Best Contemporary Jewish Writing [Paperback]

Michael Lerner (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787959367 | ISBN-13: 978-0787959364 | Publication Date: September 13, 2001

Jewish culture, identity, and spirituality through the eyes of the brightest and best authors

Best Contemporary Jewish Writing is a treasure trove of short stories, poetry, and essays from such renowned contributors as Naomi Wolf, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, William Safire, and Marge Piercy. Dive into this rich arrayof writing and you ll see that the Jewish experience reflects universal themes.

The writers in this collection have something to say to Jews, not only to those struggling with their Jewish identity, and also to the wider world. Whether your main interest is in poetry or politics, spirituality or cultural identity, social healing or individual transformation, you ll find Best Contemporary Jewish Writing to be a collection that inspires, excites, and provokes. It also reflects the diversity of thought, opinion, and sensibility of today s best known Jewish thinkers and writers.

This volume is the first in the much anticipated annual series "Best Jewish Writing."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Michael Lerner selected poetry, essays and fiction for Best Contemporary Jewish Writing because they connect to or reflect "the fundamental Jewish project of healing and transformation, both personal transformation (tikkun atzmi) and healing of the world (tikkun olam). Lerner, founder of Tikkun magazine, selects work from a wide array of authors (feminist poet Adrienne Rich, novelist Phillip Roth, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, Al Gore adviser Naomi Wolf) writing about a wide variety of subjects (Steve Greenberg's "Gay and Orthodox," Benny Morris's "The New Historiography of the Palestinian Struggle"). The essays, organized by topic, explore identity, spirituality, scripture, the Holocaust, conflicts in Israel, and Jewish culture. Taken as a whole, this volume admirably integrates the personal and political concerns of contemporary Judaism, and provides something for just about everyone to agree with--and, perhaps more importantly, disagree with. --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Widely known as a religious and political liberal, Tikkun editor Michael Lerner brings together poetry, fiction, essays and memoir from across the spectrum in Best Contemporary Jewish Writing, which includes work by Philip Roth, Yehuda Amichai, Naomi Wolf, Daniel Pipes and Rodger Kamenetz. Still, Lerner aims for writing "that connects to or reflects the fundamental Jewish project of healing and transformation," both of the person and the world. This book also includes Lerner's list of the 100 best contemporary Jewish books, available in English and published since 1985. This book covers the years 1994-2000; the 2002 edition will include material from the years 2000 and 2001.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (September 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787959367
• ISBN-13: 978-0787959364
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,497,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing diverse about these perspectives, December 10, 2006

By 

D. Harris "davemh333" (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Contemporary Jewish Writing (Paperback)

If you like your Judaism to be the old left, self-hating variety then you'll love this collection of knee-jerk liberal dogma.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars anything Michael Lerner compiles is a pile, June 16, 2006

By 

Allyson Rowen Taylor "Allyson Rowen Taylor" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Contemporary Jewish Writing (Paperback)

Liat Weingart gave this book five stars, as "birds of a feather" agree on the "best" comtemporary Jewish writing. What is so shocking is that both of these people work long and hard to destroy the Jewish State, undermine their economy, and rally for a one state solution and it will not be Israel. For self loathing Jews, these stories are great. Zionsts, save your buck fifty (used) and buy a latte at Starbucks.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Towards Healing and Transformation, November 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Best Contemporary Jewish Writing (Paperback)

This new 2001 collection edited by Michael Lerner, "Best Contemporary Jewish Writing" projects a voice of emancipatory spirituality fused with the ancient Jewish culture and tradition. From cover to cover the reader explores the broader issues that confront Jewish people in changing and adapting to a modern world. What constitutes the identity of Jewish people today; what form of spirituality remains for Jews in a modern society; what do we make of the sacred text on which Judaism has forever drawn much wisdom? "Best Contempory Jewish Writing" seeks to answer the pressing question as to how Jews are to seperate the destruction and hardships of the past from the need to rebuild and transform the present. It is truly inspiring the way in which the best of Jewish writers been drawn together, each with their own creative urge and wealth of knowlege, to explore the struggles of the past and the spirit of the present- and to speak a new wisdom towards healing and transformation.