The Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural & Learning Center

Library Catalog

The Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural and Learning Center (“CLC”) at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El aims to provide the congregational community with Judaic educational and cultural resources. The CLC strives to develop a superior, up-to-date collection of books, resources, and supportive programming to strengthen and further the vision of Beth El.

The multi-faceted center includes:

• The Maxwell Abbell Library is a nationally recognized circulating collection of adult fiction and non-fiction, history and literature as well as rabbinic reference books in English and Hebrew. It seeks to develop a collection that not only supports the academic needs of our students and staff, but also provides a broad range of pleasure reading for our congregants.
• The Pinsof Children’s Reading Room is a special collection of materials for children, families, and educators that aims to foster a love for Jewish books, stories, and reading, and support the curriculum of the Steinberg Preschool and the Cohen Religious School.
• The Susan Fisher Glick Memorial Research Center is a classroom and meeting room adjacent to the Pinsof Children’s Reading Room that is used for continuing education, religious school and preschool classes as well as for committee meetings.
• The Rissman Kol Ami Collection includes Jewish art, artifacts and ritual objects. In addition to preserving significant objects for posterity, the museum seeks to develop programs and exhibitions that are designed to educate the congregation and promote an appreciation for works of Judaica as well as contemporary Jewish art.
• The NSS Beth El Archives seeks to preserve the historical heritage of our congregation. The Archives solicits, collects, arranges, and maintains the official records, papers, letters, documents, photographs and ephemera that tell the story of the synagogue.

Sisterhood Torah Fund Book Club Calendar

Sisterhood Torah Fund Book Club Past Selections

Encyclopedia Judaica Online  After signing in at the Gale Databases page, scroll down to click on either of the Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed, 2007) icons. To receive the sign-in password, NSS Beth El members may contact Marcie Eskin, Librarian/Education Coordinator, at [email protected].

For questions or comments, or to see if your favorite book is in, please contact: Rachel Kamin, Director of Lifelong Learning, at [email protected] or 847/926-7902 or Marcie Eskin, Librarian, at [email protected] or 847/926-7903.