One of my close friends at the Bayit BaLev senior residence asked me to stop by. “David, I have something created by my granddaughter that I want to show you.” What a pleasant surprise it was.
Dina Gavriely, a mother of five who recently volunteered to go into the reserves, is an actress, playwright, director, and author. In the past 10 years, she has written three books for study in Hebrew – on the Haggadah, the Scroll of Esther, and the Scroll of Ruth.
The Haggadah appeared this year with 2,000 copies in use, and here is a comment: “Your Haggadah added a new dimension to our Seder. We studied it before Passover. While I was cleaning, my kids played the games in the book. On a few occasions, we sat together for almost an hour focusing on the insights in the steps of the Seder, which helped all of us at our actual Seder.”
Gavriely's Scroll of Ruth is geared towards children
The first book I received of Dina’s series of three was her Scroll of Ruth, most appropriate since Shavuot was only a week away. This beautifully printed, artistic work contains a range of explanations from many sources, plus tools and games for children and adults to enjoy and learn. The range of commentaries for this scroll was developed by her with graphics done by a friend, a professional artist. The images are newly imagined and jumped off the page for me.
Last week, the day before Shavuot, I introduced some younger people whom I know fairly well, as kids and now as parents, to Dina’s Scroll of Ruth. They were drawn in by the range of explanations from many sources. Their kids played some of the games before the holiday, and read some of Dina’s rendering of the text with their parents.
After the Shavuot, they said it had deepened their understanding as to why the Scroll of Ruth is read then. “On Shavuot, we celebrate the giving of the Torah and the mitzvot,” Dina wrote. “At this precipitous moment, the Scroll of Ruth stands erect. It is a brief tale of a small family whose experience, unexpectedly, offers a great challenge.
“In it we experience such kindness, joy, and friendship, elevating us to a new plateau ourselves. I feel the individuality of each person in the Scroll of Ruth is what attracts us. There are no miracles here in the text, carrying it far from reality. Then, we might not connect with the moving tale so easily.”
The tale of Ruth is real life for Dina, as it is for most of us. My friends, who used Dina’s Scroll of Ruth, commented to me: “What Naomi experiences has parallels for us – the senior widows here and the many young widows whose husbands were killed in the wake of Oct. 7.”
Dina shared how this project came about. “I began my adventure, a dream, to become reality, with the study of the portion of the Torah on each Shabbat with my husband and my children.
“I was a student for two years at the Migdal Oz seminary for women. There, I recognized anew how novel and vibrant and significant were the words of Torah read each Shabbat. My family began studying together and captured that spirit for themselves.”
She explained her idea to others, showing them her Pashut Layeladim (Simply for the Children) illustrated sheets on the weekly Torah portion, which they used and found her method worked with their family, too.
With encouragement of others and her personal drive, the Pashut Layeladim weekly series, illustrated by her friend, an artist, instantaneously had wide circulation. “My goal is to find a way to tell the stories of the megillot and subsequently the Haggadah, as it is grounded in the text. Taking that step,” she said excitedly, “I hope that my readers will then study the text and want to know more.”
After the Pashut Layeladim series succeeded, Dina moved to books, writing a more understandable text in each volume she produced. She began with the Scroll of Esther because it is so well known, then Scroll of Ruth. In the past year she authored the Haggadah, using a similar methodology of a more readable text, games, and pleasing artwork by her friend.
From her background as an actress, she noted, “I have seen through my own personal dramatic experience what attracts children’s attention – for them and for me. I envision parents and children studying these books together. What could arise is an opportunity to know the Torah more deeply and the history of our people.”
Meeting Dina has been uplifting. Her works, in time, should develop a following of families and individuals who will build for themselves and their children the love for Torah Mitzion (Torah from Zion).
Learn more about Dina’s books (in Hebrew): pasht4kids.co.il