The J hosts the annual Detroit Jewish Book Fair.
A rabbi of mixed heritage describing her life, an Israeli spokesman analyzing Iranian unrest and a musical journalist pointing out a decade of albums stand out as only three of the speakers in this year’s diverse Detroit Jewish Book Fair, which runs now through Nov. 16 at The J in West Bloomfield.
Introducing their new books are Angela Buchdahl, rabbi at the Central Synagogue in New York and author of Heart of a Stranger; Jonathan Harounoff, Israel’s UN international spokesperson and writer of Unveiled; and Gary Graff, a Michigan freelance writer and JN contributor, who this year edited 501 Essential Albums of the ’80s.
The three have stories to tell, and Graff’s program will be accompanied throughout by professional entertainers. Hazzan Daniel Gross of Adat Shalom Synagogue will talk with the rabbi-author and present musical selections.
Angela Buchdahl
7-8:30p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11: $18
Angela Buchdahl
“I don’t have a typical Jewish story, but every person I meet has a lot of complex identities,” said the rabbi, who relates the Korean elements in her life as well as the Jewish teachings. “I think that the power of our wisdom and traditions speak to us.
“Every chapter of my book has a little sermon connected to the narrative in some way. I offer up biblical stories and Jewish wisdom, and I hope that speaks to people who are both Jewish and young.”
Buchdahl, who expressed 2025 Rosh Hashanah wishes on CBS Sunday Morning, has been a rabbi for 25 years, 20 in her current role at the Reform Central Synagogue in New York. She is married with three children, one still in college. Her husband, Jacob, is a lawyer, and she considers the life of any working parent a challenge.
“I tell a story that’s very specific to me,” she said. “Who else is a Korean Jew? When I’ve told a story that was so specific, it was actually the sermon that got the most recognition.”
Buchdahl says she looks forward to this trip and visiting other places to discuss the content of her memoir, Heart of a Stranger. She is on sabbatical to talk about the book.
When she came to small-town America as a 5-year-old, she found a very close Jewish community, and she later became president of the youth group and had a bat mitzvah ceremony.
“The Central Synagogue is joyful,” she said. “It is inclusive, intellectually rigorous and very open. That’s the way I experience Judaism and share it with others.”
Buchdahl said that Judaism offers the lenses through which she experiences everything — joy and celebrations as well as grief. Judaism gives her language and ritual and adds meaning to experience.
She tells a story that brings her laughter. A college student she taught was on a train coming home for Passover. He told her he was sitting near a woman and asked if the woman was going home for Passover.
“She said she wasn’t Jewish,” he said to the rabbi. “But she looked like you.”
Jonathan Harounoff
Jonathan Harounoff
7-8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10: Free
Jonathan Harounoff, who was raised in England and now lives with his wife in the United States, has never been to Iran but knows stories from the country.
His relatives have lived there, and he has studied the differences between government statutes and bands of resistance. Representative of that are the strict rules that describe expectations for women’s dress and appearances. A conversation with Wayne State University Professor Howard Lupovitch will delve into issues raised in the book.
“In the three years I worked on this book, I included talk about the killing of the Iranian woman in late 2022,” Harounoff said. “It goes into all of the various kinds of protests that took place since then and how art was used as a form of protest.”
He said the Unveiled, his first book, explains how women used their bodies to protest by cutting their hair and how an array of activities were used to demonstrate the different ways of protest in that country.
The author explains that Iran has the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East, and he describes the people from that country he has interviewed. He hopes to discuss the 12-day war between Iran and Israel this year and the ramifications of that.
“I think our conversation will be very much audience-driven,” he said.
Harounoff, 30, and married to a tech executive, expects people will raise questions about Israel and Iran as they occur in sessions of the United Nations.
“I serve as the international spokesperson for Israel at the United Nations, and I’m responsible for media relations and interacting with journalists,” he said. “I do press conferences on Israel-related news that’s coming in or going out of the United Nations.”
Gary Graff
Saturday, Nov. 15, 7-9 p.m.
$25
Gary Graff talks to Jack White of the White Stripes.
Music fills Gary Graff’s life and presentation as he will be joined by instrumentalists in the Steve Taylor Three and singers Carolyn Striho and Scott Dailey. They will be celebrating albums from the 1980s that include Jewish performers such as Don Was, who grew up in Michigan and developed a record company and local radio show.
Graff said he appreciates the teamwork as editor for his 12th book, 501 Essential Albums of the ’80s.
“I liked working with a bunch of friends and colleagues who, I’m happy to say, are still friends and colleagues even after we went through the process,” Graff said. “That was exciting and inspiring.”
He is planning on presenting several contributors to the new book during his presentation.
“We probably got started in 2023,” said Graff, who has a long list of collected albums and will be making his fourth book fair appearance. The last one was for Alice Cooper @ 75.
Graff writes about musical performers for the Detroit Jewish News and has written for many other publications including Billboard magazine, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and MediaNews Group.
The performers covered in the book include known stars such as Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and Bob Seger with a good deal of the writing presenting Michigan content.
Graff became interested in journalism when he was in fourth grade and attending school in Pittsburgh, and he wrote for school newspapers. He had his bar mitzvah ceremony at Tree of Life Synagogue and studied at the University of Missouri.
Graff has played the bass guitar and been in bands, although he is away from the instrument now while giving his time to writing and attending concerts. He went on a trip to Russia to accompany Billy Joel on a performance visit.
“I hope readers will get a good perspective about music and the culture of that decade as well as the evolution of popular culture during the decade,” said Graff, an usher at Adat Shalom Synagogue. “During the 1980s, you get an idea of the integration of music into the popular culture.”
Details
For more information and tickets, go to (248) 609-3303 or jdetroit.org/bookfair.