It’s a New Year — 5773 by the Jewish calendar — and a new season at the Jewish Museum (thejewishmuseum.org). “What we’re celebrating this new year is a stunning exhibit of treasures from England’s Bodleian Library,” says director of education Nelly Silagy Benedek. “With over 50 illuminated manuscripts in Hebrew, Latin and Arabic, it tells a story of cultural interaction among Jews, Muslims and Christians.” Benedek, who grew up in The Bronx and shared a piano teacher with writer Cynthia Ozick’s daughter, says she’d never have a Kindle: “There’s something about books and the memories they evoke when you turn the pages and think of all the people who’ve handled them — it’s almost magical!” Here’s what’s in her library.
The Cannibal Galaxy
by Cynthia Ozick
A man who survives WWII comes to the US and starts a school with a “Dual Curriculum,” combining Jewish and secular studies. This book resonates for me as a parent — I think of how schools try to churn out perfectly educated students while ignoring the individual’s true gifts.
Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman
I heard Neil Gaiman say that when he was preparing for his bar mitzvah, he was less interested in the preparations and more interested in the stories his rabbi told him, what Gaiman calls “Jewish mythology.” This story is riveting, the setting gritty, urban and horrifying (in a delicious way). The writing is clever, tight and humorous. The ending’s emotionally satisfying. What more can you ask for?
Gentlemen of the Road
by Michael Chabon
Most people know “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” one of my all-time favorite books, but they may not be aware of this one, which Chabon says he originally titled “Jews With Swords.” It imagines a journey through the Caucasus Mountains, and it’s filled with hilarious action and suspense.
A Fine and Private Place
by Peter Beagle
Some of my favorite books take place in cemeteries (Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book”). This one takes place in one near Fordham Road in The Bronx, a stone’s throw away from where I went to elementary school. It’s about ghosts, life, death, remembering and renewal. Beagle has transformed a place of grimness into one of beauty and imagination.