It’s STILL Jewish Book Month

life of davidActually, it’s all Jewish books, all the time at Nextbook.org, “gateway to Jewish literature, culture and ideas” and a nice place to spend some time that won’t rot your brain.

A sure way to enliven your intellectual Jewish synapses is Matthew Brogan’s interview with poet Robert Pinsky, author of Life of David.

In contemplating David — king, soldier, artist, rebel — and his complex relationship with the Almighty, Pinsky hits the confusion and guilt of diaspora Jews spot-on:

He is perhaps the ultimate illustration that no generation invented the tangle. The supposed stability of some Absolute Zadeh, the pure and undiluted Real Jew, is unreal. Contemplating the David story reminds me how every Jew can find his own point on an infinite, glorious spectrum of Jewishness.

This may be misfiled, as I haven’t read the book yet, but I will remember this quote — and the image of the great warrior king suffering over the meaning of Jewishness just like the rest of us.

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