Handbook for Jewish girls

Goodnight Golda is a fabulous picture-led handbook for brave Jewish girls (and their mighty friends)

By Brigit Grant April 6, 2022, 12:45 pm Edit

For more than four decades, Brigit Grant has covered news and celebrity exclusives. As Executive Editor (Features) and Editor of Life magazine, she combines award-winning journalism with a longstanding passion for animal welfare, particularly dogs.

When Batya Bricker first saw the book Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, her brain started ticking. As General Manager of Exclusive Books, the largest book chain in South Africa nothing with a spine on a shelf passes her by, particularly Rebel Girls, which spawned a new genre in youth publishing.

“At the time, there was talk about creating a version centred on Jewish women, but no one ever did,” she says. “Perhaps the project was too large or the complexities too daunting.” But Batya, self-confessed word-lover, spiritual-seeker and Torah teacher was unfazed. “Being brave and making a mark on the world is creating something that is needed, that doesn’t yet exist.” As for many enforced lockdown gave her the time she needed to create, Goodnight Golda – a Handbook for Brave Jewish Girls (and their mighty friends) which introduces curious young females to Jewish women who made their mark in the world, and the ones who continue to do so.

Judith Kerr wrote The Tiger who came to tea

Over 130 pages, the reader meets Anne Frank, actress Hedy Lemarr, Judith Kerr, Donna Karan (left) and others on what Batya describes as “a journey through fearlessness. “What it looks like, smells like, feels like. Each woman’s story forced me to confront what I think, what I believe, what I want.” Goodnight Golda was Batya’s ever-faithful companion during the Pandemic. “It was a source of amusement, education, comfort and inspiration. I hope that this is what it will bring to readers too.”