FAMED STORYTELLER, JOEL BEN IZZY,

HOSTED BY MISHKAN HAíAM,

THE WESTCHESTER-RIVERDALE RECONSTRUCTIONIST GROUP

ÝTO APPEAR AT THEÝPARK HILL RACQUET CLUB

Sunday, October 19th at 3pm

Mishkan Haíam, the Westchester-Riverdale Reconstructionist Group, will host famed storyteller Joel ben Izzy on Sunday, October 19, at 3 p.m. at the Park Hill Racquet Club, Van Cortlandt Park Avenue and Lakeside Drive in Yonkers. A storyteller at festivals throughout the world, ben Izzyís program is inspirational and inter-generational:Ý one the entire family can come together and enjoy. Admission is free.

The appearance highlights the publication of Joel ben Izzyís new book, The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness:Ý a True Story, from which he will read (copies will be available for sale, along with his terrific award-winning series of story tapes and CDís).

To use his own words, ìOnce upon a time, there was a storyteller who couldnít speakÖ.îÝÝ After performing as a storyteller for some 20 years, ben Izzy unexpectedly lost his voice, the very instrument through which he communicates.Ý His livelihood suddenly lost, the book is the story of his journey into the world of silence and the lessons he learns along the way.

Woven throughout the book, and in his appearance at Mishkan Haíam, are stories and fablesócollected from countries and cultures around the worldóthat tell of wise men and fools, beggars and kings, monks and tigers. Using his own life as a way to illustrate the power of these stories, ben Izzy shows how these stories reveal truths about our world today.

"A good story can cross boundaries that so often separate people," says Rabbi Daniel Brenner, former Mishkan Haíam rabbi and now head of the Center for Multifaith Education at Auburn Theological Seminary.  ìDrawing on traditions from so many cultures, Joel carries on in the Jewish tradition of the Maggid, giving us this rare book which not only presents a story, but teaches us how stories heal, awaken and transcend."

Advance praise for the book has been enthusiastic. "This is a beautiful book,î says author Grace Paley, ìfull of old tales from China, India, Persia, Jerusalem - that help storyteller Joel ben Izzy through dark times of silence and into light and sound once more.  Wonderful!"

"Who knew people like Joel ben Izzy still exist in today's world?" says Ira Glass, host of Public Radio's "This American Life."  "He deploys stories gracefully to illuminate his own life."

"I was enlightened and entertained, inspired and uplifted," says Peninnah Schram, author and storyteller.  "This book should become part of what is called 'Wisdom Literature."

Publishers Weekly says Joel ben Izzy's memoir ìshines with brisk suspense as well as his unerring, precise eye for including only the elements of his hard-won wisdom that matter most."  

Join us at Mishkan Haíam for this free afternoon of humor, emotion, and hope.Ý And bring your entire family to hear this captivating storyteller, who is in New York for a limited time.Ý For more information, and directions to the Racquet Club, go to www.mishkanhaam.org.