Tami Lehman-Wilzig is an award-winning children s book author, a cookbook author and one of Israel's leading English language advertising copywriters. Her children s books include Hlik Lak, Tasty Bible Stories and Keeping the Promise, which received a 2005 International Reading Association (IRA) Teachers' Choice Award. Married to a university professor, and the mother of two grown boys, Tami lives in Petach Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

The heirloom in Tami Lehman-Wilzig s second story in Gefen s new series is a branch of a tree a lemon tree that stood in a large vat in my great-great-grandfather s front yard over eighty years ago. Set in a shtetl, its theme is a familiar one in Jewish lore: the idea that just enough is plenty : and that sharing what one has with others less fortunate is an important mitzvah. Mayer Aaron Levi s tree is fruitful enough to produce lemons for his wife to make into lemonade and some extra to give to neighbors. Mayer extends his generosity without telling his wife and when she discovers that some of the lemons she carefully counts are missing, he lets the recipients of his gift show her, through their gratitude, the importance of tzedaka. Written for children in grades 2 4, with softly colored, engaging illustrations, the story is followed by several pages of lined paper on which children are urged to write about their own family s tzedaka heirloom. Recommended with the same caveat as noted in the other Jewish Heirloom story. --Linda R. Silver, Jewish Valuesfinder, Cleveland, OH Sept/Oct 2007 issue of the AJL (Association of Jewish Libraries) Newsletter