Moving Book Wins Award, Moving Shul Blocks Traffic, Moving Pickles Get a Star, and More Newsbits

Muscle Tough The Tree in the Courtyard. Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window By Jeff Gottesfeld and Illustrated by Peter McCarty, a moving children’s book which received the honor of being named one of the best illustrated books of the 2016 In the story, the famous tree that stood in the courtyard outside Anne Frank’s window bears witness to the Frank family’s long hiding and Anne’s capture by the Nazis during World War II. Using only brown ink and tiny, patient strokes, McCarty juxtaposes the tree’s growth with the somber realities and flashes of joy in Anne’s constrained young life.

In today’s Washington Post, The ACTS OF FAITH column tells us that DC’s oldest synagogue building is on the move. Not only the Torah scrolls and seats, but the ENTIRE BUILDING is being moved. They ask, “Is there a proper Jewish blessing for lifting up a building from its foundation and wheeling it someplace else?” Yes, says Rabbi Gil Steinlauf… the two sentences from the Torah related to the moving of the ark. The brick building housing Adas Israel was built in 1876. Caught in the construction zone of the new Capitol Crossing project over Interstate 395, the building is being relocated for a second time.

The Pickle Recipe, an independent film with a Jewish theme and a Sicilian director will open in select theaters in North America today. The story? Joey Miller is the undisputed king of Detroit party MC’s. He’s also a single father and deeply in debt. His daughter Julie’s Bat-Mitzvah is only weeks away and she’s counting on him to MC her party, but his equipment was stolen. When he turns to his shady Uncle Morty, Morty agrees to give him cash money, but only if he get’s his grandmother’s pickle recipe. It’s a recipe which she has vowed to take to her grave.

In other news related to a pickle… while only half a dozen U.S. newspapers endorsed Donald J. Trump for president, including Sheldon Adelson’s The Las Vegas Review-Journal, three NYC area Jewish newspapers issued down to the wire endorsements for Trump. They are The New York Jewish Voice, The Jewish Press and the Long Island Jewish World. The New York Jewish Voice highlighted Trump’s sort of stated goal to lower taxes, and eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Education. Did David Peyman have any outreach to these three newspapers? PEYMAN is the Trump campaign’s new full time director for Jewish outreach. He works in Trump Tower, speaks Farsi, and wear a kippah. Also in New York City, for the first in the publication’s history, The Jewish Week of New York endorsed a presidential candidate, saying Hillary Clinton has “the ability and promise” to “open ourselves up to what we can accomplish as a caring society.”

Speaking of caring, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports thatBirthright Israel Foundation has named Israel (Izzy) Tapoohi as its new CEO for fundraising. He succeeds David Fisher. Tapoohi was the CEO of Israel Bonds. The Birthright Israel Foundation ranked at No. 331 in The Chronicle’s Philanthropy 400. The fact that his name is Israel played no role in his earning the CEO positions.

Speaking of Utah, some friends tell me that they plan to vote for the Jewish ticket…. Jewish? You mean Jill Stein? No. The mean Evan McMullin, the Mormon resident of Utah and CIA Mideast specialist. His running mate is Mindy Finn, 36, who is Jewish and originally from the great state and former Republic of Texas.

And for those of you in New England this weekend, The Herald-Whig reports that Dr. Cynthia Francis Gensheimer will present her research and findings on Quincy’s Jewish influences at the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County on Sunday, Nov. 6. Her lecture will be preceded by a tour of Quincy’s Temple B’nai Sholom.