Honor awarded to Peninnah Schram by NewCAJE! 

Mazel Tov!!

NewCAJE has established the Kavod Le'Morah Prize for an outstanding educator who has made a lasting contribution to the field of Jewish Education. Peninnah Schram is the first recipient of that prize.
            On August 6, 2012, Rabbi Cherie Koller-Fox, the President of NewCAJE, presented the award to Professor Schram in front of the NewCAJE Conference and invited guests at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey. A group of her closest students came on stage to congratulate and thank her as did representatives of the five generations of CAJE and NewCAJE that have benefited from her teaching them the art of storytelling. Peninnah Schram taught innumerable teachers and rabbis at CAJE and NewCAJEconferences in formal sessions and, also, from the many books she has written and prerformances she has given over the years. NewCAJE awarded this prestigious prize to Peninnah Schram because she revived the art and practice of storytelling in the Jewish community.
            It is now common practice for teachers and parents to transmit values through the medium of stories. Professor Schram was presented a silk art hanging that was specially designed by Artist-Educator Nancy Katz using elements of Peninnah’s life's journey and then painted by 40 members of NewCAJE after studying Eishet Ha-yil -- the source of the quote at the center of the art piece that was chosen to honor Professor Schram, Taking the Hebrew letter Peh from the beginning of Peninnah's name and Hey from the end of her name, the pasuk/quote in English reads: She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue (Proverbs 31:26).
     Peninnah Schram is a long-time member of the YU faculty in the Speech and Drama Department and an internationally known storyteller, author and recording artist.

Noa Baum shares some news:

Noa Baum is SO excited to be invited to be an international presenter at the Limmud UK Conference. She will be performing and offering workshops at this conference for Jewish learning, held at the University of Warwick, England Dec 23-27, 2012.

And - coming soon.....A new storytelling evening with Storyteller Noa Baum:
Impossible to Translate But I’ll Try
            True-Life Israeli Stories
Growing up in Jerusalem is more than the Bible and War.
Noa takes us on a poignant and humorous journey through her life. Experience a completely different side of Israel with stories of childhood adventures, outrageous matchmaking and all the love in between!

Good luck, Noa! We're proud of you!

The Jewish Story Finder

Look What's NEW! 

The Jewish Story Finder: Second Edition

Sharon Barcan Elswit

A Guide to 668 Tales Listing Subjects and Sources (McFarland & Company, Publishers, 2012) is a second edition to the first bibliographic guide which was created to help teachers, storytellers, librarians, clergy, and families find just the right folktale from the Jewish tradition to fit their needs.  It encompasses stories and variants from the seventy plus picture books and collections of Jewish folktales which have been published since 2005 and reaches back in time to encompass stories from out of print books, now easily accessible through online book dealers.  It points to web locations where whole stories themselves may be found. The bibliography itself has doubled to 400 sources. Greatly expanded are the book's global reach and entries under themes of justice, tolerance, respect for life, community, change in attitude, mitzvot, ecology,  and identity.  It hold onto all 363 folktales from before plus Peninnah Schram's gracious Foreword on Jewish storytelling and the oral tradition.

Available at Amazon.com and at Barnes and Nobles (for a discount)