The Hardest Word

By Jacqueline Jules, Katherine Janus Kahn (illustrator),

Book cover of The Hardest Word: A Yom Kippur Story

Book description

Loosely based on the Hasidic legend "The Tear of Repentance", The Hardest Word is a story about forgiveness.

The Ziz, a wonderful bird who lived long ago, is so big and clumsy that he can't keep from bumping into things. When a tree he knocks over destroys the children's garden,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Hardest Word as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Yom Kippur is a difficult holiday for adults. It is even more difficult and exceptionally abstract for kids.

Words like atonement and forgiveness are particularly hard to grasp. This book focuses on one idea: saying I’m sorry. As a result, it takes an idea that is taught by parents, educators, and caregivers and places it in a Jewish holiday story context that is both playful and profound. I like this book, because it takes a complicated idea and distills it in a very manageable way. 

A Whale of a Tale: A Sabbath Summer Solstice Story

By Kerry M. Olitzky,

Book cover of A Whale of a Tale: A Sabbath Summer Solstice Story

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Kerry M. Olitzky Author Of Heroes with Chutzpah: 101 True Tales of Jewish Trailblazers, Changemakers & Rebels

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Rabbi Academic Practitioner Educator

Kerry's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

This is a picture book created to help children learn how to determine Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, in countries where the summer sun remains high in the sky.

Tova travels with her mother to Alaska during the summer solstice. In the Land of the Midnight Sun, she is uncertain how to tell time because the sun never rises or sets. Tova wonders how she will know when the Sabbath begins or ends. Eventually, she talks to a wise orca. The whale shares her secret to understanding time with a circular sun and reminds Tova of the magic of Shabbat is…

A Whale of a Tale: A Sabbath Summer Solstice Story

By Kerry M. Olitzky,

What is this book about?

A Whale of a Tale: A Sabbath Summer Solstice Story is a picture book created to help children learn how to determine Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, in countries where the summer sun remains high in the sky. Tova travels with her mother to Alaska during the summer solstice. In the Land of the Midnight Sun, she is uncertain how to tell time because the sun never rises or sets. Tova wonders how she will know when Sabbath begins or ends. Eventually, she talks to a wise orca. The whale shares her secret to understanding time with a circular sun and…


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