On the Nightstand Thursdays

So, I’m leaving for Limmud NY in a few short hours (yay!) and as preparation, I spent some time yesterday leafing through Tamar Ross’s Expanding the Palace of Torah which is one of the densest and most amazing books I’ve ever read. I can’t get through more than about ten pages before having to put the book down and just process for a while, but frankly, I think that’s amazing, and a great statement of endorsement.
Torah Expands: you know, because it's so hot

As far as I know, Tamar Ross won’t be at Limmud NY, but lots of other deep thinkers and strong writers will be there having discussions that will require lots of processing later on.

If you’re looking for something a little less heavy, but still Jewish and feminist and somewhat traditional in outlook, try Biblical Women Unbound by Norma Rosen. Basically, Rosen takes a look at women in the Bible and gives midrashic readings of their lives in a fiction-y kind of way. Will make you think, but feels more like listening to a good story than examining feminist history even though it’s doing that, too.


I’ll post more tonight after I’ve gone to some sessions, but if you’ll be at Limmud definitely come say hi. I’ll be the girl with the purple hair and the bottle of Jameson.

Continuing on my Jewish Young Adult book kick, I want to recommend Sonia Levitin’s The Return.
The Return: you'll be embarrassed about how much in here you never knew

One of the big problems in Israel today is that the Ethiopian community has not been treated with all of the dignity and respect you might hope for. Israel did a great thing airlifting the Ethiopian Jewish community out of Ethiopia in the early nineties, but as is always the case, the follow through hasn’t exactly be satisfactory. I got these statistics from the website of the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jews:

70% of Ethiopian families have no incoming salary.
63% of employed Ethiopians work in non-professional fields.
The average Ethiopian salary is below the poverty line.
Only 32% of Ethiopian fathers and 10% of Ethiopian mothers are employed.
40% of Ethiopian students in grades 1-9 are below the class level for reading.
60% of Ethiopian students in grades 1-6 are below the class level in Hebrew and Mathematics.
6.2% of Ethiopian students drop out of school between the ages of 14-17.
This is double the national average.
Only 28% of Ethiopian students pass the matriculation exams-less than half the national average.
46% of Ethiopian students are sent to boarding schools due to financial hardship.
45% of Ethiopian parents can not speak even basic Hebrew.
49% of Ethiopian families live with two or more people in each room.
Due to multiple hardships, the number of juvenile delinquents is double among the Ethiopian population.
Between 1996-1999, the number of Ethiopian youth arrested increased by 255%.

This is all by way of saying that I think the diaspora Jewish community needs to pay way more attention to the fate of Ethiopian Jews, and though it’s admittedly kind of a lame start, I highly recommend The Return.

Here’s the Publisher’s Weekly review:

Levitin's book is a glorious, heartrending account of Operation Moses, the airlift of Ethiopian Jews from the Sudan into Israel, as seen through the eyes of Desta, 12. Desta's family belongs to a small community of Jews in dire poverty, isolated in the mountains and terrorized by Ethiopia's communist regime. A dream foretells the arrival of other Jews promising freedom in Israel; subsequently Desta's older brother, along with her betrothed, Dan, and his family, are chosen to travel to the Sudan, where they will be flown to Israel. The journey becomes a nightmare for them all. This book will remind readers that there are thousands of children in the world who spend each day in jeopardy. The story ends with Desta and Almaz healing in Jerusalem, but there is a last note that the airlift was stopped, and that many Jews remain trapped in Ethiopia.

I know they read The Return in a lot of Jewish middle schools, but if you don’t happen to be a twelve-year-old at a Solomon Schechter it’s still worth picking up.

I’ve been excavating in my childhood bedroom of late, and have found my stash of Jewish chapter books. I read most of these in 5th-8th grade, and though they weren’t my favorites (I was inexplicably obsessed with the books by a woman named Lurlene McDaniel who wrote exclusively about teenage girls with terminal diseases) I did love them to the point that the pages in most of them were practically falling out of the binding. One of my favorites—and one that I highly recommend to anyone with a preteen who has any interest in Israel is Lynne Reid Banks’s Broken Bridge.

Broken Bridge: buy it! You probably know about Banks because of her wildly successful Indian in the Cupboard series, but this book is about Canadian and Israeli teens on a kibbutz dealing with terrorism, politics, and normal teenage stuff like having crushes and forming secret clubs. Here’s the synopsis available on Amazon:

The murder of a Canadian teen by Arab terrorists in the streets of Jerusalem heightens political tensions and triggers conflicting emotions felt by members of his family in this sequel to One More River (Morrow, 1992). Twenty-five years have passed since Lesley Shelby and her parents emigrated to Israel from Canada; Nili, her daughter, witness to the brutal murder of her cousin Glen, is inexplicably spared. In the aftermath of the attack, as police forces track the murderers, Nili's family tries to come to terms with grief and anger. Nili, fiercely loyal to Jewish Israel, is torn as she tries to protect the terrorist who deliberately intervened and saved her life. Her uncle Noah, the murdered boy's father, faces demons that made him flee Israel, abandoning his first family, years ago.

It’s a little dated already, but definitely worth a read, and a great Bar or Bat Mitzvah gift. The book is actually a sequel to a book about living on a kibbutz before and during the 1967 Six Day War in Israel, but though I enjoyed One More River I think Broken Bridge is better and more interesting.

I think my favorite thing about Broken Bridge is that even as a ten-year-old I remember feeling like this was a book about how complicated the situation was in Israel, and how it didn't try to simplify anything, or dumb down anything so that I could get it. It's too bad that pretty much nothing I've read about Israel since then has shared those characteristics.

Jewish Book Council: Next year, my books are totally going to be in the running for this. Uh, hello? Anyone?The Jewish Book Council, who is behind the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, has announced this year's five finalists for said prize, basing their selections on a "demonstration of a fresh vision and evidence of future potential to further contribute to the Jewish literary community. The prize honors an emerging author in the field of Jewish literature who has written a book of exceptional literary merit that stimulates an interest in themes of Jewish concern."

This year, the prize of $100,000 will be awarded to a writer of non-fiction, with the winner to be announced at a spring awards ceremony, at which point, the identities of the contest judges will also be revealed. So, while we're waiting to hear the winner, we might as well read the finalists and start a betting pool:

Ilana M. Blumberg for Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman Among Books (University of Nebraska Press)

Eric L. Goldstein for The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American Identity (Princeton University Press)

Lucette Lagnado for The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (Ecco)

Michael Makovsky for Churchill's Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft (Yale University Press)

Haim Watzman for A Crack in the Earth: A Journey Up Israel's Rift Valley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Disguised As Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero BooksI went into Disguised As Clark Kent thinking it would be about the same book as Up, Up And Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Simcha Weinstein (Oy Vey is jokier and with more Biblical parallels tossed in), but, despite having nearly the same title and subject, Disguised, I have to admit, is really the leader on the topic with greater contemporary historical detail and wonderful captured social and emotional subtleties. At least in my humble little opinion, it seems to be about Jews first, particularly the immigrant Jewish psyche, and comics we drew second.

A large number of the creators of the most famous superheroes were of Jewish background, secular, religious, or both. Disguised as Clark Kent explores how the Jewish consciousness of these individuals impacted the content of the comics and contributed to making characters such as Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman into the most familiar popular-culture icons of all time... Fingeroth... reflects on the phenomenon of the heavily Jewish elements that, consciously or not, went into the creation of the superhero.

Well-researched, filled with interesting history and interviews, Disguised As Clark Kent:

centers on questions of Jewish identity, which is historically about the push and pull toward and away from that very identity. One sees this immediately and most famously in Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the superhero "disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper." It is also a large part of Bill Finger and Bob Kane's Batman, Will Eisner's Spirit, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America.

Disguised As Clark Kent was released this fall by Continuum International Publishing Group and is available on Amazon, Alibris, Powell's and the like.

 

When I stumbled across a copy of Erotica Judaica: A Sexual History of the Jews in a used bookstore, I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into. I opened the font cover and read: "Erotica Judaica, A Sexual History of the Jews, views the remarkable role that sex has played in the development and destiny of the most vital, viable, and influential culture in the history of humanity." Hmm. Pretty lofty claim, I thought, but it sounded intriguing, so I picked it up.

Cue Slow Jams: Wanna step into my tent? Aww, yeah. So, you want to discuss sexuality with Talmudic references and with many footnotes? Yeah, I thought so.Bearing in mind that it was written in 1967, and uses a style that is part clinical/academic, part Victorian, and  part giggling envelope-pushing; I was anticipating Jewcy-erotic tales, but what I got instead was, admittedly way better. I say "way better" not to knock a good schtup-tale, of course, but because this book is a buffet of cited sources and of references Talmidic and literary, a hint of intellectual WTF-ism with a similar feel to Codex Seraphinianus' genius-absurdist vibe, with a good dose of bleh, bleh, bleh thrown in for good measure. For example:

"And Y-hweh said to Joshua, 'This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you' (Yahuahu; Midrash Rabbah. The verb galal, to roll away, refers to the removal of that reproachful ring of flesh encircling the glans penis.) 'When Joshuah circumcised the children of Israel,' states Midrashic Rabbi Levi, 'he made a heap of their foreskins. And the sun shone on them and they bred worms, and the odor arose to the Holy One like the odor of incense from the fire offerings..."

That's all well and good, but just because we're talking about a sex organ does not erotic history make. Fortunately, keep reading and you get your fill of lit-schtup in the very next chapter, a chapter called "Sexual Hospitality":

"...the ancient Arabian traditions of hospitality. Jeal, Heber's comely wife, gave Sisera to drink of the milk of refuge, she invited him to share her carpet bed in physical rest and restorative emotional release. Talmidic Rabbi Johanan deduced, from the text of Judges 5:27, that Sisera had seven sexual connections with Jael: Between her legs he squat, he lay he spurted; between her legs he squat, he lay; where he squat, there he lay stiff."

(Original Shoftim reads something like: bayn ragliyeh kara' nafal shakab, bayn ragliyeh kara' nafal, b'ashr kara' sam nafal shadud.) And with footnotes like:

"The verb kara' (to squat) expresses a coital posture common to Easterners... the pregnant verb nafal (to fall, to lie prostrate) is used in the sense of a man allowing a woman to mount and ride him, which in the patriarchal East is indicative of feminine domination.... Shakab (to lie with a woman) is literally the Arabic sakab (to pour out, to ejaculate... Bayn ragliyeh, consistently mistranslated as at her feet, is too clear for comment."

...it's not, you know, hot-and-bothered, but it's a fascinating, geekin'-on-the-freakin' read.

Jewish Living: Awesome Martheleh goodness or feminist party foul?I'll probably read this. I mean, I am mostly in the demographic, it covers stuff I am into, but... what is it that's got my knickers in a twist? Is it that Heeb is selling itself short? Is it that I feel like I'm being told I'm too old to play with Heeb and that it's time to grow-up and read something more grown up? Is it that Martha, while her subscriber base probably is largely female, I can't say I've heard her ever specifically address her readership as female? Is it that I'm not too keen on the hearth and home magazines being addressed to me (I'm pretty sure that like that sort of thing because I like it, not because I'm female, etc.)? All of the above?

In any case, here's what's up. Ex-ad exec Daniel Zimmerman is set to launch Jewish Living magazine next week, a "thoroughly modern magazine" that covers the "Jewish home, family and cultural life":

The bimonthly magazine, boasting "How-To" features on Chanukah parties, Friday night diners and something entitled "Stop Coddling Your Kids", will launch with a rate base of 100,000-- part newsstand, part pre-launch subscriptions sold to Jewish associations-- targeting Jewish professional women ages 25-34 with a median household income of over $125,000.

(Full story from Folio)

So, maybe I'm iddly because it's dangerously close to promoting itself as the reader for the second-shift syndrome (when both parties of a couple are employed, and one, usually female, assumes the household responsibilities, or the bulk thereof)...? Would I feel differently if it billed itself as being aimed at Jewish professionals, rather than Jewish professional women? Or, am I coming to the table with a a notion of what women's magazines are and assuming this is just a Jewish Redbook? (Oy, can you imagine?) I mean, maybe it's a Jewish Bitch or Jewish Bust? Right, that would be cool. I could dig that.

Eh well, I have to reserve judgment until I've read it, to be fair. And, I will read it. And, maybe I'll keep a copy of it next to my copy of Heeb and read them both.

I'm not too old to read Heeb, right?

Oy, I know I promised you guys a lovely, thoughtfully-written, intellectual discussion of a book last week in exchange for my giddiness over Jewish Origami . Howevah, because it is about to launch its rocket, I thought On The Nightstand Thursday would be a delightful place to mention Celebration of Jewish Books, a festival happening in Los Angeles November 5-11.

People of the Book: It's on. In a big, big way. Sponsored in part by the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, American Jewish University and Borders, the festival started when a 2002 Jewish Journal story sparked an idea of Gady Levy, head of the adult-ed program at American Jewish University. A story in today's Jewish Journal (erm, actually, it's dated for tomorrow) reports:

The void certainly wasn't for a lack of trying, the story noted; the Jewish community centers had hosted a fair, but the budgets were low (generally $3,000 to $10,000), attendance was poor, and the program had died out soon after the turn of the millennium. If Los Angeles was home to 600,000 Jews, why were we fest-less? Levy didn't think the reason had to do with Los Angeles' vast geography: "If you create a good event, people will drive," he said. "This city provides a lot of opportunities for us to be entertained, to do things by ourselves or with our families, some of them Jewish, some not Jewish, so people really have to pick and choose," he added. "In order to put a book festival on your radar, it has to be 'big.' You need 'big' authors to provide name recognition, and to offer people access to the authors of the books they actually read."

And, the festival is pretty big. Not a ton of love for small publishers or the DIY crowd (He specifically sought-out "best selling authors"), but he was aiming for a big Jewish book festival and it certainly looks like he's pulled it off. Art Spiegelman: Only goes to festivals if he can smoke while on stage. Obviously, that didn't fly in California. Result, no Spiegelman at this fest.He's got the controversial Tony Kushner, Israeli Ram Oren, Michael Chabon, Anita Diamant, children's authors Judith Viorst and (ahem) author of Jewish Origami, Joel Stern (I promise you I just noticed that. I'm not stalking the guy. I sweahhh.), a kosher food court, a real-to-life replica of Anne Frank's House (Should we discuss that????), and various music and dance events. (Uh, yeah, that's a big-ass book festival.) And, it is complete with a mitzvah project: buy a pre-K through 5th grade book at the Oasis of Books tent and donate to Koreh L.A., a Jewish literacy foundation, as the name suggests.

Any of you Los Angeleans (Angelenos? What do you call yourselves?) heading that way? Looks like there are already waiting lists for some events-- anyone want to try to sneak in and report back? (Not that I am suggesting anyone gain entrance to anything by questionable or dishonest means. Ahem.)

Oh, and also, load up your nightstands because November 4th-December 4th is Jewish Book Month.

Jewish Origami: Oy.I can almost guarantee this is totally not the sort of thing darling Jewcy had in mind when "On The Nightstand Thursday" was hatched, I'm sure. But, this week, shuffling through book after book, trying to find just the right, heavy, thought-provoking title to share with all of you, I found these early on and kept coming back to them. Was it the paper hammentaschen? Maaayyyyybe. The little horrible stereotype of a shrugging guy made from folded paper on the cover? Maaaaaayyyyyyyyybe. An any event, I couldn't let this one go, so humor me. I promise you a more impassioned essay of greater intellectual clout next week. But for now: Jewish Origami.

The first book I found was Jewish Holiday Origami by Joel Stern. Tracking down a copy and giving it a whirl, I have to admit challenging as it may be, making tiny origami Torah scrolls might be my new thing. It might. It was fairly easy to follow and didn't make me feel like a complete paper-folding failure, so I liked it. What to do with all of my efforts, I wondered? Well, there's no shortage of tiny Jewish kids on my radar, and they were at first curious, then amazed, then delighted to shred, stomp, hide and otherwise enjoy their paper treasures. My cat was pretty gung-ho about a few things, but lost interest once he realized they weren't too stalkable.

So, I moved on to Jewish Origami by Florence Temko. I kind of sucked at making the tiny origami dreidels, but there was some improvement with each. So, I tried out Jewish Origami II, and had a bit less success, but all in all, I have to admit my Jewish origami experience was kind of fun. So, run right out and try it for yourself and totally, completely impress your friends silly with your folding-savvy.  Plus, you know, if I'm not the only one doing Jewish origami, I'll feel a little less-weird about it all. Heh.

Hyperion, 2006Face it. Life is tricky, isn't it? Just when we think we're going along fine, something inevitably pops up that makes us question ourselves, our choices, and once in a while, causes us to struggle to suppress an idea, a desire or a notion.

Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award and selected as one of "The 10 Best Spiritual Books of 2006" by Spirituality and Health magazine, Yearnings: The Sacred Messiness of Life (Hyperion, Hardcover: Aug. 30, 2006/Paperback: Sept. 18, 2007) by Rabbi Irwin Kula and Linda Lowenthal suggests these inner nudges are more of a map for learning to listen to ourselves and towards spiritual discovery and growth. The book aims to explore:

"...desire in spiritual life. Rather than leading us astray, our longings are gateways to self discovery. Our yearnings, once understood, can lead us to discover an expansive vision of G-d or a wider reality. And when we embrace even our most painful or taboo desires, we can love more deeply and live more fully. The Biblical authors wrote about characters who, rather than leading perfect lives, actually struggled with their longings for success, love, sex, and happiness. Through interpreting those stories and other spiritual traditions, as well as exploring his own desires and those of regular people, Rabbi Kula shows that 'The more we allow ourselves to unfold, the less likely we are to unravel. The more we dive into our desires, the more exquisite life becomes.'..."

Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell's and independent local book retailers near you, I'm sure.