JACK: Jewish Advocacy for Culture & Knowledge

10/15/2024

I want to thank the very talented and very wise poet Joshua Gottlieb-Miller for visiting my Multicultural American Literature class today and giving us a reading. I recommend his new book, which can be found below.

Inventive poetry explores Jewish identity in America"How can I teach a prayer / I only know how to recite?" "America, whose death / didn't you come from?" Th...

10/09/2024

https://voxpopulisphere.com/2022/10/02/baruch-november-the-fountain-of-light-and-forgiveness/

Must we mourn ourselves before our passing?

10/09/2024

https://voxpopulisphere.com/2022/10/02/baruch-november-the-fountain-of-light-and-forgiveness/

10/09/2024

I want to give a shoutout to the wonderfully imaginative poet Sam Taylor for visiting my Introduction to Poetry class at NYSCAS, A Division of Touro College and reading his work. It was great. I recommend getting his book at the Amazon link below:

As a collection of politically engaged poetry for the 21st century, N**e Descending and Empire develops the lyrical voice of a citizen-poet speaking to the urgency of our contemporary moment, especially its ecological crisis. This is a book that brings all the supposed sensitivity of poetry into ...

09/05/2024

I am excited to share with you another poem that will be featured in my upcoming book. This one is called "Self-Portrait with the Baal Shem Tov. I thank Michael Simms for publishing, too, in Vox Populi.

Let me fall if I must fall.
The one I will become
will catch me,
said the Baal Shem Tov.

You keep falling, but learn
nothing new. You land
in cold currents of regret,
sending shocks to your soul,
but it doesn’t awaken.

***

The Baal Shem Tov died on a sacred
holiday. His followers forbidden
to bury him, he buried himself:

Another selfless act
in a life of piety, while
you push yourself just
to pray in the morning—

Not stare at snow tumbling
down dark grey
Washington Heights sky—

And ask G-d to match you
with a woman whose lamp
does not go out at night.

***

If you lived in the time
of the Baal Shem Tov— wielder
of G-d’s hidden names—
you’d take a one-horse wagon
over Carpathian Foothills,
Ukraine’s hard, snowy roads,
hoping he’d bless you
with a family and the secrets
of the holy curves on Hebrew
letters to teach your children.

To read the rest, go to the link below:

https://voxpopulisphere.com/2024/08/25/baruch-november-self-portrait-with-the-baal-shem-tov/

09/02/2024

I am excited to invite everyone to this reading at the Beis featuring Maya Bernstein, Yehoshua Josh November, and me. It will be hosted by their new resident poet Rabbi Neil Fleischmann! Don't miss it!

08/09/2024

Hey everyone!
It is time to pre-order Yehoshua Josh November's new book at the link below. It is sure to be great because my brother writes wonderful poetry.

https://www.orisonbooks.com/product-page/the-concealment-of-endless-light-poems-by-yehoshua-november?fbclid=IwY2xjawEiXHpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQHlEBKpgjr87SEdNuJ-zxpwVuu0BUyWaPJhlsnucpYKET2CUJsQcBiYsw_aem_wR1YWn67i4CM5tz0nNawlA

, David Ross

The Concealment of Endless Lightpoems by Yehoshua November *Available for pre-order* Orison Bookspaper / 88 pp. / $18.00ISBN: 978-1-949039-50-4Distributed to the trade by Itasca Books952-223-8373 / [email protected] Date: September 3, 2024 ABOUT THE BOOK The third poetry collection f...

08/05/2024

Dear everyone,
I invite you to read my poem that was recently published in the Green Hills Literary Lantern:

Slow Motion Rush

DiMaggio swore his "eyes popped
out" the first time
he saw Hank Greenberg
swing a bat.

Who can know what it was like
for Greenberg in 1938, kept
from glory near season's end?

Once I dated
a French Moroccan
who avoided all forms
of touch, never
explaining why.

Some say since Greenberg was a Jew
they wouldn't pitch to him,
didn't want
a Hebrew breaking
Babe Ruth's famous record.

She let me kiss her
months in, and once I did
she abruptly said,
"We're done. I can't feel
any stronger than this."

I never saw inside her
small room. I imagine
entering it
was like that
slow motion rush

around first, crowd
on its feet,
not feeling my own feet
touch the ground
and forgetting
to breathe.

,

07/21/2024

Hello everyone!
Looking for a great book to read this summer? Look no further. My book "Bar Mitzvah Dreams" is available on Amazon. Just click below. Thank you, M Scott Douglass for my new inventory.

Bar Mitzvah Dreams is a fine first book, one of the best I’ve recently read. The poems are powerfully made with strong beginnings and surprising conclusions. There is no chaff. The language is direct and rich in metaphor. The free verse is rhythmic and strongly stressed. All are serious, but ofte....

07/02/2024

Hey everyone,
You're invited to read my newly published poem below. I would like to thank The Green Hills Literary Lantern for publishing it.

Slow Motion Rush

DiMaggio swore his "eyes popped
out" the first time
he saw Hank Greenberg
swing a bat.

Who can know what it was like
for Greenberg in 1938, kept
from glory near season's end?

Once I dated
a French Moroccan
who avoided all forms
of touch with me,
never explaining why.

Some say since Greenberg was a Jew
they wouldn't pitch to him,
didn't want
a Hebrew breaking
Babe Ruth's famous record.

She let me kiss her
months in, and once I did
she abruptly said,
"We're done. I can't feel
any stronger than
just this."

I never saw inside her
small room. I imagine
entering it
was like that
slow motion rush

around first, crowd
on its feet,
not feeling my own feet
touch the ground
and forgetting
to breathe.

Slow Motion Rush DiMaggio swore his “eyes popped out” the first time he saw Hank Greenberg swing a bat. Who can know what it was like for Greenberg, in 1938, kept from glory near season’s end? Once I dated a French Moroccan who avoided all physicality with me, never explaining why. Some say si...

07/02/2024

Friends,
I invite you to checkout my newly published poem "Slow Motion Rush," which features Hank Greenberg, one of my favorite baseball players of the past, who experienced and overcame great anti-Semitism. I would like to thank The Green Hills Literary Lantern for featuring my work.

Slow Motion Rush

DiMaggio swore his "eyes popped
out" the first time
he saw Hank Greenberg
swing a bat.

Who can know what it was like
for Greenberg in 1938, kept
from glory near season's end?

Once I dated
a French Moroccan
who avoided all forms
of touch, never
explaining why.

Some say since Greenberg was a Jew
they wouldn't pitch to him,
didn't want
a Hebrew breaking
Babe Ruth's famous record.

She let me kiss her
months in, and once I did
she abruptly said,
"We're done. I can't feel
any stronger than this."

I never saw inside her
small room. I imagine
entering it
was like that
slow motion rush

around first, crowd
on its feet,
not feeling my own feet
touch the ground
and forgetting
to breathe.

Slow Motion Rush DiMaggio swore his “eyes popped out” the first time he saw Hank Greenberg swing a bat. Who can know what it was like for Greenberg, in 1938, kept from glory near season’s end? Once I dated a French Moroccan who avoided all physicality with me, never explaining why. Some say si...

05/24/2024

What a great finale to our poetry series last night. I want to thank the wonderful poets Sandy Solomon , Hagit Grossman, Susan Comninos,, Diane Frank, and my co-host Philip Terman for making it a success. If you missed the reading we will be posting a recording of it soon. Thank you to everyone who was in the audience.

05/21/2024

Diane Frank will also be reading her poetry on Thursday night for us at 7PM on Zoom. Check her poem about the Tree of Life shooting below. Make sure you email [email protected] to make your reservations.

The Cost of Turning (October 6, 2019) Worship ServiceJill Brindel, cello Matthew Arnerich, pianoDiane Frank, poem

05/21/2024

Check out Hagit Grossman's sublime poem below from The New Yorker and make sure you make it her poetry reading this Thursday night at 7PM eastern time on Zoom. To reserve your spot, email [email protected] today.

Poetry: “If a friend calls out to you late at night from beneath your window / Never send him on his way.”

04/19/2024

I want to deeply thank Jessica Jacobs, Joanna Fuhrman, and Richard Michelson for doing a stellar job reading their wonderful poetry for us last night. I'd also like to thank everyone who attended, especially my students from NYSCAS, A Division of Touro College.

Readings by Joanna Fuhrman, Jessica Jacobs, and Richard Michelson

04/17/2024

Do yourself a favor and check out a sample Richard Michelson's poem entitled "Bless You" at the link below. Then, send an email to [email protected] and make a reservation for tomorrow night's poetry reading featuring not only Richard Michelson but Jessica Jacobs and Joanna Fuhrman! The reading will be on Zoom at 7PM eastern time. See you then.

Gesundheit , great-aunt Frida calls out, each sneeze another occasion for my soul to abandon my body. . . .

04/02/2024

Check out my poem below about Casablanca. It was featured again in WONDERLUST. You can find out the story about the poem by clicking on this link:
https://wonderlusttravel.com/travel-poem-the-white-city-morocco/

Burned Red in The White City

My skin turned deep
red, a painful memento
of Casablanca, where I passed
through the markets of its old city and bought
just squeezed orange juice
from a stoic Senegalese woman,
a sapphire-colored bottle
of perfume for my mother,
traditional Moroccan
teacups with no handles
for my father.

My tour guide was dedicated to telling
me everything about Morocco,
but I failed him,
only taking in a few things
since the heat
was throbbing that day and all
I could think about was my next
bottle of water.

The White City was something
to behold yet where
the French had lived,
once beautiful, pale buildings
were decomposing
into the hungry
nothing from
which they came.

Burned Red in The White City is poet Baruch November memory of his brief visit to The White City in Casablanca, Morocco

03/15/2024

Giulio D’Anna (Italian, 1908-1978)
Seaplane, 1931