‘On Being Jewish Now’
New book looks at reactions in the community since October 7
It seems clear now, a little over a year since the barbarity, that October 7 was not only an act of nearly unimaginable brutality that resulted in about 1,200 deaths in Israel, more than 240 hostages dragged to Gaza — most of them tortured, many of them raped, many of them murdered there — and widespread trauma continuing to torment Israel. It led to the still-ongoing war in Gaza that has resulted in the deaths of many thousands of innocents, many of them children. It also hastened Israel’s status as a pariah nation — a change in how the Jewish state is viewed that already was underway.
And it changed something else. Something more surprising.
It changed the way American Jews live in this, our country. It surfaced antisemitism that always had been there. Now, newly visible antisemitism coming from the left joined the antisemitism from the right that had been unleashed less dramatically but still perniciously since around 2015.
It has made home feel less safe and less familiar for many American Jews, and it also has drawn American Jews together in perhaps surprising ways.
Zibby Owens, a Manhattan-based writer, podcaster, and entrepreneur, felt the shock. She hadn’t been publicly Jewish, as she calls it, before October 7 — she had never hidden being Jewish, and she’d occasionally post something alluding to it. Although, as she later realized, it was a core part of her identity, it wasn’t something she thought about often.
But then her first novel was attacked, despite its lack of Jewishness, because of hers. She was trolled. She was targeted.
She was scared, but she got angry — and she did something about it.
First, she and some friends got together to found the nonprofit they call Artists Against Antisemitism.
And then she had the idea for her new book, “On Being Jewish Now.” It’s a compilation of short pieces that she requested from other writers. She’s been talking about it, both alone and with other writers, and on December 4 she’ll be at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly to continue the discussion. (See below.)
The concept of the book came into focus when “I realized that I had to band together with other voices, because we’re louder together,” Ms. Owens said. “And I need more people — people who are Jewish and who are not Jewish — advocating on our behalf. “So how could I do that?
“I had become close to a group of about 30 women working on Artists Against Antisemitism,” she continued. “So I asked them if they’d like to share their stories about experiencing antisemitism. To write about the kinds of little things that weren’t showing up in the news. I knew that they were great writers, and they had great stories to tell.
“So I asked about 200 authors, and 75 of them said yes.” This was during the summer.
“They’re all Jewish. They had to submit their essays within three weeks. They had to be 1,000 words or less.
“And I adore all of them.”
More of the contributors are women, but a fair number of them are men. They range in age from their 30s to their 80s, and “they’re from all over the world. There are a number of Israeli writers, there’s an Australian, there are four rabbis, there’s a man who is Black and Jewish, there are converted Jews, and someone who didn’t know she was Jewish, because her parents didn’t tell her, until she was an adult.”
Writers represent Jewish streams from Reform to Orthodox, and some are entirely unaffiliated. Some talk about “temples” and others mention “shuls”; some are familiar with the folkways of the organized Jewish world, and others are not. “There also is a whole range of lived experiences,” Ms. Owens said. “Some are descendants of Holocaust survivors. Some didn’t identify very much, until October 7.”
Their voices range widely as well. Some are funny — the book is divided into 11 sections, and one is called “You have to laugh.” Some are puzzled, some bemused, some defiant, some enraged. Some write about their children’s reactions to the new world they’re facing.
Ms. Owens was determined to get the book out before the first anniversary of October 7, so once she got all the submissions, “I edited them myself,” she said. “And then, because I have a publishing house” — Zibby Books — “I decided to publish it, because I knew that if I did it, I could get it done. I decided not to pitch it elsewhere.
“We did it at warp speed. We designed the cover internally. The ebook launched on October 1, and the print version came out on November 1.
“And we did an audiobook — all the contributors read their own essays, and I read my own essay, and also the biographies and the chapter headings. We had original music for the audiobook by Morning Moon Music, and it’s now available everywhere.
“I’m marketing it myself, and the contributors have been a major force in marketing it as well. We all consider it our book, and we’re all spreading the word.
“This is a passion project. All the writers have donated their work. All of the profits go to Artists Against Antisemitism.”
It’s hard for Ms. Owens to say which essays she found most moving — and of course every reader is moved by different stories, incidents, or turns of phrase — but she mentions an essay by Ali Rosen, in a section called “I Thought We Were Friends,” about her betrayal by her best friend, which broke her heart — and how she dealt with it. Ms. Owens cites “a beautiful essay by Lahi Lapid, ‘To Be an Israeli Mom,’ where she writes about what it’s like folding laundry, fearing for your kids’ lives, and thinking about other moms folding their kids’ laundry, and about how some of these kids won’t come home.”
She mentions Rabbi Sharon Brous in “The Invisible Bonds of Connection,” who writes about traveling in Vietnam with her children, soon after her own father’s death, soon after October 7, figuring out whether they could wear their Jewish stars, and finding connection through them, because Jews somehow always manage to connect.
And that is one of the book’s messages, perhaps the one at its heart.
“These stories are about antisemitism, but they’re also about Jewish joy,” Ms. Owens said. “I asked people to write about what it means to be Jewish, about how it feels now, and what it means.
“Everybody has such layered stories. It gives just a little taste of the culture, about what makes us who we are. It is so important, at a time when we are being so unfairly targeted, to show how special we are. How we don’t deserve to be murdered.”
It’s not as if the only reason not to be murdered is that you’re special, she continued. But “we’re cool.”
Pride in being Jewish is a strong thread in the book. “It is a joy to be Jewish,” Ms. Owens said. “It is a privilege. Perhaps one of the things that has happened after October 7, as a result of the targeting, is that so many people have felt more bonded than ever. The connections are so strong. That is uplifting, and it is giving many people hope right now.”
Through talking to the book’s other contributors and to readers, “I think that there are more and more connections between Jews,” Ms. Owens said. “Now that the first layer of shock about October 7 and its aftermath is wearing off, we are moving into another phase, where people are ready to talk more about what happened, to process it, to grieve together — and to do something about it. We’ve been shellshocked and hiding; now we’re stepping out.”
The podcast that Ms. Owens hosts is called “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books.” It’s that podcast, she said, that made her realize how powerful writers can be. “My love of authors brought me to elevating authors’ voices,” she said. She’s now written her own novel, “Blank,” and is working on another one. She has also launched a Substack, “On Being Jewish Now,” where “I publish other people’s essays on that topic,” she said. “Anyone who is interested should contribute. And every week, one of them becomes a contributor-recorded podcast.”
She invites readers — who by definition are potential contributors — to take a look.
Who: Zibby Owens
What: Will join a panel of contributing writers, including Daphne Merkin, Jonathan Santlofer, and Lisa Kogan, for a panel about “On Being Jewish Now.”
When: On Wednesday, December 4, at 7 p.m.
Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly
What else: The JCC is partnering with the Bergen County section of the National Council of Jewish Women on this panel discussion.
How much: $20 for JCC members, and $25 for everyone else.
Where do the profits go: To the nonprofit organization Artists Against Antisemitism
To learn more: Go to jccotp.org and search “On Being Jewish Now” or call (201) 569-7900
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