Welcome to this special issue of Jewish Fiction .net: #18, our chai issue! Here we celebrate the chai of Jewish Fiction .net with a unique issue containing 33 first-rate works of fiction, originally written in Spanish, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and English. And in keeping with the upcoming High Holydays, three of these stories relate to Yom Kippur.
In Issue 18:
A woman faints in shul on Yom Kippur, kindling an extramarital affair. (“Religious Studies”)
A boy on a kibbutz struggles to understand Yom Kippur while his parents bicker. (“The Minister of Rain”)
An angry mourner in Buenos Aires does something shocking during Kol Nidre. (“Yom Kippur in Buenos Aires”)
An alcoholic Argentinian doctor fumbles through a day of work. (“Doctor Menendez, Dreaming of Spiders”)
An Argentinian janitor overhears some music that revives memories of the woman he loved in Poland. (“The Janitor”)
A popular resort town in Argentina conceals a dark Nazi past. (Translated from Spanish) (“Gesell Dome”)
A Holocaust survivor holds forth on animalness, humanness, and her heroic dog. (Translated from Yiddish) (“Animals and Humans”)
A shy American man finally finds a wife, but feels he has to hide his love of music from her. (“Barton Zuckerman”)
An alienated Israeli designer becomes obsessed with an oil spill. (Translated from Hebrew) (“Crossing A River Twice”)
A woman who feels distant from her husband becomes obsessed with Rembrandt’s painting of a Jewish bride. (“The Jewish Bride”)
An Orthodox couple in Jerusalem takes a pre-wedding class, with unanticipated consequences. (“Spinning, Washing, Pouring, Making, Serving”)
A new immigrant to Israel from Russia, disillusioned by her relatives, seeks new lodgings. (“Just the Jasmine”)
A new immigrant to Israel from Canada joins a team that’s searching for a missing settler. (“Ascending”)
A Canadian teenager, on a Chanukah vacation to Florida, sees her uncle’s and aunt’s marriage close-up. (“Driving I-95”)
A girl gets driving lessons from her mother and these lessons change their relationship forever. (“Driving Lessons”)
An Israeli rabbi’s daughter reacts intensely to an American woman who comes to visit. (“A Rabbi's Daughter”)
In 1825 a young Native American woman takes a Jewish politician in a canoe to visit the island he’s bought. (Translated from Hebrew) (“Isra Isle”)
A solitary woman who has let life pass her by faces an unexpected change. (“Lettering and the Art of Living”)
A man re-encounters the antisemitic bully of his childhood when their daughters compete in soccer. (“Little Changes”)
In 1922 in Poland, a photographer photographs a family that (except for one person) will not survive the Holocaust. (“A Portrait in Time”)
A retired mathematician, formerly from the Soviet Union, floods his daughter with enigmatic emails. (“Letters from Z”)
A Jewish woman and her non-Jewish husband quarrel over a pro-Israel program at their temple. (“Letters to Israel”)
In early twentieth-century Odessa, a lively, colourful Jewish underworld thrives. (Translated from Russian) (“Odessa Stories”)
A New Yorker’s best friend from yeshiva days has become an infamous hoodlum. (“The Search for Shmulie Shimmer”)
The single mother of a troubled yeshiva student finds a clever way to prevent her son’s expulsion. (“Paulie”)
A tormented young woman struggles for mental balance and peace of mind. (“Sheetrock”)
A married Israeli father can’t stop thinking about a young waitress he met. (Translated from Hebrew) (“Stitches”)
For the husband of a Holocaust survivor, a chance encounter with a tourist awakens forgotten desires. (“The Border Road”)
An American teenager discovers the family secret of the German girl he has a crush on at school. (“The German Girl”)
An American teenager, struggling with her Jewish identity, gives a stranger a ride. (“Strangers”)
On the eve of the Gulf War, an Israeli soldier shares with other soldiers a mystical experience he once had. (“Parsi”)
A man and his father-in-law, after years of acrimony, reach a mutual understanding. (“Visiting Jack”)
An angel uses unorthodox methods to help an Orthodox couple with marital problems. (“The Wife”)
Enjoy these fabulous stories. And to you and those you love, we wish a healthy, joyful and sweet new year. Shana tova! from all of us at
Jewish Fiction .net
