By Susie Davidson

Special to the Advocate

Rabbi Susan Abramson designed her Rabbi Rocketpower childrens’ book series to be funny. But as is usually the case when the author is a rabbi, there is also a lot of meaning behind the scenes. “Not only does it teach about the holiday of Tu Bishvat, but it has an important theme of ecology and the importance of saving nature,” she stressed. “The cartoon at the beginning talks about how ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, people used nature for their own purposes, not worrying about how nature would be affected. While the story is funny, it carries an important message about saving the world G-d created.” The new book includes a page of activities to help the environment (“15 Tu-Rific Ways To Help The Planet”).　It is illustrated by　Laura Standley, a synagogue congregant and senior at Woburn High School.

One can’t help but wonder if Rabbi Rocketpower could save the day at the troubled current environmental talks in Durban as she does in all her books, flying with her shofar and yad while shouting “Oy, vay! Up, up and away!"

On Dec. 11, the newest book, “A Tooty Fruity Tale For Tu Bishvat - A Juicy Mystery,” premiered at her synagogue, Temple Shalom Emeth in Burlington. Book signings were held

As in her preceding editions, it features the Mensch family, which includes a superhero rabbi and her son Aaron, who, in the midst of a Jewish holiday, discovers a major challenge that his mom goes on to solve. In this installment, the family’s talking alien cat Purr (from the planet P.I.A. - Pain in the Asteroid) sets off a malevolent force, Tooty Fruity, who emerges from the father’s 3D Turbo Time Warp 5772 supercomputer and creates havoc, winding up inside the rabbi’s head. All this while she is preparing the Tu Bishvat service at her synagogue. By making her son and cat tiny, they fly up her nose and chase the alien around. But it is later revealed that this abominable spirit is the piece of fruit that Adam and Eve ate from the Garden of Eden. The father, a computer whiz patterned after Abramson’s late husband Vladimir Dvorkin, tries to shoo it back into his machine, but winds up sending the entire congregation back there by mistake. Ultimately and invariably, Rabbi Rocketpower saves the day.

“I think this book is the funniest of them all,” said Abramson. “When I read it to the 1st and 2nd grades at the Rashi School, this was the story that they all wanted a copy of as soon as I finished.”

Abramson, who grew up in Newton, was president of Hillel during her college years at Brandeis, and went on to receive degrees from Hebrew Union College. She　is　the longest serving female rabbi in Massachusetts, and one of the first 50 women to be ordained as rabbis in the U.S. She met her husband, who died prematurely of a heart attack in 2005, while helping to resettle Russian families through her synagogue. Their son is now a teenager.

It was the tragedy of 9/11 that set the stage for the series. She wanted her son to have something that would convey hope and strength in overcoming hardships, and, finding few funny, Jewish-themed children’s books also sought to fill the gap. Together, they wrote stories, based on their family, in which Jewish holidays were saved from those who would threaten them. She wrote the entire series of six books while he was in first grade, to fit each holiday, from Chanukah to Shavuot. “I couldn't even dream of writing during the High Holy Days, when sermons take precedence,” she said.

Abramson spent hours writing stories as a child, and after she had one of her own, she thought she could reach out to other children, to both make them laugh and learn about Judaism.

Clearly, all the autobiographic elements must blur the line between fantasy and reality at times. And it does, according to Abramson: “When I did a program at a Schechter Day School, I passed two little girls in the hall who whispered to each other, ‘that must be Rabbi Rocketpower!’”

The series shows no signs of ebbing. “Kids love to give me suggestions for future stories,” said Abramson, noting that her publisher's two granddaughters suggested that she end the series with an "alien reunion," a get-together of all the aliens from the books. “At one program there was an interesting idea about a Bar Mitzvah story, too,” she said. Her young students also have input. “My third grade class last year and the fourth grade two years ago helped me ‘edit’ the Passover and Tu Bishvat books by reading and critiquing a chapter at at time,” she recalled.

The third graders told her that she shouldn't begin the cartoon with "It was as long ago as you can get," but with "It was so long ago that it was before electronics." Abramson compromised, and the cartoon now begins "It was as long ago as you can get.... alongside a picture of a cell phone with a line through it and a caption: B.E., before electronics.”

In “Rabbi Rocketpower and the Mystery of the Missing Menorahs: A Hannukah Humdinger,” alien rodents called Meowrats steal all the hanukkiyot in the neighborhood, until the rabbi ends their treachery. Information about the holiday, recipes, dreidel game instructions and a glossary are included.

At Shalom Emeth, copies of each book are in the front hall library. The hall opens into the sanctuary, and Abramson said she often can see kids curled up in the hall chairs during or after services or before religious school, reading the books over and over. “They always look so engrossed, even though I know they must have practically memorized them,” she said. Excerpts and praise of the books also finds their way into plays that kids put on during family worship services.

“I think the books have a uniqueness as stories,” said Abramson. “But it’s fun to also think about the idea of cartoons, or who knows what!”

Rabbi Rocketpower and the Half-Baked Matzah Mystery - A Particularly Peculiar Passover

Rabbi Rocketpower and the Mystery of the Missing Menorahs - a Hanukkah Humdinger
Rabbi Rocketpower in the Tutti Frutti Tale for Tu Bishvat
Rabbi Rocketpower and a Purr-fectly Perposterous Purim
Rabbi Rocketpower's Pharoah-cious Passover
Blintzes Rule/Cats Drool - A Cheesy Tale for Shavout