The Festival of Books & Culture continues with events next Monday through Thursday, then a rest on Shabbat.  The Book Fair is open those days, but hours vary – click here for a schedule.

Monday:  Parenting without Power Struggles

With Susan Stiffelman, author of “Cool, Calm and Connected: How to Raise Joyful, Resilient Kids Without Power Struggles, Negotiations or Meltdowns.” For parents of children 3-10 years old.

Come alongside instead of at your kids…and eliminate power struggles, negotiations and meltdowns! Most parents know what to do when their kids are behaving. It’s when things heat up that we get overwhelmed and forget all the good advice and ideas that made sense in calmer moments. Family therapist Susan Stiffelman has shown thousands of parents how to be the cool, confident “Captain of the ship” in their children’s lives. Susan will teach you to blend practical, proven strategies with crystal clear insights into what motivates kids to cooperate and connect. Parents will learn:

• How to transform frustration and aggression into adaptation and cooperation
• A foolproof way to keep from losing your cool when kids push your buttons, talk back or refuse to “play nice”
• How to nourish deep attachment with younger and older kids
• How to help ADD’ish children survive and thrive, even if you’re ADD’ish yourself
• How to inoculate kids from the damaging effects of negative thinking patterns and peer pressure that can lead to anger, anxiety, depression or behavior issues

6 – 8 pm, $8 per person or $15 per couple (includes tea/coffee and dessert). Registration deadline: Friday, November 6

Tuesday:  Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers

“Untold Tales of Men of Jewish Descent Who Fought for the Third Reich”, With author Bryan Mark

On the murderous road to “racial purity” Hitler encountered unexpected detours, largely due to his own crazed views and inconsistent policies regarding Jewish identity. After centuries of Jewish assimilation and intermarriage in German society, he discovered that eliminating Jews from the rest of the population was more difficult than he’d anticipated. As Bryan Mark Rigg shows in this provocative new study, nowhere was that heinous process more fraught with contradiction and confusion than in the German military.

“Startling and unexpected, Rigg’s study conclusively demonstrates the degree of flexibility in German policy toward the Mischlinge, the extent of Hitler’s involvement, and, most importantly, that not all who served in the armed forces were anti-Semitic, even as their service aided the killing process.”
—Michael Berenbaum, author of “The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust”

As an undergraduate student studying in Berlin, author Bryan Mark Rigg watched the film Europa, Europa to improve his German. When speaking with an elderly man in the audience who had helped him translate some of the dialogue, Rigg discovered that the man’s own story was similar to the one in the film. Thus began Rigg’s “nine-year obsession” that became “Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers.”
7 pm, $8 for JCC members, $10 for guests

Wednesday:  “Praying with Lior – Faith Can Be Simple”

Directed by Ilana Trachtman, with introduction and discussion led by Rabbi Tirzah Firestone

The winner of numerous audience awards for best documentary, “Praying with Lior” asks whether someone with Down syndrome can be a “spiritual genius.” His family and community believe Lior is close to God — though he’s also a burden, a best friend, an inspiration and an embarrassment, depending on who is asked and when. As this moving and entertaining documentary moves to its climax, Lior must pass through the gateway to manhood – his Bar Mitzvah. Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, a close friend of Lior’s family, will share her thoughts about this spiritual savant.

“At the press screening of Praying with Lior many of the critics around me openly sobbed. This doc is a hardcore tearjerker.” – The Village Voice
7 pm, $8 for JCC members, $10 for guests

Thursday:  The Jewish Star of India:  The History of Jews in a Hindi Land

With Carlos Zarur  Early December brings the Menorah event of the year, Bialywood: From Bombay to Boulder. As a prelude to that event, this program examines the history of the Jews of India. The Bene Israel are believed to have lived in India for 2000 years. The Cochini Jews of southern India were “black Jews” who spoke Malayalam. The “white Jews” of Cochin came from Europe. The Baghdadi Jews fled to India in the 1830’s. There are believed to be 5,000 Jews living in  India today. In Israel there are now more than 50,000 Jews of Indian origin. Noon, $8 for lunch and talk.