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Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
1

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

  • Ami Eden reports from the Foundation for Jewish Culture’s awards gala–and offers a link to an audio recording of author Michael Chabon’s acceptance speech.
  • “This fall the Tikvah Advanced Institutes will offer 9 courses–ranging from 1 week to 4 weeks–in the areas of Jewish Thought & History, War & Statesmanship, and Economics & Policy. Institute participants will be generously funded. Apply now.” These institutes will be held in New York; one, taught by Ruth Wisse, will focus on “The Modern Jewish Condition: A Study in Yiddish Literature.”
  • If you can, sit in on one of the Jewish Plays Project festival performances here in New York this month. On Tuesday, I had the privilege of attending a reading of “The Law of Return,” by Martin Blank, “an original spy thriller inspired by the factual events surrounding the 1984-85 Jonathan Jay Pollard espionage case.”
  • Among the articles noting the passing of Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk this week: Nicole Krauss’s tribute.
  • The 48th annual Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) conference starts on Sunday in Houston. The AJL will live-blog via Facebook and share posts on Twitter (hashtag #AJL13), too.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    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.

  • “What really brings Ayelet Tsabari’s stories to life are her characters, people that you rarely meet in Israeli fiction.” The Times of Israel‘s Ellis Shuman’s verdict on Israeli-Canadian Tsabari’s The Best Place on Earth: “Highly recommended.” I agree!
  • “3G” writer and scholar Anthony Levin is among the panelists featured in this recording from Australia, “Keeping the Memory and the History of the Shoah Alive.”
  • New Yorkers: “LABA is a non-religious Jewish house of study and culture laboratory at the 14th Street Y. Every year LABA selects a group of around 10 fellows — a mix of artists, writers, dancers, musicians, actors and others — to join us for a yearlong study of classical Jewish texts centered around a theme, and then interpret these texts in their work which is featured in LABAlive events and the quarterly online journal.” The theme for 2013-14 will be “Mother,” and fellowship applications are due by July 31, 2013.
  • The Yiddish Book Center has an interesting project under way, “a series of ongoing interviews with relatives of Yiddish authors,” with some examples already online.
  • Last, but by no means least: a blog post by one of the JCC Boston Diller Teen Fellows, “selected yearly based on their leadership aptitude, commitment to Jewish learning, interest in exploring their connection to Israel, and passion for serving their community.” I’ve known Hannah since before she was born–I’m kvelling!

    • Shabbat shalom.

    From My Bookshelf: Q&A with Jonathan Kirsch, Author of New Herschel Grynszpan Bio

    by Erika Dreifus on
    5

    GrynszpanAs eagerly as I anticipated the publication of Jonathan Kirsch’s The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan: A Boy Avenger, a Nazi Diplomat, and a Murder in Paris this spring, I knew right away that I wouldn’t be able to review the book. That’s because I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know Jonathan over the past few years, primarily through my work writing reviews for The Jewish Journal, where Jonathan is Book Editor. My abilities to be “objective,” notwithstanding, the apparent conflict is obvious.

    But I knew, too, that I could count on the book being a superb read, one that I’d want to share with others. As soon as I finished it (I was right–it’s excellent), I sent some questions to Jonathan. Those questions, and his answers, can be found below. (more…)

    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.

    Theodor Herzl, George Eliot, and Me

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    If you follow me on Goodreads, you know that not long ago, I was reading George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda.

    Today’s edition of Jewish Ideas Daily features some reflections on that reading.

    In the beginning, there was Theodor Herzl. Or so I thought. I have a Ph.D. in European history, but I have long been aware of the deficiencies in my knowledge of Jewish history and my Israel literacy. So when I discovered the opportunity to take a non-credit course on Zionism here in New York, I jumped at the chance.

    Once enrolled, I learned just how much Zionist history there was before Herzl. Our initial sessions were devoted to a variety of Zionist forerunners and an extensive documentary legacy that anticipated Herzl’s visionary 1896 pamphlet, The Jewish State.

    I was dutifully taking notes during our second class meeting when our professor mentioned another text that expressed Zionist sentiments well before Herzl took up his mission. But unlike the writings of Rabbis Yehuda Alkalai and Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, or those of Leon Pinsker and Ahad Ha’am, this text was written in English, and by a woman who wasn’t even Jewish. Somewhat surprisingly, it wasn’t a polemic or a pamphlet. It was a novel by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Anne Evans), Daniel Deronda, published in 1876, 21 years before Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress.

    To read the rest of my essay, please click here.