Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Joseph Berger’s article on “A Trove of Yiddish Artifacts Rescued From the Nazis, and Oblivion,” would have been fascinating enough on its own; it’s even more compelling to me because of the material’s connection to a book referenced late in the article, The Book Smugglers, which I’m currently reading.
  • “Fathom has published a new eBook to mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration,” and you can download it free of charge.
  • Even after Sukkot, this essay by Helene Meyers is well worth reading: “My journey from New York to Texas has resulted in my viewing myself as a bicultural Jew: I have had the luxury and privilege of taking Jewishness for granted and I also know the depths of Jewish illiteracy and intolerance that plague parts of the country and some institutions of higher education. As we now move from the awesome drama of the High Holy Days to the vulnerability but also plenitude associated with Sukkot, I find myself in thanksgiving mode. And my specific sense of a Jewish harvest results from my double-consciousness as a Jewish New Yorker and a Texas Jew.”
  • I can’t attend next week’s “No Shushing Allowed” (free!) social hour with the librarians and archivists of the Center for Jewish History—but if you’re in New York, perhaps you can!
  • And ICYMI: National Public Radio is looking for Hanukkah stories!

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Beautiful poem by Julia Knobloch, “The Kabbalist’s Son,” over on Jewcy.
  • Via JTA: “The new PJ Library edition of [football star Julian Edelman]’s ‘Flying High’ includes extra material on the front and back flaps that emphasizes the story’s Jewish content and values. There is also a new reference to Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. The dedication page includes one of Herzl’s most famous quotes: ‘If you will it, it is no dream.'”
  • I warn you to have tissues at the ready when you watch this powerful Holocaust-related “op-doc” video feature over on NYTimes.com.
  • And then, although it certainly could not have been intended as a “companion” piece, that’s what came to mind as I watched this seven-minute film, via TheAtlantic.com: “In 1939, the German American Bund organized a rally of 20,000 Nazi supporters at Madison Square Garden in New York City. When Academy Award-nominated documentarian Marshall Curry stumbled upon footage of the event in historical archives, he was flabbergasted. Together with Field of Vision, he decided to present the footage as a cautionary tale to Americans.”
  • “Jewish Currents is launching its sixth annual Raynes National Poetry Contest. The submission season runs from October 15, 2017 to January 15, 2018.” This year’s theme is “Facts, Fakes, and Fictions.” NB: Although on my other blog and in my newsletter I limit contest and similar opportunity listing to those that don’t charge fees, I make an exception on the My Machberet blog because the pool for specifically Jewish-lit calls and competitions is so much smaller. So, yes, there’s a fee involved if you want to enter this contest.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • “The Etrog,” a short-story by Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon (translated by Jeffrey Saks), was re-upped on Tablet this week for the Sukkot holiday.
  • “In a moment when being Jewish in America suddenly feels threatened in a way it hasn’t in decades, the idea of a distinctly Jewish novel — a concept that has persisted in literature since the turn of the 20th century — has become increasingly urgent. Three fiction writers and one cartoonist ruminate on Jewish identity and its relationship to Israel and the U.S. in 2017.” (The New York Times)
  • “Hagar, or: The Handmaid’s Tale” (S.L. Wisenberg on the Lilith blog).
  • Last chance to enter this giveaway!
  • And a reminder that you can catch Gal Gadot on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend!

    • Shabbat shalom and chag sameach.

    Words of the Week

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    “In a new article published in The Forward, Stephen Walt claims that time has proved his and John Mearsheimer’s writings on the Israel lobby correct. Ten years ago, they wrote that a loose network of pro-Israel political and policy organizations negatively influence U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East. Yet, Walt’s efforts to show how the last ten years have proven him right would not pass muster in an introductory international relations course.”

    Source: Mitchel Hochberg and Dennis Ross, “Stephen Walt Is Still Wrong About the ‘Israel Lobby'” (Forward)