The Newsletter of Fig Tree Books

October '24: Issue #59 --- Fredric D. Price, Founder & Publisher

NEW BOOK RELEASE:

It Takes Two to Torah,

by Abigail Pogrebin and Rabbi Dov Linzer

For the first time, in one volume, readers can take a tour of the entire Torah through the medium of one challenging, instructive, irreverent, animated conversation. Between 2018-2020, an Orthodox rabbi and Reform journalist talked through the Five Books of Moses with candor, humor, emotion, personal revelation, and scholarship. Rabbi Dov Linzer and Abigail Pogrebin recorded these short dialogues—ten minutes per parsha—for a podcast for Tablet Magazine, and they have now been collected and edited by Fig Tree Books LLC so that the full exploration can be found in one place.

“Articulate, eloquent, fascinating, insightful, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "It Takes Two to Torah: An Orthodox Rabbi and Reform Journalist Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in the Torah, Jewish Religious Studies, and the first five books of the Old Testament.” Midwest Book Review

ABIGAIL POGREBIN is the author of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew—a National Jewish Book Award finalist—and Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish. She’s written for the Atlantic, the Forward, and Tablet, and moderates conversations for the Streicker Center and the Jewish Broadcasting Service. 

RABBI DOV LINZER is the President and Rosh HaYeshiva (Rabbinic Head) of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, an Orthodox rabbinical school and Torah center, which promotes a more open and inclusive Orthodoxy. He has written for the Forward, Tablet and the New York Times, published widely, and hosted highly popular Torah podcasts.

“Each chapter also touches on hidden interpretation and insight into Divine meaning.” From the Foreword, by Mayim Bialik

POEMS for October 7: by Michael Zats

Ever since that black Shabbat

Always assume

That even if my eyes are closed

I am not asleep

Do not ask me

About dreams either

I avoid nightmares

As though they were bullets.

**********************************

Once again

I feel like an immigrant child.

Pretending that I understand

Nodding in agreement

Shaking my head in disagreement

But everyone around me

I speaking another language

One that I relearn anew.

After October 7th

Hebrew.

POEM: Pre-Planning For Atonement, By Allan Appel

This part really wasn’t a dream although maybe it should have been:

We recently sent you an email, a follow-up, really,

To the one sent way back in late summer in which

You were given the opportunity, an honor, in fact,

To hold a Toran on Kol Nidre. We didn’t receive a response

So now we’re asking if you will please advise if you want

To accept this honor, and –as I like an honor as well as the next guy –

I did a little proof-reader’s double take about the Toran I was

Being asked to carry, for surely they meant Torah

But I could find no entry for Toran in the Jewish Encyclopedia.

SHORT STORY: Hey Moses, Got a Light? by Michael Gold

One million people live in Westchester County, New York. I am one of the one million. A little more than ten percent of the county’s population is Jewish. 

Two million Jews live in New York State, out of a total population of twenty million.  New York City is 30 miles south of my town, containing within its precincts more than 1.5 million Jews, 

So, why do I feel like a lonely Jew?

When I venture beyond the Jew bubble, which is often, because I write a column for a local weekly newspaper, I sometimes meet people who are not Jewish, who say weird things about Jews.

For example, recently, I did a phone interview with a retired tugboat captain who was trying to get an environmental nonprofit off the ground. The captain wanted to raise funds to deploy a fleet of sailing ships around the world to spread the message that the planet is in great danger from climate change. 

It all sounded very grandiose. But I gave the man the benefit of the doubt. 

As we were talking, the man suddenly blurted out, “Are you a Jew?” 

Seriously? 

Michael Gold has published articles in The New York Daily News, the Albany Times Union, the Hartford Courant and other newspapers, as well as The Hardy Society Journal, a British literary publication. He published an essay, “The Heat Is Always On,” in “Thoreau’s Legacy – American Stories about Global Warming,” published by Penguin Press and the Union of Concerned Scientists. He is the author of Horror House Detective, a fantasy novel, published by Silverthought Press.

JUDAISM and SCIENCE: Schism or Synergy - Sinai and Synapses Free Event at the Steicker Center online and in-person

The conflict between science and religion is as old as science itself with many religious leaders denouncing advances and theories from Darwinism to the use of embryonic stem cells and scientists expressing similar contempt. Does Judaism have a unique religious perspective when it comes to balancing questions of trust, faith, evidence and knowledge? Do today’s Jewish scientists believe traditional Jewish wisdom brings value to the tables at which they work?

In partnership with Sinai and Synapses, The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center is honored to welcome two prominent American Jewish scientists and one of the country’s leading rabbis to discuss a variety of ways in which contemporary scientists think about the interplay between science and meaning, the relationship between religion and science in our society, where there are similarities between how Jews and scientists deal with and communicate uncertainty and how to (re)build trust both in science and in Judaism.

JEWS OF DIFFERENT HUES:

Confessions of a Female Rabbi 

One of NYC's most sought-after female rabbis shares the key to keeping religion relevant in an on demand world in this tell-all guide

Believe it or not, all religions evolve and change. As church and synagogue attendance is in record decline, this young female rabbi has found a way to meet families from a variety of backgrounds in the modern world and help them connect with the traditions and practice that they crave. Rabbi Rebecca Keren Jablonski has served world-wide, bringing bespoke and creative religious experiences to those who sought spirituality outside of institutions and denominational confines.

With disruptor brands changing the way we consume products and information, religion is also in need of a 3,000 year-old facelift, or at least a mini makeover. There is room in the pews for new leaders with innovative strategies and approaches to keep religion relevant and meaningful in today’s times. Confessions of a Female Rabbi traces the changes in our current multi-faith landscape, hone in on what’s happening with the Jewish American community, and demonstrate through case studies how she’s been successful delivering transformations for families through the prism of religious practice and observance. These confessions express her unique perspective, personal and collective shortcomings, and reveal her insights as a reflective and relatable spiritual facilitator.

Touching universal stories of birth, coming of age, weddings, divorce, conversion, and sacred times affirm the deeper meaning we all can find if we make space for something holy in the circle of life.

Rebecca Keren Jablonski is a Rabbi and private educator. She obtained semicha from Mesifta Adas Wolkowisk in New York and graduated with honors from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. With more than 15 years working as an on-demand one-woman synagogue, Rebecca is the new type of clergy keeping religion relevant. She works with various synagogues and families all over the world and officiates weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, funerals, baby namings, bespoke holiday gatherings and other Jewish life cycle events. She serves on the board of Building Together: Building Relationships between Palestinians and Israelis, and is involved in many other charities. She resides in New York City with her husband, Ben, and their Shih-Poo, Scout.

MEMO FROM A BROWN STUDENT:

Do not run from Jewish values, by Jillian Lederman

Four weeks ago, I graduated from Brown University. My emotions were largely expected: excitement, nostalgia, pride … but most overwhelming among these was a profound sense of relief.

I was desperate to escape the walls of Brown, where, for the past seven months, campus life was a story of perpetual unease, isolation, and betrayal.

I was quite involved in Brown’s Zionist community, serving as the president of our pro-Israel club during my junior and senior years. I also served as the Executive Chair of Hillel International’s Israel Leadership Network, a national coalition of Zionist student leaders, one each from over 150 college campuses across the United States and Canada. When Oct. 7 occurred, I was effectively poised as the leader of my campus’ Zionist population.

We’ve all heard about life on college campuses post-Oct. 7. We’ve all seen images of masked students screaming slogans, barricading buildings, setting up encampments, and harassing Jews and Zionists.

Given that every television station in the nation has covered these incidents exhaustively, I want instead to tell very specific and personal story.

TWO BOOKS: by Jennifer Lang

Landed: A yogi’s memoir in pieces & poses 

American-born Jennifer traces her nonlinear journey—both on and off the yoga mat—reckoning with her adopted country (Israel), midlife hormones (merciless), cross-cultural marriage (to a Frenchman) and their imminent empty nest (a mixed blessing), eventually realizing the words her yoga teachers had been offering for the past twenty-three years: root down into the ground and stay true to yourself. Finally, she understands that home is about who you are, not where you live. Written in experimental chapterettes, Landed: A yogi’s memoir in pieces & poses spans seven (plus) years, each punctuated with chakra wisdom from nationally-acclaimed Rodney Yee, her first teacher.

Places We Left Behind: a memoir-in-miniature 

When American-born Jennifer falls in love with French-born Philippe during Israel’s First Intifada, she understands their differences: she's a secular tourist, he's an observant immigrant. Determined to make it work, they spend the next 20 years rooting and uprooting their growing family, each in search of a place where they can feel home and whole. In "Places We Left Behind," Jennifer puts her marriage under a microscope, examining commitment and compromise, faith and family.

Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jennifer Lang lives in Tel Aviv, where she runs Israel Writers Studio. Her prize-winning essays appear in Baltimore Review, Under the Sun, Midway Journal, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and served as an Assistant Editor at Brevity. Her first book, Places We Left Behind: a memoir-in-miniature, will be followed by Landed: A yogi's memoir in pieces & poses on 10/15/2024 (Vine Leaves Press). Places is a finalist in Foreword Reviews Book Awards for Autobiography/Memoir, Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Women's Literature Nonfiction, American Legacy Book Awards, American Book Annual Best Book Awards and IAN Book of the Year Awards for Multicultural Nonfiction, as well as in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards for Adult Nonfiction. A longtime yoga instructor, she leads YogaProse: using yoga to access story.