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Book Club: If All The Seas Were Ink by Ilana Kurshan

by Josie Zeman

9781250121264Shomrei Book Club

For May, the book is “If All the Seas Were Ink” by Ilana Kurshan, a 2017 finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Women’s Studies. We will meet on Monday, May 21 at 7:30 at the synagogue.

“In this deeply personal and often hilarious story, Kurshan shows us how the Talmud’s thousands of strange and demanding pages become a conversation about how best to live one’s life in an imperfect world. Kurshan awakens us to our imperfect world’s hidden magnificence―and to the power of literature to inspire human resilience. A stunning, gorgeous memoir.” ―Dara Horn, author ofThe World to Come
“With this memoir, Ilana Kurshan enters the exclusive club of daf yomi learners, a club that was, for generations, restricted to men. Hers is a stunningly original voice in the world of Torah and the world of literature. Go run and read this book.” ―Ruth Calderon, author of A Bride for One Night

All are welcome to join us. Contact Josie Zeman at  for more information if you are interested.

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  • Josie Zeman

    Josie Zeman joined Shomrei in 2007 (not sure) shortly after moving to Montclair to find a compatible community in retirement. She volunteers to do public relations outreach for Shomrei, helps in the office, and the kitchen, organizes sessions of the monthly Book Club, takes classes with the rabbi to learn all the things about Judaism that she never knew growing up in a Reform congregation in the South. She is proud to be a member of this dynamic synagogue!

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