NYWSI (New York State Writers Institute) is a distinguished organization based at UAlbany that celebrates books and writers of books. It was originally founded (and still guided!) by the noted Pulitzer-prize winning novelist William Kennedy, who in addition to his own works is a champion of the words and works of others. In more recent years the Institute has come under the able stewardship, the endowed Opalka directorship, of the former Times-Union (3 decades with the paper) reporter and journalist Paul Grondhal, who has authored books of his own.
Each year they present an Albany Book Festival. The varied program brings in distinguished renown authors as well as showcasing local authors. Interesting that this year, the Albany Book Festival falls on Shabbos Shuvah, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, just about a day before Yom Kippur.
All this campus buzz about books and authors just before Yom Kippur. What’s the message?
THE BOOK OF LIFE!
Throughout the Jewish high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur there’s much mention of “The Book of Life”. We pray to be inscribed in the Book of Life, we wish each other to be inscribed in the Book of Life.
But who is the author of the Book of Life? Remember, this Albany Book Festival is not only about the books themselves, but opportunities abound to meet the authors and hear from them. In the language of Tanya’s title page: “Books AND Authors of Books”.
Usually Book of Life authorship is ascribed to G-d. In the hallowed Unseneh-Tokef prayer we speak of G-d inscribing each person’s name therein. In that vein, having a Festival of Books just before Yom Kippur reminds us that this one-day-a-year holiday is a unique opportunity to “be purified before G-d”, there are opportunities for deep spiritual encounter, not only to learn and understand G-d’s Torah, but to reach and connect directly with the divine.
In a sense, we are the authors of our Book of Life. We write our own destiny. One of UAlbany President Havidan Rodriguez first speeches at UAlbany focused on how we are the authors of our own destiny, we write our futures. We make choices that shape the course of our lives. Hey, but by that definition we always see the authors, so what’s special about Yom Kippur? Ah, on Yom Kippur we get to meet our inner selves, we get in touch with a soulful dimension of ourselves, that is the author within!
ALL YOUR DEEDS WRITTEN IN A BOOK
In Pirkei Avot, Ethics of Our Fathers, it says that “all your deeds are written in a book.” But what is the point of writing down all of our deeds in a book? Isn’t G-d all-knowing and unforgetting? Wouldn’t G-d know and remember our deeds even without the book?
My father, Rabbi Israel Rubin, interprets this phrase in the Mishna to be an uplifting and empowering message for each of us. Your deeds are book-worthy! The stories of our life are worth publishing! Our choices and actions, our struggles and accomplishments don’t evaporate and vanish into thin air – they endure, they are preserved, they are worthy of posterity!