Obama's First Full Day in Office

And Cool Jew was there!



Today's winner of the inaugural week celebration of multiculturalism in America is Samantha Painter.

Samantha receives a free autographed copy of Cool Jew. Mazal tov, Sheebster!

Please respond to our email so we can send out your prize. And friends, don't forget to visit Tolerant Nation.

Tolerant Nation Launches

Today marks the official launch of Tolerant Nation. This new blog, which will feature posts from a wide variety of guest bloggers in this inaugural year, celebrates multiculturalism and cross-cultural dialogue. It was inspired by the inauguration of now President Obama.

We've formed a coalition of artists, comedians, rockers, actors, writers, thinkers and organizations who will collaborate on Tolerant Nation (tolerantnation.wordpress.com). This includes Jewlicious, Shemspeed, ModernJewishMom.com, ModernTribe, Bookopolis, some awesome bi-racial, multicultural, and passionate thinkers on the subject and much more.

To mark the inauguration, multiculturalism in America and the launch of Tolerant Nation, we're celebrating with a week of giveaways of Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe. Yes, that loving, irreverent and inclusive celebration of Jewish culture. Cool Jew, the only humor book named among the 2008 National Jewish Book Awards, honors the diversity of the Jewish people with information on Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Hasidim, Reform, and Orthodox Jews and much more. The book also highlights and celebrates Jewish commonalities with other ethnic groups, including Japanese, Native Americans, and Rastafarians, to name a few.

If you're wondering what else Cool Jew has to do with multiculturalism, my family survived the most extreme attempts to wipe out the Jewish people: the Holocaust and the Spanish Inquisition. My father is a German Jew born in Poland and liberated from Buchenwald by General Patton's troops in 1945. And my mother was born in Central America to Israelis who spoke the now-rarely heard Judeo-Spanish language known as Ladino. The way I see it, we, the Jewish people, are a proud part of the multicultural fabric of the United States. And the inaugural year of the first person of color to hold the country's highest office is THE opportune time to promote cross-cultural understanding.

As I write this, it's almost the end of this historic day here in Washington, D.C. and that means it's time to announce the first winner of this week's giveaway of a signed copy of Cool Jew. And just because it's inauguration day, today's winner also receives an Obama t-shirt from Rotem Gear with the new prez's name spelled out in Hebrew. It's freezing here in D.C. In fact, it's below freezing. So we're happy to say this awesome prize package goes to the person registered as "A Little Warmth." Mazal tov to the Obamas, the Bidens, "A Little Warmth" and all around!

To register to win, sign up at CoolJewBook.com and to join the discussion about tolerance and multiculturalism in North America visit TolerantNation. And if you'd like to guest blog or have suggestions for the site, e-me at tolerantnation (at) gmail (dot) com. Here's to a new era!

Announcing "Tolerant Nation"

The upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20th represents a turning point in American history. To mark the occasion of the first person of color sworn into the nation's highest office, journalist and author Lisa Alcalay Klug is celebrating multiculturalism in America with a week of giveaways of her new book, Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe (Andrews McMeel Publishing), a loving, irreverent and inclusive celebration of Jewish culture. Cool Jew, the only humor book named among the 2008 National Jewish Book Awards, honors the diversity of the Jewish people with information on Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Hasidim, Reform, and Orthodox Jews and much more. The book also highlights and celebrates Jewish commonalities with other ethnic groups, including Japanese, Native Americans, and Rastafarians, to name a few.

Klug is a multicultural American who cares passionately about both her culture and promoting cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. Her family survived the most extreme attempts to wipe out the Jewish people: the Holocaust and the Spanish Inquisition. Her father is a German Jew born in Poland and liberated from Buchenwald by General Patton's troops in 1945; her mother was born in Central America to Israelis who spoke the now-rarely heard Judeo-Spanish language known as Ladino.

To promote tolerance, Klug is offering a week of giveaways of Cool Jew to visitors who register on her website, www.cooljewbook.com. "The Jewish people are a proud part of the multicultural fabric of the United States," Klug says. "And this is a historic moment to promote tolerance and cross-cultural dialogue."

In addition, Klug has formed a coalition of artists, blogs, and organizations, which will collaborate on the "Tolerant Nation" blog (tolerantnation.wordpress.com), edited by Klug, which will launch in conjunction with the inauguration.

To join the discussion about tolerance and multiculturalism in North America and to register to win, please visit CoolJewBook.com or Tolerant Nation.com. For more information, a review copy, or to schedule an interview with Klug, please contact Shelly Barkes at Andrews McMeel Publishing at sbarkes (at) amuniversal (dot) com <sbarkes@amuniversal.com> , tel. (816) 581-7498.

National Jewish Book Awards

Mazal tov!!! Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe has been named a 2008 National Jewish Book Awards finalist.

If you haven't read it yet, Cool Jew is a loving and irreverent celebration of Jewish culture. In addition to its fervent call for positive Jewish identity and affiliation, and embrace of Jewish multiculturalism and diversity, the 250-page book also chronicles contemporary Jewish arts and culture with approximately 400 images. These include original line drawings, vintage Israeli and Jewish posters, t-shirt designs, kabbalistic paintings from Israel, album covers and more. Cool Jew includes extensive back-of-the-book resource guides on ways to enjoy Jewish community called "Da Tribe Online" and contemporary Jewish music called "Da Heebster Jewkebox."

Cool Jew placed in the category of "Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice." It is the only humor book among the 2008 National Jewish Book Award honorees.

Each year, the National Jewish Book Awards honor some of the best and most exciting authors in the field of Jewish literature. After more than fifty years of presenting these awards, hundreds of books have received the prestigious National Jewish Book Award, including titles by the top authors on the American Jewish literary scene. For the full list of winners and finalists, click here.

The 58th Annual Awards Ceremony will be held at 7:30 pm, March 5th at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

Bringing Cool Jew Back to Manhattan

Tuesday and Wednesday, January 13th and 14th
Schmooze: The Jewish Culture Conference
at City Winery in Manhattan.

If you've never attended, Oyhoo's annual gathering is a South By Southwest or Sundance Film Festival for the Jewish cultural and entertainment industry. Schmooze '09 brings together creative leaders from Jewish cultural organizations from over 50 cities in the United States and five countries outside the United States. Professionals from the Jewish culture, art and media worlds engage in dialogue about current developments, visions and goals. That means presenters, artists, funders, and writers who come together to schmooze, enjoy, get inspired, and do business. Featuring keynote Daniel Libeskind and panels with more than forty presenters and artists from theater, film, literary arts, and more! Schmooze gives the Jewish Presenting world an annual chance to get together. The conference this year will be held at New York's newest event space, City Winery, located in Soho New York. Lisa will be leading a session for artists and writers and emceeing an artists' showcase.

That's by day. And by night, check out over 40 artists performing at 6 venues through the city at the Oyhoo Music Festival... Even better, by attending Schmooze you will receive a Badge that gets you in to all the showcases for free. Space at Schmooze is limited to 250 attendees. If you're an artist or presenter and you'd like to attend, please email your interest in Schmooze '09 to david (at) oyhoo (dot) com.

LIMMUD NY

On Friday, January 16th, Lisa will be heading to the Catskills for Limmud NY. Yeehaw!
If you're not yet registered, sign up on the waitlist.

Cool Jew Book Tour Resumes This Week

This Thursday, January 8th, I'm in Kansas City for a festive book talk with the Yad B'Yad Enrichment Series of the Jewish Federation, Kansas City, Kansas. Adults $8, students free. Congregation Beth Torah, 6100 W. 127th. St, Overland Park, KS 66209. 7:30 pm.

Friday, January 9th, I'm in New York City for Shabbat dinner with Manhattan Jewish Experience on the Upper East Side.

Tuesday and Wednesday, January 13th and 14th, I'm presenting at Schmooze: The Jewish Culture Conference at City Winery in Manhattan. More info here:

If you’ve never attended, Oyhoo’s annual gathering is a South By Southwest or Sundance Film Festival for the Jewish cultural and entertainment industry. Schmooze '09 brings together creative leaders from Jewish cultural organizations from over 50 cities in the United States and five countries outside the United States. Professionals from the Jewish culture, art and media worlds engage in dialogue about current developments, visions and goals. That means presenters, artists, funders, and writers who come together to schmooze, enjoy, get inspired, and do business. Featuring keynote Daniel Libeskind and panels with more than forty presenters and artists from theatre, film, literary arts, Schmooze gives the Jewish Presenting world an annual chance to get together. The Conference this year will be held at New York’s newest event space, City Winery, located in Soho New York.

THIS is Limmud LA

Throughout my tour, people have been asking me, just what is a cool Jew?

There are as many answers as there are cool Jews. Wondering what we're talking about? Check out this video on the upcoming Limmud LA conference to find out. (I'm in the yoga scenes...)

I'll be a volunteer presenter at Limmud LA February 13th - 16th, 2009, leading a few sessions on my book, Cool Jew, and the current "Jewish Cultural Revival."

For more info, visit limmudla.org and check it out!