Jewish Literary Links
- Newsletter recommendation: Nellie Bowles’s “Chosen By Choice,” a Substack-based publication “about converting to Judaism.” I love Bowles’s writing. Bonus: The newsletter includes work by guest essayists, who are compensated $250 (you can find more info on that opportunity at the end of last week’s edition).
- Reminder: My friend Lisa Silverman curates a weekly guide to Jewish-educational streaming events. This week’s installment features plenty of bookish events. (Personally, since the Holocaust Literature class that I’m teaching is focusing on Charlotte Delbo this week and Ida Fink next, I took note of next Tuesday’s “Heroines of the Holocaust,” hosted by the Museum of Jewish Heritage.)
- Believe it or not, Passover is almost here. And, as Penny Schwartz reveals for JTA, there are new children’s books to check out for the holiday.
- Happening today, one year after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic: “a Heshbon HaNefesh– a soul-accounting- by which we can better understand where we have been, where we are now, and where we may yet go.” (I’m among the Jewish poets who will be taking part in this series of free online events.)
- And on a sadly related note: As we recite Kaddish at Shabbat services this week, I’ll be thinking of poet Stacey Zisook Robinson, who died this week from complications of COVID-19. Read about her life on JTA, and for a powerful example of her poetry, read “To the God of Grief and Grace,” the original poem she posted most recently on her website.
P.S. Don’t worry—it’s not Shabbat just yet! You still have time to prepare. But as I mentioned last week, I’m experimenting with making this post a Thursday feature. And so I’ll wish you an early Shabbat shalom today.