Customer Reviews

Best Contemporary Jewish Writing

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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

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.

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.

I love this book! I'm not an expert on Jewish writing, but this collection seems to have it all. Each chapter is short enough and interesting enough that I can read a couple a day. There's so much variety, too--no chance of getting bored!

I particularly like the poetry, which was great. Some of the poets I didn't know until I bought this book, so I'm grateful to Michael Lerner for introducing me to their work. Some of the contributors I was surprised to find in this book, like Marge Piercy. It was good to find out that she writes Jewish poems, too.

I'm planning on buying a couple of extra copies to give as Hanukkah presents this year. I think it's a great gift-who wouldn't want a wonderful book like this?

"Best Jewish Contemporary Writing" is an incredibly anthology. Michael Lerner has chosen topics which pertain imminently to contemporary Jewish life, particularly in the West. He has elucidated the need for examination of the multiple identities which Western Jews carry. For example, how does American identity and the "melting pot" affect Jewish identity? Lerner prompts us to re-examine not only our identities but also how we think about the Holocaust, Israel, and our sacred texts. The list of authors and pieces is most impressive and sheds light on crucial questions, not only for Jewish readers, but for all readers who are interested in what it means to be a Jew in the 21st century.

Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of this collection, is the editor of the magazine Tikkun. This book is an anthology of essays written between 1994 and 2000 on a spectrum of Jewish themes and with a diversity of perspectives. In the introduction to the collection, titled, "Jewish Writing and Healing the World", Rabbi Lerner explains the basis for his choices and his understanding of the mission of Judaism as healing.

According to Rabbi Lerner:

"I have sought out writing that connects to or relfects the fundamental Jewish project of healing and transformation, both personal transformation (tikkun atzmia) and healing of the world (tikkun olam)-- understanding that this healing involves not only psychological or social change but also a search for ways to bring holiness into our personal lives and social institutions."

He gives a sweeping, and in my view rather partial, description of his vision of Judaism focused almost exclusively on the claims of social justice : "the social, political and economic order of society needs to be changed and can be changed".

The essays Rabbi Lerner has selected fulfill admirably has goal of explaining Judaism as social change. To his credit, however, the essays reflect something of an attempt to include diverse perspectives, not simply the standards of politically correct feminism, environmentalism and other causes which appear to reflect Rabbi Lerner's own understanding of the nature of changing the world.

The essays are divided into six sections dealing with Jewish identity, reclaiming Jewish Spiritual Life, Reading Jewish Sacred Texts, the Holocaust, Israel, and Jewish Culture. Each section includes essays, poems, and fiction some of which is insighful but some of which tempted me to stop reading the book.As a whole the essays are thoughtful and provocative and give a good idea of lively issues in contemprorary Jewish thinking. I would have liked to have heard more about Jewish spirituality and alternatives to traditionalism and less about feminism and ecology.

The essays that I found worthwhile include David Biale's discussion of the melting pot, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Arthur Green, Dennis Prager and Mordechai Gafni with their strikingly different perspectives on Jewish spirituality, Dahlia Ravikovitch's essay on Israel and the Diaspora in Jewish thought, and Roger Kamenetz on Jewish spirituality. I enjoyed many of the poems and other articles as well. I hadn't heard of Naomi Eve and liked the excerpt "Esther and Yochanan" from her novel.

An excellent feature of this book is Rabbi Lerner's list of "The One Hundred Best Contemproary Jewish Books" written since 1985. There is much of value in this list and it is a source for thought and for further reading for those interested in pursuing contemporary Jewish writing.

Rabbi Lerner says there will be a follow-up volume next year featuring Jewish writing from 2000-2001. I plan on reading it.

I think this is an amazing compendium of writers that will appeal to Jews and non Jews alike. Some of the old favorites appear-like Adrienne Rich, Philip Roth, and Naomi Wolf, Yehuda Amichai, Robert Pinsky, but there are a number of new writers as well whom I'd never heard of like Mordechai Gafni, Benny Morris, Sarah Polster, and C.K. Williams.

Rabbi Michael Lerner is kind of an extraordinary guy. I hadn't actually heard of him before, but it seems like he's been actively involved in peace works and general reformation of the world for a good portion of his life. I was really inspired by what he had to say in his introduction about his vision for a new world.j

The collection definitely has a more "progressive Jew" slant. This is not a Norton anthology cross section of the universe, but the collection of essays and stories I think accurately convey the complexity of modern life, and the complexity of being a contemporary Jew.

I loved it and highly recommend it.

THIS IS A FANTASTIC COLLECTION, PROBABLY THE MOST EXCITING GROUP OF WRITINGS I'VE READ IN A VERY LONG TIME. IT MADE ME FEEL PROUD AS A JEW TO SEE THAT JEWISH THINKING IS NOT JUST THE KIND THAT BORES ALIENATES ME LIKE SOME OF WHAT I READ IN JEWISH NEWSPAPERS AND MOST JEWISH MAGAZINES. INSTEAD, RABBI LERNER HAS PRESENTED US WITH A RANGE OF SERIOUS THINKERS--FROM RIGHT WINGERS LIKE NORMAN PODHORETZ TO PEOPLE ON THE LEFT WHO ARE WILLING TO QUESTION BLIND LOYALTY TO ISRAEL'S CURRENT POLICIES. BUT THIS IS NOT JUST POLITICS--IT'S ALSO DEEP JEWISH SPIRITUALITY, CREATIVE READINGS OF TRADITIONAL TEXTS, AND SOME OF THE MOST EXCITING SHORT STORIES AND POETRY I'VE SEEN COMING OUT OF THE JEWISH WORLD. I'M THIRTY YEAR OLD WOMAN WHO IS READY TO GET TURNED ON BY JEWISH IDEAS--AND THIS BOOK WAS A TERRIFIC OPENER FOR ME. I RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE--AND I'M GIVING IT TO FRIENDS FOR CHANUKAH (AND EVEN SOME FOR CHRISTMAS, BECAUSE THE IDEAS HERE OFTEN TRANSCEND NARROW JEWISH CONCERNS AND REALLY HIT ON THE KINDS OF THEMES EVERYONE IS THINKING ABOUT IN TODAY'S CULTURE).

The book is far from the "best", and in many regards, is not particularly contemporary. That is to say, these pieces were written in recent years, but the ideas are often old. Old ideas are often good--as a Jew, I have a lot of fondness for old ideas. But good old ideas are not here, either. Just leftovers.

New Jewish ideas and voices are rare here. You won't find many of the people who have engaged "Jewish" in new and often exciting ways--no Ari Elon here, nothing by the author of "Generation J". The one article that writes about contemporary Jewish arts sneers at what the author finds--"Jewish Cool," indeed.

Writers who can often shock with their clarity are most often represented here by pieces that are tepid and mediocre. Even writers as lucid and transforming as Aharon Apelfeld, or a interesting and original as Rebecca Goldstein are here represented by just enough material so as to claim that they are represented in the book. Don't read them here--seek out their own books, or their articles elsewhere. If you have read Marge Piercy or Adrienne Rich or Irena Klepisz elsewhere, treasure those truer indications of their talent to move and to describe--you wouldn't necessarily know it from their writing as represented here.

The book is, in part, polemic. By that, I mean, that the editor is presenting a range of thought which he, I suppose, thinks covers the best of the range of contemporary Jewish thinking. It says much that is uncomplementary about the editor's ability to encompass ideas as divergent as "A" and "B". You will find here virtually no traditional Jews, virtually no conservatives (except when their views are presented in brief to apparently allow space for effusive non-thinkers such as Peter Gabel, or Art Waskow at his least Jewish). Neither will you find secularists. In fact, as one of progressive bent I must complain that even the alleged liberals who make up the bulk of the intellectualizing here are presented at their narrowest, worst, and least-appealing. This is a book book limited to the visions, and self-promotion of the editor's magazine, Tikkun, and perhaps to other Jewish intellectuals who began their careers in the 1960s and haven't thought much since. I am not among those who consider that decade contemporary with our own (even as many of the concerns of the 1960s ring horribly contemporary).

There =are= a few essays and stories here that are extraordinary. But don't read them here. Find writings by Arthur Greene or Zalman Shachter-Shalomi or Benny Morris or Nomi Eve elsewhere. Save your money. And if you were interested in this book because of the title, seek out the best in contemporary Jewish writing. =Here= you will mostly find even the great at their most mediocre.