Notes from the Levy Library

A Tea Party for the Library!

– column updated 5/1/26

Taking Tea in the Library

On Sunday, 4/26 the library was filled with people enjoying one another’s company as well as delicious sandwiches, desserts, and tea from La Gondola. The tea was a fundraiser for the library sponsored by Sue Mizrahi – thank you, Sue! For a $25 donation there was a lovely meal plus the chance to win one of three very desirable door prizes. We decorated the library with gorgeous crepe and tissue paper flowers that Sue had made. Each place setting included a laminated bookmark made by the Hebrew School children and a beribboned poem from the Second Sunday Book Club. If you’re curious about the poems, email me and I’ll send you one! Or join the book club and you’ll receive one every month in the notes I send out after our meeting.

In addition to a book display there was a game, “Blind Date with a Book,” in which a book is hidden inside a paper bag with an intriguing phrase written on it. You slip the book out of the bag if you want to know more — and maybe borrow it. If you don’t want it, you return the book to its bag for the next person to consider. Some of the teasers: “Italian Adventure,” “Digging Deeper,” and “Sephardic Superwoman!”

I also set out for perusal two of the many albums of stamps donated to the Temple by the Erlanger family — beautiful Israel first day covers. This was the first opportunity for people to view them. A selection of sale books rounded out the attractions.

Special thanks to all who attended, and those who worked on it: Neda Roshani and Neda Mehdizadeh; Avi, Melissa and Anthony in the office; custodians Henry and Bryan… and of course Sue Mizrahi, who made it all possible.

Latest Recommendations from the Second Sunday Book Club

Nine of us met on April 5 for a shorter-than-usual session – closer to one hour than two – to accommodate busy book club members! Here are some of the books we read…. First, there is Under an Afghan Sky, Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung’s harrowing memoir of being kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan. We looked backwards in time via a collection of John Steinbeck’s essays, America and Americans, and forwards to a contemporary novel, Hunting in America. Finally, one of my favorite new children’s books: Daniel Nayeri’s The Teacher of Nomad Land, a beautifully written World War II story set in Iran – it won the National Book Award for Youth Literature and a Newbery Honor!

Our next meeting is Sunday, May 17, at 1:00 – the THIRD Sunday – because we always skip Mother’s Day. Email me for the Zoom link if you’d like to join us to talk about your reading.

Shabbat Shalom, and happy reading!

Your Librarian, Annette

Do visit our online catalog https://stti-hl.mimas.opalsinfo.net/bin/home#0. You can also get there via the Temple web site https://sephardictemple.org/ — click on the “Learning” tab and choose “Temple Library.” Get to know your Levy Library – there’s lots to discover!

Librarian: Annette Goldsmith. Email: library@sephardictemple.org