Uncharitable Thoughts
Somehow, I can’t muster up much rachmones for this guy.
Sami Rohr Prize Nonfiction Finalists Named
Faithful readers of my other blog may recall my enthusiastic mention of last May’s ceremony celebrating the fiction winners for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. The Jewish Book Council, which administers the prize, has now selected five finalists for the prize in nonfiction (the genres alternate).
The nonfiction finalists are Ilana M. Blumberg, for Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman Among Books (University of Nebraska Press); Eric L. Goldstein, for The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American Identity (Princeton University Press); Lucette Lagnado, for The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (Ecco); Michael Makovsky, for Churchill’s Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft (Yale University Press); and Haim Watzman, for A Crack in the Earth: A Journey Up Israel’s Rift Valley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
To learn more about the prize, which awards emerging authors in the field of Jewish literature who have written books of exceptional literary merit stimulating interest in themes of Jewish concern, please click here.
Chanukah Lit
Have there always been so many wonderful essays written about Chanukah? Or is this just the first year I’m noticing? (Or does it simply have something to do with heavy-duty anthology promotion?) For an officially minor holiday, Chanukah seems to be inspiring some truly lovely writing. Here are two more finds: Amy Klein’s “Hanukkah Is in the Holiday Season, Too,” and David Bezmozgis’s “Festival of Birthdays.”
Happy Chanukah
Happy Chanukah! To launch my celebration, I took this quiz over on MyJewishLearning.com. The result: Apparently, I’d get a B-minus in Chanukah studies. Not too impressive, even if I think one of my errors resulted from careless reading. Why don’t you check it out and see how you do? And then be sure to eat some latkes.
And on a more serious note, do read this extraordinary Chanukah-related essay by Joanna Smith Rakoff.
Happenings at Harvard
Sometimes, I’m angered, embarrassed, and otherwise upset by things that go on at my alma mater. Especially where Israel is concerned.
Then along comes a piece in the campus newspaper, written by a current student. And my faith–and pride–in Mother Harvard is restored.
A Moment in History
I was telling a friend about an exhibition on Jewish chaplains in the U.S. armed services during World War II, and she responded with this link to an extraordinary mini-documentary of sorts on one particular chaplain and a Jewish service he led in Germany–in October 1944. It’s a must-see. (Thanks, BJ.)