Hot off the Presses
Expanding my Critic’s License
I know my commitment to the printed page in this blog has been limited to periodical literature, and I want to thank all of you who wrote to me about how important this service is to our community of scholars (I would also like to take this opportunity to remind the local crowd that my office windows DO overlook the Joseph Periodicals Room, and Big Sister is watching the traffic…)
But I digress. Today I want to offer short reviews of three items that recently landed on my desk: two books and one CD, and urge you to check them out (figuratively, in case of the CD).
The first book is: Healing and the Jewish Imagination, edited by Rabbi William Cutter and published by Jewish Lights (2007). Aside from the fact that I may be pre-disposed to recommending it since the editor, and some of the contributors, are friends and colleagues, I RAELLY believe that the articles in the book cover an underdeveloped area in exploring the connections between Jewish texts, healing and faith. I know this is a mouthful, but think about the wealth of a resource that combines the thoughts and writings of practitioners, intellectuals, and mystics, in the areas of biblical studies, Hasidism, literature, sociology and ethics. This book is a reflection of the wonderful work being done at the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health (http://www.huc.edu/kalsman/) under the leadership of Bill Cutter, and evidence of the growing interest in healing and spirituality in a Jewish context.
The second book is: Houses of Study: a Jewish Woman among Books, by Ilana M. Blumberg (University of Nebraska Press, 2007). I am going to quote an excerpt from the dust-jacket to give you an idea about the context, and then I am going to let the author speak for herself. The passion of her quest, the precision with which she describes her journey(s) joys and heartbreaks, make this book a must to all lovers of “book learning”, skeptics of Jewish women’s inherent right to study traditional texts in traditional ways, and to all who want to gain an understanding about the unprecedented surge in the numbers and qualifications of Jewish women who pursue the study of Judaism.
From the dust-jacket: “Blumberg traces her own path from a childhood immersed in Hebrew and classical Judaic texts as well as Anglo-American novels and biographies, to a womanhood where the two literatures suddenly represent mutually exclusive possibilities for life…Her memoir asks, in an intimate and poignant manner: what happens when the traditional Jewish ideal of learning asserts itself in a body that is female…?”
From the book: “The desire with which we have come looking for God, a land, a people, our words – this rich and many-colored flame singled itself into a strong but ordinary passion for becoming a grown up, a fire to be women. The time for loving God had passed us by. We were restless and discomfited, no longer able to pray giving away our souls, losing our bodies in the sway. We did not have the peace of mind you need in order to believe with all your strength that is yours, trusting the darkness and the silence. We could not find the times in which letters float together mystically to form words. We missed the ecstasy, the out-of-body; we could not put our hands on the hard skeleton of thought, belief and passion. We were not solitary enough, not silent or disciplined enough, to receive the blessing of the blue-black hours that are meant to be spent alone, on the edge of sleep, hovering over the void, waiting for creation.” (p.26)
Finally, and on the same subject, more of an announcement than a review: Jewish Women: a Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, edited by Paula E. Hyman & Dalia Ofer: CDROM, (Shalvi Publishing, 2006), is an expanded electronic version of Jewish Women in America. Well researched, with a wider scope, it is user friendly and easily accessible. A good research tool in the areas of feminism & history.
I know my commitment to the printed page in this blog has been limited to periodical literature, and I want to thank all of you who wrote to me about how important this service is to our community of scholars (I would also like to take this opportunity to remind the local crowd that my office windows DO overlook the Joseph Periodicals Room, and Big Sister is watching the traffic…)
But I digress. Today I want to offer short reviews of three items that recently landed on my desk: two books and one CD, and urge you to check them out (figuratively, in case of the CD).
The first book is: Healing and the Jewish Imagination, edited by Rabbi William Cutter and published by Jewish Lights (2007). Aside from the fact that I may be pre-disposed to recommending it since the editor, and some of the contributors, are friends and colleagues, I RAELLY believe that the articles in the book cover an underdeveloped area in exploring the connections between Jewish texts, healing and faith. I know this is a mouthful, but think about the wealth of a resource that combines the thoughts and writings of practitioners, intellectuals, and mystics, in the areas of biblical studies, Hasidism, literature, sociology and ethics. This book is a reflection of the wonderful work being done at the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health (http://www.huc.edu/kalsman/) under the leadership of Bill Cutter, and evidence of the growing interest in healing and spirituality in a Jewish context.
The second book is: Houses of Study: a Jewish Woman among Books, by Ilana M. Blumberg (University of Nebraska Press, 2007). I am going to quote an excerpt from the dust-jacket to give you an idea about the context, and then I am going to let the author speak for herself. The passion of her quest, the precision with which she describes her journey(s) joys and heartbreaks, make this book a must to all lovers of “book learning”, skeptics of Jewish women’s inherent right to study traditional texts in traditional ways, and to all who want to gain an understanding about the unprecedented surge in the numbers and qualifications of Jewish women who pursue the study of Judaism.
From the dust-jacket: “Blumberg traces her own path from a childhood immersed in Hebrew and classical Judaic texts as well as Anglo-American novels and biographies, to a womanhood where the two literatures suddenly represent mutually exclusive possibilities for life…Her memoir asks, in an intimate and poignant manner: what happens when the traditional Jewish ideal of learning asserts itself in a body that is female…?”
From the book: “The desire with which we have come looking for God, a land, a people, our words – this rich and many-colored flame singled itself into a strong but ordinary passion for becoming a grown up, a fire to be women. The time for loving God had passed us by. We were restless and discomfited, no longer able to pray giving away our souls, losing our bodies in the sway. We did not have the peace of mind you need in order to believe with all your strength that is yours, trusting the darkness and the silence. We could not find the times in which letters float together mystically to form words. We missed the ecstasy, the out-of-body; we could not put our hands on the hard skeleton of thought, belief and passion. We were not solitary enough, not silent or disciplined enough, to receive the blessing of the blue-black hours that are meant to be spent alone, on the edge of sleep, hovering over the void, waiting for creation.” (p.26)
Finally, and on the same subject, more of an announcement than a review: Jewish Women: a Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, edited by Paula E. Hyman & Dalia Ofer: CDROM, (Shalvi Publishing, 2006), is an expanded electronic version of Jewish Women in America. Well researched, with a wider scope, it is user friendly and easily accessible. A good research tool in the areas of feminism & history.
All three will be available on the shelves by next week. Enjoy!
yaffa
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home