Rav Moshe Mordechai Karp is a posek and dayan in Kiryat Sefer - Modiin Ilit, and has been involved in (led?) a number of social battles for the Haredi community, such as the fight against women wearing wigs to cover their hair, the use of Shabbos elevators, the Internet, and others. Now Rabbi Karp is taking on the latest enemy - children's books. Actually, a specific children's booklet.

Signs are going up signed by [Rav] Moshe Mordechai Karp against a children's book called Albumix - The Amazons 1 (this is a booklet that is also a sticker album). Karp says that from what he has seen of this book, it is very dangerous for our pure children - much more dangerous even than missionary books attempting to take our children away..

The book is bad and you need to get rid of it if you already bought it, but, Rabbi Karp says, you should not even return it to the store - as someone else will then buy it and you are assisting them in stumbling. You need to just destroy it, get rid of it. People should be careful and check all the booklets entering your home. 

He includes a couple of pages from the booklet. I assume these show some sort of offensive content, but I was unable to read any of it.

1. Forewarned is forearmed.. if this bothers you, know in advance not to buy it. If you do buy it and then regret it, he says you cannot return it but must get rid of it.

2. Avraham Ohayoun, the author, has put out 300 books, including 50 books of comix similar to this one and is referred to (based on an Internet search) as Harav Avraham Ohayoun, and on at least some of his books uses the title HaRav, though on this one it looks like he does not. This is not a book written by some troublemaker, unknown to the community, that might have nefarious motives. Not that this makes the book necessarily good and kosher, but he has a good reputation and probably deserves the benefit of the doubt.

3. Did the author not pay the necessary protection money to have his book approved by whatever askan brought this to Rab Karp's attention? I don't know.

4. The real crime of this book, and of similar books is that it makes our kids dumb. These comix make our kids not want to read real books that are not illustrated like a comic book.

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz does tremendous work in the realm of child safety. He recently launched a child safety book "Let's Stay Safe", and more recently has been launching versions of this book in other languages, including one in Hebrew for the Dati Leumi community and another in Hebrew for the Haredi community (I do not know what the differences are in the book).



Personally, both for my kids and to support Rabbi Horowitz's efforts, I just picked up the Hebrew version of the book:



this is the Haredi version of the book, whatever that means..

you can get these books at any decent Jewish bookstore. In RBS I got it at the Judaica Center bookstore (under Yesh).

Feldheim is running a campaign promoting a new book for women called Parsha in Pink written by Rebetzin Mindy Bodner-Lankry.

The book is packaged in what might be called traditional stereotypical packaging for a woman.. a pink-trimmed book cover..

While some people have found that to be disparaging, as if they will buy the book because it is pink, I don't care about that and found a different aspect of the campaign interesting..

The Feldheim online campaign leads to a landing page that appears like this (I took a screenshot in case they change it):


"Finally something for you, Imahos of Klal Yisroel"

As if there have been no books about Torah topics published for women until now. And forget about the possibility that general Torah books might also be read and studied by women. Forget other publishers - has Feldheim never before published a book that was targeted towards women?

They presume that this is the first book of Torah topics targeted to women. I find that funny.

The following event invitation was posted online, though it was by journalists so I have no idea if this is an open invitation or not...




Mayor of Bet Shemesh Moshe Abutbol has written a book about the double elections, and the invitation is to the upcoming release event. The event will be in Jerusalem.

I am surprised he is not holding the event in Bet Shemesh. Maybe it was arranged for Jerusalem to make it easier for the MKs to attend.

Congrats to him, I hope he makes a lot of money off this book.

Best comments I've seen online:
 *  Is anyone else as sickened as I am by the idea of a sitting mayor, who pays lip service to the idea of promoting harmony, writing a book to rehash the most divisive election campaign/process one could possibly imagine?
 * now I understand why the city looks as it does.. instead of running the city he has been busy writing a book! (my comment)
 * Did you notice where he chose to hold the party? In the midst of his fanatic friends in Mea Shearim...and not in Bet Shemesh...that is a statement.

I doubt I will get a copy of this book for review.

The following books have been received and may be reviewed in the future:

• The Conversation, by Joshua Golding (Urim Publications)
• Letters to Talia, by Dov Indig (Gefen Publishing)
• Debunking the Bull, by Sarah Honig (Gefen Publishing)
• Survivors, by Aliza Auerbach (Gefen Publishing)

Congrats to Baruch and Judy Sterman on their book, The Rarest Blue, winning the Jewish Journal's Book-of-the-Year award!
(If you have not yet read my book review of The Rarest Blue, do so now, buy the book and read it)

From the announcement on The Jewish Journal:

Because the Stermans possess precisely that alchemical genius, the Jewish Journal Book Prize for 2013 is awarded to “The Rarest Blue,” the second-annual prize given in recognition of a book of exceptional interest, achievement and significance.  This award is presented each January to an author or authors for a book published during the previous calendar year, and it includes a $1,000 honorarium.
“The Rarest Blue” starts with a 2,000-year-old mystery: How did the Israelites make thread a blue color known as tekhelet that they were required by the Torah to wear on their fringed garments? The formula for making the blue dye was lost in the early centuries of the Diaspora, and generation after generation of observant Jews have been unable to comply with the biblical commandment. “And now we have only white,” the compiler of the Midrash complained in the eighth century, “for tekhelet has been hidden.” Ironically, it was only during the era of the scientific and industrial revolution that the biblical secrets began to emerge. And now the Stermans have revealed how to make what they called “the sacred, rarest blue.”
[...]
“The Rarest Blue” begins in distant antiquity, moves forward through two millennia of Jewish culture and history, and drills down deeply on the scientific enterprise of more recent times. The key to the riddle of tekhelet is a marine snail known as the Murex trunculus, whose entrails were used by Bible-era dye-makers to create the hyacinth blue that is mentioned some 50 times in the Tanakh.
“ ‘The Rarest Blue’ can be enjoyed as a mystery, a travelogue, an adventure story and a work of scholarship,” I wrote in my review for the Journal. “The story ends on a note of triumph that can be understood variously as an affirmation of piety or as the success of a scientific enterprise, or perhaps both.”
Other readers have been just as enthusiastic. Nobel Prize-winning chemist Roald Hoffmann calls the book “a detective story with cultural origins and a spiritual ending,” and Booklist describes it as an “expansive and fascinating microhistory.”  Perhaps the most astute and telling notice, however, came from the critic who hailed “The Rarest Blue” as an “Indiana Jones-style chemistry adventure.” Remarkably, it is one book combining chemistry and Torah that is a real page-turner.
The annual winner of the annual Jewish Journal Book Prize is selected by the Journal’s book editor. The prize is not restricted to Jewish authors or books on Jewish subjects, but “The Rarest Blue” is an example of a book that is worthy of attention both for its literary merit and for its Jewish interest. 

A great book, a deserving award.

Today is a dramatic, and historical, day in the frum book industry. According to Bechadrei, the Feldheim publishing house is declaring bankruptcy.

It must be added that the stores under the Feldheim name are owned by the Feldheim family but are a separate business, and would technically not be affected by the bankruptcy of the publishing house, though there are rumors that the stores might be sold to the Ohr HaChaim chain of bookstores..

If true, if Feldheim really does go out of business, the frum book and seforim market will dramatically change. Feldheim has been a leader in the industry for so long, it is hard to imagine what the industry will look like without them being part of it.

Today is the last day of the Jewish E-Books sale of 50% off!

If you read e-books, this is a great opportunity...

"We will not negotiate with terrorists"

That is a common refrain among many western governments. We will not negotiate with terrorists.

Of course, they almost always do. Just not publicly. They often don't really have a choice.

It is a bit more unusual when such a refrain comes from a private business.

The Ohr HaChayim bookstore in Geula has been targeted by the thugs (they call themselves the sikrikim). They have been incessantly attacking the store, breaking windows, damaging merchandise, gluing shut the locks and harassing customers and the store owner. This has been going on for a long time. Ohr HaChayim is not the only store in Geula - Mea Shearim that has been attacked. Others have as well, some caved and closed, some did not.

This group of thugs has been trying to get Ohr HaChayim to agree to commit to a series of terms. Such an agreement would bring quiet to the store. Ohr haChayim has been refusing to agree, saying they will not negotiate with terrorists.

There might have been a breakthrough this week. The thugs claim, with the backing of the Eida (if they ever deny their association with the thugs this proves that denial is a lie and just used when convenient), that the owner of Ohr HaChayim has signed the agreement. His commitment says that he agrees to four conditions:

1. he will hang a sign in the storefront saying people should be dressed modestly when entering the store.
2. he will have a mashgiach from their committee of "purity of the camp" to oversee the books sold in the store (again, sounds like another protection racket).
3. a sign will be hung in the store saying it is not a library
4. He will actively discourage the yeshiva bochurim from hanging around and reading books, turning the store into a hangout and meeting place of sorts

I just came across this book, Pitching in the Promised Land: A Story of the First and Only Season in the Israel Baseball League, and it looks very interesting.





The league, when it existed, was a lot of fun, and it is really a shame it was not successful enough to continue. I am looking forward to getting the book and reading an insiders version of what went down.

I always loved the Maxwell House haggadah, and even if I have others and would use others when preparing for the sedder, to enjoy some fresh commentary and anecdotes, when it comes to the actual seder nothing tops the Maxwell House haggadah. The simple layout and presentation makes it easy to read for the sedder.

From the Associated Press, via Yahoo News:

From the White House to the Schein house, Passover is good to the last drop thanks to the Maxwell House Haggadah, lovingly passed down through generations, red wine splotches and gravy smears marking nearly 80 years of service at American Seder tables.
The coffee company's version of the text used at the holiday meal has been offered free at supermarkets with a Maxwell House purchase since the early 1930s. Now, more than 50 million copies are in print.
They even turned up when President Obama hosted his first Seder in the family dining room of the White House two years ago.
The company is issuing a new edition this year in time for the start of Passover, which begins the night of April 18.
"I feel like I'm passing on a piece of my childhood. They're familiar and comfortable," said Lisa Zwick, 44, of Laguna Hills, Calif. Her family, starting with her parents, has used the Maxwell House books for 37 years to tell the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt.
For that, Maxwell House owes a debt to Joseph Jacobs Advertising and the Orthodox rabbi it hired back in 1923. The rabbi confirmed that the coffee bean is not a legume but a berry instead, so OK under the dietary rules observed by some Jews during the holiday.
The Haggadah giveaway began about a decade after the rabbi decreed that coffee was kosher for Passover as a way to clear up lingering consumer confusion and end the dip in coffee sales that had been observed each year around the eight-day celebration, said Elie Rosenfeld, who works on the Haggadah account at Joseph Jacobs.
The books have been distributed nearly continuously ever since. The company took two years off when paper was scarce during World War II.
A Haggadah includes special instructions, prayers, hymns and commentary unique to Passover. The manuals are given out to family and friends at the Seder table so all can participate in the retelling of Moses' deliverance of the Jews from slavery more than 3,000 years ago.
The term Passover refers to the Jewish homes that were "passed over" by God's angel of death, sent to snatch the Egyptians' firstborn as punishment for the pharaoh's refusal to free the slaves.
Susan Schein's 30 copies of the Maxwell House Haggadah hold precious memories of her late dad, Philadelphia shoe salesman Ray Kaplan. His contribution to the Seder meal was — you guessed it — Maxwell House coffee, still a strong seller today but king to many coffee-drinkers back in the pre-Starbucks `60s when he was collecting the guides.
"Every year he would bring another one or two," said Schein in Sunny Isles, Fla., near Miami, as she hauled out her dad's books once again in preparation for this year's Seder, with more than 20 guests expected.
"He was such a nice man. Every time I put them out, I think of him," she said. "My china even matches. They're blue."
This year, 6-month-old Hazel Ray, her granddaughter named for her father, will be at the Seder table.
David Brimm was only 15 when his father died and he began leading his family's Seder using copies of the Maxwell House Haggadah his parents collected through the `60s and `70s. He dismisses critics who complain the texts are fuddy-duddy or promote corporate involvement where none should exist.
"I'm fairly certain Moses wasn't a Maxwell House guy," joked Brimm, in Deerfield, Ill., near Chicago. "There's a certain comfort at the table when we open the `sacred' Maxwell House Haggadahs. We've augmented the service by singing Passover songs based on Broadway melodies."
By some counts, more than 3,000 different types of Haggadahs exist today, offering commentary and activities to fill just about any niche — feminist, vegetarian, family fun, eco-conscious, socialist — even one co-edited by a pastor mixing a Christian perspective with the Jewish. Another promises a 30-minute Seder, as opposed to the usual hunger-inducing two- to four-hour service.
Fuggeddaboutit, say Maxwell House aficionados.
"We've tried others, but year after year we find our table set for 25 to 30 folks in our home and every place is set with a Maxwell House Haggadah. It makes our Passover Seder good to the last drop," joked Dana Marlowe of Silver Spring, Md., who built on her mother's stash of the books over 12 years of hosting her own Seders.
Last drop. Get it? Cracking wise about the famous Maxwell House catchphrase is a popular pastime among fans of the company's Haggadah. The slogan from the company's coffee commercials was used on the book's cover in the early years.
[...]
Obama was introduced to the guides by young aides during an impromptu Seder they held in 2008 while on a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. Why the Maxwell House version? Primarily because that's what they could scrounge up quickly.
The books were used in `09 at the White House and again for the White House Seder last year. This year? No word, but tradition is likely to prevail in the big house like smaller ones everywhere.
The 2011 edition (the last tweaking was in 1998) modernizes the English translation of the text for the first time and includes images of past covers. Prior to 1998, the interior hadn't been touched since the early `60s. The covers have changed a few times between the `70s and `90s, Rosenfeld said.
Ron Korn in Scottsdale, Ariz., said the Maxwell House books have logged 45 years of use in his family. He, too, inherited them when his parents died. The books have been circulating in other families for two generations.
"They represent the archetypical American Jewish experience. Here you have a major U.S. corporation publishing a Jewish book of prayer that reflects multi-denominational Jewish values," he said. "It speaks loudly of the American dream."

I try to avoid going into bookstores.

I am addicted to books, all books - Jewish, not Jewish, historical, biographies, fiction, etc, and have been known to way overspend on books whenever I walk into a bookstore. I try to avoid them. I don't even have that much time for book reading right now...

Like today I passed a bookstore and walked in out of curiosity. I ended up buying 3 books, and had to really control myself to not buy more than that.

I don't buy books often anymore (for myself), but bookstores (all types) have always been of my favorite types of stores. Yesterday I went to a seforim store to buy a bar mitzva present. While there I took advantage and bought myself a copy of the new Koren - Sacks Siddur.


Growing up, the koren tanach was always the baseline for correct text. Everybody had one, and whether or not you actually used it for learning, it was always used to solve disputes as to teh accuracy of text or vowalization or cantillation.
Those of us who grew up reading regularly from the Torah in shul, would always check with the Koren when there was a question.
One more memory of Koren is that when I was younger I thought it strange that it had the same, or very similar, name to that of the Kuran. Lehavdil.

Anyways, I bought it last night and used it this morning for the first time.

The first thing you notice is that the Hebrew text is on the left side, and the translation on the right. At first it seemed strange, but when davening I did not even notice it. It seemed natural.

Also it is linear, and I never used the Artscroll Linear (and Metsuda Linear was too long ago for me), so I cannot really compare it. It is a nice siddur. During the week who has time to look at translation or the commentary at the bottom.... so I'll see later how I like that...

Happy Davening! Based on childhood memories, you cannot go wrong with Koren.

I was just reading my 6 year old son a book. The topic of the book was a girl and her mother. The girl feels bad she has no father and she davens and sure enough her mother tells her that next week she will have a new tatty (that is the story in very brief).

When the book first mentioned that she had no tatty, my son asked me "How could she come out of the mommy if there is no daddy?"

It took me a moment to realize what he was asking... I then stammered and said "no, she had a daddy but he died and now she is sad because she has no daddy anymore..."..

Man, who thinks up these stories for kids??!!

I was going through Quicken software last night, while working on our family budget. I noticed something, that I thought was, strange.

We had an expense of purchasing books and I was trying to find a category to put it into. They had categories for "Cable TV", "Internet", Computers", and "Recreation". They did not have any category for "Books".

Doesn't anybody read books anymore? Is it all computers and tv and no more books?