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Table of Contents
About The Book
"Musing through a space that’s somewhere between an illuminated, psalmic narrative poem and a graphic novel attuned to the soul, Malkah’s Notebook is an intimate trip through Jewish mysticism and feminist theology." —Foreword Reviews
Malkah is a child when her father tries teaching her to read Torah. But they don’t get very far. As Malkah studies, her questions multiply. She discovers an earlier, hidden story of creation within the Hebrew Aleph-Bet letters in the first line of Genesis. And a door opens. Malkah’s discovery takes her on a lifelong journey in search of her beginnings—into Jewish mystical texts, far-off places, archaeological digs, ancient gods, and ultimately into the nature of existence itself.
Part bedtime story, part poem, part journal, and coupled with highly evocative illustrations, Malkah’s Notebook is a love letter to the Hebrew alphabet that unlocks life’s greatest mysteries.
Malkah is a child when her father tries teaching her to read Torah. But they don’t get very far. As Malkah studies, her questions multiply. She discovers an earlier, hidden story of creation within the Hebrew Aleph-Bet letters in the first line of Genesis. And a door opens. Malkah’s discovery takes her on a lifelong journey in search of her beginnings—into Jewish mystical texts, far-off places, archaeological digs, ancient gods, and ultimately into the nature of existence itself.
Part bedtime story, part poem, part journal, and coupled with highly evocative illustrations, Malkah’s Notebook is a love letter to the Hebrew alphabet that unlocks life’s greatest mysteries.
About The Author
Mira Z. Amiras is an anthropologist, author, and award-winning filmmaker. She was raised on her mother’s accounts of the Inquisition and Holocaust, her father’s tales of the creation and beauty of the universe, and her grandparents’ foods, folklore and music of ancient Sefarad. Mira has lived, studied, and traveled throughout the Middle East and North Africa, camped out 7,000 miles through Africa, and traveled overland from Istanbul to the Nepalese border. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and is Professor Emerita of Comparative Religion and Middle East Studies at San Jose State University. Mira is past president of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, and was a member of the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association. She lives in San Francisco with her family.
About The Illustrator
Josh Baum was born in London and grew up in Bristol. He studied painting at the Masana School in Barcelona then moved to Sfat to study in a Hasidic yeshivah where he trained as a Hebrew scribe. After writing a Torah scroll in Jerusalem, Josh attained an MA in Fine Art from Central St Martins in London, for which he was awarded the Future Map prize. In his work as both artist and scribe, he explores the Hebrew letters as sacred signs as well as objects of profound beauty. Josh is a published author and illustrator and lives in Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, where he is director of the art school.
Product Details
- Publisher: The Collective Book Studio (March 1, 2022)
- Length: 312 pages
- ISBN13: 9781951412340
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Raves and Reviews
Malkah’s Notebook... is an inspiring celebration of the Hebrew alphabet.
– The Jewish Voice and Opinion
Musing through a space that’s somewhere between an illuminated, psalmic narrative poem and a graphic novel attuned to the soul, Malkah’s Notebook is an intimate trip through Jewish mysticism and feminist theology.
– Foreword Reviews
Both visually captivating and profoundly stirring, Malkah’s Notebook perfectly captures the woman’s journey— You will come away asking questions you have never thought to ask and perhaps starting to seek in places you had never thought to enter.
– Natalie Reid - Author of The Spiritual Alchemist: Working with the Voice of your Soul
Malkah’s Notebook is a book to be savored.
– Rabbi Elisheva Salamo - San Francisco and Johannesburg
Stunning visually, inspiring and deepening… a masterful depiction of a spiritual journey, of a life and a life’s work, of the holiness of questions, and of the magnificent harmony of many mystical traditions all presented with tenderness and love.
– Rabbi Lavey Yitzchak Derby - Omek HaLev Center for Jewish Spiritual Learning and Practice
Malkah’s Notebook is a fabulous piece of art, with food for thought in every image, letter, word, and line. Storytelling filled with new perspectives, full of imagination, inviting us to open our minds on what we thought we knew.
– Yair Dalal - Mizrachi composer, musician, and Arab-Israeli peace activist
An inspiring journey into the realm of Kabbalah.
– Daniel Matt - author of God and the Big Bang, The Essential Kabbalah, and the multi- volume annotated translation, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition
Malkah’s Notebook: A Journey into the Mystical Aleph-Bet shares the beauty of language, its becoming, its form, its meaning, and its wonder to fill the journey of life.
– Beowulf Sheehan, author of Author and photographer
Part long-form poem, part contemporary illumination, and part graphic novel.
– Jewish Book Council Awards - Judge's Remarks
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Malkah's Notebook Hardcover 9781951412340
- Author Photo (jpg): Mira Z. Amiras (0.1 MB)
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