My Machberet - Erika Dreifus

Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

by Erika Dreifus on October 9, 2015

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Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

In the latest New Yorker fiction podcast, Allan Gurganus reads and discusses (with Deborah Treisman) Grace Paley’s “My Father Addresses Me on the Facts of Old Age,” from a 2002 issue of the magazine.

“Seven Jewish Authors Get Personal About Anti-Semitism.” A roundtable from We Need Diverse Books.

Looking forward to reading through the new issue of Lilith magazine.

The Fig Tree Books blog takes note of the 20th anniversary of the passing of Henry Roth, author of the classic Call It Sleep.

You’ve never read a Sukkot poem like Chaya Lester’s “In Honor of the Murdered…and Their Orphans,” a response to recent events in Israel, on Hevria.

May it be a Shabbat Shalom for all.

Words of the Week

by Erika Dreifus on October 4, 2015

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The list goes on: shootings, stabbings, and stonings are all rampant, and they’re almost always perpetrated or encouraged by Palestinian officialdom.

Western leaders and even a portion of diaspora Jewry justifies its refusal to notice or name the current wave of murderous Palestinian terror attacks on the grounds that the deceased are mostly “settlers”—a special category of civilians whose murder is always, if not justified, then easy enough for those who attended the right universities and who read the right newspapers to understand.

Source: Liel Leibovitz, “The Murder of Eitam and Na’ama Henkin” (Tablet)

Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

by Erika Dreifus on October 2, 2015

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Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

A Sydney Review of Books reviewer calls Leah Kaminsky’s new novel “a powerful new addition to the canon of Australian Holocaust literature.”

Open for submissions: the 2016 Jewish Plays Project. Check out their latest newsletter.

And speaking of newsletters–here’s the latest one from Fig Tree Books. (edited by yours truly).

A lovely piece by Rabbi David Wolpe on his father’s–and others’–books.

Many congratulations to the winners of the 2015 Canadian Jewish Literary Awards (including Nora Gold, who discussed her award-winning Fields of Exile with me in this interview last year).

Shabbat shalom.

Words of the Week

by Erika Dreifus on September 26, 2015

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What to do? Well, individually and as a community, make sure you know as much as you possibly can. Be fully informed. And then fight back — through academia, or journalism, or political action, or whichever is your area of expertise. Help others understand what Israel faces.

You won’t persuade the haters. But you can help prevent fair-minded people being manipulated and misled by the haters. And the benefits of meeting this challenge are enormous: you’ll be protecting Israel, and you’ll be working toward a smart, more knowledgeable climate for Jews in the UK and Europe. We are inextricably linked — the Jews of Israel and the Jews of the UK and the rest of the Diaspora. Our well-being is linked. We had better stand together.

Source: David Horovitz, “Strategies for Israel, and those who love her” (Times of Israel)

Pre-Shabbat Jewish Lit Links

by Erika Dreifus on September 25, 2015

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Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

Presenting this month’s Jewish Book Carnival–hosted by the Jewish Book Council.

On the Fig Tree Books blog: a stroll down literary-memory lane (and a re-assessment of Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America).

Jewish Currents has announced the theme for the Fourth Annual Raynes Poetry Competition: “Urge.” NB: This competition charges an entry fee of $18, which includes a one-year subscription to the magazine.

Here’s hoping that Baba Joon, the next official Israeli selection for nomination as “Best Foreign Language Film” at the Oscars, makes it to U.S. distribution soon.

From Mosaic magazine: a review of Edward Alexander’s Jews Against Themselves, which is on my tbr list. It’s a thorough review but doesn’t quite contain any spoilers: I’d already sensed that this book won’t be happy read.

Shabbat shalom.