Erika Dreifus

As I explained in the most recent issue of my newsletter for writers, my literary observance of Jewish American Heritage Month (in Canada, Jewish Heritage Month) has a new focus for 2024/5784, one conditioned by what occurred on October 7 and all that’s unfolded since then. Considering, too, that several of this year’s “Modern Jewish Holidays”—including Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day), and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day)— also fall in May, this month seems to me to provide both an opportunity and a responsibility to highlight books that, in various ways, embody connections and intersections among Jewish people in the United States (and Canada) and in Israel, where just about half of the world’s current Jewish population now lives. Call it a project imbued by the sense of K’lal Yisrael, Jewish peoplehood, which was integral to my own Jewish upbringing, and which I’ve experienced more than ever before since October 7. Or call it a reflection of a key element in this Jewish American’s understanding of her heritage.

To this end, I’ve been highlighting one book each day throughout the month (as last year, on Twitter). And, again similar to last year’s practice, I plan to compile the featured titles at month’s end on Bookshop.

But at the month’s midpoint, I thought that it might make sense to share an update.

Below, then, are the #LitJAHM24 titles featured thus far, with some brief annotations. All of them are titles that I’ve read—some, as you’ll see, I’ve written about, too.

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