The New Vilna Review in 2011: Discussions, New Voices, A Book, and More

by Daniel E. Levenson, ALM

December 26, 2010

Looking ahead to the new (secular) year, I have been thinking quite a bit about how the work of the New Vilna Review can continue to grow and expand. One project I am very excited about is a series of brown-bag lunch discussions that I will be leading this spring at the Vilna Shul, located on Beacon Hill in Boston. People often ask if the New Vilna Review and the Vuilna Shul are connected somehow, which invariably leads to a discussion in which I explain that no, there is no official connection, but yes, I do know some of the people there and they are doing great work. This is then typically followed by my explanation that the word “Vilna” is not some kind of snazzy new marketing buzzword that two Jewish organizations in Boston happen to have in their name, but the name of a place which was once the center of Jewish life, learning, culture and politics in eastern Europe before the Nazis destroyed it during the second World War. In any case, I was lucky enough to be invited to come and facilitate a 4-session series on Jewish identity, something which is of course at the heart of the work of the New Vilna Review. There will be more information forthcoming over the next couple of months with details on the series, but for now I wanted to let readers in the Boston area know that this will be happening, and I am hopeful that those of you who can make it will come by and take part in the discussion.

Another significant undertaking is a new book I have written, comprised of a series of essays on modern Jewish identity, which will be coming out early in 2011. I am very hopeful that this new work will become a tool for teaching and discussion in the English-speaking Jewish world, and I am looking forward to doing readings and having the opportunity to expand the kind of dialogue we try to foster here on the website, in real-time, within various Jewish communities.

I am also excited to share new work from our varied roster of new and regular contributors, including essays, fiction and poetry. Reading the submissions that arrive in my inbox and meeting new writers when I am out at various events and functions is one of the most interesting and fulfilling parts of my job as publisher and editor-in-chief, because I get  to read great writing on such a wide variety of topics, and then share it will all of you. I look forward to continuing this work, discovering great new writing, meeting people who are helping to shape the Jewish future, and sharing all of it with the people who inspire us to keep this project going, day in and day out: you, our readers.

Copyright 2010 Daniel E. Levenson/The New Vilna Review.