I love books! I love to read them, love to own them, and no matter how many new gadget-reading devices will pop up on our ever-changing technology market, I will not back up. Leave the books alone! They are eternal! That’s my motto.

Maybe it’s because I don’t see well, or maybe because a good book is always there to stimulate my imagination, unlike an electronic reader. I am not sure. However, every time I see a new book that I love, I just have to buy it regardless of the space I have on my bookshelves or lack thereof.

Yesterday, when I came for mincha to the West Side Jewish Center near my work to say kaddish, on the desk, where I sit along behind a mechitza, I saw a wonderful book! A rare, I think, edition of Tanach, published in Tel-Aviv by the Sinai Publishing in Hebrew and English with beautiful illustrations. It is not so often you see books like this.

I wish I had more time to explore it, but prayers started, and all I had time for is to snap a couple of pictures in hopes that I could find it later online to buy. Unfortunately, I was not able to do it. I wonder if any of my readers know where to get it.

Reading used to be a passion for many of my friends. I am not so sure if that is true still. Our lives turned to be so fast paced, that we rarely have a chance to devote time to reading. Thank Gd for Shabbat, I always say. This is when I read. Anything – Torah, commentaries, Jewish history books, and historical novels, poetry. Thank Gd, it seems that my girls are readers too. And, they buy books as well.

Learning and reading are closely connected, I believe. As a colleague of mine, Dr. Ackerman says in his commentary on this weeks’ Parsha, “Learners can’t fail, because learning isn’t about a single fact, quantity of knowledge, or episode.  Learning is innately human and is a lifelong pursuit. ”

What are you reading?

Standing alone behind the mechitza

Trying to keep up with  the men speeding through the text

Saying kaddish for my dad, praying for his soul

They don’t hear me, they won’t slow

But You, GD! Do you hear me? Do you care?