Jewish books make great Chanukah gifts

By Albert Stern / BJV Editor

In October, two of distinguished presenters for our ongoing program, “Jewish Literary Voices: A Federation Series in Collaboration with The Jewish Book Council,” identified a concerning issue facing Jewish authors in the year following Oct. 7 2023 – books by Jewish writers are not being carried by many booksellers and their work is not being reviewed outside the Jewish press.

Journalist Lee Yaron, whose 10/7: 100 Human Stories is a shattering account about the massacre and its survivors, shared that her book is not selling as might be expected because it is not being reviewed by major publications. As I write in early November, neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post has reviewed it – in fact, the top review of the book that came up in a Google search was from the socialist journal Jacobin, which used it as an opportunity to publish another of its screeds about “Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza” and to downplay the sexual violence that occurred in the attacks. This is despite the fact Yaron writes from a left-wing perspective and is critical of the Netanyahu government.

Leah Lax, whose Not From Here: The Song of America is a sympathetic portrait of immigrants to this country that touches on her own personal and family history of leaving one life for another. It is not, strictly speaking, a “Jewish” book, though it touches on themes relating to the Jewish experience. Lax told me that when her publisher started marketing her book to the major outlets in the spring of 2023, there was a deal of interest in reviewing the book, author interviews, etc. The popular website The Daily Beast even asked Lax to write an essay about her work. “And then came October 7,” said Lax. “Every place that had asked for reading materials would not even respond to emails. We were completely ghosted.” She added that her first book, the leaving-the-Hasidic-community memoir Uncovered, accrued thousands of customer reviews on Amazon, while Not From Here, five months after its publication, had but eleven.

In May, the New York Times acknowledged the problem in James Kirchick’s essay, “A Chill Has Fallen Over Jews in Publishing.” Last October, more than 1,000 writers and book industry professionals signed an open letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians” – never clearly defined.

All this is happening now and it is happening to us. The question is: What can be done? Both Yaron and Lax expressed deep gratitude for all that the Jewish press and Jewish communities are doing to promote their work, stressing how important it is for all Jewish publications to champion the work of Jewish authors – even in small markets like the Berkshires.

The Berkshire Jewish Voice has always given prominent space to Jewish books and writers – all the more so since Jewish Federation of the Berkshires forged a relationship with The Jewish Book Council and established the Jewish Literary Voices series of author talks over the last three years. As we did with Yaron and Lax, we will continue to feature our presenters in BJV Interview articles, and highlight the work of local Jewish authors like Seth Rogovoy, whose George Harrison bio Within You Without You I reviewed in our previous issue. Check out the story on page ## about what you can do to support Jewish authors and how you can connect with The Jewish Book Council.

This time, we've written about Josef Debreczeni’s rediscovered Holocaust memoir, Cold Crematorium, a major contribution to Shoah literature that was translated into English right here in the Berkshires by the late Paul Olchvary. I predict this survivor’s story will be as historically important as any by Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, or Victor Frankl – its testimony cannot be neglected due to a post-Oct. 7 2023 backlash against Jewish stories.

So, starting in our next issue, we introduce a roundup of Jewish-themed books that readers might wish to explore. This new column will be penned by Dr. Steve Rubin, professor emeritus and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Adelphi University and moderator of Federation's popular Current Events Seminar each summer. It will feature recommendations and short descriptions/reviews of books that might interest our community.

But there more to do – and we can do it as a community. Consider this an open call for submissions – if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at publishing a book review, contact me at astern@jewishberkshires.org and we can begin a conversation about what you might like to write about. I’ll do all I can to help you through the process.

It would also be great if you could write in with tips about Jewish books you have recently enjoyed. Have a book club? Send in your group’s impressions of what you’ve read and share some thoughts. Maybe just a few sentences – something as simple as “Joan from Lenox just read Leah Lax’s Not From Here and liked it because… She thinks others might like it because…” Anything to put new work by Jewish authors on our community members’ radar.

And with Chanukah around corner, consider giving Jewish books as presents.

We know you are readers. You support our programs with Jewish authors and you support this newspaper as voluntary subscribers. Here is a chance to make a difference at a time when our thinkers and our culture are being canceled due to antisemitic animus. As the Jewish authors I am privileged to talk to as part of my job all assert – everything we do will help them.

And at the same time, help ourselves.