At the Melbourne book swap (from left) Sue Zimmerman, Mira Brown and Pauline Schwartz

Many kilometers from ESRA Headquarter (13,757k to be exact), a Book Swap was held to raise funds for ESRA Modiin and to publicize the memoirs of Susan Zimmerman, now published in a book Like Streams in the Negev.

The goal was to swap books loved by their readers with those that others have loved and get some great reading for the summer holidays, but why not raise money for a worthy cause?

Donations of books came from everywhere and the evening started with tables overloaded with books of every type. There was fiction, romance and some very intellectual non-fiction. People had been generous and we were grateful for a good supply of very interesting books.

The evening would not have happened without two wonderful Australian women, Sue Zimmerman, the author of the memoirs and Pauline Schwartz, who had spent many hours setting up and categorizing books so quickly.


Susan Zimmerman’s book

Over the evening ladies swapped books and stayed for a drink, a bite to eat and a schmooze. Many were keen to hear about ESRA's work and life for English speakers in Israel. At times I thought I was representing the Zionist Federation of Australia and considered there was potential for a diplomatic position.

The event progressed smoothly. Sue took a number of women outside into her beautiful garden and read a paragraph of her memoirs which described the very garden in which we stood. She had lived next door as a child and had spent many hours in this beautiful garden.

The evening finished pleasantly with some in the Melbourne Jewish community wiser about ESRA and happier to hear about Israel. Money was raised for ESRA Modiin but the most pleasing was the good-will that was created between the two communities.