HealthONE Rose Medical Center will host Denver’s largest annual community Chanukah celebration on Sun., Dec. 3, 11a.m.-3p.m., in the Rose Founders Building parking lot at E. 9th Ave. and Dahlia St.
This popular annual event will include live music, traditional Chanukah food, storytelling, carnival games and children’s arts and crafts. Admission, food and all activities are free of charge.
For information, call 303-320-2819, or visit www.jewishcolorado.org/events.
Gifts of books are common and prized in the Jewish community. To help you with your holiday shopping needs, the 41st Leah Cohen Festival of Jewish Books & Authors returns to the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center (JCC), 350 S. Dahlia St., Nov. 29-Dec. 16.
This annual celebration of literature and writers, organized by the Mizel Arts & Culture Center at the JCC, presents a setting that festival planners describe as “Where Good Books Happen to Good People!” Books will be on display for browsing and for sale in the Boettcher Foundation Lobby on Sun., 10a.m.-3 p.m.; Mon.-Thur., 9:30a.m.-6p.m.; and Fri., 9:30a.m.-2p.m.
Organizers have assembled a varied lineup of prominent authors to speak and sign copies of their books. Rabbi Harold Kushner, renowned for the seminal self-help ideas expressed in When Bad Things Happen to Good People and his new book, Overcoming Life’s Disappointments, launches the parade of literary luminaries Mon., Nov. 5, 7p.m., for a special pre-festival engagement.
Nathan Englander will appear with Jennifer Gilmore as “Young Literary Lions,” Mon., Dec. 3, 7p.m., to speak on their respective first novels, The Ministry of Special Cases and Golden Country.
Ann Kirschner and Dan Kurzman will visit the festival at 7p.m., Wed., Dec. 5 to comment on her Sala’s Gift: My Mother’s Holocaust Story and his A Special Mission: Hitler’s Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII, followed by Joyce Antler and Peggy Orenstein on Thur., Dec. 6, 7:30p.m. Antler’s book, You Never Call! You Never Write! The History of the Jewish Mother, explores a cultural stereotype stemming from Jewish families’ efforts to protect their children. Orenstein’s title speaks volumes for itself: Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, An Oscar, An Atomic Bomb, A Romantic Night and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother.
Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner share remarks Sun., Dec. 9, 3p.m. about their joint project, The Faith Club: A Muslim, a Christian, a Jew: Three Women Search for Understanding.While aiming to write a children’s book, they produced instead a social phenomenon, the faith club, a context for debating differences and exalting similarities.
The next author, Mitchell G. Bard, a past policy analyst for George H.W. Bush’s election campaign, is scheduled for Tues., Dec. 11, 7p.m. to discuss Will Israel Survive?
Jon Entine headlines the Book Festival finale Sun., Dec. 16, 3p.m. with conversation about his book, Abraham’s Children: Race, Identity and the DNA of the Chosen People. “History offers little clarity,” journalist Entine posits about the enduring question: “Who is a Jew?” If, as he claims, the Bible’s portrayal of Jewish lineage is unverifiable, can science provide a better explanation?
Passport tickets, $36 for all events, or single tickets at $10 per event, are available from the box office or through www.maccjcc.org. Each attendee at each event gets a $5 “Book Bucks” coupon for purchases at the festival.
For details about the 41st Leah Cohen Festival of Jewish Books & Authors, visit www.maccjcc.org or call 303-316-6360.
Anyone wishing to expand their Chanukah giving past the offerings of the Festival of Books can round out holiday shopping at the Colorado Jewish Artists Guild’s Hanukkah Art Mart in the JCC’s Boettcher Lobby on Sun., Dec. 9.
Merchandise for sale will include fine art, crafts, jewelry, ceramics and other gift items, presented in cooperation with Mizel Museum.
