Jewish Book Carnival: October 2023

book-filled logo for the AJL Jewish Book Carnival

Months ago, when I volunteered the My Machberet blog to serve as host site for the October 2023 iteration of the Jewish Book Carnival, a monthly event where those who cover Jewish books online “can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts,” I never—not even in my most pessimistic nightmares—envisioned that said Carnival would post barely one week after the deadliest, bloodiest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Organized by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL), the Carnival travels around and is hosted on a different participant’s site on the 15th of each month. I’ve hosted it here on My Machberet 15 times in the past.

Nothing is “normal” this week. At least, not for us in the Jewish world.

So I reached out to everyone who had already submitted a Carnival post. I invited them to replace their previous submissions. I suggested that contributors send along either something they’d just posted in response to the current tragedy, or something from their archives that seemed particularly relevant—and resonant—at this terrible time.

This is what they’ve offered:

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Jewish Literary Links: Special Solidarity Edition

Friends outside of Israel, when people ask you if you have family in Israel, your answer is simple. Yes. 7 million brothers and sisters.
Image brought to my attention by Rabbi Jeffry Salkin.. Creator currently unknown.

Regular followers of the My Machberet blog know that I routinely share collections of links, drawn primarily from the world of Jewish books and writing. And as a Jewish writer in the Diaspora who is deeply bonded to Israel, I frequently feature items from or pertaining to Israel and its literature.

But there is nothing routine about what began in southern Israel last Shabbat morning, or any of the days since then.

Here, then, is a “solidarity edition.” And as I said on a related post on the Practicing Writing blog yesterday, may the memories of the slaughtered be a blessing; may the wounded heal; may the captives be rescued soon and swiftly. May there soon be peace, for everyone.

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