From My Bookshelf: ISRAEL-A HISTORY by Anita Shapira

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

About 18 months ago, I purchased a new book for my Kindle: Anita Shapira’s Israel: A History (translated from the Hebrew by Anthony Berris). But soon after that, I began attending a weekly seminar titled “Zionist Thought and Statesmanship”; that wonderful course came complete with its own considerable reading list. I put aside Shapira’s book for another time.

It’s not that I’m glad that it has taken me so long to return to the book, which I’m about halfway through right now (I’m reading slowly). But I can’t help feeling that approaching it with at least a little more knowledge of Israeli history already in my mind has enriched my reading experience. Similarly, what I’ve read so far in Shapira’s book has reinforced and complemented the readings from my earlier seminar very, very nicely.

I’m not quite prepared to write a review of my own, but I’ll point you to some reviews that piqued and sustained my interest in the book over time. In the meantime, I can assure you that this is a book very much worth reading.

  • In The Forward, Jerome Chanes wrote: “Anita Shapira ups the ante in her history, which recently won a 2012 National Jewish Book Award, offering a truly comprehensive narrative of Israel, from its genesis in the first stirrings of Zionism in the 19th century to present day’s unsettled Israeli society. Shapira is a historian who believes things actually happened in history and they deserve a good telling. But the author, who has had a distinguished academic career, is a superb analyst, as well.”
  • In the Jewish Review of Books, Allan Arkush noted: “Shapira, for one thing, has done away with all sorts of errors that have been passed through the years from one short history of Israel to another.”
  • In The Jewish Week, Francine Klagsburn wrote: “Unlike other histories that often tell Israel’s story by jumping from one war to the next, this one…captures the nation’s diversity and cultural richness along with its existential struggles.”

    • P.S. Yesterday came the tragic news about the three missing boys in Israel. It’s hard not to feel totally helpless and devastated at a time like this. But thinking of those boys and filled with the spirit of Jewish peoplehood, I will do something simple: continue my reading, mindful of my connections to Israel, and to those boys (one of whom is also connected through our common American citizenship).

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Nice to see yet another reader–this time, the “Reading Rabbi”–has enjoyed the new translation of Aharon Appelfeld’s Suddenly, Love.
  • So sorry I discovered the PEW-ish theatrical project too late to attend.
  • Consider yourself forewarned–you may never be able to approach Fiddler on the Roof with the same fondness you once did after you read this piece by Ruth Wisse.
  • New Jersey Jewish News Editor-in-Chief Andrew Silow-Carroll writes about that tricky term–tribalism.
  • The Westchester (New York) Jewish Film Festival seeks a part-time Associate Programmer.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Words of the Week: Jane Eisner

    by Erika Dreifus on
    1

    “But divestment is not only about wielding punishment; it’s about shaping a moral conversation. Some of us feel as good about withholding our dollars as we do about spending them. The Presbyterians stressed that the vote was a statement about the occupation, not about Israel’s right to exist or, heaven forfend, their love of their Jewish brothers and sisters.

    Ah, but it is. Because when they singled out only Israel’s actions, troubling though they may be, at a time when the region is aflame with tribal violence, they did hold one nation to a standard that others are not obliged or expected to meet. How is that not unfair and hypocritical? How does that not undermine Israel’s legitimacy?

    As for their love for me and my Jewish brethren, it may be sincere but it’s awfully misguided. You’ll not usually find me in the Netanyahu amen corner, nor am I prone to identify anti-Semitism at every turn. But when Jewish treatment of Palestinians is judged worse than the way any other dominant group treats a minority, when it is deemed worthy of unique sanction, when other horrors around the world are ignored — how can I believe that this isn’t about the Jews? And that, my Presbyterian friends, is anti-Semitism.”

    Source, Jane Eisner, “Why Presbyterian Divestment Feels Like Anti-Semitism,” in The Forward.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Now available: the summer issue of the Jewish Review of Books (though much seems to be paywall-protected).
  • Lots of terrific material (no paywalls!) in the latest Jewish Book Carnival, too.
  • “ZEEK is proud to be launching a new summer fiction series” and seeks submissions. Deadline: July 1. NB: “Full disclosure: Zeek does not pay contributors.”
  • And speaking of fiction, Tablet has posted another piece in its fiction series, this time by Alexander Besher. Haven’t read it yet; hope to do so this weekend.
  • The Forward is hiring a Digital Fellow.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Lilith Magazine and Lilith Blog Are Looking for Submissions

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Re-posted, with permission from Talia Lavin, from a Facebook “Call for Submissions” announcement:

    Hello all,

    I wanted to let you know that Lilith Magazine (http://lilith.org) and the Lilith Blog are looking for thoughtful contributions that touch on the Jewish female experience or are of interest to Jewish women (genderqueer/LGBTQA/female-identified perspectives included, of course). Our slogan: “Independent, Jewish and frankly feminist.”

    Check out our blog here: http://lilith.org/blog.

    We take poetry, essays, reportage, book reviews, and interviews and are open to other forms of writing as well. We also pay (although not richly, as we’re a small, niche, non-profit publication).

    For consideration in the print magazine, use our Submittable: https://lilith.submittable.com/submit

    For blog pitches and/or pieces, send them my way to talia(at)lilith(dot)org.