‘In The Eighteenth Minute’ is a short fiction collection — stories set in the Russian Jewish community, mostly amongst emigres, but also some set in the former Soviet Union. The collection celebrates not only Jewish culture in Russian translation, but also Jewish religion in Russian translation. Becoming observant is, in many ways, an immigration experience, always being an Other in the foreign land of ritual and text study. Faith, and the religious community, can at once offer refuge to one who is left homeless, but also may offer reminders of the places we’ve left behind.
“My work at once examines my traditional community and its confrontation with the outside world, as well as the clashes of Russian Jewish immigrants and their American children. The stories are peopled by immigrants and traditionalists; each story is a search for home: in land, in religion, in culture, and in language.”
Fellows
Avital Chizhik In the Eighteenth Minute: A Short Story Collection Avital Chizhik is a journalist living in New York City. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Tablet, and the Forward, and she is a frequent contributor to Haaretz. Her fiction has received recognition from the Atlantic Monthly, Moment Magazine and the National Young Arts Foundation. She lives with her husband Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt in New York City. Follow Avital on her website: www.avitalrachel.com and Twitter: @avitalrachel
