One Book I One Community was a Spertus Jewish Book Month initiative that invited participants to discover A Day of Small Beginnings, a remarkable debut novel by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum. 

KICK-OFF EVENT — Getting Inside the Story

Two treasured forms of Jewish expression — storytelling and papercutting — play parts in A Day of Small Beginnings. Participants were able to delve into these traditions with two award-winning experts — storyteller Susan Stone and papercut artist Melanie Dankowicz — at this special kick-off event.

Susan Stone is a professional storyteller. Jewish folktales and mystical stories feed her imagination and her neshama (soul) and it is her mission to have these stories nourish yours, too.

Melanie Dankowicz is an artist whose papercut works carry on a tradition that has been a meaningful part of Jewish expression for centuries. She creates dreidels, mezuzot, and ketubot of cut paper, and renders papercut designs in stainless steel.

A Day of Small Beginnings starts in rural Poland with a lively 83-year-old ghost named Friedl Alterman. It tracks three generations of a Jewish family unraveling the mysteries of their past. It was selected by Spertus staff and local Jewish librarians for its mystical and surprising plot lines, its stories of characters across generations, and the vivid portrait it paints of life for Eastern European Jews.

A Day of Small Beginnings addresses ideas about Jewish faith on a personal level and through the lens of political and social change. It examines the loss of Jewish family history and cultural heritage against the backdrop of secular freedom and opportunity. We found A Day of Small Beginnings to be meaningful and enjoyable for adults from their 20s to their 90s (and beyond). Please note, however, that this book is for adults, not children.