Passover Seder plate, via Wikimedia Commons, by Edsel Little.
[This post, by Edward Schabes, Library Assistant, Midtown, was written in 2018 and has been updated for publication in April 2024.]
Passover is the one Holiday besides the New Year which is celebrated by a majority of all Jews from around the globe. The preparations for this Holiday very often drive people nuts. The commandment is not to have any leavened product in your home during this 8 day period; this means that the house must be cleared of bread and all other such foodstuffs. And that’s on top of cleaning and cooking in preparation for the family gathering. Especially with small children in the household, it’s not hard to see why people get a little crazy at this time of year!
This Holiday also brings back very pleasant memories for many, because it is a coming together of family. For example, I most remember my grandmother coming over every year. She used to make an extraordinarily large jar of horseradish with beets, and a large jar of applesauce. I also remember my mother taking out a grinder and grinding fish to create the fish loaf that we ate at the Seder.
Passover is known for the eating of unleavened bread and the asking of questions by children during Seder, the ritual meal that commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. The most famous questions are usually asked by the youngest child and are called the four questions. For example, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” and, “Why do we dip not once but twice during the Seder?”. For a full explanation of the rituals of Passover, consult library titles such as Telling the Story: A Passover Haggadah Explained.
Besides eating unleavened bread the type of foods eaten on Passover varies between Jews with a European heritage and Jews with a Middle East or Spanish heritage. Everyone eats meat, chicken, and dairy foods (though not together with meat), but those with a Middle Eastern or Spanish heritage eat rice, corn, or peas, while those with a European heritage do not.
The theme of Passover is freedom and becoming a nation. In ancient times, the Jews escaped slavery in Egypt and gained their freedom. This was also the time that Jews became a nation, an entity beyond the members of a single family. This year Pesach will begin at sunset on April 22nd and will end at sunset on April 30th.
Touro University Libraries has recently added Bates Visual Guide to Physical Examination to our database collection. This database is of great value to our Health Sciences students, particularly our students in our Physician Assistant program. Students and faculty in other disciplines may also benefit from the database either for their professional studies or for their personal interest.
Bates Visual Guide to Physical Examination contains video content that teaches students how to conduct a full body examination, communicate effectively with patients, and view symptom specific case studies. The videos are in depth and are a total of 8 hours. There are 3 video tabs that are available for viewing.
The first video tab contains the Physical Examination videos. These videos focus on conducting an examination on each body system. There are also videos on conducting an overall head-to-toe assessment for infants, children, as well as adults and seniors. For each body system, users can either view the videos in small chapters or play the entire video series.
The second video tab contains the Communication and Interpersonal Skills videos. This section focuses on how to have effective dialogue with patients. These videos concentrate on topics like active listening, guided questioning, empathetic responses, nonverbal communication, and interactions with various patient populations. Health Science students find these videos particularly useful since having open and honest dialogue with a patient is crucial for health professionals to be able to perform their job well.
Lastly, the third video tab is OSCE Clinical Skills videos. These videos give students case studies to watch and follow along with. These case studies involve patient history taking as well as performing physical assessments of a patient based on the symptoms they present. The case studies will present diagnostic considerations, diagnostic workup, and summary. These videos present the most accurate real world scenario that most health science professionals will encounter in their practice
To find Bates Visual Guide to Physical Examination, go to the Touro Library homepage and Log In with your TouroOne credentials to use all the library services. After logging in, click on the link that says Databases and you will be redirected to the Find Articles page. Choose Bates Visual Guide to Physical Examination from the list of databases on the page. This will bring you to the Bates database. Please feel free to contact a librarian if you have any questions.
[Post by by Annette Carr, edited by Emma Larson-Whittaker]
Through the Touro Library website, you have access to many research tools. No matter whether you prefer to learn via articles or videos, we have options for you. All of these resources can be found under the “Find” banner at the top of the Touro Library home page, or via the Databases pages. Simply select from the dropdown list. For further information, visit this LibGuide on online learning or reach out to a librarian.
For starters, we officially have the complete set of Living Emunah! Each of the six volumes guides its readers through life’s struggles and finding happiness and tranquility in everyday life. Based on the teachings of Rabbi David Ashear’s “Daily Emunah”, each volume contains short stories which include lessons from the Gemara and Rabbinical teachingsthat are used as guidance to strengthen Judaism through Emumah.
We also obtained two books from Rav Miller Avigdor—Rav Miller Avigdor on Tefillah and Rav Miller Avigdor on Olam Habah. Tefillah will help readers find a deeper connection to the words we said while davening and Olam Habah brings forth the significance and meaning of the world to come.
Did you know that there is more than one way to measure a K’zayis? It’s not just a measure of volume, according to Halachos of K’Zayis. A K’zayis is seven animal crackers, specifically the elephant and the horse. It is ten wiggly gummy worms, ¼ of a cup of Cheerios, and three thin slices of salami. Rav Yisroel Pinchos Bodner (with assistance from Rabbi Yosef Sayagh and Moshe Bodner) brings forth a pictural guide of what a K’Zayis is for common foods in order to make a Bracha. This book is not only insightful, but also a fun way to learn about K’Zayis, including Shabbas, Yom Tov, and Pesach guides.
Last but not least is Rebbetzin Kanievsky: A Mother to All. It is almost impossible to describe her life’s work in one biography, yet Naftali and Naomi Weinberger (with Nina Indig) did an excellent job of recording her family history, along with inspirational stories, and how she dealt with life’s challenges. In addition, the Appendix includes Rebbetzin Kanievsky’s water challah recipe, Tehillim for pregnancy and childbirth, and a prayer to ward off the ayin hara. This is perfect for those not only looking for inspiration but to learn about an incredible Rebbetzin and her everlasting impact on Judaism.
Please contact library staff at the Lander College for Women for any questions in regard to these new titles at 212-287-3530.
Blog post contributed by Alexandra Weinstein, Librarian at LCW.
If you’re still in search of a good book to read this summer, check out the books that our librarians are reading and recommending. For more information about the books our librarians chose, click the hyperlink in the descriptions to read a synopsis and other reviews on GoodReads.
“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. She writes about what happens when you donate your body to science, with a dose of edutainment. Mary Roach manages to take a subject that gives many people the heebie-jeebies, donating one’s remains to science and making it humorous at times. She covers such topics as learning surgical techniques via practicing on cadavers, human decomposition, ingesting human remains for medicinal purposes, using corpses in car crash tests, using cadavers for ballistics tests, crucifixion experiments, and even head transplants. The talk of decomposition and quack remedies of the Middle Ages was fascinating. The funeral bits were also pretty enlightening. Stiff is a very interesting read for those interested in what happens when you donate your body to science, softened somewhat by Roach’s sense of humor and humanity. It takes some of the mystery out of death, and replaces it with honesty and humor.”
“The book, American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, on which the movie “Oppenheimer” is based, is on my reading list.
Part of the title, (“Prometheus”) is taken from an ancient Greek God and myth. Prometheus was a Titan in Hesiod’s mythology.
Oppenheimer had a profound impact on shaping the 20th century… but perhaps more interestingly and strikingly was his strenuous and vigorous moral/ethical grappling with what he had created and the future consequences the atom bomb would have on humanity.
As Oppenheimer rightly quotes the Bhagavad Gita after the Trinity Test in New Mexico: “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Touro’s own Lara Frater released a sci-fi novel this year! Paranormal Pest Control follows “Frank Carver and Hector Ramirez, two exterminators, and Jenny Blake, a woman who can talk to ghosts,” who have a business to exterminate demonic bugs after “a series of earthquakes hit around the world. The damage and loss of life were devastating, and the world became weird but no more in the quake zone known as Broken Brooklyn. Bugs became demonic, demons invaded, and people with psychic abilities grew stronger.”
You can get Lara’s book from Amazon here or download it via Kindle Unlimited!
“Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Joy Williams, particularly her book Harrow. It’s set in a post-climate collapse landscape, and the characters undergo a surreal series of events that lacks linear logic because the environment is so ruined that time no longer exists. Sounds dark, and it is dark, but it’s also really funny and witty and impressively written.”
“I just finished a fascinating non-fiction book,How to Think Like a Womanby Regan Penaluna, after attending a recent METRO-community NYPL Virtual Work/ Cited presentation where she was featured. It’s both a history of women in Philosophy (or women omitted from the philosophical canon) and a personal journey of the author.
In Fiction, I’m reading Tenderness By Alison Macleod, which traces the story of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover, from its inspirations to the landmark obscenity trial. Macleod counterpoints the tale with reimagined intrigue of Jacqueline Kennedy during her husband’s presidential campaign and a 1959 love story of a Cambridge literature student and a historical archivist. It’s a long read but I’m enjoying the interplay of fact and fiction.”
Toby Krausz (Cross-River Campus)
Book one in Riordan’s Greek Mythology series. Image via of author’s website.
“Currently enjoying rereads of the YA book series (there are multiple!) of Rick Riordan, he does mythology transferred to the present day. He has done Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian so far. I do enjoy his Greek and Roman books especially.”
“I’m currently re-reading one of my favorite series, the Abhorsen Chronicles, by Garth Nix. I’m currently on the second book, Lirael, which fittingly is about a librarian. This is one of the best fantasy worlds I’ve come across and it’s a really great blend of magic, horror, and adventure. The audiobooks are also narrated by Tim Curry and are absolutely fantastic.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this unique story, The Music of Bees: A Novel by Eileen Garvin, with its quirky and realistically flawed characters. Not only is the author a great storyteller, but at the same time, she uses her authentic knowledge of beekeeping to inform about bees, and also about the toxic effects of pesticide use. This novel makes me seriously want to become a beekeeper and strive for a cleaner environment!”
Grann is also the author of the much-praised Killers of the Flower Moon, also an excellent read, and soon to have its film adaptation premiere in October.”
“I am currently re-reading The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions by Thorstein Veblen. One might expect a quaintly outdated treatise of stodgy norms from the Gilded Age, given its nineteenth-century publication date. Instead, the work reads as if it were written yesterday, with timeless observations and insight into human nature and how material wealth affects our status, as individuals and members of social groups. Veblen’s theoretic concepts such as “conspicuous consumption” have become established methods to examine intentional displays of power and prestige. It’s an eye-opening deep dive into aspects of our lives that we often participate in as a matter of course. I have found myself reassessing many decisions and practices at different stages of my own life after reflecting on this fascinating work.”
“This summer I am looking forward to reading Andrew Leland’s The Country of the Blind which will be published July 18th by Penguin Random House.
Andrew is a friend from my time living in San Francisco in the ’00s. The company I was working for shared office space with the magazine he edited, The Believer. Andrew is a kind, smart, very funny, and creative person whose book The Country of the Blind is part memoir, part cultural critique. It is about his own journey with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that causes one to gradually lose sight over several years. Andrew’s writings on blindness have recently appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker.”
Alexandra Weinstein (Lander College for Women Campus)
“One of my favorites isBad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. The author, John Carreyrou, is the Wall Street Journal reporter who investigated Theranos and gives a detailed account of the rise and fall of the corporation and Elizabeth Holms.
Also, I’m finally reading the Shadow and Bone Trilogy! Right now, I’m in the middle of the second book, Siege and Storm.”
“I read a book which was very popular in my childhood and now I’m reading it in the original language. It is an English classic: Montezuma’s Daughter by Henry Rider Haggard. This is a historical fictional romance. Very touching.”
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Thank you to all our library staff who shared a book! What’s your favorite book you’ve read so far this year?
[Post and editing by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]
As many of you already know, Touro students have access to RefWorks through our library website. RefWorks makes citing your sources more straightforward than ever, as you can store and organize all your resources in one place. RefWorks also makes it easy to share your references with co-authors or students and create bibliographies for your article in over 6,000 different styles!
Where to start:
To use RefWorks, you must make an account using your Touro student email address. Once you have signed up, you can drag and drop your sources into RefWorks, where you can also organize them by assignment.
We are excited to share that Touro’s newest library location, at the Cross River Campus (202 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036, 3rd floor, Room 301) now has private study rooms available! In addition to getting assistance from a librarian who can help you in providing much more accurate references than ChatGPT, the new library offers several study rooms so you can prepare for your exams without being distracted by other activities in the library. The best part is that you can easily reserve a study room ahead of time, online. Study rooms can be reserved for individual use or for up to four people to work together.
Touro Libraries now subscribes to PALMs in our Anatomy.tv database. PALMs allows Touro students to access a number of anatomy modules designed to combine both learning and assessment. This combination is achieved by quizzing students in a game-like fashion on identifying anatomy structures. While quizzing the student, the module is also training them to interpret anatomy images:
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