Words of the Week

“The strong response of the Israeli public and leaders to the arson attack is, truthfully, somewhat comforting. The wall-to-wall Israeli condemnation of this crime has left me and other Palestinians not only ashamed, but also embarrassed — because this is not how we Palestinians have been reacting to terror attacks against Jews — even the despicable murder of Jewish children.”

Source: Bassam Tawil, “Palestinians: The Difference between Us and Them,” Gatestone Institute

Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

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.

  • Over on Tablet, Adam Kirsch examines “where Jewish writers are finding [publishing] homes these days, and why.”
  • Speaking of Tablet: they’re looking for two paid, part-time fall editorial interns. (Don’t forget: Fig Tree Books is offering a paid internship as well.)
  • Spotlighting debut novels by Michelle Brafman and Diana Bletter, The Jewish Week‘s Sandee Brawarsky declares this to be “the summer of the chevra kadisha novel.”
  • I’ve followed poet Edward Hirsch’s work for many years; I read his book-length elegy for his son when it was published last year. So I appreciated this profile of Hirsch—and Gabriel—in the current issue of Moment magazine.
  • Finally, in the words of JTA/Suzanne Pollak, “In Jennifer Weiner’s hit novels, it’s a (Jewish) woman’s world.” (But many of you knew that already!)
  • Shabbat shalom.

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    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.

  • Just received in the mail: the latest issue of Moment magazine. There’s so much here that I’m eager to read, including a profile of Edward Hirsch, “the poet laureate of grief,” and work by the latest young-reviewer-winners of the magazine’s “Publish-a-Kid” contest.
  • Nice press attention this week for our Fig Tree Books authors: a Forward interview with Jessamyn Hope, a blogger’s take on The Book of Stone for The Times of Israel, and the first review of Ben Nadler’s forthcoming The Sea Beach Line.
  • New this week: Unorthodox, a podcast from Tablet (and Slate’s Panoply network) hosted by editor-at-large Mark Oppenheimer and featuring senior writer Liel Leibovitz and deputy editor Stephanie Butnick. “Unorthodox is a smart, fresh, fun take on Jewish news and culture.” I listened to the inaugural episode; I was impressed!
  • Lisa Silverman’s “Good Summer Reads for Kids” article for Jewish Journal includes some great-sounding books.
  • Finally, over on the reBar project, I reveal the one way becoming a Bat Mitzvah might have been even more meaningful to me.
  • Shabbat shalom.

    From My Bookshelf: World Literature Today’s “New Hebrew Writing” Issue

    may15cover_thumbIt isn’t every day that I’m inspired to purchase a single issue of a magazine, journal, or newspaper. I subscribe to a sufficient abundance of periodicals such that the tower of books on my nightstand at any moment is equaled by a nearly equally tall stack of periodicals.

    But when I saw that World Literature Today‘s special May-August 2015 double issue included a feature on “New Hebrew Writing”–only a small sampling of which was available online–I went ahead and ordered a copy. And I’m glad that I did so.

    For the most part. (more…)