JEWISH BOOKS FOR ARMED FORCES FAMILIES

Amegillah, the Haggadah and, of course, the Torah – Jews love a good religious book. If you’re an English Literature graduate you may appreciate the beautiful poetry in Psalms. For the rest of us, it can be challenging to find meaning, especially for younger members of the community.

PJ Library, an organisation that gifts books to over 7,000 children across the UK, celebrates Jewish values and traditions through colourful and creative stories. This September they are distributing these titles, using highquality illustrations and informative inside covers of the books to inspire both children and parents alike.

Sammy Spider’s First Book of Jewish Holidays

Sammy Spider is curious about everything -- especially Jewish holidays and in this story, he learns a little bit about all of them.

Michael’s teacher told all her students to bring their favourite fruit to school so they could hang them from the roof of the sukkah. But Michael’s favorite fruit is a big, heavy watermelon -- and the roof of a sukkah is really just branches! How will they solve this problem?

Rabbi Benjamin’s Buttons

Rabbi Benjamin’s congregants love him -- so they make him a lovely homemade vest for Rosh Hashanah. They also make him all sorts of delicious foods throughout the yearand before Rabbi Benjamin knows it, that vest is a little bit tight. Uh oh!

Even Higher! A Rosh Hashanah Story

In this old-world tale, a skeptical visitor to a village determines where the rabbi goes when he disappears each year just prior to Rosh Hashanah.

1. Speak their language! If your child knows more about swiping than synagogue, download Jewish content on their screens via Jewish Interactive, a charity that creates Jewish apps for children. Check out their Hebrew reading series ‘Learning the Aleph-Bet’, which invites children to make their own games and puzzles.

2. Bring books to life. While we are all for children reading about Judaism, why not bring the stories to life? Earlier in the year, one PJ parent took her children to a local garden centre on Tu B’Shvat to plant some seeds and read a story together. Another family, on a holiday to Israel, used the PJ Library book Ella’s Trip To Israel , to inspire their itinerary.

3. Food glorious food! We are blessed to be part of a religion that has such a colourful and meaningful food history. Make Jewish food together and use that time together to talk about why the food is special.

4. Lead by example. Make Friday night Shabbat dinner a no-phone time for the family to light candles, eat challah and catch up. Or if your child attends a non-Jewish school, offer to read the class a story about a forthcoming festival. With over 500 titles, email the PJ Library team if you need to borrow one or are looking for a simple craft or activity suggestion.

If you know a child aged eight or under who hasn’t yet signed up to PJ Library, don’t let them miss out on their FREE monthly book, visit www.pjlibrary.org.uk found it very overwhelming and emotional to visit my brother’s grave after so many years. I cried for my father; now as a bereaved mother myself, I understood and felt the pain that he had carried inside since Chucky’s death, until his own death at the age of 73, but had never shown. I found myself thinking: “How did you go on after losing first your wife and then your only son? How did you deal with your pain? Who helped you? Who supported you? Why did you never speak to us – your daughters - about your son?”