Jewish Literary Links

Toward the end of each week, the My Machberet blog presents a collection of links, drawn primarily from the world of Jewish books and writing.
- From the Forward‘s P.J. Grisar: On Harry Belafonte, Zero Mostel, and the cinematic adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s “The Angel Levine.”
- From Howard Jacobson: a superb essay about Zionism, and disappointment, on Tablet.
- And via Jewish Quarterly: an also-superb, re-upped essay by David Grossman, originally published in conjunction with Israel’s 50th birthday. (I’ve asked the journal to share the translator’s name, which I couldn’t locate.) UPDATE: I’ve been informed that Haim Watzman translated this work.
- From the Jewish Book Council’s Simona Zaretsky: some (early) summer-reading recs.
- In which Leslie Kendall Dye reflects on “Nora [Ephron] and the Jews.” (As I told the writer on Twitter, I have just one small history-related quibble with this piece.)
Shabbat shalom!

A general thought about Israel and Zionism both of which I support, though I don’t support the current regime. When Herzl said we would become a nation like other nations, this is what has happened in Israel. It’s an imperfect democracy, just like our own.