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Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

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

  • Advice on writing for Jewish publications (and getting paid for what you write!) from the talented and prolific Rebecca Klempner.
  • In The New York Times Book Review: “Each week in Bookends, two writers take on pressing and provocative questions about the world of books. This week, Adam Kirsch and Rivka Galchen on why Hannah Arendt’s ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem’ remains contentious fifty years after it was first published.”
  • This just added to my tbr list: From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaperman, by Harry Rosenfeld.
  • “J., the Jewish news weekly of Northern California, has a rare opening for a full-time staff reporter working from our office in San Francisco’s Financial District.”
  • The Winter 2014 issue of Jewish Review of Books is online. Much of the content is for subscribers only, but you’ll find a few pieces available to all.

    • Shabbat shalom and best wishes for a joyous Hanukkah!

    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.

  • Calvin Trillin explains what Cynthia Ozick taught him about his grandfather.
  • An interesting “shortlist” of four books on Jewish identity.
  • Bumper crop of book-focused blog posts in this month’s Jewish Book Carnival.
  • Author Ilan Mochari describes his visit to the Rochester Jewish Book Festival.
  • “We invite you to join our growing global community of Jewish artists for the second year of Asylum Arts: International Jewish Artist Retreat!” (If “you” are between 22 and 39 years of age, that is.)

    • Shabbat shalom.

    An Evening at the Theater with Dr. Ruth

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Becoming Dr. RuthOne of the ways I’m trying to learn about playwriting involves attending as much live theater as I can. If the plays in question focus on Jewish subjects and characters, so much the better.

    This week, I was lucky to attend a performance of “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” a one-act play by Mark St. Germain that is based on the life of Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer (née Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928 in Germany). You probably got to know Dr. Ruth as a radio celebrity (as I did). But she’s had a quite an extraordinary life even beyond that. The play is all about that extraordinary life. (And speaking of extraordinary: I can’t explain quite what it was like to see the play with the real-life Dr. Ruth sitting directly behind me.)

    If you have the opportunity to see “Becoming Dr. Ruth” I hope that you will do so. Meantime, you might enjoy this interview with Dr. Ruth on CUNY TV, occasioned by the play’s arrival at the Westside Theatre in New York.

    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.

  • As we marked what would have been Daniel Pearl’s 50th birthday this week, Heidi Kingstone reflected “on being a Jewish journalist in hostile lands.”
  • “Yeladim Books is interested in Jewish picture books, chapter books, and YA/Teen novels for a new digital collection to be launched this fall. It is interested in licensing existing titles, whether current or out of print, and also acquiring new books. If interested, please contact Ron Zevy at rz(at)tumblebooks(dot)com.” (via The Whole Megillah)
  • Eva L. Weiss’s post for The Jewish Week’s Well Versed blog makes me hope that an English translation of the first collection of short stories by Ethiopian-Israeli author Dalia Betolin-Sherman will be available soon.
  • Unfortunately, I have other plans already, but my fellow New Yorkers should take note of “The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of Sholem Aleichem,” a free panel discussion at YIVO that will take place next Thursday, October 17, and will feature a powerhouse intellectual trio: Jonathan Brent, Executive Director, YIVO; Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University; and Adam Kirsch, The New Republic (Moderator).
  • And, icymi, over on my other blog I’ve given a detailed account of my attendance last Saturday evening at an event spotlighting Israeli author Etgar Keret.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Whose Gen-X Judaism?

    by Erika Dreifus on
    5

    StarPeople are talking about “A Portrait of Jewish Americans: Findings from a Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Jews.” I’ve tried to keep up with what they are saying, refraining, for the most part, from commenting. (There are many blessings that accompany having a full-time job; in my case, the luxury of focusing quickly, thoughtfully, and in writing on matters of great personal interest isn’t one of them.)

    So, over the past several days, I’ve read and listened to others. I’ve found myself agreeing with plenty that some commenters, including Rabbi David Wolpe and Jane Eisner, have had to say. But when I read Elissa Strauss’s “Give Us Our Gen-X Judaism,” disagreement—and a sense of depression—ensued.

    And this troubled me, not only because Strauss and I have had numerous agreeable exchanges in the past (even if we haven’t ever met face-to-face), but also because, unlike Wolpe or Eisner, I’m actually part of the cohort on whose behalf Strauss is ostensibly speaking, those “Gen Xers” who were born, as the Pew survey indicates, between 1965 and 1980. And “our” Gen-X Judaism, at least as outlined in Strauss’s post, is definitely not mine. (more…)