Moment Magazine Seeks Features Editor

"Moment Magazine seeks an experienced features editor. This editor works closely and collaboratively with other editors and writers to steer Moment’s inventive, well-researched and descriptive articles from story ideas to print. Past articles include a profile of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the first in a ground-breaking series on Israel’s Arab citizens, a letter from Burma and the 2010 Symposium featuring Mel Brooks, Leonard Nimoy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and many more. The perfect candidate will be a well-rounded, inquisitive, patient, friendly individual who will work tirelessly to turn good ideas into great stories and do much more in our small office. Four-six years of magazine experience. Knowledge of Jewish/Middle East politics, culture, history and religion is helpful. Moment Magazine is a national independent publication of Jewish politics, religion and culture co-founded in 1975 by Elie Wiesel and Leonard Fein. This is a wonderful opportunity to join the team of a magazine Slate calls a 'must read.' Salary is competitive with other nonprofit publications and commensurate with experience." More info/application instructions here.

Notes from Around the Web

Author Allison Amend blogs for the JBC/MJL Author Blog series on Jews in odd places and on the real-life store that inspired a fictional one in her new novel, Stations West.
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Tablet Magazine is looking for a part-time (25 hrs/week) publicist/outreach coordinator.
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Assaf Gavron's Almost Dead (translated with James Lever by the author) is already on my tbr list, and I was pleased to see it reviewed favorably on the Three Percent website.
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Barbara Krasner gives a report on her recent research trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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Jordana Horn reviews a "puppet show about Auschwitz." Read the review--all the way to the end.
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Looking for more weekend reading material? This week, the American Jewish Press Association announced its latest Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism. You can download/read winning journalism in nearly 20 categories.

Shabbat Shalom!

Notes from Around the Web

We could all use a laugh these days, right? So thank you to Jeffrey Goldberg, for sharing "words that the New York Times will not print."
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Thank you also to New Vilna Review, for publishing my Israel- and family-inspired poem, "Sisters, or Double Chai."
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And thank you to Janice Weizman, for telling me about Ilanot, a creative-writing journal "produced, designed and edited by former participants in the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University," and pointing me in particular to an interview with author Allen Hoffman.

Shabbat shalom!

One Week After Memorial Day: Remembering Jewish Military Chaplains

As I mentioned last week, on Memorial Day, I attended a very moving ceremony at a local synagogue. And among the participants were several Jewish military chaplains.

I have to admit that this was hard for me. The last time I'd been in a temple to honor a Jewish military chaplain, I was attending the funeral of my family's beloved Rabbi Barry H. Greene. Military chaplaincy was among Rabbi Greene's many causes. He was himself a proud military chaplain; his coffin (it still feels terrible to write those two words) was flag-draped, and the director of the Jewish Chaplains Council spoke at the funeral.

It was in Rabbi Greene's memory that I began contributing to the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) Jewish Chaplains Council. Last Chanukah, instead of buying gifts for all of my adult family members (the kids still got their packages to tear open), I wrote a check to support the Council's Torahs for the Troops project, which, happily, is now very much under way, with a first Torah recently completed and brought to the Persian Gulf.

Now there's another project I want to support. When I returned home from the Memorial Day ceremony, I picked up the summer edition of Reform Judaism magazine. A letter to the editor described an effort to raise funds for a memorial to Jewish chaplains in Arlington Cemetery. That letter is not available online, but I've found some articles that describe it further.

For instance, the Jewish Journal reported earlier this spring:

"Of the 311 Jewish chaplains who served during World War II, eight rabbis died. Two rabbis lost their lives in the Vietnam War. No Jewish chaplains are known to have died while serving during the World War I or the Korean War, although research is still being done to confirm that.

Sol Moglen, an activist in New York who is leading the effort....has already raised $17,000 of the $30,000 needed to build the memorial, a granite slab that will be erected on Chaplains Hill at Arlington, where memorials for Protestant and Catholic clergy already stand."

I'm going to contact the JWB and contribute to this very worthy project. Perhaps you will, too?

Notes from Around the Web/Twitter

So excited to see more attention directed toward Ludwig Lewisohn and his novel, The Island Within. For additional info on this important book, see the essays by Josh Lambert and yours truly.
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Comme j'adore l'oeuvre de Patrick Modiano! And how happy I was to see this write-up on Monsieur Modiano from Benjamin Ivry!
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From Tablet: an excerpt from Benjamin Balint's new history of Commentary, focusing on the fiction published in the magazine's early years.
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Just in time for summer: The Forward's special summer books section. (I am especially grateful for the reminder about Joan Leegant's upcoming book!)
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Did you miss the Canadian Jewish Book Awards? Me too. Hence, my interest in Ezra Glinter's post (which prompted me to order a copy of What the Furies Bring, by Kenneth Sherman, right away).
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Learn about Artists4Israel through this interview on the New Vilna Review site.
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Did you miss Wednesday's Jewish Book Council lunchtime Twitter book club? The JBC has posted the transcript. (I thought it was a particularly good chat. I wonder how the transcript will read to someone who wasn't "there," though.)
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And last, but (hopefully) not necessarily least: The Jewish Journal has just published my review of Every House Needs a Balcony, a debut novel from Israeli author Rina Frank (translated by Ora Cummings).

Shabbat shalom!

Reporting--and Reflecting--on Recent Events

I'm not surprised by the biased "reporting" that we're seeing from supposedly reputable sources. But that doesn't make it any easier to stomach. If anyone can really watch this video, or listen to this one, and still apply the word "humanitarian" to the people who were sailing on that ship, despite many warnings to cease and desist (never mind Israel's offer to deliver the aid in their place, not to mention the convenient pass given to Egypt, which has also blockaded passages to/from Gaza up until today), then there's really no hope for any kind of worthwhile discussion.

So instead of reading the usual quick-to-condemn Israel suspects, I'm reading the reflections of smart people who care strongly about Israel and care strongly about peace. You can do both, notwithstanding what you might read in certain publications. (And, by the way, you can be a non-Orthodox Gen Xer who steadfastly supports Israel, too! Imagine that! Sometimes I'm almost as upset with certain Jewish writers claiming to speak for me as I am with so much of the "mainstream" press I alluded to above. Maybe my coreligionists upset me even more--but that's for another post and another time.)

What I am trying to do now is focus on voices of reason. Multiple voices. Different voices. But, again, caring voices.

If only the world would listen.

James Besser

J.J. Goldberg

Jeffrey Goldberg (I'm not going to point you to a single post--he has already posted a few since yesterday. And he's a great source for links, too.)

Daniel Gordis

David Harris

Daniel E. Levenson

Jonathan Mark

Shmuel Rosner

Notes from Around the Web (and Twitter)

There's some impressive new poetry posted on the New Vilna Review website.
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Happy Birthday to Herman Wouk (he turned 95 yesterday).
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This is a very informative article by The Jewish Week's Eric Herschthal on U.S. availability of Israeli fiction in translation. It's true that more than once, I've relied on my ability to read French to access Israeli writing when it was unavailable in English. And at the moment, I'm working on a review of a translated Israeli novel, so Herschthal's article seems especially timely and raises some particularly interesting issues for me.
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From the Religious Action Center (@theRAC): "We're hiring! Know of someone who might make the perfect RAC Press Secretary? Help us spread the word!http://rac.org/aboutrac/job/."
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On the Forward's "Sisterhood" blog, Renee Ghert-Zand writes about Katie Orenstein's Op-Ed Project.
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New Twin Cities Jewish arts resource: diaTribe.
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One of my forthcoming poems alludes to this sad piece of history, noted on the @HolocaustMuseum Twitter feed: "5/27/39: Jewish refugees on St. Louis ship are denied entry at Havana & are forced to return to Europe. C film footage: http://j.mp/dAwJSb." For that matter, a short story I wrote many years ago mentioned it, too. An unforgettable and tragic episode.

MyJewishLearning.com Seeks an Assistant Editor

From JewishJobs.com:

"MyJewishLearning.com, the leading transdenominational Jewish website, is seeking an assistant editor to work for an exciting new site for parents.

The site will deal with serious issues like infertility, rituals like circumcision, and fun things like books, music, and food. The target audience is Jews and parents of Jewish children ages 0-5, so pre-pregnancy through preschool.

The editor's tasks will include conceiving stories ideas; creating, gathering, and editing innovative content; developing newsletters; researching New York-based parenting resources, loading articles to the site; and working with freelance writers.

The ideal candidate should be eager, able to work independently, and have a considerable knowledge of Jewish culture and traditions. Candidates also should have experience writing and editing for web publications, with significant familiarity with a CMS, Photoshop, and Wordpress. This is a New York-based position, for 15 hours a week."

Notes from Around the Web

"Germau Mangistu (35), who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia 16 years ago, is a new star that has surfaced in the world of Hebrew short stories. Several weeks ago, he submitted a story to the annual Haaretz Hebrew short story contest and won first place. The award came as a surprise to Germau." Read more here.
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Attention, Twin Cities writers: "We're looking for film/book/theater/music writers for @TCJewfolk's new Jewish culture column. Unpaid but awesome. Hit us up." (via a retweet from @JewishPub)
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Dispatches from the International Writers Festival, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, Jerusalem.
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Nice article on PJ Library's positive impact on Jewish children's book publishing.
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Lots of super content in the current (35th anniversary) issue of Moment, and some of it is available/excerpted online: a symposium on Jewish identity (featuring the likes of authors Geraldine Brooks, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Gary Shteyngart, and others); a "guide" to Jewish American literary sites; and an interview with Lois Lowry.

Shabbat Shalom!

Notes from Around the Web

For personal and other reasons, I point you this Forward article on "Holocaust Remembrance at a Distance," about the artistic and other work coming from the "Third Generation," grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. I place myself at the oldest end of this spectrum--I'm older than anyone cited as "3G" in the article--and in some ways, I suspect I don't adhere to the model sketched out here.
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Another article on the new Jewish Review of Books, this time by Mark Oppenheimer for The New York Times--and also covering Books & Culture, a Christian-focused publication.
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Some interesting job postings: The International Fellowship of Christians & Jews (Chicago) is looking for a Senior Editor, the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (Rockville, Md.) seeks a Hebrew Librarian, and MyJewishLearning.com (New York City) is looking for a (paid) intern to work on a new parenting site.

Notes from Around the Web

As Israel once again marked Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut this week, Ethan Bronner described a "dark" mood in the country.
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Welcome to the Jewish-American canon, Walter Mosley.
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The Jewish Journal summarizes "the Jewish side" of this weekend's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. And Jonathan Kirsch spotlights one participating author: Herman Wouk, who, at the age of 94, has a new book to talk about.
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For a roundup of the Israeli presence at the upcoming PEN World Voices Festival in New York, check Naomi Firestone's informative post.
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Writers, this online auction to benefit Lilith magazine has some special offerings for you!
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In the Jewish Exponent, Robert Leiter reviews and recommends a new book from one of my favorite publishers (Toby Press): Haim Sabato's From the Four Winds (translated by Yaacob Dweck).
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Finally, here are some more books to add to your TBR list, courtesy of Josh Lambert's latest Tablet column.

Tablet Magazine Launches Paid Internship Program

From Tablet Magazine:

Next month, Tablet Magazine is inaugurating a paid internship program. If you have experience in journalism and are familiar with the landscape of American Jewish life, we’d love to hear from you. We’ll be hiring three times a year—spring, summer, and fall—for two- and three-day-a-week internships at our office in New York City. Interns will assist the editorial staff with research and administrative tasks, as well as contributing blog posts and, potentially, full features.

Application deadline is May 3. Click here for more information/application instructions.

Moment Magazine's Emerging Writer Awards Announced

Founded in 2004, Moment Magazine's Emerging Writer Awards "recognize talented writers who have published at least one book and whose books confront themes that are of interest to Jewish readers. An emerging writer is defined as someone of any age who has not yet received widespread recognition and has not yet won a major literary award." Selections are made by committee (there is no published nomination process).

Congratulations to this year's awardees: Abby Sher (nonfiction winner), for Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying; and Sara Houghteling (fiction winner), for Pictures at an Exhibition.

A Webzine of Their Own

As a Jewish woman, I'm proud to say that I've contributed to some publications--and have read many others--that are geared to this particular cohort. Now, Jewish men have a 'zine of their own. As The Forward explains:

"It used to be that women, to paraphrase Virginia Woolf, needed to have a room of their own, to carve space out of a male-dominated world in which to find and share their own voices. Today, it seems, men need a room, as well. So the Conservative movement’s Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs has started a Web magazine, Mentschen.org, to provide those with a Y chromosome a safe place to explore important issues in their lives."

Good luck, guys! Sounds like a great idea.

P.S. Congrats to The Forward team on the recognitions they're receiving.

Notes from Around the Web

This weekend, I was at my parents' home, where I picked up the latest copy of Jewish Woman magazine. Featured on the cover: author Amy Sohn. And within the pages: an article on the current state of "Chick Lit" and the role of Jewish women writers within the genre.
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Also within this spring issue of Jewish Woman, book critic Sandee Brawarsky writes about a cluster of new books: Amy Bloom's Where the God of Love Hangs Out, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, Risa Miller's My Before and After Life, Ligia Rave's Hanah's Paradise, and a pair of novellas written by a pair of sisters: Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz and The Caregiver, by Barbara Pokras and Fran Pokras Yariv, respectively. Meantime, Sue Tomchin spotlights Dani Shapiro's memoir, Devotion.
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Over on my Practicing Writing blog, I recently provided the first of what I expect to be many updates concerning the pre-publication path I'm following along with my short story collection, Quiet Americans. The initial post details my plan to donate portions of proceeds from book sales to The Blue Card.

I don't expect to post to My Machberet for at least a couple of days, so let me wish you all a very Happy Passover!

JewishBoston.com Seeks Associate Editor

"JewishBoston.com, a new website serving the Greater Boston Jewish community, is looking for an talented blogger, social media addict, and online editor to develop and manage our content strategy. The Associate Editor will help recruit a community of bloggers and ensure an ongoing flow of user and organizational generated content. On a daily basis, the Associate Editor will take the lead on featuring events, curating blog posts, and moderating comments. In addition, the editor will write and edit JewishBoston posts, create the editorial calendar and drive our Facebook and Twitter presence. The editor will be part of a small entrepreneurial team responsible for the ongoing development and growth of the site."

Notes from Around the Web

Another introduction to the Jewish Review of Books (which is now included on our link list).
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Andrew Silow-Carroll reviews Joel Chasnoff's The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah. Silow-Carroll calls the book "a wise, carefully observed, profanely funny, and even touching portrait of Israeli society in all its polyglot, improvisational, maddening, and beleaguered glory. And for all the important things it says about Israel itself, it ultimately becomes a book about American Jews and our ambivalent relationship with our 'homeland.'" After this review, I'm adding the book to my tbr list.
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Author Shalom Auslander eavesdrops on a book club.
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The Forward presents its spring books section.

Notes from Around the Web

Of all the programs Brandeis may cut, must they end the undergraduate Hebrew major and the minor in Yiddish and East European Jewish Culture?
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The Jewish Review of Books is online! NB: Some material is behind a paywall. (Thanks to the Jewish Book Council for the heads-up.)
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Speaking of the Jewish Book Council, today's the day for the second Twitter Book Club "Twunch and Talk." See you there?

Notes from Around the Web

Two particularly eye-catching reviews in Sunday's New York Times Book Review: this one, of Jerry Z. Muller's Capitalism and the Jews, and the front-page piece on Cathleen Schine's The Three Weissmans of Westport.
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Very interesting guest post on Scribblers on the Roof/Jscribes.com about New Door Books, a new fiction imprint, and its debut title: Hanah's Paradise, by Ligia Ravé.
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M.A. Orthofer reacts to the introduction of the Jewish Review of Books.
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From Moment magazine: "Are you or a loved one turning 35 in 2010? In honor of our 35th birthday, we will be giving all 35-year-olds a free one-year gift subscription." (Discovered via Twitter!)

Notes from Around the Web

Poet Anne Whitehouse guest-blogs for J World Cafe and describes the genesis of her excellent new collection, Blessings and Curses. The post includes the book's title poem, which I simply love.
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I'd be overjoyed to see just a bit of appreciation for the IDF's medical assistance in Haiti appearing in venues beyond, say, Fox News and the Jewish press, but I know not to hold my breath waiting for it. UPDATE: Check this link for a report from CNN and this one for one from CBS News.
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This weekend, a friend and I toured the Jewish Museum in New York City. It was far from my first trip there, but it had been years since I'd toured the permanent exhibition. Truly a remarkable treasure. (As for the temporary exhibitions, I think it's safe to say that we preferred "Reinventing Ritual: Contemporary Art & Design for Jewish Life" to "Alias Man Ray: the Art of Reinvention," but I'm not entirely sure why that's the case.)