Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Library Journal has published a nice article with some Jewish literature suggestions for librarians. Titles past and present are included.
  • “There are millions of stories that need to be told – each one unique and heartbreaking and filled with truths and teachings.” So says author Deb Levy in an interview focused on her new book, Bury the Hot, which describes the life experience of Holocaust survivor Sal Wainberg.
  • I love Rebecca Klempner’s writing. Check out her latest, beautiful essay for Tablet, filled with layered meanings for Tisha B’Av.
  • Appreciate having discovered author Gloria Goldreich’s essay on “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Zionist” in Hadassah magazine.
  • And on a related note, this “dialogue with a western leftist,” though not exactly new, is too perfect not to share. (via @JeffreyGoldberg)
  • Shabbat shalom.

    Jewish Literary Links

    Okay, they’re a couple of days early–usually, I post these links on Friday morning, pre-Shabbat. But I’m traveling this week, so I thought I’d get these out to you ahead of time. Shabbat shalom in advance!

  • Check out these calls for artists/writers from Jewish Currents.
  • The Israel Institute is offering research grants of up to $10,000 for scholars, academics, and independent researchers to conduct substantive research on issues related to modern Israel. Areas for research may include, but are not limited to, Israeli history, politics, economics, and law. The grants are aimed at facilitating the publication of a book or a number of scholarly articles that make a serious contribution to the field of Israel Studies or promotes a greater understanding of modern Israel.” Next deadline is August 1.
  • Over on Tablet, discover a new group of “baal teshuvahs—a small but influential movement of incoming Chabad artists who are reinventing the arts in the Hasidic community.”
  • Last weekend, I saw the beautiful new Israeli film, “Fill the Void,” which is being described as “Jane Austen for Jews.”
  • Also last weekend, I read Miriam Katin’s new graphic memoir, Letting It Go, the primary focus of which is, as noted in Tahneer Oksman’s review for the Jewish Book Council, “Miriam’s inability to accept her adult son’s decision to move to Berlin, a city that represents her dark past.” It is a stirring and visually beautiful book. Recommended.
  • Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • “I am reading the streets of Tel Aviv for their genre affiliations,” writes Kevin Haworth for the Bending Genre website.
  • A terrific review of one of my own recent reads, Merrill Joan Gerber’s The Hysterectomy Waltz.
  • More about Alice Walker’s odious words.
  • The Jewish Week presents its summer reading section.
  • Jewish Review of Books has redesigned its website in time for its new summer issue.
  • Shabbat shalom.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    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

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

  • Coming soon! Open: The Festival of New Jewish Theater at the 14th Street Y in New York will take place June 10-30. I attended last year, and I’m looking forward to dropping by again.
  • The Forward previews a slew of new Jewish books for summer.
  • As I think I’ve mentioned, one of the books I’m hoping to read this summer is Rutu Modan’s The Property (trans. Jessica Cohen), which appears to belong to the ever-growing corpus of “3G” literature. As noted in this week’s Publishers Weekly profile: “Inspired by her family origins and family secrets, [Modan] wanted to write a story about a Jewish grandmother who, with the help of her granddaughter, reclaims her property in Poland that was seized during the war.”
  • Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, which will be published in November, is the inaugural winner of the Natan Book Award. (I happen to be reading an electronic galley of this book at the moment.)
  • Win a bundle of Jewish-interest books from the Jewish Book Council.
  • Shabbat shalom.