Iyar and May: Perfect Together
How enriching to live by two calendars! However, it’s also confusing: try to explain the Jewish calendar and the secular calendar and their relationship to the moon and the sun.
Just as our two calendars are entwined, the stories of the U.S. and Israel share common points of contact.
We are in the midst of May and Iyar, months that are significant to both Americans and Jews. May has been for the last decade or two designated Jewish American Heritage Month by presidential proclamation, celebrating the accomplishments of Americans Jews in the context of American history.
Iyar marks Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haatzmaut, Pesach Sheni, Lag BaOmer, and Yom Yerushalayim. No wonder May was chosen for Jewish American Heritage Month.
Our library is filled with books that show the intersection of both the American (U.S.) and Israeli stories. Although many of the books listed below were written for children, they are rich with facts and details that will appeal to older reader, including adults. Check the library catalog for more.
Koffsky, Ann. The Peddler and the President relates the efforts that President Harry Truman’s lifelong friend , Jewish Eddie Jacobson, made to convince the President that Israel should become a state. Young readers are targeted but older readers will be carried along by the tension in the story and the depth of the friendship between the two men. (J)
Klagsbrun, Francine. Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel is a comprehensive look at Israeli’s fourth and only female prime minister.
Krasner, Barbara. Goldie Takes a Stand: Golda Meir’s first crusade looks at Meir’s childhood in Milwaukee where at the age of nine she organized the community to raise money to buy textbooks for immigrant classmates. Meir spent many years in the U.S. before moving to Israeli and eventually becoming Israeli’s prime minister. (J)
Lapid, Lihie. On Her Own is an intense novel of a run-a-way Israeli teen who is taken in by an elderly woman whose granddaughter she pretends to be as she hides out after witnessing a murder. A beautiful relationship grows between the two until the woman’s son, who lives in California with his family, threatens to destroy it.
Lehman-Wilzig, Tami. On the Wings of Eagles tells the story of the rescue of a group of Yemenite Jews by an Alaska Airlines pilot. This picture book is based on a real incident during Operation Magic Carpet, an international effort that rescued nearly 50,000 Jews from Yemen in 1949 and 1950. (J)Nathan, Joan. My Life in Recipes reveals the famous cookbook developer’s early career in Israel working in Jerusalem.
Newman, Tracy. Itzhak: a boy who loved the violin is an inspirational picture book biography of Itzhak Perlman, the child prodigy violinist, who found fame in the U.S. while learning to accommodate the effects of polio. (J)
Yaron. Lee. 10/7: 100 human stories of the October 7 attack won the 2024 National Jewish Book Award. When the attack occurred, Israeli journalist Yaron was on a fellowship at Columbia University.
