ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
December 2023
GREATER NAPLES JEWISH BOOK FESTIVAL
Interest in Jewish Book Festival Kickoff event necessitates move to larger venue By Robin Mintz, Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival Chairperson
W
e are thrilled by the outstanding support from the community for this season’s Jewish Book Festival. The response to the kickoff event with Mitch Album is so tremendous that we moved the event to Temple Shalom in order to accommodate everyone who wants to attend. We look forward to seeing you at Temple Shalom, 4630 Pine Ridge Rd., Naples (for this event only) as we kick off the 2023-24 Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival. This year our lineup includes a variety of “great reads.” The very talented Carole J Greene, writer, editor and JBF committee member will be providing us with a
“sneak preview” of three of the books. I know you will enjoy her review of “Kantika: A Novel” by Elizabeth Graver, who is presenting on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. Reviews of “Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler” and “The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World” by Jonathan Freedland will be in the January and February Federation Star issues, respectively. It’s not too late to become a Jewish B o o k Fe s t i v a l patron or to purchase individual tickets if you haven’t had a chance. Please visit jewishbook festival.org or call Reneé or Michelle at 239-263-4205. OF GREATER NAPLES
Federation Star
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www.jewishbookfestival.org
A review of “Kantika” A Jewish Book Festival book being presented Dec. 14 By Carole J Greene
M
ost of the Jews in the Greater Naples area trace their ancestry to the shtetls of Eastern Europe — the Ashkenazic diaspora. They are more familiar with Yiddish than with Ladino, the language of the Sephardic Jews — those hailing from the Mediterranean areas of the diaspora. For that reason, Elizabeth Graver’s latest novel, “Kantika,” offers illuminating keys that open doors to Sephardic culture and history. Although it is a personal history drawn from actual events in the life of her own grandmother, this saga is so much more. Graver blurs the line between fact and fiction, utilizing the actual names of many of her maternal ancestors while embellishing, where necessary, the details of their lives. As she puts it, “I changed facts to suit the story, imagined inner lives and invented liberally at every turn.”
“Kantika,” “song” in Ladino, paints a portrait of one family’s displacement across four continents. It revolves around her grandmother, Rebecca Cohen, who grows up as the feisty daughter of Sephardic elite in early 20th-century Istanbul. The collapse of the Ottoman empire spells the end of the family’s high status, and Cohen is forced to flee to whatever culture would have her: first Barcelona, then Havana and, finally, New York City. Each move presents new challenges that motivate Cohen to discover inner strengths, and readers to unspool an inspiring tale peppered with Ladino phrases to add to their other modes of Jewish expression. Graver herself will explore more elements of this sensitive historical novel when she is the speaker at the second event of this season’s Gre a t e r Na p l e s Jewish Book Festival. Hear her tell more of this fascinating story on Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $25, available through JewishBookFestival.org.
While Preparing for the Profound Transition,
Be Understood
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