Best Contemporary Jewish Writing - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0787959723 ISBN 13: 9780787959722

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2001

Synopsis

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."

About this title

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

From the Inside Flap:

"The message that the world could be healed and transformed was revolutionary when first articulated by Jewish writers of the past, and it remains radical even today. . . .Cruelty is not destiny. Jewish writing helps us understand that the pain of the past can be transcended."
— From the Introduction by Michael Lerner

Between the covers of this book is a treasure trove of great fiction, poetry, social analysis, and spiritual insight by renowned contributors such as Philip Roth, Marge Piercy, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Naomi Wolf, Norman Podhoretz, Jonathan Rosen, Robert Pinsky, Yehuda Amichai, Rachel Adler, Nathan Englander, Daniel Boyarin, Adrienne Rich, Arthur Waskow, William Safire, Zalman M. Schachter- Shalomi, and many others. Included are famous writers, young and upcoming writers, writers with politics ranging from liberal/progressive to neoconservative. Despite their disparate opinions and points of view, these writers have been chosen by Michael Lerner because they transcend the cynicism and narcissistic self-indulgence of contemporary culture and contribute to the Kabbalistic vision of a world that has been shattered but, can be healed. For some writers, the focus is on personal transformation (tikkun atzmi), for others on healing of the world (tikkun olam.) Still others search for ways to bring holiness into our personal lives and social institutions.
You will be astounded at how much creative new thinking is taking place among Jewish writers, and on topics that are extremely sensitive: the Holocaust, the limits of Jewish liberalism, women in Judaism, the current crisis in Israel, and the renewal of Jewish spiritual life. The first volume in a planned series of annual publications, Best Contemporary Jewish Writing is an essential tool for understanding contemporary culture and social reality.
You don't have to be Jewish to be moved and to learn from these authors. The poetry, fiction, memories, and essays in this book are provocative and engaging, entertaining and inspiring, irreverent, and filled with awe.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0787959723
• ISBN 13: 9780787959722
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Lerner Michael