Jewish Resources
Looking for a reading to share on a Jewish occasion, or a piece of Jewish fiction, poetry, or non-fiction to enjoy on your own time? Here’s where you’ll find (a lot of) David’s Jewishly-focused writing.
Essays/Blog posts
You can also find some of David’s Jewishly-focused non-fiction online:
“Holding It All: The Power of Poetry in a Beautiful, Broken World,” an essay published on the Jewish Book Council site
“Judaism in Space,” an essay published on the Jewish Book Council site (tl; dr: How would Judaism work on another planet?)
“Judaism in the Window,” an essay published on the AGNI blog (tl; dr: a meditation on celebrating Hanukkah in threatening times)
“The Blessing of Being Jewish,” an essay published on the Evolve site
“You Can’t Be a Jew(ish Poet) Alone: A Guide to Finding Community,” an essay published on the Jewish Book Council site
In addition, David’s book The Artist’s Torah is an uplifting and down-to-earth guide to the creative process, wide open to longtime artists and first-time dabblers, to people of every religious background—or none—and to every creative medium.
Poems
A lot of David’s Jewishly-focused poetry is available online:
“Asking for Something,” a poem published in the Mid-Atlantic Review (scroll down past the first poem) (themes: prayer, theology)
“Double Rainbow,” a poem published in Moment Magazine (themes: Torah, Midrash, blessings, trouble, resilience, prayer)
“Ghost Stories,” a poem published in the Beltway Poetry Quarterly (themes: theology, persecution)
“It Has Been [one] Day Since the Last Synagogue Shooting,” a poem published in Minyan Magazine (themes: Yom Kippur, antisemitism)
“Monsters,” a poem published in the Beltway Poetry Quarterly (scroll down to second poem) (themes: Tashlich, sin, repentance)
“Saturday Morning,” a poem published in Movable Type (scroll down to third poem) (themes: prayer, community, resilience)
“Passover This Year,” a video recording of David’s poem (themes: Passover, hard times)
“The Poem About Anti-Semitism,” a poem published in Minyan Magazine (themes: antisemitism)
“While They Choose a New Pope, I Eat a Bagel,” a poem published in the DMQ Review (themes: food, interreligious dynamics)
“You Shall Eat and Be Satisfied,” a Midrashic poem rooted in Deuteronomy 8:10, published in Minyan Magazine (themes: Torah, Midrash, food, the body)
“You Will Not Replace Us,” a poem published in the Mid-Atlantic Review (themes: antisemitism, resistance)
Some of these poems, and many others rooted in Jewish ideas and experiences, can also be found in David’s three books of poetry: We Were the People Who Moved, Some Unimaginable Animal, and What’s Left to Us by Evening.
Stories
You can also find some of David’s Jewishly-focused fiction online:
“Person of Interest,” a short story in Ascent (tl; dr: a Jewish woman discovers that she and her baby may be staying next door to a person of interest to Homeland Security)
“The Match,” a short story in Ascent (tl; dr: a Jewish woman facing a serious illness tries to make an unlikely match)
“The Moon Rabbi,” a short story in Clarkesworld (tl; dr: how to celebrate Passover on the Moon)
“What Lights We Have,” a short story included in NPR’s Hanukkah Lights program (tl; dr: how to celebrate Hanukkah on Mars)
Some of these stories, and quite a few others rooted in Jewish ideas and experiences, can also be found in David’s three collections of short stories: Between Camelots, Into the Wilderness, and The Guy We Didn’t Invite to the Orgy. And the many of characters and ideas in his novels—Possible Happiness, How to Mars, Miss Portland–are also Jewish.
TikTok!
David posts a series of extremely dubious tutorials on writing as well as Judaism on TikTok—check them out! Here’s an example: