I see myself primarily as a poet, but I also write short stories, memoir pieces, essays, and Torah commentaries. Occasionally, some of these writings will get published, but if I were comparing my success rate to a batting average, mine would be less than .050, or about one in twenty. Still, that’s better than nothing, and these nods of recognition, which sometimes include an award of some kind, help keep me hopeful.
Besides the writing I do for myself — and for the putative audience it might reach — I’ve served as a magazine and book editor, copy editor and proofreader. In the past dozen years, several jobs have come my way, both paid and unpaid, that drew on these skills. I mention a few of them because as I turn 75, I enter a time of stocktaking and reflection. I look back and assess what I’ve accomplished so far in my chosen line of work, and imagine what I would like to do in the future.
In 2008 and 2009, I assembled three collections of my work: California Israelite: New and Old Poems; Random Access Memory: Narratives; and Trains of Thought: Essays, Articles, and Features. The latter volume includes the popular essay, “Baseball Kabbalah,” an evolving work which has appeared in various forms in anthologies and on line. It also includes “Your Portion in the Torah: Hebrew Birthdates as a Tool for Awareness and Insight,” from which I have taught workshops at several Aleph Kallot, and “Significant Synchronicities,” in which I link the discovery of the hidden power of LSD, the power of Jewish armed resistance during the revolt in the Warsaw Ghetto, and Passover, the festival of our liberation, all of which coincided in April 1943. Very few copies of these collections remain in my hands.
Then I accepted editor Michael Kagan’s invitation to proofread Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s collection, All Breathing Life Adores Your Name: At the Interface Between Poetry and Prayer (Santa Fe, NM: Gaon Books, 2011). We worked on it for several months and occasionally consulted Zalman for clarification. R’ Lawrence Kushner provided a Foreword.
Back in the aughts, I began working with Yedidah Cohen on A Tapestry for the Soul: The Introduction to the Zohar by Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag, a 300-page workbook which she compiled. Ten years later I worked with her again on her translation of The Master of the Ladder: The Life and Teachings of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ashlag by Rabbi Avraham Mordecai Gottlieb. These are extraordinary works. They are both available through Nehora Press.
Between these two books, I worked closely with Rabbi Joe Schonwald on What Do We Know? The Carlebach Anthology: Essays about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with Selections from His Teachings and Stories. This 480-page collection took four years to complete and has met with considerable acclaim. The book features the reflections and reminiscences of more than two dozen contributors, almost as many photographs, and links to internet sites where Shlomo’s visible and audio presence is archived. Several transcripts I made of recordings of Shlomo’s teachings, two of my poems, and my Afterword are among them. Over 40% of the book consists of transcripts of Shlomo’s own words. It was published by Zimrani Press in 2017.
After that effort, and in the midst of the work involved in sales and distribution, Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein asked me to proofread a collection of philosophical essays he was editing. I was happy to learn this week from Alon that the book has just come out. It’s entitled, Religious Truth: Towards a Jewish Theology of Religions.
Another project came my way a couple of years ago. A mother and son team had transcribed and cobbled together a selection of teachings by Shlomo on Sefer Shemot — the Book of Exodus. Three of the funders of this project asked me to proofread the assembled chapters and, where necessary, do a little editing. This was familiar territory, but it still presented a challenge. After I had finished my part, it moved on to other hands. An almost finished version of it was lost in the Moshav fire and an earlier version had to be brought to completion. The book was finished and even translated into Hebrew and published separately. The book on which I was working, the third volume of the Even Shlomo series, is waiting for me in Jerusalem — and we don’t know whether I’ll pick it up or it will be brought to me.
And now we’re coming up to the present — and the original purpose of this missive, to send you copies of poems of mine that have made it into print in the past several years but haven’t been collected yet. Since the beginning of 2018 I’ve received acceptances for 11 poems from four publications. I’ve also had dozens of rejections (or non-acceptances) for many more poems than that from a goodly number of literary venues. Those are the breaks. But I’ve also got many submissions out there about which I’m waiting to hear.
These are the titles and publication sites of the 11 poems:
“Amici” (The Deronda Review, Vol. VIII, No. 2, 2020)
“Who’s Going to Play Me in the Movies?” (Honorable Mention, Reuben Rose Poetry Competition, sponsored by Voices Israel 2020)
“To Zev” and “The School Bell Sounds” (Voices Israel Newsletter, July 2019, and anthology)
“Visiting Empire Haven” (Honorable Mention, Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest 2019, sponsored by WinningWriters.com)
“Dream Wife” (Voices Israel Newsletter, February 2019)
“This is for Loe-Ann,” “The Reunion” and “The Moon Disdains Unwelcome Advances” (arc-26 — 2019)
“Responsible Adult” and “Le Living” (The Deronda Review, Vol. VIII, No. 1, 2019)
You can look at the accompanying file, “Recent publication samples,” to actually read these poems (some of which you might already have seen).
Another activity in which I’ve been engaged is teaching. Ten years ago, I began to teach poetry and the short story. I created a course called “Poetry Immersion,” gathered together a small group, and we read, studied, and discussed poems from the western literary canon, primarily the work English and American writers. About a year and a half later, I changed the focus of the course and called it “Short Story Intensive.” This went on for another year and a half. If you know my history as a graduate school dropout, who 22 years later found himself teaching Freshman English at a community college, you will appreciate the irony.
Then, about three years ago, Helen Bar-Lev, the woman who had facilitated the Upper Galilee branch of Voices Israel, a group which I had begun attending, asked me to take over. I at first demurred, but when she told me if I didn’t take it on the group would fold I said yes. The previous members all left, but I found new people, and now we meet monthly (as of two months ago, online) to share our poems and offer constructive suggestions to one another for their improvement. We have all benefited from the feedback we give each other and have a lot of fun while doing it. Again, I got the call to teach, and now many of the same people meet with me under the rubric of “Formal Elements in English Language Poetry.” I am also active in IAWE (Israel Association of Writers in English) which publishes arc and sponsors readings and other literary events.
My religious life includes davening at three different minyanim (a couple of which are currently taking a break): The House of Love and Prayer on Friday nights, Beit Knesset Beirav on Shabbat mornings, and Beit Knesset Noam on weekday mornings. The latter is the only one that’s currently active because we have a big courtyard adjacent to the shul, in which to spread out.
Yehudit and I have also been hosting a study session in our home for many years on Shabbat afternoons for an hour and a half. We’ve studied the weekly parsahah, TaNaCH, Mishna (Pirke Avot), Talmud (Mesechet Sanhedrin), Sefer Yetzirah, and now, The Bahir. This group also has temporarily suspended its activities, due to the Corona virus.
We’ve generally had guests at two Shabbos meals and sometimes have had overnight guests as well. Often these guests are seminary girls in Israel for their gap year or short-term residents in the programs at Livnot U’Lehibanot. However, again due to the virus, we cannot offer these students or our local and travelling friends our usual hospitality and because of travel restrictions and social distancing requirements, they can’t come to us.
Our health remains good. We feel extremely fortunate to be living here at this time. We’ve dwelt in Tzfat for over 19 years and have been Israeli citizens since November 5, 2003. We’re American citizens, too, and vote in California by fax. We try to keep up with the news in both countries. We get home delivery of The Jerusalem Post and read The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Tablet on line. We get Hadassah Magazine, The Jerusalem Report, and Poets & Writers in the mail. I order books from BookDepository.com and find resources in my own well-stocked library to explore.
Once it’s deemed safe to travel, we’ll be happy to see any of you wanting to visit us here, and we’ll probably resume our annual visits to the states.
Till then — or till our next Zoom meeting or Skype or Facetime or Instant Messenger call —
I remain Reuven — or Dad or Zeide or whatever nomenclature you choose to bestow on me.
