Welcome to this wonderful new issue of Jewish Fiction .net! Here are 19 (chai +1!) fabulous stories and novel excerpts, originally written in English, French, and Hebrew. And with Rosh Hashana fast approaching, you’ll find three of these stories particularly relevant to this special time of year. One is set on Rosh Hashana, another’s set on Sukkot, and the third is perfect for the Shabbat after Simchat Torah when we read Parshat Bereshit.
In these 19 stories:
A female graduate student who is a passionate left-wing Zionist is surprised by the anti-Israelism at her university (“Fields of Exile”)
A man searches desperately for his daughter who has disappeared in Israel (“Paths of Desire”)
A young man, desperate for a summer job, ends up in a strange but fascinating place (“Kaminer Lodge”)
Ten dollars found on the street during the Depression changes the life of a family (“Ten Dollars”)
A magician’s son uses magic to express his complicated feelings when his estranged father dies (“The Brownstein Vanish”)
A man who worked for the KGB and betrayed his friends now wants to be forgiven (“The Betrayers”)
In 1860 in St. Petersburg, a perfume-maker struggles to accept his son’s love for another young man (“The Deerskin Torah”)
In 1878 in Kentucky, a peddler gets two surprises: one pleasantly erotic and the other life-threatening (“The Pinch”)
Municipal politics in Tel Aviv combine with a rich American donor, Russian immigrants, and longings (“The Lost Solos”)
A young woman in a psychiatric hospital has a loyal best friend and an attachment to a cat (“Oscar”)
The principal of a Jewish high school discovers one of his teachers might be sexually abusing a student (“Touched”)
A young gay man brings along an ex-lover to help him cope with his Holocaust survivor grandparents (“Shiva for Gerbils”)
A woman discovers that her sick old father is carrying a shocking secret (“The Innocent”)
The Holocaust-obsessed daughter of a survivor meets her relatives from Tangiers in a family reunion on Sukkot (“No Sanctuary”)
Eve tells the Cain and Abel story from her unique perspective (“Eve”)
An Israel girl struggles with her relationship to her mother but finds solace in her interesting grandmother (“The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem”)
An Israeli family that lost a son in a war begins healing thanks to three surprising visits (“Three Visitors to Mitzpe Yoav”)
We hope you enjoy these wonderful stories! And we wish you and those you love, and all Am Yisrael, a happy, healthy, and – most especially – peaceful year. Shana tova and gmar tov from all of us at
Jewish Fiction .net
