Awards:

Bologna Ragazzi Award / grand prix in non-fiction category for “Majn Alef Bejs”

Award for the illustator Ula Palula:

Nami Island International illustrations Concours / special mention for “Majn Alef Bejs”

European Design Awards / silver in category Books & Editorial Illustration for “Majn Alef Bejs”

ILUSTRARTE / special mention for “Majn Alef Bejs”

Book of The Year Polish section of IBBY / special mention for “Majn Alef Bejs”

Majses – publishing project.

As part of the project, four publications have been released:

• A Majse – Fun counting rhymes referring to Jewish traditions.
• Majn Alef Bejs – Rhymes presenting the Jewish alphabet.
• Jontew Lider – Poems about the most important Jewish holidays.
• Jidiszer Zoo – Poems about animals.

Through Jewish Communities, JDC Poland, Jewish Schools, and Jewish associations and foundations involved in education, the books have been distributed free of charge to children across Poland. Since 2010, when the first publication was released, the series has been successfully used in workshops and educational programs carried out in local Jewish communities

Already at the stage of preparing the project, we thought about how to present the history, tradition, and religion of Judaism to children in a way that is understandable, fun, and interesting. We decided on the best and gentlest form of education, which is the fairy tale, in Yiddish ‘a majse’ (hence the name of the project). It is fairy tales that are invaluable in introducing young children to their native culture and can serve as a tool in developing a sense of national identity. By familiarizing themselves with the content of a fairy tale describing typical Jewish cultural values, including those of a spiritual nature, the child gets to know the heritage of their nation. The authors are Jewish writers who created in the interwar period, in the Yiddish language: Icchak Lejbusz Perec, Kadia Mołodowska, Lejb Kwitko, Ida Maze, Jehoszua Kamiński, and Szmuel Cesler.

Współpraca i wsparcie projektu

The project was funded by the following sources:

• Zygmunta Rolata
• Ministry of the Interior and Administration
• Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture
• The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
• Ministry of Administration and Digitalization.
• The Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund
• The Kronhill Pletka Foundation
• The Morris J. and Betty Kaplun Foundation
• Hebrew fonts donated by MASTERFONT –
• www.masterfont.co.il