To understand the relationship between past and present in Jewish culture, look to the Passover seder and its story-logic. #sparklingsentences @princetonupress.bsky.social

Windows, mirrors, and the cultivation of empathy through children’s literature. #sparklingsentences @princetonupress.bsky.social

Another glimpse of my heart on the page: writing about generation gaps. #sparklingsentences

Hello, Boston!

Seems like a fitting day to post one of my #sparklingsentences, about how starting a century ago, Yiddish children’s authors imagined new possibilities for girls and girlhood.

I read Sholem Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer verrrry closely to find out what Yiddish boys were made of a century ago. #sparklingsentences @princetonupress.bsky.social @emorycollege.bsky.social

What did the concept of Shabbos, the Sabbath, mean to Jewish socialists? One of them anticipated Abraham Joshua Heschel’s “palace in time” metaphor by decades. Shabbos was a cultural patrimony and a technology for “rest as resistance,” as I explain in today’s “sparkling sentence.” @princetonupress

See you in about 90 minutes?

Children’s reading was food for their minds. In today’s “sparkling sentence,” I elaborate the specifically Jewish form of the widespread alimentary metaphor in discussing literature for children. @princetonupress @emoryjewishstudies @emorygermanstudies

Know who appreciated this “sparkling sentence”? @marjorieingall.bsky.social Join us in virtual conversation Oct 27 at YIVO. Link in comments.

ATL launch this Sunday!

Some of those bubbes were probably reading these Yiddish antifascist children’s stories, about proletpup Labzik and his loving humans, back in the 40’s!

Today’s #sparklingsentence, from the preface. @princetonupress.bsky.social

Celebrating this week’s release of MODERN JEWISH WORLDMAKING THROUGH YIDDISH CHILDREN’S LITERATURE by sharing some key ideas and “sparkling sentences” from throughout the book. @princetonupress.bsky.social @emorycollege.bsky.social

Please join me for a book event in your city or an online mini-course from anywhere!

As Yom Hashoah descends, I’m thinking about M.A. (Yuri) Suhl’s story “The Little Sholem Aleichem”—about how when we save books and stories, they save us. Image from my forthcoming book, Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature.

Getting ready to RELEASE THE HOUND (Hintele Labzik natch) 🐶🐶🐶🐾🐾🐾♥️♥️♥️🚩🚩 with @rcolesworthy.bsky.social

My first post here combines some of my faves: good swag, bad jokes, and Jewish languages.