Prof. Neta Stahl, R. Jeffrey Saks — War, Writing, Remembrance

AGNON HOUSE and the JEWISH REVIEW OF BOOKS host an online discussion evening marking the arrival of the most recent issue of the Review and its special content “Before & After October 7” (Sunday, March 17, 2024). Prof. Neta Stahl and R. Jeffrey Saks speak with each other and our audience about their contributions to the issue. How did each use the frame of Jewish literature in general and S.Y. Agnon’s writing in specific to craft a response to the traumas facing Israel these past number of months?

The essays can be accessed at the website of JRB (where you can also subscribe!): https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/issue…

Neta Stahl’s essay “A Kibbutz and Its Fullness” details her coming to terms with the catastrophic events that befell Kibbutz Kfar Azza, where she was raised and where her family suffered at the hands of Hamas. Re-reading Agnon’s “A City and Its Fullness” (Ir uMeloah), his epic story collection attempting to come to terms with the destruction of his own hometown during the Shoah, opens a window for Neta to begin to do the same with hers. Jeffrey Saks’ “The Secret of Our Army’s Endurance” surfaces a long-forgotten interview Agnon gave in the 1960s about the meaning and challenge of the return to Jewish sovereignty and the need to maintain a military motivated and guided by Jewish values. The event is moderated by JRB’s contributing editor, Prof. Shai Secunda.

All Agnon Writings are available for purchase on the Shocken Publishing website:

https://www.schocken.co.il/categories/shaiagnonwritings

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