One of the beauties of Judaism and specifically Conservative Judaism is our openness to looking at Torah in new ways. Just in time for Shavuot, the library is featuring these four titles (among many others) that open the Torah up for different populations.
Berkowitz, Leah Rachel. Maybe It Happened this Way: Torah Stories Reimagined. Looks at iconic Bible stories through the lens of midrash to interpret the stories for modern children. (J)
Chapman, Jonathan Shmidt. Let There be Play: bringing the Bible to life with young children. (Companion volume In the Beginning: my storybook Bible). There are fifty-four chapters covering the Five Books of Moses with age-appropriate activities to enhance the stories. Nicely illustrated.
JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. This is not as radical as the Toratah (her Torah), the regendered Hebrew version of the Torah begun by Yael Kanarek. Toratah looks at the text froma totally feminist perspective and puts women in the center with men in supporting roles. This new TANAKH merely is sensitive to gender and does not regender the Hebrew.
Smashing the Tablets: Radical Retellings of the Hebrew Bible. Major contemporary Jewish writers have reinterpreted essential Bible stories for the 21st century. This is NOT your grandfather’s book of Bible stories.