Welcome to Litsy!

For the first candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge I‘ve picked a book that pushed me towards the idea of celebrating each Hanukkah day by writing about a book about a Jew or written by a Jew. I picked it because I hoped to find an answer to a question: why so many people tear down the portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza while respecting dead Holocaust victims. The book is well written, but I didn‘t like the answer #iamthatjew

“The first time I entered Jerusalem‘s Old City, I walked down a flight of stairs that began on the current street level; at the bottom, I was stunned to step onto the paving stones from the street level during the Roman period, as though I had traveled through time instead of rock.”
Have you ever been there? Did you feel the time captured in stone? #told_by_a_woman #iamthatjew

Book cover scavenger hunt for #HauntedShelf I am trying to find them in books that I own.

This has been on my shelf for years. I should probably #readordonate at this point!

#Flerken

Amazing book. Very personable and personal, while still relating to an arc of issues. 10/10 one of my highest ratings yet.

America: 2024

Fantastic book. This should be required reading for every Jewish person and honestly? Most people should at least know about this book. That said, there is SO MUCH about this book I disagree with. The author, however, I suspect will be ok with that.

I don‘t talk about being Jewish at work. I don‘t talk about being Jewish at school. I only talk about being Jewish with people who I know are also Jewish. This paragraph is ME.

Yeah. The author is right. The work of Jews in the last 10 years or so has been the work of dismantling the tools of fighting back antisemitism. The last year has been exhausting because the community lacks the tools to handle these hard discussions.

This is the kind of thing happening in 2024.

I don‘t agree with the rest of the paragraph, but him talking about a women‘s studies class in the late 80‘s is a remarkable reminder to be kind to the “other”. I‘m going through my own de-radicalization process and hearing men out in spaces where they are trying to learn in good-faith is something I‘m not sure I‘ve been the best at.