One year ago, the Jewish Book Council launched the 8 Nights of Stories series on The ProsenPeople. For each of the eight nights of Chanukah, the Jewish Book Council set out to help our readers find more stories — to read to children, to share with young adults, and to read on your own after the kids are in bed. For Chanukah 5775, we’re delighted to partner with the writers of Hevria, a new collaborative of Jewish self-identified creators, as guest contributors over the next eight nights.
For the final installment, Hevria contributors Yocheved Sidof, Tzvi Kilov, and MaNishtana write about the stories they think most worth sharing:
Yocheved Sidof
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is a book whose story entered my mind and spirit. In it, a young shepherd follows his heart and dreams — the literal and figurative — to a buried treasure in a far-off land. Along his travels he meets people who challenge his perception of the world and persistence in finding his destiny. I love the allegorical story, its characters, mystery and metaphor. It’s an inspirational tale that encourages one to dream big dreams- and look within for answers.
Tzvi Kilov
Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust by Yaffa Eliach: Spirituality from the edge. This book causes a lot of crying, as you’d expect from a collection of holocaust stories. Most of the tears won’t be shed over inhuman atrocities, but for the incredible strength and triumph of the human spirit immortalized in this collection.
MaNishtana
Imagine if Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day had been set on a spaceship, illustrated by Roald Dahl, and colored by M.C. Escher, and you would have The Gobblings by Matthue Roth and Rohan Daniel Eason. A futuristic yet grounded, commonplace but somehow mystical tale that comforts even as it frightens, daring us not only to peek under the bed, but fight whatever might peek back.
\View the full Eight Nights of Stories series, in partnership this year with Hevria!
Related content
- Essays by Matthue Roth
- Michael Levin: Dynamic and Polyglot: Judaism’s Hasidic Revival Movement
- The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats by Claudia J. Nahson with Maurice Berger and Emily Casden