Synopses & Reviews
Best Jewish Writing 2002 David Abram
Allen Appel
Uri Avnery
Michael Bader
Nilton Bonder
Aryeh Cohen
David A. Cooper
Leonard Felder
Sylvia Barack Fishman
Shelly R. Fredman
Roger Gottlieb
Michael Gross
Leo Haber
Bonna Devora Haberman
Susan Hahn
Yossi Klein Halevi
Jill Hammer
Susannah Heschel
Loola Khazoom
Michael Kimmel
Binnie Kirshenbaum
Michael Lerner
Philip Levine
Jonathan Mark
Gail Mazur
Stanley Moss
Jacqueline Osherow
Alicia Ostriker
Amos Oz
Robert Pinsky
Judith Plaskow
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Chaim Potok
Tanya Reinhart
Adrienne Rich
Jonathan Rosen
Danya Ruttenberg
Grace Schulman
Richard H. Schwarz
Jerome M. Segal
Rami Shapiro
David Suissa
Jonathan Tel
Tova
Galina Vromen
Paul Wapner
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Wendy Wasserstein
Josh Weiner
C. K. Williams
Abraham Yehoshua
Eric Yoffie
David Zaslow
Review
The attacks of September 11 and the continuing Israeli - Palestinian conflict made harsh demands on Jewish ideals and thoughts in 2001. In his annual collection, Lerner (editor, Tikkun magazine) has gathered fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that covers many aspects of Jewish concern and interest. The volume is divided into sections on identity, spirit, culture, healing, Israel, and Jewish response to 9/11. Among the well-known authors included are Amos Oz, Abraham B. Yehoshua, Adrienne Rich, Chaim Potok, and Grace Schulman. Some highlights are the fast -paced and funny stories of Wendy Wasserstein and Binnie Kirschenbaum and the political statements of Sylvia Barack Fishman and Uri Averny. Also, Robert S. Gottlieb's article on his disabled child is wonderfully insightful. A committed religious life and social activism are stressed in many of the selections, and both sides of issues are fairly presented. Recommended for literary and Jewish studies collections. --Gene Shaw, NYPL. (Library Journal, July 2002)
Synopsis
In this much-anticipated annual volume, respected intellectual and spiritual leader Michael Lerner has collected the greatest Jewish writing of the past year. A review in the Los Angeles Times said of Lerner's first volume, "clearly an auspicious beginning." This new collection lives up to the promise of the first and includes poetry, fiction, and essays that highlight universal themes of healing, transformation, spirituality, politics, and cultural identity. No other book explores the challenges of contemporary Jewish life in a global, postmodern culture through all types of aritstic writing, This 2002 volume reflects the diversity of thought, opinion, and sensibility among Jews worldwide, including Susannah Heschel, Arthur Waskow, Wendy Wasserstein, Jonathan Rosen, Letty Pogrebin, Chaim Potok, Philip Levine, and Adrienne Rich, A special section includes a variety of articulate Jewish responses to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Table of Contents
SUSANNAH HESCHEL: Preface.
MICHAEL LERNER: Introduction.
JEWISH RESPONSE TO SEPTEMBER 11.
ARTHUR WASKOW: The Sukkah and the Towers.
SYLVIA BARACK FISHMAN: Flaws in "Blame America" Arguments.
C. K. WILLIAMS: War.
JONATHAN MARK: E-Mails from the End of the World.
MICHAEL J. BADER: Posttraumatic Love Syndrome 9/11.
MICHAEL LERNER: Should Scared Jews Become Tough Jews?
DANYA RUTTENBERG: Red, White, and Gold: On the Numbing of a Nation.
THE MANY IDENTITIES OF A JEW JOSHUA WEINER: Psalm.
ARYEH COHEN: Permeable Boundaries.
GALINA VROMEN: The Secret Diary of a Bat Mitzva Girl.
WENDY WASSERSTEIN: Shik'sa Goddess.
BINNIE KIRSHENBAUM: From Pure Poetry.
tova: stop all jewish cooking now!
JONATHAN ROSEN: Waking Up to My Father's World.
ALLAN APPEL: From Club Revelation.
MICHAEL KIMMEL: Against Circumcision.
DAVID ZASLOW: Defending Circumcision.
LOOLWA KHAZZOOM: The Racial Politics of Hebrew.
ADRIENNE RICH: Reversion.
RECLAIMING THE SPIRIT IN JUDAISM RAMI SHAPIRO: Science and Religion: A Marriage Made in Heaven?
BONNA DEVORA HABERMAN: Unmasking the Fast of Esther.
RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ: Vegetarianism: A Global and Spiritual Imperative?
PHILIP LEVINE: My Fathers, the Baltic.
DAVID A. COOPER: Bringing Messianic Consciousness.
LEONARD FELDER: Prayer as Rebellion.
ERIC H. YOFFIE: The Worship Revolution.
JACQUELINE OSHEROW: Psalm 37 at Auschwitz.
DAVID SUISSA: The Curse of Being Right.
ALICIA OSTRIKER: Zohar.
ABRAHAM B. YEHOSHUA: Cain and Abel: The Terrible Power of a Minor Guilt.
JUDITH
PLASKOW: Authority, Resistance, and Transformation: Jewish Feminist Reflections on Good Sex.
NILTON BONDER: From Our Immoral Soul: A Manifesto of Spiritual Disobedience.
JILL HAMMER: The Tenth Plague.
ISRAEL IN CONFLICT.
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN: How Could a Jew Do That?
TANYA REINHART: Evil Unleashed.
URI AVNERY: Eighty Theses.
YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI: The Asymmetry of Pity.
MICHAEL GROSS: Just and Jewish Warfare.
JEROME M. SEGAL: Clearing up the Right-of-Return Confusion.
JONATHAN TEL: A Story About a Bomb.
STANLEY MOSS: Praise: For Yehuda Amichai.
ON BEING A MENSCH AND HEALING A TROUBLED WORLD.
ROGER S. GOTTLIEB: The Tasks of Embodied Love: Ethics, Religion, Disability.
DAVID ABRAM: Reciprocity.
GERALD STERN: Roses.
PAUL WAPNER: The Moral Dimensions of Global Environmental Protection.
THE PLEASURES OF JEWISH CULTURE ROBERT PINSKY: First Things to Hand.
CHAIM POTOK: From Old Men at Midnight.
GAIL MAZUR: Five Poems Entitled "Questions".
GRACE SCHULMAN: Poem Ending with a Phrase from the Psalms.
AMOS OZ: From The Same Sea.
SHELLY R. FREDMAN: Excavating the Past: Looking into Jewish Stories.
SUSAN HAHN: October 1.
LEO HABER: The Greatest Jew in the World.
THE EDITOR.
THE CONTRIBUTORS.
CREDITS.