Clifton woman's book helps Jewish women plan

CLIFTON – "Publishing a book is like a gestation period for an elephant," says Devorah Goldman. "It’s a very long process."

Goldman’s "baby" finally is ready for birthing. "The Jewish Woman’s Weekly Planner + Creative Ideas for Inspired Jewish Living" (Pomegranate Press, $17.99) is the culmination of this graphic artist and writer’s long-held dream.

Devorah Goldman created "The Jewish Women’s Weekly Planner," pictured below.

"I wanted to publish a work incorporating Judaic themes combined with a contemporary visual style," said Goldman, who has lived here for 10 years and is moving to Teaneck in August with her husband Edward and two teenage daughters, Elisheva and Hadassah.

The 15′-page one-year planner begins with Rosh Hashanah ‘007, and includes a weekly calendar, kosher recipes, and inspirational ideas that draw on Judaic sources. Every week features Monday through Friday on a left-hand page and Saturday and Sunday on a right-hand page, with an additional colorful fold-out page. The 70 detachable fold-out pages feature recipes and tips on one side and grids for a shopping list, menu ideas, and guests on the other side.

"As far as I know, this is the first Jewish weekly planner with holidays, Torah portion, and candlelighting times as well as kosher recipes, inspirational tidbits, and more than 70 beautiful full-color photographs," said Goldman.

When she began "fooling around" with the concept in ‘005, she envisioned as her audience women from college students to grandmothers. "I showed it to all kinds of women and everyone seems to love the heft of it and the beautiful photography," she said. "Even if you’re not going to use the calendar it has other uses for anyone who likes to keep track of life in a Jewish way."

Though this is not a cookbook, Goldman has a great interest in the culinary arts and was one of the regional finalists in the Simply Manischewitz Cook-Off last October. Stemming from that exposure, she is in negotiations with a cable television producer about the possibility of hosting a kosher cooking show.

"I’m a person who takes my food seriously," she said. "When people cook, they can literally follow directions or look at a recipe for inspiration. I personally cook by color; if I see a lot of green and brown I’ll throw in a little orange. I hope people use the recipes in the planner as a jumping-off point to experiment."

Goldman earned an master of fine arts degree in graphic design from
CalArts, and received a National Endowment for the Arts Entering Designer Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship. She has written for Jewish media and worked in corporate publishing and consumer market research. In ‘004, she adapted Rabbi Berel Wein’s "Faith And Fate" to the screen, an endeavor that serves as the foundation for a 1’-part Jewish history documentary to premiere on May 7 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.

Recently, Goldman began a new job as a marketing associate and designer at the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly. "I’m getting to do what I love most: describing ideas that may have a Judaic root, with a visual style that continues to evolve," she said.

The book, produced in California by one of the world’s largest publishers of calendars and journals, will be sold in bookstores, Judaica stores, and museum shops in the United States, England, Canada, and Australia, as well as online at pomegranate.stores.yahoo.net/z09′.html.

"Borders bought the first run of the planner," she said. "It was incredible beginner’s luck."

Goldman has designed a companion Website, inspiredjewishliving.com, that shares the vision behind her work and may serve as a conduit for readers to submit their own ideas and recipes for next year’s planner. "For the next one I hope to use my own photographs," said Goldman, who loves to frequent Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market behind the lens of her camera.

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Clifton woman’s book helps Jewish women plan

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