Issue

12

Dec 2013 / Chanukah 5774

Preface

Welcome to this fabulous Chanukah issue of Jewish Fiction .net! In honour of the holiday we bring you a story about Judith, because in the Middle Ages the Chanukah heroes we celebrated were not only the Maccabees, but also Judith, who saved the Israelites through her bravery.

In addition, here are 15 first-rate works of fiction (originally written in Polish, French, Hebrew, and English), and set in China, Germany, Scotland, Poland, ancient Israel, modern Israel, the United States, and on an emigrants’ boat bound for the United States.

We hope you enjoy these terrific stories. Please feel free to share them with friends and family and to follow us on facebook and twitter.

Enjoy these stories. Share them with others. And last but not least, we wish you and those you love a Happy Chanukah and a holiday filled with light. Chag urim sameach! from all of us at

Jewish Fiction .net

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Silence

by Yehoshua Sobol

Silence

Since the day I learned to read and write, I have never written a word of my own. I have merely copied what others have written.

26m read Translated from Hebrew by Chaya Galai

AgingChildhoodDeath

Visible City

by Tova Mirvis

Visible City

Descending into the subway, Jeremy's eyes darted, as they always did, to the people nearby...

12m read

AgingChildhoodMarriageSecular

Creative Listening

by Leanore Ickstadt

Creative Listening

It was like a law of nature: every May academics, their teaching finished for the semester, begin to travel.

30m read

ChildhoodHolocaust

Emigrants

by Levi Aryeh Arieli

Emigrants

The sleep of a healthy man is like a peaceful journey on the seas, a voyage on night wings into morning and the sun.

70m read Translated from Hebrew by Stephen Katz

AntisemitismChildhoodDeathMourning

Free Haircuts

by Michael Orbach

Free Haircuts

Except for a pat on the back and a muffled thank you, the haircuts my brother-in-law gave me were free.

18m read

AdolescenceChildhoodHasidic

The Great Canadian American Chinese Jewish Novel

by Wendy Zierler

The Great Canadian American Chinese Jewish Novel

It's 4:13 a.m. Hong Kong, 4:13 p.m. New York, and here I am, on jet lag patrol, playing peek-a-boo...

39m read

DiasporaMarriage

Total Immersion

by Rebecca M. Ross

Total Immersion

Lying to her husband gets Brurya out of the house. Asking him for a get, a divorce, gets her beaten.

19m read

DeathFeministMarriageMikveh

Four Songs

by Henri Raczymow

Four Songs

I know nothing about Konsk. In winter, on the outskirts of Konsk, there were wolves.

18m read Translated from French by Robert Bononno

ChildhoodShtetl

The Converts

by John J. Clayton

The Converts

The first time Carole saw Paul carry the Torah scroll around the Brookline synagogue, while he was still in the process of converting, she was very moved; she felt it erotically.

22m read

ConversionMarriageShabbat

Judith

by Amy Bitterman

Judith

After years of widowhood, ashes and black wool fell away from Judith like an old skin.

29m read

DeathFeministMarriageMourning

A Real Sephardic Beauty

by Olivia Kate Cerrone

A Real Sephardic Beauty

Dov itched to rip her away from the protestors. There Liat stood, demonstrating on Even-Sinna Street with the rest of the lunatics.

22m read

IsraelLoveMizrahiRebellion

The Request

by Milton Teichman

The Request

The condition he set for their getting married was that she join him in living an Orthodox Jewish life.

40m read

DivorceLoveMarriage

Some Day

by Shemi Zarhin

Some Day

Two seven-year-olds lie on the roof. A boy and a girl. The boy is Shlomi, the girl is Ella. They lie among the water boilers and watch a dead body being pulled out through a window.

15m read Translated from Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan

ChildhoodDeathMourning