The Year 2023 Is Bookended with Joy and Tears
To me, the year 2023 is framed by bookends. It began with me feverishly, but joyfully, writing a novel and now ends with me working to raise funds and writing what I consider an important book of nonfiction about a more somber subject.
At around this time last year, while I was on the treadmill, my mind wandered to events in my past. I’m fifty-eight years old, so there’s a lot to look back on. I reached back forty years to some experiences I had at Interlochen Arts Camp here in Northern Michigan back in the summer of 1985. That’s the kernel of truth in what became my novel, Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story. It chronicles the lives of two middle-aged musicians whose forgotten forty-year-old song accidentally goes viral, catapulting them into fame while providing them with renewed choices late in life. It’s a love letter to music and explores themes of aging, regret, love, faith, and second chances.
I wrote it in a relatively short period of time. In April, Esoterica Magazine ran an early draft of a chapter. By the end of July, I found a publisher, Vine Leaves Press. I’m a lifelong writer of nonfiction, so this novel was unlike anything I had written before. I consider it to be my biggest accomplishment of the year. And, yes, it does explore some Jewish themes as well. Because that’s what I do.
What I also do for a living is edit other people’s books. I do fiction and nonfiction about a range of topics. Because I specialize in writing about Jewish issues, many Jewish clients come to me with their manuscripts. I edited some fascinating manuscripts this year, including an author who tries to reconcile religion and science, an Israeli-born lawyer who became a pioneer in civil-rights litigation in the US, the daughter of a survivor of a pogrom in postwar Poland, and many others.
When I’m not writing and editing books, I try to find the time to write about Jewish topics for select publications. Frankly, making a living as a freelance journalist is impossible, so I do these stories because they need to be told rather than for much financial gain.
In January, I wrote a feature for the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles about Hen Mazzig. As a social media influencer, Mizrahi activist, pro-Israel educator, and member of the LGBTQ community, Hen carries around many different identities. Hen is also the author of The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto.
In February, I wrote a piece for JTA, which also ran in The Forward, about the urgent need to help Odessa’s remaining Holocaust survivors live through a harsh winter.
In May, I interviewed the authors of The Last Secret of the Secret Annex: The Untold Story of Anne Frank, Her Silent Protector, and a Family Betrayal for Publishers Weekly. I talked to the son of one of Anne’s protectors and his co-author on a new betrayer theory, life inside the annex, and second-generation Holocaust trauma.
In September, I talked to Mike Rothschild, author of Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories for the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. No, he’s not related to those Rothschilds. We had the chance to explore the perplexing and deeply troubling “Jewish Space Laser” conspiracy theory. We laugh about it, but should we? You can also listen to the full interview on my occasional podcast.
By the time October 7 rolled around, I was feeling pretty good. I had just lost about ten pounds, and that morning, my fifty-eighth birthday, I prepared to run the Sleeping Bear Half Marathon here in Northern Michigan. Just before the race, I heard the horrible news. I finished the run in a daze. And, like many, I was in a state of shock and mourning. In fact, uncharacteristically for me, I was at a complete loss for words. It wasn’t until October 18 that I finally found my voice again, and it was filled with tears and rage.
After I looked inside myself and figured out how I could help in a positive way, I came up with an idea for a book that would point people in the right direction. I decided to make my book, From Outrage to Action: A Practical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism, a Kickstarter-funded project because I wanted participation from a wide range of Jewish backers and our allies. It was a gamble because I had no idea how my social media followers would react to my request not for “reposts” but for contributions. It was a success, and the project is now completely funded, with four days left to go in the campaign.
I’ve written considerably about what this book will and will not be. You can learn more on a special section of my website devoted to commentary on the initiative.
And that brings us to the other bookend of 2023. It began with excitement over my novel and ended with a renewed sense of mission with my upcoming book on antisemitism. I know these are dark times for many of us, and I will never look at the world the same way after October 7. But I urge everybody to reach inside yourselves and discover what you can do to fight antisemitism. We all have our unique talents and connections. We can all do more than “doom scroll.” Together, we can make 2024 the year we take back the narrative and fight antisemitism in all its forms.