August 2025: Some background on 'Rites of Passage,' four excellent books, and lessons in resilience

Dear friends,

Another brutal month has come and gone. Amidst so much darkness in our world, day after day, I hope you are still finding moments of light, love, beauty, equanimity and shared humanity. More thoughts on that below. Scroll down for your monthly dose of book reviews, upcoming literary events, a story, a recipe, and an update from my corner of Israel.

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Brief writing update: I continue to write more scenes for my project-in-progress. I write by hand and then I transcribe, so each scene is in a different Word file; I have no idea how many thousands of words I’ve written at this point. One of these days I will make an outline and see how things come together. It’s likely that many of these scenes will end up on the cutting room floor, but I consider them essential for getting to know my characters.

Some nice news: A book club in Jerusalem has selected The Book of Jeremiah to discuss, so I’ll be meeting with them - in-person! - in October. If you are in a book club or know someone who is, I’d love to meet with your group. Simply reach out by responding to this email.

Reminders, in case you missed them last time:

1) I had two new stories published in June - Baby Face (Eleventh Hour Literary) and Rites of Passage (Of the Book). “Rites of Passage” was the story I was in the middle of working on when Oct 7 hit. In those first מזעזע (miza’azeya / shocking) days and months, I took a break from writing fiction, but eventually I went back and finished the story, which takes place in the summer of 1939, including the culmination on Shabbat Nachamu, the first Shabbat after Tisha B’Av. As you may know, Tisha B’Av, which begins this Saturday night, marks a day of mourning and fasting for the destruction of both Temples, and a great many other tragedies in Jewish history. I perused a number of d’vrei Torah to get an idea of what the rabbi in the story might say, and they were a good reminder of the long arc of Jewish history, which I found to be a comfort. From the story:

Jeremiah was allowed to sit on a chair on the bima for the rabbi’s sermon, but he was too hyped up to pay attention. He caught words and phrases about the First or Second Temple and the decrees exiling Jews from England, France, and Spain in the Middle Ages. Something about nahamu nahamu, Isaiah’s words of consolation. Something about the worries in Europe even now. Something about the resilience of the Jewish people, who know how to survive both personal and national tragedy. “Out of the flames of tragedy and loss,” the rabbi said, “come the sparks of redemption and change.”

Halavai that we merit that redemption and change as soon as possible.

2) Second reminder: Manna Songs, a collection of 32 essays celebrating Jewish joy (including one by yours truly) is available for pre-order from ELJ Editions.

Recommended Reading

I’m up to 53 books for the year, still ahead of schedule for my self-imposed Goodreads challenge. Here are this month’s recommendations:

Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict by Oren Kessler: Frequent readers of this newsletter know that most of my reading and recommendations are fiction, but after hearing Oren Kessler speak at Bar Ilan in early June, I immediately bought his book and invited him to speak at Literary Modiin’s event last week. I read the bulk of this exceptional, well-researched and accessible book over one Shabbat - narrative nonfiction about the Great Arab Revolt that began in 1936 and lasted for three years - and since then I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know. From the book’s description: “In spring 1936, the Holy Land erupted in a rebellion that targeted both the local Jewish community and the British Mandate authorities that for two decades had midwifed the Zionist project. The Great Arab Revolt would last three years, cost thousands of lives-Jewish, British, and Arab-and cast the trajectory for the Middle East conflict ever since.” This is much more than a dry history book; Oren tells the story through many of the leading figures on the Jewish, Arab, and British sides (some of whom are well-known and others who were new to me). I came away learning a great deal and feeling sad about the following point, laid out in Philosophy Blog: “One of the most striking things about this book is paradoxically that it shows so many points of missed opportunities that might have avoided the decades of conflict that was to come but also how inevitable the conflict was.” At a time when it is so difficult to hear and understand the “other side,” the author “does a good job of presenting these views without bias or sentiment, such that one can understand why they thought the way they did.” (Philosophy Blog again). The winner of the 2024 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature (among other awards and accolades), Palestine 1936 is essential reading for anyone who cares about this part of the world. Listen to Oren speak about his book at July’s Literary Modiin event.

The Family Markowitz by Allegra Goodman: Yes, I know I am about 29 years late to the party here (in my defense, it came out long before I’d started writing fiction and had any inkling that I would someday write a novel-in-stories or two about a Jewish American family). Each of the characters and stories in The Family Markowitz — matriarch Rose, her sons Ed, an academic and expert in terrorism, and Henry, an Anglophile lover of aesthetics and art, daughter-in-law Sarah, newly religious granddaughter Miriam — felt pitch perfect to me. From Rose changing her story every day when a young woman interviews her for an oral history project to Ed feeling miserable at an interfaith conference in which the participants must share their spiritual epiphanies/growth (really not his thing) to a Passover seder scene with three generations — there were many times I laughed out loud and felt that the Family Markowitz could have been people I know. If, like me, you missed this when it first came out, go back and give this a read. Loved it.

Heartwood by Amity Gaige: A literary thriller that begins when Valerie Gillis, a lone through-hiker on the Appalachian Trail fails to show up at her appointed resupply stop, deep in the Maine woods. The book follows Beverly, the Maine State Game Warden in charge of the search and rescue efforts, Valerie’s former hiking partner Santos, an elderly woman in Connecticut who takes a special interest in the case, interspersed with chapters told in Valerie’s voice, as she pours out her heart in her journal while awaiting rescue and rationing off her last matches and squares of chocolate. I agree with this blurb from Janelle Brown: “Heartwood is that rare unicorn of a book: A gripping page-turner of great beauty and insight…a story about survival and resilience, but also about the bonds between mothers and daughters.” I listened to the audiobook version, which I highly recommend.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans: I really enjoyed this epistolary novel (told in letters), centered on Sybil, a retired lawyer and clerk for a judge, as she navigates her aging, her greatest grief, and her troubled relationship with her daughter. Sybil corresponds with her personal friends and family, neighbors, famous authors, the young, socially awkward son of a former colleague, the department head of English at a nearby local college, and many more. When someone from Sybil’s past resurfaces, she is forced to evaluate her actions and face her ghosts. I like this blurb from Ann Patchett: “Subtly told and finely made, The Correspondent is a portrait of a small life expanding. Virginia Evans shows how one woman changes at a point when change had seemed impossible.” Ditto to what I wrote above - I listened to the audiobook version, which I highly recommend, and I think this would make for a good book club selection.

Literary Events

Literary Modiin is taking vacation in August, but we’ll be back in early September with another all-star event, followed by a solidarity event in October to commemorate two years since October 7th.

• Sunday, Sept 7 at 20:00 Israel time / 1 pm Eastern - over Zoom - featuring Iddo Gefen (MRS. LILIENBLUM'S CLOUD FACTORY), Tova Mirvis (WE WOULD NEVER) and Nicole Graev Lipson (MOTHERS AND OTHER FICTIONAL CHARACTERS). Register here.

• Sunday, Oct 5 at 20:00 Israel time / 1 pm Eastern - over Zoom - join us to hear readings and perspectives from Israeli and Jewish writers commemorating two years since Oct 7. Register here.

Story of the Month: Fools for Love

Fools for Love by Helen Schulman (The Atlantic - gift link): Hat tip to The Republic of Letters Substack (see below) for pointing me to this terrific story (and analysis), which “keeps delivering payoff after payoff until long past the emotional breaking point. From a writerly perspective, the story speaks to the great virtues of really being embedded in a place and time — in this case, the East Village in the late ‘80s.”

Resource of the Month: The Republic of Letters

I’ve been meaning to mention The Republic of Letters Substack for a while, which invites guest essays and offers frequent “polemics on literary and cultural themes.” I particularly appreciate the monthly short story roundup, with reviews (and grades) of recently published stories. “Fools for Love” got an A+, for example…

Recipe of the Month: Te’ena (Fig) Salad

Welcome to the (near) end of the newsletter, where you are rewarded with a yummy recipe. We have two newish restaurants in Modiin with the word “fig” in them; I’ve been to both recently for some delicious salads, pizza, and other dairy appetizers. I decided to recreate my favorite salad at home, with some additions. Adjust quantities according to how many people are eating it…This is the one I just made for my daughter and myself.

Ingredients & prep

2-3 c. lettuce - I used a mixture of romaine lettuce and baby lettuce (arugula, etc.)

1/4 red onion - thinly sliced (I pickled ours quickly with lemon juice, salt, a sprinkle of sumac)

3 radishes - thinly sliced

5-6 ripe figs, cut into quarters or eighths

3/4 c. slivered almonds, roasted at 200 C / 400 F for about 5 minutes

1 pear - thinly sliced (a late addition, and only because my neighbor just gave me some from her tree)

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, shaved or grated

Mix everything and dress with olive oil and more lemon juice. Enjoy!

Israel Update

It feels paralyzing to write this section, because what is there to say that hasn’t already been said? Each day feels more unbearable. The suffering reached epic proportions long ago and still continues to rise. Hamas has kept our 50 beloved hostages languishing in the tunnels of Gaza for 665 days, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is horrific, our soldiers are exhausted, and we want this war to end.

I’m just going to quote my friend Vivian Cohen-Leisorek because she echoes my thoughts exactly. She was reposting Etgar Keret’s damning, heartbreaking Death Routinepost, written for an Israeli audience.

But the main thing I want to share with you in this section is Iddo Gefen’s latest column in his Neuron Stories Substack, What Can We Hold On to When the World Feels Out of Control? (Yes, the same Iddo Gefen who will be speaking about his new book at the September Literary Modiin event above. I’m not sure it’s accurate to call his award-winning fiction writing a “side gig” :-) but his main gig is being a PhD student in cognitive neuroscience at Columbia). He speaks of the powerlessness many of us feel today and some small steps we can take to regain a sense of control and hope. He writes (and I agree):

As an Israeli, I’ll be honest: the humanitarian crisis, the reports of starvation and civilian casualties in Gaza, and the 50 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas leave me feeling powerless in the face of it all. I fully recognize Hamas’s responsibility for this reality but I also believe that the current Israeli policy in Gaza, led by Netanyahu whom I strongly oppose, is steering the country I grew up in toward very dark places, harming the Israeli hostages, innocent Palestinians, and anyone who is trying to secure a more just and hopeful future for the region.

This state of mind is called Learned Helplessness in neuroscience, but the good news is that there are things we can do to combat it, with recommendations on resilience now backed by scientific studies. “Actively building experiences of control” in which we are volunteering or doing some good for someone “act like a ‘vaccine’ for the brain.” I could go on and on, quoting his entire column (I encourage you to read in its entirety), but I’ll just say that this 100% bears out my experience since Oct 7th. Why do I rise at the ungodly hour of 4:55 am or 5:30 am or whatever it is each week to go (in my case) help farmers with their grape/lime/orange/tomato/etc., etc.? Because my brain needs a vaccine to protect against the horrors.

I wrote above that each day feels more unbearable, especially if you read the news or go on social media, but obviously, somehow, we carry on. I go to work. I write my scenes. I go to the beach. I ride my bike. I see friends. I host Literary Modiin. All of which lift me up and provide moments of light, for which I am grateful.

In that spirit, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of love and light and beauty from my month. B’sorot tovot, my friends. May we soon merit the healing and rebuilding that this region so desperately needs. Am Yisrael Chai.