Dreary weather not ideal, but perfect for a good book

MIDDLETOWN – It wasn’t much of a beach day. But it was a good day for a book. And about 125 people came out for Hadassah’s fifth annual Books on the Beach event at the Atlantic Beach Club on Aug. 11.

Now a much-anticipated tradition, Books on the Beach raises funds to support the work of the volunteer woman’s organization. Each year, two or three authors are invited to speak about their books, themselves and the writing process.

This year’s choices,Rabbi Susan Abramson andHank Phillippi Ryan, did not disappoint. Both proved to be dynamic speakers, making the crowd forget all about the rain outside.

Rabbi Susan Abramson is the author of the “Rabbi Rocketpower” children’s series and “Challah: A Chewish Guide to the Torah.” She’s the longest serving woman rabbi in Massachusetts, now beginning her 32nd year at Temple Shalom Emeth in Burlington.

She introduced herself, saying she always wanted to be a writer but rebelled by becoming a rabbi. She has a doctor of divinity from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

But her son was her inspiration to actually start writing. She said she wanted to do everything to make sure he stayed Jewish as he was growing up. Part of that was getting him to read. “But he only wanted to read ‘Captain Underpants,’ ” she said (referring to the popular children’s series). “I did a survey of Jewish children’s literature and found nothing that would engage him.”

So the Rabbi Rocketpower series was born. Abramson and her son (who’s now 20) started to write the series, based on the Jewish holidays, when he was in kindergarten. The whole family appears in the book as super heros, even the cat. The books “teach children about the Jewish holidays without them realizing it,” she said. “There are no bad guys, no tragedy.”

The books sat on her computer for a number of years until congregants offered to help get them published. There are four in the series and more to come. She’s now working on a Purim book, she said.

Her latest book grew out of weekly challah baking. She would try to shape the challah to represent the important part of the weekly Torah portion. Then she’d cover it and reveal it at Shabbat. There was the mystery and the guesswork that made it exciting, “a taste of the Torah.” It took three years to get an entire set of all the portions in challah, she said.  “You can appreciate this book on many levels and by all age groups.”

The Bedford resident recently organized a mass challah baking in reaction to anti-Semitism in her hometown.

Hank Phillippi Ryan has a pretty exciting “day job” as the on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate. She’s been in broadcast journalism for more than 30 years. But in the last 10 years, Ryan also has authored seven mystery novels including her latest, “Truth Be Told.” She has won 33 Emmys, 13 Edward R. Murrow awards and dozens of other honors for her groundbreaking journalism.  She’s also won a number of awards for her crime fiction, including Agatha, Anthony and Daphne awards and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. And the main character in her latest crime novels is an investigative reporter.

She told the audience that she is the poster child for following dreams at midlife since she didn’t start writing the novels till late in her career.

She had been interested in writing and books from her early years in rural Indiana where she said she used to ride a pony to the library. She’d bring books home and read in the barn. Why did it take her so long to start writing? “I never had a good idea,” she said. Finally, she had the idea she liked and the books flowed from there.

She’s also been driven by the desire to make a difference. She tried politics first, Then talked her way into a radio reporting job and eventually landed doing what she’s doing. And, she says, the investigations she’s been involved in have made a difference, from catching mistakes in the 911 system to changing the types of tests done on infants in Massachusetts.

She said she’s lucky that she can take her daytime  experiences, tweak and polish them, and use them for her books.

“You never know what’s around the corner,” she said, encouraging everyone in the audience that great things could still be around the corner. “That’s been my whole life.”

The afternoon started with the recognition of donors at special giving levels in Rhode Island Hadassah. Attendees also heard remarks from Susan Shikora, president of the Southern New England Region of Hadassah.

And, of course, there was an opportunity to purchase books and get a signed copy from the authors. So the crowd hardly noticed that the weather was less than ideal.

FRAN OSTENDORF is editor of The Jewish Voice.