Creation Stories at the Library

IN THE BEGINNING…

Yup, post-Simchat Torah, that’s where we will be in the Torah cycle this coming Shabbat, meaning it’s time for creation stories!

I chose a beautiful one called HOW TZIPI THE BIRD GOT HER WINGS by Bernard M. Zlotowitz and Dina Maiben. G-d creates Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) as well as the animals, charging them to tend the Garden; unfortunately, none feel like doing so until little Tzipi, the wingless bird, encourages them all to work together to be partners in G-d’s creation. Suddenly, Tzipi sprouts wings and soars!

The kids immediately understood that they too must be partners with G-d in maintaining this earth. But our partnership also extends to OUR ability to create for the greater good, leading me to read a new book in our library — JONAS SALK AND THE POLIO VACCINE, a biography in comic book form by Katherine Krohn.Though meant for the slightly older kids who were also tuning in for library today, I took a chance that the younger kids would be interested in Salk’s story.None of the kids had ever heard of polio, which meant that the vaccine had done its job of eradicating it from our lives, for which we can all thank Jonas Salk. He and the others who worked with him were truly partnering with G-d to make this world a better place. Read more about him here: https://www.ijn.com/coronavirus-vaccine-race-hearkens-to…/