GOD’S OPTIMISM, BAR MITZVAH DREAMS & TWO WORLDS EXIST:
POETRY READING TO WARM THE HEART AND SOUL
In-person registration link: https://orzarua.shulcloud.com/form/2021-22-poetry-reading
Let’s join together and give ear to two brothers’ award-winning poetry. We’ll gather at Or Zarua on Saturday night, April 2, 2022, at 8:30 pm to make Havdallah then hear two poets’ words (starting around 9:00 pm). Come raise a glass and revel in a reading that will feature Baruch and Yehoshua November.
Yehoshua November embraces a religious faith that can be compatible with a poetry of deep feelings of religious doubt and uncertainty as real options: “A Jew is supposed to trust in God, but this too comes against the backdrop, against the possibility of doing otherwise. This is what makes faith meaningful…If a religious poet is honest..he or she can represent the challenges and humanity of religious life.”
Baruch November is the author of Bar Mitzvah Dreams and Dry Nectars of Plenty (co-winner of the BigCityLit chapbook contest). His poems and short fiction have been featured in Paterson Literary Review, Lumina, New Myths, The Forward, and Jewish Journal. For nearly two decades, Baruch has taught courses in Shakespeare, poetry, and writing at Touro College in Manhattan. His poem “After Esav” was nominated for a 2021 Pushcart Prize.
Yehoshua November is the author of two poetry collections, God’s Optimism (a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize) and Two Worlds Exist (a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize). His work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, on National Public Radio and On Being’s Poetry Unbound podcast.