September always feels like a new beginning—the start of the school year, the launch of a new book season, and the start of the Jewish New Year. All three converge at Kar-Ben Publishing, an imprint of Lerner Publishing, proudly the largest publisher of exclusively Jewish-themed children’s books in the world!

Just as the new year (which happens to be 5780) begins on Rosh Hashanah, Kar-Ben’s new book season kicks off with a Rosh Hashanah board book featuring an old friend. In Shanah Tovah,Grover!, Grover and his Sesame Street friends prepare for the holiday and wish each other “Shanah Tovah” (Hebrew for “a good year”)!

Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av (tisha means 9 in Hebrew), is a day for mourning the loss of the ancient Temples in Jerusalem. According to Jewish tradition, both of the Temples were destroyed on that day: the first in 586 BCE and the second in 70 AD. For many centuries, the Temples were the center of Jewish life, and where people came to pray on the holidays of Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot.

Summer is a time to say goodbye to long days in school, and say hello to long summer days in the sun relaxing with friends.  But for some, summer is also time for new places, new people and new experiences.

The unique experience of a Jewish summer camp, with Shabbat celebrations, special songs, dances, art, and activities introduces campers to the richness of Judaism and helps build Jewish identity.  But going to camp for the first time, may bring worries about making friends, getting homesick, and trying new things.  Even veteran campers may want to try out these books to see a slice of life at a Jewish camp.

This is the launch speech in English writer Lesley Simpson delivered in Ranana, Israel to celebrate the Hebrew translation of Yuvi’s Candy Tree. Learn how a movement began to share this story with people all across Israel. 

This is a story of radical hope. Yuvi’s Candy Tree (Kar-Ben Books 2011)  is a children’s picture book written by Canadian writer Lesley Simpson.  The book was inspired by Yuvi Tashome, who as a five year old girl, outwitted robbers in her exodus from Ethiopia to a Sudanese refugee camp. The book grew out of an interview Simpson, a Canadian journalist and children’s book writer (lesleysimpson.ca) requested with Yuvi Tashome when she was in North America in 2009, raising awareness and money for the NGO she founded in Israel called Friends by Nature.  When Simpson heard Tashome describe her Biblical-like exodus, it felt to her as if the Haggadah was coming alive before her eyes. She imagined a picture book and then wrote Yuvi’s Candy Tree.

In 1995, when my boys were 11 and 14, I purchased a lovely book called Eight Nights, Eight Lights: Family Values for Each Night of Hanukkah, compiled by Rabbi Kerry Olitzky. It contained short inspirational passages to be read aloud as part of the candle-lighting ceremony. Some sections were written by modern rabbis. Others came from older Jewish texts. But each one provided a meaningful moment of reflection which added to our Hanukkah celebration, making this family time together more than just a gift-giving event.