November 9, 2008
"Real life through letters" - A review of Delightful Compendium
From the October 2008 issue of Genizah Fragments, the Newsletter of Cambridge university's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit at Cambridge University LibraryHave you ever wondered about everyday life during the Gcnizah period? Or planned to read S. D. Goitein's brilliant A Mediterranean Society, but were discouraged by the sheer bulk of its five volumes?
If so, then Burton L. Visotzky's A Delightful Compendium of Consolation is tailor-made for you, an historical novel told in the form of letters fictitiously derived from the Cairo Genizah.
Nathan and Janet Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary, Visotzky spent much of his career researching rabbinic literature and cataloguing Genizah manuscripts before turning to fiction.
The epistolary format (often a difficult genre to master — and read) has been employed by Visotzky with great skill, for within the first few pages one is cast into a fast-moving world of adventure, filled with rebellious daughters and rabbinical lore, and a fair sprinkling of caravans, pirates and exotic locations.
The letters tell the story of the al-Tustaris, a real-life Karaite merchant family in eleventh-century Fatimid Cairo, during the
period from which the bulk of Genizah manuscripts is derived. The central character of the book is Karimah, who runs away from home with Ismail, a Muslim, and whose father, Dunash HaCohen al-Tustari, now considers her dead.
In his grief, he seeks comfort from his mentor, friend and trading partner, Rabbi Nissim (another true figure whose stories of consolation were discovered in the Genizah). Karimah, meanwhile, maintains contact with her brother, Iskander, from whom we learn details of the family fortunes and the vicissitudes in the life of a merchant trader. Close relationships between siblings are, indeed, an authentic feature of Genizah letters.
Through these letters, Visotzky skilfully weaves historical fact with familial stories and enchanting talmudic tales, though some of Karimah's escapades — such as her recruitment as a sailor — are somewhat fantastical. One is reminded, however, of the figure of al-Wuhshah, the businesswoman (also named Karimah) whose unusual personal and trading exploits feature in a number of Genizah documents.
The novel is set against the backdrop of a majority Muslim culture and paints a picture —which not always obtained — of harmony between the communities. The text is vivid, clear and full of warmth, additionally providing (for the uninitiated) a useful glossary and source notes.
Posted by yudel at 7:49 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2008
Library Journal reviews A Delightful Compendium
From Library Journal:Willful Jewish girl Karimah HaCohen al-Tustari flees her home in Cairo, Egypt, to run off with her lover. Complicating the situation is that the year is 1031 and the love of Karimah's life is Muslim. Karimah's departure has devastated her family, and her father declares her dead. Karimah vehemently disagrees and writes to her brother that "there is a huge difference between being in love and being dead." Like generations of girls before and after her, she struggles with the restraints placed upon her by society and religion, and the novel tells of how she comes to terms with her decisions and the unconventional life that she has chosen to live. Visotzky, an educator, rabbi, and author of nine nonfiction books, devoted over two years of scholarly research to the preparation of this debut novel and it shows. Using the Cairo Geniza (an actual storage room where Jews deposited everything written in Hebrew), Visotzky poignantly re-creates a time period in which adventurers, scholars, Jews, and Muslims lived together in relative harmony. Includes in-depth notes on sources and glossary; for Jewish fiction and larger historical fiction collections.—Marika Zemke, Commerce Twp. Community Lib., MI
Posted by yudel at 2:17 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2007
New York's Jewish Week loves Isidore Century!
From the Jewish Week's guide to fall books:Open “From the Coffee House of Jewish Dreamers” (Ben Yehuda Press) in one direction, and you can read Isidore Century’s “Poems of Wonder and Wandering”; from the other, “Poems of the Weekly Torah Portions.” On one side of the cover, the author is drinking coffee with the Cyclone behind him; on the flip side, he’s got his coffee at the same table, with the Kotel behind.
Isidore Century is a wonderful poet. He writes of traveling to Coney Island; visiting Israel and returning there to the land of Yiddish in which he grew up; his father, who escaped from Poland and made his way illegally to the U.S., where he became an official in the Painter’s Union; and about his own reluctant and penetrating faith, “I keep running from a God/in whom I do not believe/hoping he catches me.”
His poems are brief stories: they’re funny, deeply observed, without pretension, written with a knowingness and rhythm of things old and new. Those related to Torah readings are poetic, original midrashim. He brings the figures of the Bible to Central Park, or places the poet in Egypt and service as Joseph’s valet and butler, adding his distinctive accent to the text.
Posted by yudel at 5:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 3, 2007
Library Journal likes Life in the Present Tense!
From the October 1, 2007 issue of Library Journal:This work collects Rosenwein's articles for “The Home Front,” a column that ran in the New York Jewish Week for seven years. With unfailing fluency, humor, and an accessible style, Rosenwein wrote about her children, New York, the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001, Israel, her battle with cancer, and more. Through it all, Judaism informed her outlook and gave her strength. She rightly perceives herself as belonging to a “conduit” generation, i.e., one falling between her parents' Holocaust sorrows and the American pleasures of her children's lives. Rosenwein's writings exemplify the pleasures of reading journalistic columns dealing with daily matters that touch on universals.
Posted by yudel at 2:33 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2007
Publishers Weekly reviews Life in the Present Tense: "a treasure trove of wisdom"
Publishers Weekly reviews Life in the Present TenseBefore her life was cut short by cancer at age 42 in 2003, Modern Orthodox writer and editor Rosenwein had been a beloved columnist for seven years for the New York Jewish Week, reflecting once a month on child-rearing, careers, love, holiness and Jewish tradition.
With equal parts humor and heartache leaping from the page in the columns written after her cancer diagnosis, Rosenwein deals with aging parents, challenging modern schedules, timeless holy days and the joys of raising her three children. The columns address the quotidian concerns of a suburban Jewish family as well as more global issues: the fear and sadness after 9/11 and the sense of anxiety that some American Jews have about Israel.
Sometimes, the rough thematic order of the short essays is distracting, as readers are expected to jump forward and then backward in time—her daughter is four, then a newborn. Since the essays are so heavily autobiographical, a chronological order would have better suited the collection.
Still, this is a treasure trove of wisdom from one of American Judaism's most beloved and lamented voices. Rosenwein's husband, Barry Lichtenberg, provides a touching afterword, and novelist Tova Mirvis (a former intern of hers) the foreword.
Posted by yudel at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2007
New Mexico Jewish Link on Torah Journeys: "A Trip" of Spiritual Discovery
Paula Amar Schwartz reviews Torah Journeys for The New Mexico Jewish Link (pdf download) :Rabbi Shefa Gold’s new book, Torah Journeys, is a trip. It’s not a trip through the scenic byways of northern New Mexico, or along Route 66. It is a journey along an ancient and venerable Jewish pathway of spiritual and personal discovery.What makes it so special is that it takes the difficult and often obscure, and makes it accessible, and in so doing opens our hearts, and speaks to our yearning soul.
Our tradition teaches us that it is our responsibility to study Torah daily, and prescribes a portion of Torah for every week of the calendar year. For many contemporary Jews, observing that Mitzvah can be challenging, partly because some portions are dense and difficult to understand, and partly because many of us have limited Hebrew skills, or lack the scholarly skills needed to reach into these ancient texts and decode their meaning.
Another aspect of the challenge is that, for many of us, the chapters of rules, or the counting and naming of Tribes, or the descriptions of Temple rituals is arcane at best, and appears irrelevant to our current lives.
Torah Journeys offers a threefold way of approaching each Torah portion: What is the blessing of this chapter? What is its spiritual challenge? And then, a suggested technique to practice coming to understand ourselves in relationship to the wisdom of this section of Torah.
That seems like a tall order, but it is done simply, with compassion and a great deal of psychological awareness of issues that hold the attention of contemporary seekers of spiritual awareness.
Posted by yudel at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007
Torah and Company reviewed
Rabbi Jack Riemer reviews Torah and Company for The Connecticut Jewish Ledger. Bottom line:
I recommend Judith Abrams’s “Torah and Company” as a way to spice up the talk at the Sabbath table. It provides a good way to continue the ancient Jewish tradition of making the meal into a time for nourishing the soul and mind as well as feeding the body.
The full review follows below:
There is an old Jewish teaching that whenever three people eat together and exchange words of Torah at the meal, the Holy Presence is there amongst them. This book is a useful resource for those who want to make their meals occasions for the kind of study and discussion that will make the meal a religious and an intellectual event.Judith Abrams’s book is geared to a general audience. She uses a very simple recipe: one part Torah, two parts classic Jewish texts that expound upon the Torah, and three parts thought provoking questions that make you think about what are the implications of this Torah passage for our lives today. Stir them up together and you have the makings of a lively discussion.
Let me give you just one sample to whet your appetite.
In the sedra of Ekev, the Torah commands that we give thanks to God after each meal.
That seems clear enough, but now she shares two passages from Rabbinic Literature with us that are based on this passage. The first is the passage from the Mishna that says that women, children and slaves are not counted towards the three that are needed to recite the invitation to the grace after meals.
What? I can already hear some of the people at the table getting indigestion and demanding to know why women are excluded. The Sages seem to consider these three groups as on the borderline, not quite in, not quite out, of the religious order.She says: before you decide whether to swallow that idea or not, ask yourself this question: who is in your group and who is out, and what are the determining factors that you use in making this decision?
By the time you finish discussing that question, you will surely have finished the appetizer and the soup. And now Judith Abrahams shares a little known midrash that is bound to surprise the people at the table.
She cites a passage in the Talmud that says that when the Messiah comes, there will be a great feast. And at the end of the meal, God will look around for someone to lead the Grace After Meals. Abraham will decline the honor, because he gave birth to one good child and one wicked child, and so he does not feel worthy. Isaac will decline for the same reason. Jacob will decline the honor because he married two sisters, something that the Torah later forbid. Moses and Joshua will decline the honor too, each because of a shortcoming in their lives. And then David will come forward and volunteer.
Judith Abrams says that when she first read this midrash, her jaw dropped in surprise. How can David---who committed adultery and murder---outrank Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Moses and Joshua? And the answer she gives is that they suffered from low self esteem and therefore felt themselves unworthy of the honor, whereas David had no such problem.
I am sure that the discussion of what low self esteem can do to us, and of how it can keep us from enjoying life and from accepting honors will go on at least through dessert and maybe even longer. And if you have kids in your house who are struggling with a low self image, this discussion will not only enlighten the family about an ancient midrash but will help the family understand and deal with a real issue in the lives of teenagers today.
I recommend Judith Abrams’s “Torah and Company” as a way to spice up the talk at the Sabbath table. It provides a good way to continue the ancient Jewish tradition of making the meal into a time for nourishing the soul and mind as well as feeding the body.
Rabbi Jack Riemer resides in Boca Raton, Fla.
Posted by yudel at 12:35 PM
February 8, 2007
New Jersey Jewish News reviews Torah Journeys
The New Jersey Jewish News features a brief review of Torah Journeys in its Books in short column this week:
Heart and soul
The Jewish Renewal movement is all mysticism, spirituality, and a decidedly experiential approach to prayer and study. With Torah Journeys: the Inner Path to the Promised Land (Ben Yehuda Press, $19.95), Rabbi Shefa Gold has written what might be called the first Jewish Renewal Torah commentary.
Gold, trained as both a Renewal and Reconstructionist rabbi, mines the week's Torah readings for spiritual and mystical insights, and then offers readers a "practice" meant to internalize the teachings. These include breathing exercises and meditations that reflect her study of the world's religions.
Sounds New Agey--y, and it is, but if you're the kind of person seeking a Judaism that speaks to the heart as well as the brain, it might be just the right book for you.
Posted by yudel at 4:10 PM
December 15, 2006
JM in the AM on YCT Tanakh Companion
For those outside the range of New Jersey's WFMU, JM in the AM, the morning Jewish music radio show hosted by Nachum Segal. We're not regular listeners, but this morning our sister-in-law called excitedly: The DJ had mentioned Ben Yehuda Press! Fortunately, JM in the AM archives its broadcast, and sure enough, at about 116 minutes into this morning's broadcast, guest DJ Meir Weingarten starts talking about great new books... and one of them is our YCT Tanakh Companion! Here's what he had to say:“A great book, in-depth and with a Torah perspective.... Riveting... Fascinating...”For the full review... power up your Real Audio player, click here and wait for minute 116.
Posted by yudel at 11:15 PM