Temple Shaaray Tefila Book Club Kickoff with Author Iddo Gefen

In person only Members only

This very special launch will kick off the fall season of Shaaray's book club! We are reading Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory by Iddo Gefen, and we will be joined by the author himself. Whether or not you have read the book, we invite you to attend this special event. 

There will be a brief reception afterwards where you will have an opportunity to speak with Mr. Gefen and either have your book signed or purchase a book and have it signed.

_Due to limited space, prior registration is required by September 13, or until all seats are reserved. _

About the Author Iddo Gefen, born in 1992 in Tel Aviv, is an author and a Ph.D. student in cognitive neuroscience at Columbia University, currently based in New York City. His research explores the intricate relationship between narrative understanding, human memory, and decision-making. Gefen’s debut short story collection, Jerusalem Beach, won the prestigious 2023 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. One of the stories from the book, Debby’s Dream House, is currently being adapted into a film directed by Charlie Kaufman and produced by Ryan Gosling’s production company.

About Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory (amazon.com) A comic novel for fans of Adelle Waldman about a tech startup that turns sand into rain clouds from Sami Rohr prize winner Iddo Gefen.

Our story opens with Mrs. Lilienblum discovered drinking a martini in a crater in the Israeli desert. Eli, her adult son, tries to understand what happened to his wacky mother, while he also tackles the legend of a missing hiker named McMurphy, and whether he might be in love with Tamara, a visitor to his family’s hostel on the edge of a crater.

The story races forward as the Lilienblum family builds a company around Eli’s mother’s invention and makes comedy out of startup culture, the obsession with company valuation and funding, the secrets families keep, romantic and family love–all with humor, warmth and compassion.