Tashlich is the Rosh Hashanah custom of tossing bread or other small objects into moving water, to throw away our "sins" or our negativity. But today we're going to learn about something different — reverse tashlich, in which we remove our sins from the water. We'll explore the picture book biography, Diving Deep on Rosh Hashanah: Reverse Tashlich for a Better World by Rachelle Burk, which profiles Rabbi Ed Rosenthal and his Jewish scuba-diving ocean cleanup project, Tikkun HaYam, or Repair the Sea.

To celebrate the new year, this episode's Share Your Shelf bonus segment is available to everyone, free and paid subscribers alike! You'll hear it at the end of the episode, so just keep listening. Shana tova!

NEWS

My "Jewish Joy" series continues on Multicultural Kid Blogs. Here's my interview with past Book of Life guest Adam Gidwitz. READ HERE

Interesting article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "Feeling excluded in the literary world, Jews are launching their own publishing housesREAD HERE

The Jewish Comics Library of Seattle collects works on Jewish themes and by Jewish comics artists. The collection is available to the public at a regularly scheduled pop-up library on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month at the Couth Buzzard Bookstore from 11AM-3PM. You can also subscribe to their Substack newsletter, Graven, HERE.

CALLS TO ACTION

Public libraries are invited to apply for the 2026-2027 cohort of Between Two Worlds, a national program from the Yiddish Book Center that explores Jewish culture and identity through Yiddish literature in translation. Deadline to apply: August 14, 2026. APPLY HERE

The Jewish Book Garden's kidlit discussion series, "How Does Our Garden Grow?" will meet on Sunday, August 16 at 1:30PM ET for a Zoom discussion of the picture book Shabbat Is... by A.J. Sass. REGISTER HERE

EPISODE SHOW NOTES

SHARE YOUR SHELF SHOW NOTES

From Rabbi Ed's Shelf:

  • Why the Moon Only Glows by Dina Rosenfeld

  • Hairy McClary from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd (see Sam Neill read-aloud video)

  • The Korban Mincha

From Rachelle's Shelf:

  • People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (hear 2008 Book of Life interview)

  • Toby Belfer Never Had a Christmas Tree by Gloria Teles Pushker

And today, one from Heidi's Shelf:

  • The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin (not Jewish, but you'll hear why when you listen to the segment)

 

Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör Heidi Rabinowitz. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Heidi Rabinowitz och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.