Jewish Library & Resources
Temple Israel Library is accredited by the Accreditation Association of Jewish Libraries.
Library Hours
The library is open during normal office hours (Mon.-Fri., 8:30 am - 5:00 pm) and by appointment.
Adult Library
Fiction Section
Five years ago we began the transformation from a dusty back-room collection of outdated and worn-out books to a new, readable, functioning collection that reflects the modern world.
We began with putting one hundred new books on the shelf while culling and weeding books that had reached the end of their usefulness, as all libraries do.
Scouring the lists of Jewish Book Award winners, the Sydney Taylor Book Awards, Jewish Lights and JPS publishers, and a variety of book reviews, we added bestsellers such as The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, A Tale of Love and Darkness, Suite Francaise,The Bin Ladens, The Orientalist, The Man in The White Sharkskin Suit, My Father’s Paradise, Caspian Rain, Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith, to mention only a few.
In addition, we now have a fine collection of distinguished Israeli and diaspora writers. We have books by Maggie Anton, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua (A Woman in Jerusalem), Anita Diamant (The Red Tent), Eva Etzioni-Halevy (The Garden of Ruth, The Song of Hannah), and Esther David (Shalom India Housing Society, The Walled City).
Young Adults Section
52 award-winning books for our young readers, located on our new “YA/Older Children/Young Adult Readers Section”.
This section is designed for ages 12 thru 18, although anyone would find them enjoyable reading, also!
Please note, all of these books are award winners—Sydney Taylor Honor Awards and/or Jewish Book Award winners.
Karen Hesse’s Brooklyn Bridge is set in 1903 Brooklyn, where fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom’s life changes for the worse when his Russian-immigrant parents, invent the teddy bear and turn their apartment into a factory, while nearby the glitter of Coney Island contrasts with the dismal lives of children dwelling under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Three books are set during the Spanish Inquisition, –Incantation, where a sixteen-year-old Jewish girl discovers her true identity, but has her secret tragically betrayed; —By Fire, By Water, centers on the historical figure of Luis de Santángel, a converso and chancellor to the king of Aragon; —The Apprentice’s Masterpiece tells the story of two teenage boys, one a converso and the other Muslim.
The Bat-Chen Diaries is the story of Shahak Bat-Chen, a gifted teenager who was killed by a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center during Purim 1996, on her 15th birthday.
It was named one of Bank Street College of Education’s Best Books of the Year.
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is about the correspondence between seventeen-year-old Israeli Tal and twenty-year-old Naim, who lives in Gaza.
There are three action-packed Rabbi Harvey books, The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Wisdom and Wit in the Wild West,Rabbi Harvey Vs. the Wisdom Kid, and Rabbi Harvey Rides Again. Finally, there is the award-winning Gilgamesh Trilogy—Gilgamesh the King, The Revenge of Ishtar, and The Last Quest of Gilgamesh, which won the Governor General’s Award for Illustration for Canadian-Czech author Lumila Zeman.
Talmud, Zohar & Kabbalah Section
We have a complete set of the 1961 Soncino Edition of the Talmud, Rashi’s Commentary on the Pentateuch, and the Mishna.
Three years ago a gift of a 23-volume set of Zohar sparked an acquisition of Kabbalistic books, including The Thirteen-Pedalled Rose, and Window of the Soul.
The Harold Rosenblum Collection
The gift of more than a hundred books from Harold Rosenblum’s library has enriched our shelves immeasurably, notably the photographic volumes of Roman Vishniac, and Chaim Potok.
Ethan Golds Children's Library
Our Children’s Library has undergone a complete renovation and rejuvenation thanks to the generosity of Jay and Jill Gold and their daughter, Rori, through the creation of two funds that were set up in memory of their son and brother, Ethan.
The Friends of Ethan Gold Children’s Library Fund was established to provide a vehicle for the procurement of new books for children and adolescents.
Additionally, the Gold family refurbished a space across the hall from the Adult Library to house the children’s collection.
The Children’s Shelf has been updated, and three dozen new books added (Naamah, God Said Amen, The Secret Shofar of Barcelona, Today is the Birthday of the World, New Year at the Pier, God’s Paintbrush, The Doll Shop Downstairs, and Solomon and the Ant).
Children's Library Mural Children Reading Sharon Pinhas
The Children’s Library will be staffed during the school year by teachers and volunteers who will share stories with the children in our Meitin Religious School and facilitate the circulation of books among our students.
This beautiful space, with a Noah’s Ark theme, was dedicated on the opening day of school, August 18th, 2013.
E-Books, Audiobooks, DVDs of Music & Movies
THE LIBRARY AT TEMPLE ISRAEL IS YOUR RESOURCE CENTER FOR eBOOKS, DVDs, MUSIC, AND MOVIES.
Whether you are interested in listening to Yiddish songs, Hebrew prayers, or an Audiobook, come and check out what is available here at the TI Library.
We have a digital library of over 140 e-books, including The Observant Life by Martin Cohen. There should be something for everyone.
We have a large collection of movies, many of them from our Sunday at the Movies Adult Education series, in case you missed them, as well as many others, including Sarah’s Key, The Frisco Kid, Keeping the Faith, Bugsy Malone,Ushpizin, The Devil’s Arithmetic, Defiance, Esther, Exodus, Fiddler on the Roof,Gentleman’s Agreement, Image before my Eyes, Munich, Persepolis, Schindler’s List, and Yentl, just to name a few.