Erika Dreifus

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.

(Tbh, I am still semi-floating from the incredible experience of last Sunday’s inaugural Jewish Writers Mifgash, hosted by The Artists Against Antisemitism. But I’m going to try to come back down to Earth and offer a typical Thursday post!)

• “John Lithgow to Tackle Roald Dahl’s Antisemitism in Broadway ‘Giant.’” I’ve given you a link to the coverage in The New York Times; for more about the play itself, I’ll suggest a “throwback Thursday” return to an October 2024 episode of the Unholy podcast.
• There’s a lot of buzz about Boy from the North Country, Sam Sussman’s newly-released debut novel. I’m hoping to read it soon; even sooner, I’m hoping to catch this evening’s (free, virtual) conversation between Sussman and Menachem Kaiser. In the meantime, of all that I’ve read about the author and his new book to date, Sussman’s own “How Amos Oz Helped Me Write My Mother’s Tale of Love and Darkness” is what I’ll point you to.
• Hot off the e-press: the September/Rosh Hashanah issue of The Jewish Fiction Journal.
• Mark your calendars for October 6, when Sally Stieglitz, who chairs the Jewish Information Committee for the American Library Association’s Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), will be hosting a free, virtual conversation titled “On Being Jewish Now: Two Years Later,” with Zibby Owens, editor of the popular On Being Jewish Now anthology, and an array of the book’s contributors.
• And once I get caught up on the latest episode of Shababnikim (“The New Black”) on ChaiFlicks, and some of my reality-show distractions (yes, I have them!), I’m planning to heed this advice from rabbi (and author) Benjamin Resnick: “You should binge-watch Netflix’s ‘Long Story Short’ for the High Holidays.”

It’s difficult to write the words “Happy New Year” while thinking, as always, of the hostages who remain captive in Gaza and all of the associated trauma. But by the time of next week’s post it will be 5786. So I’ll close with the messages of Shabbat shalom, Shana Tova—and somehow, may freedom and peace soon come.