With the odds stacked against them, books are making a cultural comeback.
When officials at Parker Jewish Institute heard about The Big Read, a National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) program designed to restore reading to the center of American culture, they knew it was an idea worth flipping through.
The long-term care facility in New Hyde Park, Long Island applied for a federal grant to bring the reading program into their facility because they wanted to enrich the lives of their residents.
“Grants for reading programs usually go to schools, which is important,” said Ron Shafran, associate vice president of public affairs and government relations for Parker Jewish. “But what about older adults? Reading is important for them, too.”
Shafran helped launch Parker Jewish’s own Big Read program with The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, on Tuesday, March 2.
Parker is one of 268 communities nationwide participating in The Big Read from September 2009 through June 2010. For March, the Parker Jewish Community will celebrate The Shawl with a full calendar of events including discussions, book readings, lectures and more.
The program is about more than learning the content of a book, or even about the pure enjoyment of reading. With this program, Parker Jewish hopes to exercise the minds of its residents with stimulating conversations about Ozick’s work.
“A lot of our residents here are lapsed readers who, for whatever reason, do not have access to these types of programs,” said Shafran. “Quality of life is important here [at Parker Jewish] and these people crave a home-like, stimulating environment.”
For the program, Parker partners with the Holocaust Resource Center/Museum of Queens and will utilize the wealth of knowledge provided by Holocaust survivors volunteering their time to complement the book with their own living history lessons.
“The story of The Shawl is a diverse story that reaches many different communities,” said Arthur Flug, Director of the Holocaust Resource Center. “These holocaust survivors have the experiences that make people realize what really happened and what could have been done. For them, it’s more than a public service, it is a moral service.”
One of the Holocaust survivors, Stephen Berger, whose moral service includes speaking at schools about the details of his ordeal, believes that reading fosters a confidence in the reader’s own ability to comprehend historical events.
Berger said that today’s society has lost sight of the importance of reading, and that political leaders would benefit greatly from boning up on historical facts.
“If I had my way, every politician in office would have a Ph.D. in history, said Berger. “The next generation of weaklings are always those who neglect to study and heed history.”
For information about The Big Read and upcoming community, events visit www.neabigread.org.
