OCTOBER 27 • 2022 | 51
with Karen Gordon, who
leads the Detroit JCC Maccabi
Delegation.
Book Club Night, starting
at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov.
7, offers dinner and an
in-person presentation of The
Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda
Cohen Loigman. Lunch with
two speakers happens at noon
Thursday, Nov. 10, as Amanda
Elliot discusses Sadie on a Plate
and Jen Maxfield summarizes
reporting experiences in More
After the Break: A Reporter
Returns to Ten Unforgettable
News Stories.
Book events, filled with
a diversity of many subjects
— serious and comical, fact
and fiction — feature many
in-person speakers that include
Marjorie Margolies discussing
And How Are the Children?
Timeless Lessons From the
Frontlines of Motherhood at
7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, and
Michael Oren presenting literary
fiction with Swann’s War at 7
p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3.
Family matters take over
on Sunday, Nov. 6, with Ellen
Yashinsky Chute in conversation
about What Drives You: How
Our Family Dynamics Shape the
People We Become at 11 a.m., Dr.
Terri Orbuch going over Secrets
to Surviving Your Children’s
Love Relationships: A Guide for
Parents at 12:30 p.m., and Tamar
Haspel exploring To Boldly
Grow: Finding Joy, Adventure and
Dinner in Your Own Backyard at
2:30 p.m.
The book fair, which offers
many more speakers about new
books, has a special program
for children on Nov. 6 and an
event with local authors on Nov.
13. Programs will be offered on
YouTube after being showcased
at the Jewish Community
Center.
For an online fair booklet, which lists
details on each presentation and authors,
go to jccdet.org/bookfair.
A
ntisemitism becomes
the central topic
when Liza Wiemer
discusses her young adult
book, The Assignment, at 2 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 9, in person at
the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield.
Besides discussing the way
injustice is central to her work
of fiction about high school stu-
dents, she will call attention to
how it affects current respons-
es to the Holocaust
and discrimination as
expressed today.
“I’m going to be
talking about how
critical it is to be allies
and speak out against
all forms of injustice,
”
said Wiemer, a long-
time Milwaukee-based
teacher who has been traveling
the world to address groups
about the topic of her book
completed in 2020.
“I’ll be talking about the
assignment that inspired this
novel and how there are more
effective ways of teaching
Holocaust education than ask-
ing students to pretend that
they’re Nazis and debate the
merits of [what became] the
final solution of the Jewish
question.
“I’m going to share other
assignments that I’ve seen
across the globe and how this
book is having an impact on
not only stopping antisemitic
and hateful assignments but
also how it’s having a positive
impact on changing behavior.
”
Wiemer, married and the
mother of two sons and grand-
mother of three, has been
working with younger people
since she was a high school
student. She wants to show the
important connection between
the Holocaust and what is hap-
pening today.
Two nonfiction books and
another novel for young peo-
ple, Hello, enter into Wiemer’s
writing career, which includes
a column for the Wisconsin
Jewish Chronicle. Recent visits
to Australia and New Zealand
featured her in some 25 speak-
ing engagements.
“My visits in those
two countries brought
about awareness and
helped to empower
people to provide sup-
port for members of the
community when inci-
dents happen,
” she said.
Wiemer, who
respects differences in the ways
people observe Judaism, will
be questioned by Emily Broder,
associate director of the Anti-
Defamation League Michigan.
“My grandmother taught me
that no matter what age you are,
there’s so much to learn about
Judaism and how fortunate we
are to have the opportunity to
learn from different people,
”
Wiemer said. “I love being
Jewish, and I’m so proud to
be Jewish. I love our holidays,
communities and being able to
travel across the globe.
”
When Wiemer arrives
in Michigan, she plans on
conducting workshops with
students about the approach
to justice that her book takes.
Because she believes it is hard to
speak up when people observe
an act that is antisemitic, racist
or inappropriate, she hopes
her book will help provide
approaches for doing that.
“I have a picture book com-
ing out in the fall of 2023,
”
said Wiemer, a graduate of
the University of Wisconsin in
Madison. “It is about tzedakah
(charity). A boy watches his
father and mother carrying
boxes away from his home. The
boy wants to know what’s inside
the boxes and where they’re
going.
“He learns the valuable lesson
that one of the highest levels of
giving is to give without others
knowing the people who gave.
It’s about how special it is to
give to others in need and do
it anonymously and from our
hearts.
”
In talking to groups, espe-
cially those interested in writing
careers, she talks about the
value of perseverance.
“Perseverance is the act of
true role models and heroes,
”
Wiemer said. “I knew that I
had to persevere. As a mother,
I wanted to be a role model for
my children because when it
comes down to writing, there’s a
lot of rejection.
“It doesn’t happen overnight
for the vast majority of us.
You have to work hard at it
and persevere, and that means
doing the work and editing
and editing and editing. Some
of that feedback means being
rejected.
”
A Lesson in Speaking Out
Against Injustice
Young adult novel The Assignment shares
a lesson about antisemitism.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Liza Wiemer