As a freelancer, I often find interesting work opportunities that don\u2019t pan out. I spent time in December applying for an editor gig that involved editing summaries of literature to provide students with educational support. I used to think these supports were \u201ccheating,\u201d using these kinds of guides, but now I know differently. Students with special needs deserve access to these stories. I recognize that every student has the right to learn, read great pieces of literature and access education, even if they struggle along the way. So, I dutifully filled out the form, sent off my CV and submitted an application. One application question irked me. \u201cWhat\u2019s your favourite piece of literature and why?\u201d<\/p>\n
Two things bothered me. One is that this response had a word limit on the form, so nobody could wax eloquent about whatever they chose. The second thing is that, as someone in mid-life who reads voraciously, I thought it was ridiculous to ask what someone\u2019s all-time favourite was. I couldn\u2019t possibly name only one, but I thought about it. I\u2019ve been reading Talmud daily for about four years. I must like it. Further, it has helped me gain a lot of insight into the ancient world, and reflects further on ancient cultures, law systems and storytelling.<\/p>\n
I tried to fit this into the form, but I had reservations. The organization had a big \u201cWe do not discriminate\u201d statement on its page but, after Oct. 7, I wondered if I was risking something to say that the Babylonian Talmud was my current favourite. My concerns might have been warranted. On Dec. 25, in the morning, I received a vague form email telling me my application hadn\u2019t been successful. My household laughed about the timing of the form letter. What were they indicating? That Jews should work as usual on Christmas, a North American statutory holiday? Or that my choice of literature was so egregious they couldn\u2019t wait for a business day to reply? Perhaps something else about my qualifications didn\u2019t meet their needs. It\u2019s best not to work for a place that isn\u2019t a good fit. Although this part-time gig had great potential, I wasn\u2019t a contender. That\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n
This experience made me reflect on my lifelong relationship with reading. I\u2019ve always loved to read. One of my undergraduate majors was in comparative literature. A\u00a0 <\/span>favourite moment during my graduate work in English education came when the professor put different things on a table and asked us to list which things were \u201cliterature.\u201d The professor included newspaper articles, fiction and nonfiction, plays and song lyrics, advertisements, and more. Her point was that we often couldn\u2019t predict what piece of writing would stand the test of time. Further, all of us would have different answers to this question about how to define literature and its meaning. She was right.<\/p>\n Since Oct. 7, I\u2019ve had a hard time focusing. For a long time, I couldn\u2019t read a book. Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 I\u2019ve been glued to the news and social media, reading many articles and much political analysis. I listened to completely \u201cfluffy\u201d fiction audio books as I cooked but, eventually, I had to stop renewing a book I\u2019d checked out from the public library. It was nonfiction, a book about the US Great Migration called The Warmth of Other Suns<\/i>, by Isabel Wilkerson. It was well-written and engaging. I felt like apologizing to the author. I couldn\u2019t focus enough to remember the various narrative threads or finish it.<\/p>\n Later, on Dec. 25, I managed to complete reading On the Way Home<\/i>, the short diary of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which recounted her trip from South Dakota to her new home in Mansfield, Mo., in 1894. This brief chronicle transported me, giving me a window into travel during a period of US history that I could only imagine. Was it literature? Perhaps, because it worked the way literature should. I spent time in my imagination in a different place and time. It offered a brief respite. Perhaps it\u2019s the start of being able to focus on reading again? I can only hope.<\/p>\n I wondered why I\u2019d made it through this (admittedly short) volume I\u2019d found at a neighbourhood Little Free Library. It made me reflect on what aspects of literature are valuable and what allows us to focus on it. Perhaps it\u2019s about escape or the imagination. Maybe it helps us learn about relationships, history and culture. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Four years ago, I resolved to start Daf Yomi<\/i>, reading a page of Talmud a day, on Jan. 5. It was my birthday and close enough to the start of the secular new year to be a \u201cresolution\u201d that truly stuck. After four years of reading a page a day, I am still immersed in this experience. Even though I read mostly in English, and barely skim the surface of each page, I\u2019d argue this is a good read. I\u2019ve learned a lot, but it has taken work and research to make meaning. Sometimes, I have to struggle with finding connections with the rabbis who lived 2,000 years ago. Even as the rabbis struggled with practical issues, I sometimes have to read commentaries and make a leap to figure out how the issues applied then as compared to today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Great literature is about history and context, as well as mystery, and it\u2019s all there, wrapped up for us like a big gift in Jewish literature. Religious texts like Torah and Talmud, as well as all the other Jewish stories that came afterwards, add meaning and depth to our lives. Surprisingly, I haven\u2019t had trouble focusing on these narratives.<\/p>\n Here, too, is another lesson that literature is teaching me \u2013 we Jews are a small people but have incredibly rich literary and spiritual resources. As Israel struggles physically with war, these texts remind me what we\u2019re fighting to maintain. Doing the work to understand these texts offers us so much history, context and tradition, I\u2019m grateful to have the opportunity. It\u2019s the least I can do when so much is at stake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Joanne Seiff <\/b>has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including <\/i>From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner<\/a> or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a freelancer, I often find interesting work opportunities that don\u2019t pan out. I spent time in December applying for an editor gig that involved editing summaries of literature to provide students with educational support. I used to think these supports were \u201ccheating,\u201d using these kinds of guides, but now I know differently. Students with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[974,3076,6761,22725,20201],"class_list":["post-43205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-books-2","tag-education","tag-literature","tag-oct-7","tag-reading"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}