed life. As Amy comes of age and seeks to find her place—first in academics, then New York publishing, and through a series of troubled relationships—every step brings collisions with Ollie, who slips in and out of the Shred family without warning. Yet for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Olivia cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them.  

This book is available from NLS as DB125379. Download it through BARD at nlsbard.loc.gov, the BARD Mobile app, or request them from your local NLS library.  

Please reach out to register at jbilibrary.org<mailto:register at jbilibrary.org> or 646-616-3929 to register.  

JBI Voices / Review Chat Hour
Thursday, June 26 at 4:30pm EDT
Virtual (Zoom), FREE 

In our 2nd chat hour, we will talk about the May/June issue of JBI Voices / Jewish Braille Review whose theme will be Reading, Libraries, and the Written Word, in honor of Shavuot. To Register to join us, please reach out to register at jbilibrary.org<mailto:register at jbilibrary.org> or 646-616-3929

Newly Added to our Collection:

The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism (2024) by Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Audio, EN408838. A narrative of the relationship between God and humanity as expressed in the Jewish journey through modernity, the Holocaust, the creation of Israel, and the birth of Judaism’s next era.

Spilled and Gone: Poems (2019) by Jessica Greenbaum, Audio, EN408840. Jessica Greenbaum's collection of poems marries the world through metaphor. At heart, the poems themselves seek peace through close observation's associative power to reveal cohering relationships and meaning within the 21st century-and during its dark turn.

JBI Library Poetry Series Part Three: Love and Dread in an Unrestful Time, Audio, EN408842. This audio recording is of JBI Library's virtual poetry program, the last of JBI’s three-part poetry series on personal and collective resilience. This program featured poets Rachel Hadas and Matthew Lippman who read their work according to the evening’s theme, including poems from Hadas’ book “Love and Dread”. An audience Q & A and discussion follows their reading.

Mishnah Bava Metzia, Hebrew, Large Print, L00534. The second of a series of three tractates in Seder Nezikin (“Order of Damages") that deal with civil laws. It mainly focuses on interpersonal matters that are not connected to damages, such as disputed property, usury, returning lost objects, guarding, renting, borrowing, and responsibilities of workers and employers.

Modeh Ani, Large Print, L00535. A short, half-page with the English and Hebrew Modeh Ani prayer, which is to be said upon waking.

Copy of the Hebrew Alphabet, Large Print, L00585.

Newly Digitized:

Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews by Rabbi Meir Kahane (1987), Audio, EN404941. A controversial former member of Israel’s Knesset articulates his views on Jews and the Jewish State and explicates what his enemies have called his ‘crime’: seeking to have Jewish law obeyed in Israel.

History of the Jews of Cochin (1993) by J.B. Segal, Audio, EN406578. Over 2,000 years ago, Jewish traders founded a small community at Cochin on the spice coast of Southwest India. These Jews preserved their identity under the successive regimes of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British, while maintaining cordial relations with their Indian neighbors. Today, only a remnant remains.

The Silent and The Damned: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank (2002) by Robert Seitz and Nancy C. Thompson, Audio, EN408837. The chilling story of the sensational trial, unjust lynching of Leo M. Frank for the murder of his thirteen-year-old employee Mary Phagan. In the heated atmosphere of fear and antisemitism surrounding the murder, a mob dragged Frank from his prison cell and executed him.

The War Poems (2013) by Isaac Rosenberg, Audio, EN408839. Isaac Rosenberg is now acknowledged as the poetic equal of Sassoon and Owen. Rosenberg's poems combine horror and beauty, cynicism and great passion, lyricism with the awful realities of war.

Pyatero (The Five) (1936), by Vladimir Zhabotinsky. Russian, Audio, RU301091. The book is written by the famous Russian/Jewish writer, one of the central figures in Zionism movement. It is based on real events which took place in Odessa at the beginning of 20th century.