Poetry

This collection of poems and short stories begins with “Tikkun Alef-Bet,” meaning “repair of the Jewish alphabet.” The poem, like the collection, examines connection, disconnection, and miscommunication, especially between men and women.The poems include In a present-day synagogue, Moshe drapes his arm around David when he was still a boy, not yet a king. Rachel tells Jacob in a café on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, “I love you, but I’m not in love with you.”Two poems touch on the tension of a talented young athlete playing soccer on Shabbat. Three poems explore an array of gates, inspired by Neilah, the service that ends Yom Kippur and means “closing the gate.” There are intimations of the sons with secret names, shofar sounds without names, a tekiah gedolah that lasts four days, unrevealed letters of the alef-bet, prophecy written in scent, gates with forgotten entrances, a strange pendant worn for an entire life.Then there are the love love and lost love for lovers, and familial love and damaged love for children.The short stories – very short ones, including one consisting of eight lines of dialogue – have a different tone and sensibility, mainly of farce. In one story, a man breaks into his ex-wife’s hotel room with his married mistress during his daughter’s bat mitzvah party. In another story, a man hopes that his ex-girlfriend doesn’t disguise herself on Purim to stalk him. In the last one, a mysterious man in white (except for lime-green sneakers) discusses the very different topics of romance and the Shoah (“Have you ever wondered how you would have reacted in the camps?”) while a subway car lurches toward Fenway Park, the home field of the Boston Red Sox. Farce, yes, but some heartache, too – as when a man, who suspects that God is testing him, glances up through the windshield as he drives, and asks, “Am I passing?”

This collection of books featuring Jewish main characters is decidedly non-comprehensive. As we come across books that are described as having Jewish main characters, we add them to this database. The creators of the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge have not read all (or even most) of the books in this database. We have gathered information from many sources and not all may be accurate. Inclusion of a book in our database does not imply endorsement or approval. There is always the possibility that antisemitism may be present in a book, either written into a character's experience or through malicious or ignorant caricature or stereotypical portrayal of Jewish characters and culture. Please take care of yourselves as you read.

 

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