Normally, I post my link compilations on Friday morning, before Shabbat. But this week, I made so many worthy discoveries after I prepared the Friday post that I am compelled to present a second batch. Let’s consider it the “Shavua Tov” edition!
Disturbing, but unsurprisingly good short story by Nathan Englander in the current New Yorker. (Englander’s Q&A with Cressida Leyshon piqued my interest, too.)
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Elena Kagan, Jewish feminist.
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Daniel Levenson reviews A Safe Haven, Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel, by Allis and Ronald Radosh
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via @JewishPub RT @KarBenPub Mazel Tov to Association of @JewishLibraries President-Elect Heidi Estrin! http://bit.ly/dpxb7B #Jewish#books
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via @bookoflifepod A brand new blog for folks who write Jewish kidlit! Cool! http://bit.ly/aaw6pA
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via @JewishIdeas A new book narrates the Jewish history of North Carolina http://www.jidaily.com/uXfrUCkqI/t
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Finally, please help me choose the author photo for my forthcoming short story collection, Quiet Americans!
Shabbat Shalom!
The other day, author Allegra Goodman mentioned that her novel for young adults, The Other Side of the Island, had just been published in Hebrew. This comment particularly caught me: “The funny part about Israeli publications is that even now, I’m still a little surprised to find my Hebrew name on the cover: Alyza, instead of a transliterated Allegra.”
In addition to wondering if her translators/Israeli publishers had asked for her Hebrew name (or just assumed it), I found myself glancing over at my desk plate:
Readers, THIS was the “favor”–personalized for each teenage-and-under attendee–that was distributed at my Bat Mitzvah reception. The anniversary of which (Parashat Emor) is rapidly approaching. (I won’t tell you exactly how many years I’ve had this item within my peripheral vision. Let’s just say that this year, I’ll be listening as the daughter of a dear friend–one I’ve known since my freshman year of college–recites Emor as part of her Bat Mitzvah service.)
If I should be so fortunate as to have my forthcoming short story collection translated into Hebrew, I wonder if I, too, will find my Hebrew name (Yocheved) on the cover, instead of the very familiar transliterated Erika.
Any other writers in the Diaspora care to share their Hebrew byline experiences?
Last Friday, I posted an essay from my personal archive on my other blog. Titled “Reflections During the Days of Awe, 1989-5750,” the essay is 20 years old. I wrote it when I was enrolled in an undergraduate creative nonfiction workshop. It still means a lot to me, and it’s definitely relevant for the Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur season. I hope you’ll read (and enjoy) it.
I remember, growing up, listening to the weekly radio broadcast of early Friday evening Shabbat services live from New York’s Temple Emanu-El. This was, of course, in the days before the Internet.
But now that we are living in an Internet society, services can be accessed online. Or, at least services held at Temple Beth Or in Morristown, N.J., can be accessed online.
According to the New Jersey Jewish News:
“Since May, the synagogue has been streaming its Shabbat services on Friday evenings and some Saturday mornings on a live webcast available to anyone with Internet access.
That puts B’nai Or in the vanguard of high-tech shuls. A search using — what else — the Internet revealed only two other synagogues with such an offering: Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, Ala., and Shaarey Zedek Synagogue in Winnepeg, Canada.”
It’s a really interesting development, and, according to the article, one that is not limited to Jewish congregations.