My completely unsolicited review of “Megillas Lester”

March 13, 2014March 23, 2014beccakinla family, fantasy, frum, good news, humor, Jewish, Judaism, kids, kosher, new, online, Orthodox, purim, review, reviews Tags: chananiah kramer, entertainment, film, funny, holiday, jew, jewish, judaism, kolrom, kosher, megillah, megillas lester, megillat esther, movie, purim, purimspiel, recommend, recommendation, review, spiel, streaming, video, vimeo 7 Comments

After all my recent ranting and raving about Esther in pop culture, I watched a video this afternoon with the husband and kids that made me feel better. I’d first heard about it on Tablet, then on the OU’s website.

Megillas Lester–a hilarious film in the Purim Spiel tradition.

Kolrom media, who has produced a lot of music videos and shorts for the Orthodox audience (like the video for the song “Ana Avda” and a hilarious bit on Aish.com called “Sicko” about how NOT to do the mitzvah of visiting the sick), has just released a video about Purim that refers to all the midrashim and commentaries I talked about in my rant. And it’s funny. Although Esther doesn’t make an appearance. Even Mordechai barely shows up.

That’s because “Megillas Lester” is about a boy, Lester, who dreams he has messed up the Purim story so much that Esther doesn’t have a chance to become queen. And Mordechai doesn’t get a chance to save the king. So who will save the Jewish people from Haman’s evil plot? Continue reading →

In the Courtyard of the Novelist: An interview with Ruchama King Feuerman

November 11, 2013November 11, 2013beccakinla advice, author visit, authors, award, blogs, book, books, ebooks, ending, feuerman, fiction, frum, Israel, Jewish, Jewish Book Carnival, Jewish writing, kindness, kosher, Muslim, news, novel, novels, recommended reading, writer, writing, writing groups, writing process Tags: author, character, characterization, characters, disabilities, ebooks, epublishing, fiction, frum, in the courtyad of the kabbalist, interview, islam, Israel, jerusalem, jewish, jews, judaism, kosher, levant, middle-east, near east, novel, novelist, orthodox, palestine, Palestinian, politics, process, publishing, ruchama feuerman, Ruchama King, ruchama king feuerman, seven blessings, speaker of the dead, special needs, Tablet, temple mount, Torah, writer 4 Comments

I’ve got a treat here today: an interview (conducted via email) with award-winning author, Ruchama King Feuerman. Her latest book, In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist, just came out in September as an ebook. Recently, she signed a contract to expand the release to paperback. I became acquainted with Ruchama through Tablet Magazine online, where both of us have published essays. She was gracious enough to send me a copy of her new book and even more gracious to answer a few questions the novel left me with.

R.K. – In your first book, Seven Blessings, the central figure is a very strong female character. In this new book, you primarily follow two male, unmarried characters. What was that like for you as a married woman?

In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist, now out from NYRB LIT

R.K.F. – I prefer writing from the male point of view. This way I don’t worry about slippage, about parts of my personality leaking into my characters, it’s just cleaner — what’s me is me, and what’s them is them. I feel much freer to invent and have fun when I write as a man. I do tend to prefer singles maybe because they are inherently dramatic. Continue reading →

Struggling to pick out books for your Jewish children or students?

August 29, 2013August 29, 2013beccakinla advice, book, books, children, children's books, clean, frum, Jewish, Judaism, kids, Orthodox Tags: acceptable, books, children, clean, endorse, jewish, kids, kosher, librarian, library, list, orthodox, parenting, recommmended, religious, selection, yeshiva Leave a comment

So many Orthodox parents and teachers have asked me for help finding books for their kids and students that I’ve decided to help them out. Please see the newest page on my author site for a book list and more information about picking out the perfect book for your kosher kid. And don’t forget to list your favorite “kosher” books in the comments to the page.

Considering my last year of literary pursuit

August 21, 2013beccakinla authors, blogger, blogging, blogs, book, books, chareidi, depression, doldrums, frum, frustration, G-d, God, good news, Jewish, Jewish writing, Judaism, persistence, publishing, rejection, rejection letters, submissions, success, tafkid, writing, writing process Tags: cheshbon, elul, evaluation, in print, jewish year, journaling, literary, orthodox, professional goals, rosh hashana, rosh hashanah, thinking 11 Comments

Since there are just two weeks left of the Jewish year of 5773, I’ve been looking back at the last year and evaluating my life on every level: spiritual, physical, and even professional. And one goal still stands out at unfulfilled:

I STILL HAVEN’T PUBLISHED BOOK #2.

This issue depressed me a couple weeks ago, as I sat in front of my journal on Rosh Chodesh Elul (exactly one month before Rosh Hashanah), scribbling about the past year. I’d submitted a few picture books and two novels to multiple publishers and had zilch to show for it.

But then I counted how many times I appeared in print in the last year for pay: over two dozen times (bli ayin hara).

And then, I counted how many words I’d written. Essentially, it was the length of a novel. Wow.

I realized at that point how many more readers — potentially thousands more people — read my work in magazines this year than in my entire previous professional life.

That’s when I felt blessed.

Okay, I still have a major unfulfilled goal. It will be top of my professional goals again for this 5774. But if success is measured in progress, I made a lot of progress last year. And I could only do it with G-d’s help, which makes the year feel very sweet indeed.

How are you feeling about your last year, professionally? What is your top goal for 5774?

Lights to the Nations: Two Jewish thinkers release their books for the secular–even non-Jewish–audience

February 15, 2013February 15, 2013beccakinla blogs, book, books, chareidi, frum, Jewish, Jewish writing, Judaism, literacy, literature, matisyahu, message, reading, recommended reading, tafkid, Torah, writer, writing Tags: book, books, character, gentile, goy, guidance, jew, jewish, judaism, light to the nations, modesty, morality, mussar, nation, new, non-Jew, reader, secular, spiritual, thinking, thought, translation, wisdom 1 Comment

Wow.

That’s pretty much all I could say. I read an amazing blog post by Ann Koffsky this morning (thanks Ann for sending me the link!) where she interviews the unforgettable writer Gila Manolson. The interview is chock full of advice to writers, advice to parents, and other neat stuff. But the biggest revelation to me is that Manolson has created a website to promote her upcoming book–her first book for a non-Jewish audience.

Manolson is not alone. Continue reading →

Using your art to touch the Divine

August 3, 2012beccakinla frum, G-d, God, photos Tags: art, divine, flower, holiness, photo, spirit Leave a comment

I subscribe to a service called PhotoBotos, which delivers gorgeous and thought-provoking photos from around the world to your inbox daily. Today’s photo exemplifies something that I’ve spoken about on my blog before–use of one’s talents to bring goodness and G-dliness into the world.

The photo is entitled “Beautiful Flower”–you can see it here–and the photographer’s goal was to capture the singularity of G-d and His tenderness for His creation. Take a minute view it and enjoy as you admire the wonder of G-d’s creation.

Rebecca Klempner

Author page of Rebecca Klempner

frum

In the Courtyard of the Novelist: An interview with Ruchama King Feuerman

Considering my last year of literary pursuit

Lights to the Nations: Two Jewish thinkers release their books for the secular–even non-Jewish–audience

Using your art to touch the Divine

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