Best Contemporary Jewish Writing

by Michael Lerner (editor)

Jewish culture, identity, and spirituality through the eyes of the brightest and best authors

Best Contemporary Jewish Writing is a treasure trove of short stories, poetry, and essays from such renowned contributors as Naomi Wolf, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, William Safire, and Marge Piercy. Dive into this rich arrayof writing and you ll see that the Jewish experience reflects universal themes.

The writers in this collection have something to say to Jews, not only to those struggling with their Jewish identity, and also to the wider world. Whether your main interest is in poetry or politics, spirituality or cultural identity, social healing or individual transformation, you ll find Best Contemporary Jewish Writing to be a collection that inspires, excites, and provokes. It also reflects the diversity of thought, opinion, and sensibility of today s best known Jewish thinkers and writers.

This volume is the first in the much anticipated annual series "Best Jewish Writing."

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Michael Lerner was an American political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in Berkeley.

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Religious Outlook Of Healing The World

Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of this collection, is the editor of the magazine Tikkun. This book is an anthology of essays written between 1994 and 2000 on a spectrum of Jewish themes and with a diversity of perspectives. In the introduction to the collection, titled, "Jewish Writing and Healing the World", Rabbi Lerner explains the basis for his choices and his understanding of the mission of Judaism as healing.

According to Rabbi Lerner:
"I have sought out writing that connects to or reflects the fundamental Jewish project of healing and transformation, both personal transformation (tikkun atzmia) and healing of the world (tikkun olam)-- understanding that this healing involves not only psychological or social change but also a search for ways to bring holiness into our personal lives and social institutions."

Rabbi Lerner gives a sweeping, and in my view rather partial, description of his vision of Judaism focused almost exclusively on the claims of social justice : "the social, political and economic order of society needs to be changed and can be changed".

The essays Rabbi Lerner has selected fulfill admirably has goal of explaining Judaism as social change. To his credit, however, the essays reflect something of an attempt to include diverse perspectives, not simply the standards of politically correct feminism, environmentalism and other causes which appear to reflect Rabbi Lerner's own understanding of the nature of changing the world.

The essays are divided into six sections dealing with Jewish identity, reclaiming Jewish Spiritual Life, Reading Jewish Sacred Texts, the Holocaust, Israel, and Jewish Culture. Each section includes essays, poems, and fiction some of which is insightful but some of which tempted me to stop reading the book. As a whole the essays are thoughtful and provocative and give a good idea of lively issues in contemporary Jewish thinking. I would have liked to have heard more about Jewish spirituality and alternatives to traditionalism and less about feminism and ecology.

The essays that I found worthwhile include David Biale's discussion of the melting pot, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Arthur Green, Dennis Prager and Mordechai Gafni with their strikingly different perspectives on Jewish spirituality, Dahlia Ravikovitch's essay on Israel and the Diaspora in Jewish thought, and Roger Kamenetz on Jewish spirituality. I enjoyed many of the poems and other articles as well. I hadn't heard of Naomi Eve and liked the excerpt "Esther and Yochanan" from her novel.

An excellent feature of this book is Rabbi Lerner's list of "The One Hundred Best Contemporary Jewish Books" written since 1985. There is much of value in this list and it is a source for thought and for further reading for those interested in pursuing contemporary Jewish writing.

Robin Friedman

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the poems were quite good, but most of the other writings lacked substance, style and readability.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wide range of topics and forms of poetry. There were a few gems, but most of the articles seemed to me more self-involved than revelatory of any significant truths.