This year, as we’re hon­or­ing the 101st Jew­ish Book Month, let’s come togeth­er to cel­e­brate authors and read­ers that keep the Jew­ish sto­ry alive!

Books and the authors who write them are an invalu­able resource, to pro­vide com­fort and mean­ing, to chal­lenge us and spark debate and dia­logue. To bring us togeth­er as the peo­ple of the book. And as we’re turn­ing to the books we love and the sto­ries we haven’t yet dis­cov­ered, authors are putting pen to paper and fight­ing to have their voic­es heard. 

Read­ers are the pil­lar of the lit­er­ary ecosys­tem. Read­ers keep the sto­ries alive. They are the ones who pass books down from gen­er­a­tion-to-gen­er­a­tion, open up dis­cus­sions at book clubs, rec­om­mend books to friends and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers, and are the ones who uplift and cham­pi­on cher­ished authors. With­out read­ers, books would not part of the col­lec­tive com­mu­ni­ty and its story. 

In 1925, Fan­ny Gold­stein, a librar­i­an at the Boston Pub­lic Library, decid­ed that Jew­ish books and Jew­ish pride were worth cel­e­brat­ing, so she set up a dis­play of Jew­ish books and ini­ti­at­ed the first Jew­ish Book Week. Over one hun­dred years lat­er, we still think Jew­ish books are worth cel­e­brat­ing and that their sto­ries are worth being passed down to the next generation!

Ways to Celebrate

• Join Nu Reads (and give it as a gift!)
• Invite your local school to join one of JBC’s school author events.
• Ask your local library to stock Jew­ish books that you love.
• Ask your local book store to stock Jew­ish books that you love.
• Attend an author event at a local syn­a­gogue, JCC or Jew­ish Federation.
• Buy a book by a Jew­ish author.
• Cre­ate a bul­letin board ded­i­cat­ed to Jew­ish Book Month in a pub­lic com­mu­ni­ty space.
• Dis­play a table of Jew­ish books in your library, syn­a­gogue, JCC.
• Find a new book to love on Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s website.
• Find your next read on a Jew­ish Book Coun­cil read­ing list.
• If you will be in Jerusalem, vis­it the beau­ti­ful new Nation­al Library of Israel.
• Invite an author to speak in your community.
• Join or start a book club.
• Lis­ten to a pod­cast, like the newest one that’s all about Jew­ish books, The Five Books, or the Jew­ish kidlit pod­cast The Book of Life.
• Orga­nize a com­mu­ni­ty read.
• Orga­nize a school read-a-thon.
• Read a Jew­ish book.
• Read a Jew­ish book to chil­dren in your home or community.
• Rec­om­mend a book to friends, your book club or your social media network.
• Send out a book­mark tem­plate to your com­mu­ni­ty, and have mem­bers cre­ate a Jew­ish Book Month bookmark.
• Sign up to get week­ly book reviews and news from Jew­ish Book Council.