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A visit to the Lower East Side’s Tenement Museum inspires a new picture book
(New York Jewish Week) — A new picture book set on the Lower East Side during the flu pandemic of 1918 is ostensibly about the values of education and community.
But “Rivka’s Presents” was not created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as you might expect. Instead, it was written 15 years ago, after author Laurie Wallmark made a visit to the Lower East Side’s Tenement Museum, a living history museum that highlights how immigrants lived in the neighborhood in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Wallmark first visited the museum around 18 years ago. At the time, she thought, “Someone would write a book about people who lived in these tenements,” Wallmark told the New York Jewish Week. When she returned a few years later for another tour, she had the same thought. This time, Wallmark decided to write the book herself.
Wallmark, who was working as a computer programmer at the time, thought “Rivka’s Presents” would be her first book. But life had other plans. After numerous publishers rejected the book, Wallmark went on to publish six biographies for children about women in STEM, including mathematician Grace Hopper and codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman, and a bedtime book, “Dino Pajama Party.”
And then, in 2021, Wallmark received a call from her agent saying that Random House wanted to publish “Rivka’s Presents.” The book, with illustrations by Adelina Lirius, was released on July 11.
“People always have a book of their heart,” Wallmark said. “This one was the book of my heart.”
The protagonist of the 40-page book, Rivka, is a young girl growing up on the Lower East Side. She is elated to start school — but when her father gets very sick from the flu and her mother has to work in a shirtwaist factory, Rivka must take care of her younger sister, Miriam. Despite the setback, Rivka is determined to learn, so she ventures out with her sister and offers to do chores for the tailor, the grocer and an elderly neighbor in return for lessons in reading and writing, math and American history.
Being a children’s book, there is a happy ending: Rivka’s neighbors surprise her with gifts to celebrate her love of learning. And, even better, her father recovers and she is able to start school.
“Rivka’s Presents” is Laurie Wallmark’s eighth picture book. (Images courtesy of Laurie Wallmark)
The book is a very personal one for Wallmark, whose grandparents all grew up on the Lower East Side around the same time that the book takes place. “I always heard stories about growing up there,” she said.
The characters, Wallmark said, are inspired by her family members: Wallmark’s grandmother worked in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and served as inspiration for Rivka’s mother. Rivka’s excitement for learning, meanwhile, was inspired by Wallmark’s mother. The sprinkle of Yiddish words throughout the book — like bubbeleh (darling) and shayna maideleh (beautiful little girl) — is in honor of one of her grandfathers, who never learned English.
“Of course, whenever my parents did not want me to know what they were saying they would speak Yiddish,” Wallmark said, echoing a common refrain.
Other than the occasional Yiddish words, however, “Rivka’s Presents” is not explicitly Jewish in content — and that’s by design. “Where are the books where there’s a little kid who happens to be Jewish? Maybe [he] isn’t even the main character, but he’s wearing a kippah?” Wallmark said. “We also want diversity and inclusion [in children’s books] to include little Jewish boys and girls.”
An obvious value in “Rivka’s Presents” is education, and Wallmark says the story is ideal for children who might be afraid or not excited about attending school. “Here, they see this little girl who can’t wait to start school and can’t wait to learn,” Wallmark said. “[Readers] see that learning can be fun, can be something you want to do, not something you just have to do.”
“Rivka’s Presents” is a social and emotional learning book, which Wallmark credits as one reason why it was published now. These types of books that “help kids understand and cope with the challenges of living in today’s world” are in increasing demand, she explained.
Wallmark hopes that “Rivka’s Presents,” like her other books, will “inspire curiosity, help kids learn about the world around them, and enjoy different aspects of the world.”
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The post A visit to the Lower East Side’s Tenement Museum inspires a new picture book appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations into Abraham Accords, Sources Say
US President Donald Trump points a finger as he delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 31, 2025. Photo: Kent Nishimura via Reuters Connect
President Donald Trump’s administration is actively discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of bringing that nation and some Central Asian allies into the Abraham Accords, hoping to deepen their existing ties with Israel, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter.
As part of the Abraham Accords, inked in 2020 and 2021 during Trump’s first term in office, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
Azerbaijan and every country in Central Asia, by contrast, already have longstanding relations with Israel, meaning that an expansion of the accords to include them would largely be symbolic, focusing on strengthening ties in areas like trade and military cooperation, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Such an expansion would reflect Trump’s openness to pacts that are less ambitious than his administration’s goal to convince regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to restore ties with Israel while war rages in Gaza.
The kingdom has repeatedly said it would not recognize Israel without steps towards Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state.
Another key sticking point is Azerbaijan’s conflict with its neighbor Armenia, since the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the two Caucasus nations as a precondition to join the Abraham Accords, three sources said.
While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centered on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious, the sources said. Two of the sources argued a deal could be reached within months or even weeks.
Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in March to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Aryeh Lightstone, a key Witkoff aide, met Aliyev later in the spring in part to discuss the Abraham Accords, three of the sources said.
As part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officials have contacted officials in Central Asian nations, including in nearby Kazakhstan, to gauge their interest in a broader Abraham Accords expansion, those sources said. It was not clear which other countries in Central Asia – which includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – were contacted.
The State Department, asked for comment, did not discuss specific countries, but said expanding the accords has been one of the key objectives of Trump. “We are working to get more countries to join,” said a US official.
The Azerbaijani government declined to comment.
The White House, the Israeli foreign ministry and the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Any new accords would not modify the previous Abraham Accords deals signed by Israel.
OBSTACLES REMAIN
The original Abraham Accords – inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – were centered on restoration of ties. The second round of expansion appears to be morphing into a broader mechanism designed to expand US and Israeli soft power.
Wedged between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, Azerbaijan occupies a critical link in trade flows between Central Asia and the West. The Caucasus and Central Asia are also rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, prompting various major powers to compete for influence in the region.
Expanding the accords to nations that already have diplomatic relations with Israel may also be a means of delivering symbolic wins to a president who is known to talk up even relatively small victories.
Two sources described the discussions involving Central Asia as embryonic – but the discussions with Azerbaijan as relatively advanced.
But challenges remain and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached, particularly with slow progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The two countries, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh – an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population – broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia.
In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict.
Primarily Christian Armenia and the US have close ties, and the Trump administration is wary of taking action that could upset authorities in Yerevan.
Still, US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself, have argued that a peace deal between those two nations is near.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan, we worked magic there,” Trump told reporters earlier in July. “And it’s pretty close.”
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Trump Reaffirms Support for Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara
A Polisario fighter sits on a rock at a forward base, on the outskirts of Tifariti, Western Sahara, Sept. 9, 2016. Photo: Reuters / Zohra Bensemra / File.
US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, saying a Moroccan autonomy plan for the territory was the sole solution to the disputed region, state news agency MAP said on Saturday.
The long-frozen conflict pits Morocco, which considers the territory as its own, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state there.
Trump at the end of his first term in office recognized the Moroccan claims to Western Sahara, which has phosphate reserves and rich fishing grounds, as part of a deal under which Morocco agreed to normalize its relations with Israel.
His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, made clear in April that support for Morocco on the issue remained US policy, but these were Trump’s first quoted remarks on the dispute during his second term.
“I also reiterate that the United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and supports Morocco’s serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute,” MAP quoted Trump as saying in a message to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
“Together we are advancing shared priorities for peace and security in the region, including by building on the Abraham Accords, combating terrorism and expanding commercial cooperation,” Trump said.
As part of the Abraham Accords signed during Trump’s first term, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
In June this year, Britain became the third permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to back an autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty for the territory after the U.S. and France.
Algeria, which has recognized the self-declared Sahrawi Republic, has refused to take part in roundtables convened by the U.N. envoy to Western Sahara and insists on holding a referendum with independence as an option.
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Israel Says Its Missions in UAE Remain Open Despite Reported Security Threats
President Isaac Herzog meets on Dec. 5, 2022, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Photo: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that its missions to the United Arab Emirates are open on Friday and representatives continue to operate at the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai in cooperation with local authorities.
This includes, the statement underlined, ensuring the protection of Israeli diplomats.
On Thursday, reports appeared in Israeli media that Israel was evacuating most of its diplomatic staff in the UAE after the National Security Council heightened its travel warning for Israelis staying in the Gulf country for fear of an Iranian or Iran-sponsored attacks.
“We are emphasizing this travel warning given our understanding that terrorist organizations (the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and Global Jihad) are increasing their efforts to harm Israel,” the NSC said in a statement.
After signing the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020, the UAE has been among the closest regional allies of the Jewish state.
Israel is concerned about its citizens and diplomats being targeted in retaliatory attacks following its 12-day war against Iran last month.
Earlier this year, the UAE sentenced three citizens of Uzbekistan to death for last year’s murder of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Cohen.