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Recent Viewing: “The Law in These Parts”

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

As I’ve written: “I know Israel isn’t perfect. I will listen to criticisms arising from a sincere concern for Israel’s health and security.” There are serious criticisms embedded within THE LAW IN THESE PARTS, a documentary from Israeli filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz that’s available for online viewing until September 18. And I’m not at all sorry to have watched it.

I learned a lot from this documentary, described as “a tour-de-force examination of the system of military administration used by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967 — featuring the system’s leading creators.” It made me think and question (and agonize), and it may do the same for you. (It also made me look for other viewers’ reactions: this piece from Jewish Ideas Daily provides some cautionary notes.)

In the end, what the film has done is this: It has made me pray even more fervently for an especially swift, secure, and somehow satisfactory resolution to the West Bank part of the ongoing negotiations. Wishful thinking? Perhaps.

If you watch the film, let me know your reaction.

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.

  • Publishers Weekly has given a starred review to Jason K. Friedman’s short-story collection, Fire Year, which won the Sarabande Press Mary McCarthy Prize for Short Fiction. Here’s the review’s first line: “These seven funny, fearless outsiders’ tales set in Savannah and Atlanta—some depicting bygone orthodox Jewish communities, others the rife-with-irony “New South”—gravitate toward taboo.” The book will be published in November. (h/t Racelle Rosett)
  • Over on Tablet, Marjorie Ingall recommends three Jewish biographies (ostensibly for children) that “are so unabashedly fabulous, such a perfect blend of writing and art, so good at explaining complicated subjects, so inspiring without being sappy, you need to stop what you’re doing and buy them all right now.”
  • An exemplary “negative review”Michael Berenbaum’s sage and sensitive analysis of BDS advocate Alice Walker’s latest book. (On a related note: my reaction to the news that the University of Michigan’s Center for the Education of Women had rescinded an invitation for Walker to address its 50th-anniversary celebration gathering.)
  • On Bloomberg.com, Manuela Hoelterhoff takes readers through what Laurie Muchnick calls “surprising tour of novels and memoirs about the Nazi period.”
  • The Forward‘s “The Sisterhood” blog is asking readers for brief submissions (up to 200 words) to include in a larger package on the role of Jewish women in mourning. Submission deadline is August 28. Details and submission form provided here. (NB: This is a nonpaying opportunity.)

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Words of the Week: Ban Ki-moon

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    UNimage“Unfortunately, because of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, Israel’s been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias — and sometimes even discrimination,” Ban told the group, YNet reported. He was responding to a student who claimed Israelis felt their country was discriminated against at the UN.

    “It’s an unfortunate situation,” Ban said, adding that Israel should be treated equal to all the other 192 member states.

    Source: Ben Harris, quoting The Times of Israel, “Ban in Jerusalem” (do read Harris’s piece in full), JTA.org.

    UPDATE: Looks as though Ban Ki-moon may be backtracking–which is also “an unfortunate situation.”

    Words of the Week: David Horovitz

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    “Only Israel could be pressured by the free world to release convicted killers before the ends of their sentences (something that the US, UK and others would not dream of doing), agree to do so at the start rather than the culmination of peace negotiations, and still wind up looking like the bad guy the next morning.”

    Source: David Horovitz, “The Worst of Both Worlds,” The Times of Israel, August 14, 2013.

    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.

  • Oh, what a find! Israeli authors reading from their books (with English captions/subtitles provided).
  • “But I’ll just say it unequivocally and then back off if need be: the most timeless, lasting novellas of the second half of the 20th century were written by Jewish novella-writers.” That’s Daniel Torday’s argument for The ProsenPeople. Read the post to see if Torday convinces you.
  • Fascinating piece by Kevin Haworth on the Michigan Quarterly Review website: “What Do People Do All Day? Palestinian Version.”
  • Bar-Ilan University in Israel is launching an M.A. program in English literature with a focus on literary translation. Curriculum includes literature, creative writing, Jewish studies, and translation.
  • “David Ehrlich is best known as the founder of Tmol Shilshom, a bookstore café in the heart of Jerusalem that has long been a popular gathering place for writers and artists. It’s named after the novel by S. Y. Agnon and has hosted readings by the leading lights of Israeli literature, from Yehuda Amichai to David Grossman, as well as renowned writers from abroad. Ehrlich is himself a writer, primarily of essays and short stories. Now Syracuse University Press has published Who Will Die Last: Stories of Life in Israel, the first collection of his stories to be translated into English.” Listen to one of those stories in this Vox Tablet podcast.

    • Shabbat shalom.