The Newsletter of Fig Tree Books LLC
January, 2021: Issue #14
Fredric D. Price, Founder & Publisher
OUR MISSION: Fig Tree Lit is the Newsletter of Fig Tree Books LLC. Like our books, we aim to cover the dynamic American Jewish experience.

Tell us what you think; we're eager to hear what you have to say at Info@FigTreeBooks.net.
FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE

JEWS OF DIFFERENT HUES: Nissim Black - "I'm Hitler's worst nightmare."

SHORT STORY: Memory Care by Susan Kleinman, from The Jewish Literary Journal

MINI BOOK REVIEW: How To Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss (not published by Fig Tree Books LLC)

ESSAY: In the Year of a Cure, One Disease Still Can’t Be Licked, by Thane Rosenbaum

TAKSHIV LI (Listen to me): Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Symphony #9 in English and Yiddish

BLOG: Now with commentary on culture/current events, plus mini-reviews of books

MY JEWISH YEAR: Tu B'Shvat, by Abigail Pogrebin

BOOKCLUB/DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS: For Compulsion by Meyer Levin
MINI BOOK REVIEW: How To Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss

By Fredric Price - I have some friends who think we are living in a period of deja vu that relates to what was going on in Germany just prior to Hitler assuming the chancellor's position in 1933. Others think that this is a wild exaggeration, that we are going through a period of 'lone wolf' attacks that are not representative of how Jews are treated in the U.S. Some offer harangues on how the alt-right is primarily responsible for anti-Semitic attacks, while others indicate that it is the fault of the alt-left. Some say the problems have surfaced because of income inequality and others say that it is the US support for Israel that fuels these acts. As the saying goes, 10 Jews, 10 different opinions. Now, fortunately, Bari Weiss has waded into this area, and she puts her considerable reporting and analytical chops on the line in her outstanding book, How to Fight Anti-Semitism. This book should be required reading for every Jewish high school and college student, regardless of any person's political orientation. We need to understand the root causes of anti-Semitic behaviors in the US today and know what we can do to respond to them effectively. Enough talk, she seems to be saying; read and relate, take action.
SHORT STORY: Memory Care by Susan Kleinman,
from The Jewish Literary Journal

“Someday…” Frank Sinatra’s voice greets Ernie as he pushes open the heavy glass door, “when I’m awfully low…”
Ernie can’t remember a single day, lately, that he hasn’t been low. At the law firm, where they passed him over for partner years ago, he’s stuck handling nuisance suits and go-nowhere cases. His daughter never calls or even texts him from college. And his wife? More and more, these days, she looks at him the way she looks at the faux-marble painting she’d gotten not-quite-right in the hall bathroom – a fixer-upper project gone awry.
You know things are bad, he thinks, as he crosses the plush carpeted lobby, when the highlight of your week is visiting your mother in the nursing home.
, for used book-buyers at least.
JEWS OF DIFFERENT HUES: Nissim Black. "I'm Hitler's worst nightmare." 

Nissim Black knows that wherever he goes, he’s going to turn heads.
“There’s always these questions,” the rapper explains to me from his home in Israel. “Like, ‘Well, are you still black? How black are you? How does that work? But you’re also Jewish? Jews are white?’ No they’re not!”
The questions annoy him, and rightfully so. Yes, he’s black and Jewish and Orthodox. No, that combination does not make him any less of any of those identities.
Whether you're celebrating the beginning of a new year or any other occasion, it's always good to listen to Ode to Joy in English or Yiddish.
ESSAY: In the Year of a Cure, One Disease Still Can’t Be Licked by Thane Rosenbaum, from The Jewish Journal

"...however, as the year wound down, global Jewry was reminded that Jewish life is still very cheap."
MY JEWISH YEAR: Tu B'Shvat, Chapter 13
"Mike Wallace, the legendary 60 Minutes correspondent, kept to a Tu B’Shvat diet. When I was one of his broadcast producers years ago, Wallace prided himself on his intake of nuts and raisins, insisting they were
the secret to his longevity and jet-black hair.

"Mike, rest his soul, would never have called his regimen the Tu B’Shvat Diet, because he couldn’t have told you what Tu B’Shvat was (he was a proud Jew without ritual), but it occurs to me that he was on to Because he lived to ninety-three and never went gray."
BLOG: Now with commentary on culture/current events, plus mini-reviews of books not published by Fig Tree Books

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