\”Libraries have become the latest battleground in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,\” said Andrea Rapp, a Judaica librarian at the Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati, who has compiled examples of alleged anti-Israel bias appearing in children\’s books.
Many of Los Angeles County\’s 84 libraries carry Jewish-flavored works, but Culver City has the only stand-alone Judaica collection. Among other Southland public libraries, Agoura Hills Library has a Holocaust and Hebrew language collection, and the Los Angeles Central Library in downtown — part of the city of Los Angeles\’ library system — has a Yiddish collection with 3,000 books.
With more than 64,000 members, the American Library Association (ALA) is the oldest and largest organization of its type in the world. The group aims to improve the quality of libraries and to ensure equal access to information for all. This mission has included advocacy when libraries or librarians are in danger.
The timing couldn\’t have been worse. I was happily toting a batch of homemade bread and a broccoli quiche to a pot-luck birthday party, eager for some good fun and good eats. But I had barely crossed the threshold, when Sandy, the hostess and erstwhile birthday girl, announced that she had lost another 10 pounds on the Atkins plan.
After schlepping 40 years in the desert, it\’s hard to imagine a CD to exercise by coming from a people who have harbored a subconscious distrust of walking. But with my daughter\’s upcoming nuptials, my unending kvetch about fitting into the dress won out over my skepticism.
The two-day event over Chanukah, dubbed \”Light Up the Negev,\” was organized by the Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (JNF) with the express purpose of \”selling\” the Negev to Israel\’s youth.
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