COMPILED BY ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
It's A Wonderful Day
In The Neighborhood
Jewish Library Association
Sponsors Manuscript Competition
ailing all budding
William Shakespeares!
The Association of
Jewish Libraries is sponsor-
ing the ninth annual Syndey
Taylor Manuscript Competi-
tion for aspiring
authors of chil-
dren's books. A
cash award of
$1,000 will be
given for the best
fiction manuscript
appropriate for
readers aged 8-11, written by
an unpublished author. The
story should have universal
appeal, yet serve to deepen
the understanding of
Judaism and reveal positive
aspects of Jewish life.
Deadline for submission of
manuscripts is Jan. 15, 1994.
Winners will be
announced May 1, 1994, and
awards will be pre-
sented at the 29th
annual convention
of the Association
of Jewish Libraries
in June 1994 in
Atlanta, Ga.
For entry forms
and rules, contact Lillian
Schwartz, coordinator, 15
Goldsmith St., Providence,
RI 02906.
HUC Archaeologist Discovers
Biblical Royal Document
rofessor Avraham
Biran, director of
Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion's
Skirball Center for Biblical
and Archaeological Research
in Jerusalem, has discovered
Israel's first royal stele (com-
memorative stone inscrip-
tion) mentioning the king of
Israel and House of David.
The 9th century BCE
stele, uncovered at HUC-
JIR's excavations at Tel Dan
near the Lebanon border, is
the first material evidence
outside of biblical text that
documents the existence and
importance of the House of
p
David in early Jewish histo-
ry.
Originally 3 feet high, the
inscribed basalt slab was
smashed at a later period,
leaving 13 truncated lines of
Aramaic text on a stone frag-
ment measuring 11 x 12
inches. Professor Biran notes
that the fragment "mentions
the king of Israel and the
House of David, and it
speaks of horsemen and
chariots."
Professor Biran is study-
ing the rest of the text,
which will be published in
the Israel Exploration
Journal later this year.
Tel Aviv University Hosts
Special Education Conference
T
el Aviv University will
host an international
conference on "Pro-
moting Excellence and
Expanding Opportunities in
Jewish Special Education"
Dec. 26-29. The conference
will focus on Jewish children
requiring specific education-
al programs due to dyslectic
disabilities, Down syndrome
and other special needs.
Participants include pro-
fessors Jannette Fleischner
of Columbia University;
Melvin Semmel of the
University of California-
Santa Barbara; Linda Siegel
of the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education;
Reuben Feuersteln of
Hadassah-Wizo-Canada
Research Institute in
Jerusalem; Susan Vogel of
the University of Northern
Illinois; Joel Mittler of Long
Island University; Rabbi
Martin Schloss of the New
York Board of Jewish
Education; Hersh Fried of
New York; Leora Isaacs of
JESNA New York; and
Aryeh Davidson of the
Jewish Theological
Seminary.
H
Jan Maxwell and Varda Avnisan
Hebrew Paper
Makes Debut
H
ere's big news about
an innovative way to
learn Hebrew.
Ivriton is a new Hebrew
language paper for students
outside of Israel. Published
by Jewish educator Jan
Maxwell and author-journal-
ist Varda Avnisan of
Rockville, Md., Ivriton
prints stories in Hebrew
that students hear about in
the news in English.
Ivriton, which will be cir-
culated next month to day
schools throughout the
United States and Canada,
includes an extensive
teacher's guide to maximize
Hebrew reading, writing
and conversation. The paper
will be published eight times
each school year and is tar-
geted to students in grades
three to eight.
For information, contact
Ivriton Press, Inc., 10824
Brewer House Rd.,
Rockville, MD 20852, or call
(301) 984-7234.
India Awards
Honorary Degree
R
etired Professor Alex
Aronson, now a guest
lecturer in the
English department at the
University of Haifa, recent-
ly became the first Israeli to
receive an honorary doctor-
ate degree from a university.
in India. .
Visva-Bharati University
in West Bengal gave the
award just months after the
Indian government formally
recognized the State of
Israel.
The honorary Desikot-
tama degree is the Bengali
institution's highest award.
owdy, boys and girls!
Ready to take the
Neighborhood Trolley
to visit King Friday and Mr.
McFeely, and how about
Itzhak Perlman?
The famed violinist is set
to visit "Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood" during a
new week of programs titled
"Then and Now" airing Aug.
30-Sept. 3.
"Then and Now," part of
the Neighborhood's 25th
anniversary season with
PBS, helps children under-
stand life and their unique
place in it. Mister Rogers
tells viewers, "Each one of
us in somebody special, no
matter what we can do or
cannot do, no matter how
old or young we are, no mat-
ter how we look or sound.
We're the only one in this
life exactly like us. I believe
it's worth it to be all we can
be." (Is everyone having a
sugar overdose?)
Itzhak Perlman, who had
polio as a child, will discuss
how much he has learned
since he began playing the
Itzhak Perlman with Mister Rogers
violin when he was 5. He
will appear on program No.
1670.
New Program Teaches
Children About Death
ewish school teachers
throughout the country
are receiving this
month a curriculum guide to
help children cope with
death and learn Jewish tra-
ditions for honoring the
dead.
Prepared by CAJE, the
Coalition for the
Advancement of Jewish
Education, with the assis-
tance of the Jewish Funeral
Directors of America
(JFDA), the curriculum
aims to structure a learning
experience for the class,
while at the same time pro-
viding the teacher with a
resource to help a bereaved
child adjust in a difficult
ej
time.
"The CAJE curriculum on
death and mourning is an
important tool to help edu-
cators teach the meaning of
death as well as the funeral
traditions and the Jewish
way of honoring the dead,"
said Kaufman Chapel funer-
al director David Techner, a
spokesman for the JFDA
and a member of the adviso-
ry council on the guide. "The
mourning customs present-
ed are intended to reflect
what a child might observe
in the course of a bereave-
ment."
For information, contact
CAJE at (212) 268-4210, or
the JFDA at (212) 628-3465.
Calling All Retirees To Israel
RI, the Active Retirees
in Israel, will host
ne-month trips to
Israel from Jan. 17-March
14, and from April 4-May 3,
1994.
The trip, which includes
volunteer activities ; a
chance to learn Hebrew, dis-
cussions and social events,
is open to anyone 50 years
and older who is in good
health and a member of
B'nai B'rith. Participants
are based at a kosher hotel
Ao
in Netanya.
The winter program costs
$3,550 a person (double
occupancy), while the April
trip is $2,600. The price
includes round-trip airfare
from New York, meals, lodg-
ings, tours, gratuities and
other program expenses.
For information, contact
the B'nai B'rith Israel
Commission-ARI, 1640
Rhode Island Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20036, or
call (202) 857-6584.