"The Book of Life: A Podcast About Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)" will post a special retrospective episode on the first night of Hanukkah, December 14, 2025, featuring voices from every year of the show's run, 2005 to 2025. Creator and host Heidi Rabinowitz, a synagogue librarian, has been interviewing authors of Jewish children's books and other creatives for twenty years. The word "podcast" was coined in 2004, and The Book of Life was created just one year later. The first episode aired on December 21, 2005.
The mission of “The Book of Life” is to promote Jewish children's literature to readers of all backgrounds, to serve as a validating mirror for Jewish listeners and an illuminating window for others. A back catalog of over 300 episodes can be found at BookOfLifePodcast.com, along with resources for further reading and for combatting antisemitism. A Substack newsletter is available, with transcripts and bonus content, at bookoflifepodcast.substack.com. The anniversary retrospective episode will showcase guests with many unique Jewish identities -- African, Chinese American, Iraqi Australian. Guests talk about writing, music, and film, and sometimes burst into song. In addition to the special episode, anniversary treats will be available at BookOfLifePodcast.com starting December 1: a miniature book to print and fold, and Book of Life 20th Anniversary merch such as mugs and T-shirts. Sales benefit podcast sponsor the Association of Jewish Libraries. Rabinowitz is available for interviews about the podcast's 20th anniversary and about the field of Jewish children's literature. She is considered an expert on the subject, as past chair of the Association of Jewish Libraries' Sydney Taylor Book Award and Holiday Highlights committees, and current editor of The Sydney Taylor Shmooze review blog for Jewish children's books. See her LinkedIn for details at https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.linkedin.com/in/heidirabinowitz__;!!KGKeukY!z6imvIYhtz9GncRDUXhQQfa29moi6DNYzCtXggVIMe2cqAWgRA0pkaJae0c5WxYbeIH8Yn_UfLewRhsGdOh9cYSAHpe4kuX1$ . The Book of Life is sponsored by Congregation B'nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida, where Rabinowitz is the Library Director, and by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL), in which she serves on the council. A sister podcast about adult fiction, “Nice Jewish Books,” was launched by AJL in 2021, directly inspired by the success of “The Book of Life.” __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
