Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
3

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

  • In a smart blog post (does she write anything that isn’t smart?) sparked by a current Kveller series, Rebecca Klempner asks readers to share book/magazine suggestions for enhancing the “G-d Talk” with kids. (She also offers a few suggestions of her own.)
  • A lovely poem by David Y.B. Kaufmann, “Walking to Shul.”
  • People are talking (well, blogging & tweeting, anyway) about Michael Wex’s new project: an indiegogo campaign to fund “a translation of Joseph Opatoshu’s unbelievably great Yiddish novel, In the Forests of Poland, into an English as compulsively readable as the original.”
  • “The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) at Brandeis University is looking for a Communications Coordinator. The person supports the communications efforts of the HBI and 614 eZine websites; creating and executing the e-mail campaigns; improving social media visibility; event promotion and outreach; analyzing web traffic and trends; and developing online partnerships.”
  • And on a more personal note: I hope that you’ll take a few moments to read my sister’s first essay/post for The Jewish Week‘s New Normal blog.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    From My Bookshelf: A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    I’ve mentioned before how grateful I am to be taking a noncredit course on “Zionist Thought & Statesmanship” this spring. Among other benefits, the seminar has provided me with an excellent reading list. Most recently, I finished reading A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel, by Allis Radosh and Ronald Radosh. (It is worth noting that May 14 will mark the 65th anniversary of the United States, under President Truman’s leadership, becoming the first nation to recognize the State of Israel.)

    TrumanPublished in 2009, the book won the Washington Institute’s Book Prize (for nonfiction books on the Middle East). It received widespread attention; rather than give you a summary/review myself, I’ll point you to some existing analyses.

  • “Zionist in the White House,” by Jonathan Tepperman (New York Times Book Review)
  • Review by Walter Russell Mead (Foreign Affairs)
  • “Success Has Many Parents,” by Daniel E. Levenson (New Vilna Review)

    • But wait–there’s more. Bonus material that I’ve located online includes an excerpt and a video (which I hope to have the opportunity to watch in the near future myself) that features the authors discussing their book at the YIVO Institute.

    Have any of you already read the book? What are your thoughts?

    Words of the Week

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Whatever the reason, I can’t understand why some writers seem so intent on distancing their work from being identified as “Jewish.” That they do so while simultaneously benefiting from the “label” and showing no evidence of suffering from any career-stultifying “ghettoization” only adds salt to the wound.

    From an essay of mine just published on JewishJournal.com.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

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

  • From the The Jewish Week: “Elie Wiesel’s ‘Open House'”.
  • The Canadian Jewish News catches up with JewishFiction.Net and its editor, Nora Gold, who has a new novel coming next year (I can’t wait to read it!).
  • Even if I hadn’t had the privilege of meeting YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent this week, his important reflections on “the last books” for Jewish Ideas Daily would have made this list.
  • A few words about “Germany After 1945: A Society Confronts Anti-Semitism, Racism and Neo-Nazism,” a traveling exhibition that is making its U.S. debut in NYC.
  • And my review of “Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide,” by David Roskies and Naomi Diamant, in The Forward.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Awards Update

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    I’ve been wondering what was happening with the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Awards for Poems on the Jewish Experience. I routinely enter (and lose) this competition, and it seems to have a spring deadline. I wasn’t finding any updates online for this year’s contest, and then, lo and behold, an email message arrived this morning.

    The message was from Michal Mahgerefteh, publisher/editor of Poetica Magazine, Contemporary Jewish Writing and Art, and it informed me that the 2013 competition is being administered by the magazine.

    The contest is open to all writers, irrespective of ethnicity or religious affiliation. Poems should address “Jewish Experience.” There’s no entry fee, and the deadline for 2013 is November 15. “Total prize money of $3000 will be distributed between 1-3 places and honorable mentions.”

    You can find full guidelines here.

    Thanks to Ms. Mahgerefteh for contacting me.