Conversation with author Mira J. Amiras and illustrator Josh Baum on
Malka’s Notebook: A Journey into the Mystical Aleph-Bet
Tuesday, November 29, 12 pm, Watch from home, Free
Mira Z. Amiras was raised on her father’s tales of the Hebrew aleph-bet letters and their role in the creation of the universe. She has taught Jewish mysticism, magic, and folklore along with many other topics in Jewish and Islamic Studies and the anthropology of religion. In Josh Baum’s work as an artist and Torah scribe, he explores the Hebrew letters as sacred signs, as well as objects of profound beauty.
Amiras and Baum, through many months of shared thought and discussion, created an evocatively illustrated book that tells the story of Malkah, a child whose father tries to teach her to read Torah, but as she studies, she embarks on a lifelong journey in search of her beginnings—into Jewish mystical texts, far-off places, archaeological digs, ancient gods, and ultimately into the nature of existence itself.
Presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners’ Israel Today series, as a part of the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, and in partnership with the Konikoff Center for Learning at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.
For more information or to register, visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday.