|
Barry Nove, Director of
Development for the Jewish Publication Society,
speaking to day school classes about the JPS partnership with B4I. As
part of a tzedakah project, students underwrote the shipment of more
than 330 pounds
of JPS books that were shipped in January 2005.
|
|
In 2005, schools in the Carmiel, Nahariya and Jezreel Valley flagships
will have a wonderful surprise -- sharing in distributions of
beautiful books produced by the Jewish Publication Society. This year,
these books, the majority of which are hard-cover editions, will be
making their way to library shelves -- and to the hands of eager
youngsters, young scholars, and their teachers in the north and center
of Israel. This is the second wave of books provided by JPS since the
society generously joined the Books for Israel Project late in 2004.
In their first shipment, JPS sent books to the center and south
of Israel, with a particularly large collection of books sent to the
school cluster in Beersheva. Since July 2004, JPS has donated more
than 1,000 pounds of books to the Books for Israel Project. The
enrichment of Israel's school libraries, however, has only just begun,
according to Barry Nove, JPS Director of Development.
|
The books chosen for this project are outstanding. Some are fiction.
Many of titles are autobiographies, anthropological studies, and
fictionalized histories of individuals in Jewish communities in
different areas
of the world at various periods of history. All of the books, however,
offer a very special combination of carrying a message of shared
heritage and caring from one generation and location to another. They
are hand-chosen by Barry Nove along with a group
of dedicated volunteers who take time off of their very busy schedules
to choose collections of books suitable for school aged youngsters
from the JPS Virginia warehouse and pack these up. Barry Nove makes a
long trip from Philadelphia for this purpose -- and during his latest
book collection effort, braved furious winds and snow storms
that hit the area in the early winter of 2005.
|
|
"What is wrong with this book?" Barry Nove asks Jewish day school
children,. "There's a mark on the cover," they
reply. "That's right," explains
Mr. Nove, "That's why this books has become a JPS
Mitzvah Project Book.
One we'd like to send to kids in Israel through the
Books for Israel Project." |
Since July 2004, JPS has donated more than 1,000 pounds of books to the
Books for Israel Project. The shipping has been underwritten through
donations. JPS continues to seek donations to underwrite the modest
shipping costs of these books. In addition to its impactful work with
Books for Israel, the Jewish Publication Society has a long history of
making its excellent books available to schools in need.
At its heart, the Society’s mission as a nonprofit has always been to help
people from all walks of life – k’lal yisrael. Throughout the world, the
Jewish Publication Society (JPS) is recognized as a grand enterprise that
informs and strengthens the Jewish people. The mission of the Society
encourages JPS to make books available to those that cannot afford them –
ranging from very small old congregations in the United States to schools
in Israel and around the world.
Barry Nove explains
about the Jewish Publication Society's Mitzvah Project.
In his involvement with the Books for Israel Project, Barry carefully
reads through the school cluster profile write ups from flagships
throughout Israel and consults with Rena Cohen, Co-Founder of Books
for Israel and Books for Israel International Volunteer Coordinator
about school clusters most in need. The JPS Mitzvah Project will
eventually impact upon schools throughout each region of Israel.
The JPS produces beautiful and important books about Judaism,
books that tell stories about our history and retell our stories f
or people of all ages.
All of us at Books for Israel are grateful that the Jewish Publication
Society has made B4I an integral part of the JPS Mitzvah Book Project.
|
|
JPS donates returned books which may have been slightly damaged in
shipping or which have been returned from bookstores with a gently
bent corner. These books become central to their Mitzvah Project
program. Twice a year JPS staff and volunteers visit the JPS warehouse
in the Washington, D.C. area and select books from the Mitzvah Project
bins, matching them to the requests they receive.
Rena Cohen, Books for Israel International
Volunteer Coordinator,
and co-founder of B4I,
takes time off from her
office management work
to volunteer with Barry's
team at the JPS
warehouse, choosing and
packing books
that will help establish
and enrich libraries
throughout schools in
Israel. |
| |
After
receiving a message that Barry Nove and the JPS Mitzvah Team were
preparing yet another book shipment, Ilan Bar-Shalom, half of the
Bar-Shalom husband and wife volunteer team who co-coordinate the
B4I in Israel, wrote this letter:
Reading your message, Barry, I felt my eyes grow damp. These are tears
of belonging:
As much as I live a modern life as an Israeli, as much as Israel seems
isolated again and again on the world scene, some traditional sense of
my Judaism and the Jewish sense of community is still humming in my
heart. The opening line of the Israeli anthem, translated says "As
long as inside the heart a Jewish soul is humming and to the end of
the East
an eye is watching over Zion, our Hope is not lost."
This effort of people that join together overseas to say that there is
a mutual responsibility and "Arvoot Hadadit" (mutual responsibility)
because "Kol Israel arevim ze la'ze" (All of Israel guarantees one
another) fills my heart with warmth and I experience a little bit of a
choking feeling in my throat. Yes, somehow, somewhere, we do belong to
one another!
Thank you Barry, for your efforts to help our schools, for helping our
children in more and more areas of Israel! Please let me express my
deep appreciation for the feeling of belonging that spring out of your
actions! Thank you for making the words of Hatikva refreshed with
meaning again.
My best regards to all of
you at JPS,
Ilan
|
|
JPS only seeks to find modest support to underwrite the cost of
shipping and handling.
For approximately $1.50, a pound of Mitzvah Project books can be sent
to Israel.
For $30, a large carton of books can be shipped throughout North
America.
For a donation of $100, JPS will send a selection of these books with
dedication bookplates
recognizing the donor's gift to a qualifying US institution.
For $250, JPS will recognize the donor's gift on bookplates going to
one school in Israel or other
Jewish communities throughout the world.
For donations greater than this, additional schools and institutions
may receive books or
a vastly larger shipment may be arranged.
Any potential donors who would like to contribute
to the JPS Mitzvah Project fund, please contact
the Jewish Publication Society as follows:
Barry Nove, Director of Development
The Jewish Publication Society
2100 Arch Street, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-832-0621 Fax:
215-5682017
Website: www.jewishpub.org
E-mail: bnove@jewishpub.org
|
| |
|
Joins
B4I and