Cathartic sensibility?

On Thursday morning we had a meeting of the Netanya AACI Library Forum, at which Sarah Shapiro from Jerusalem spoke on “Is there such a thing as Jewish writing?” Since she is an editor of the book series “Our Lives” (4 volumes) and an accomplished Jewish writer herself, she is in a position to address this topic.

She quickly gave her definition, Jewish writing is anything written by a Jewish writer, irrespective of content, it doesn’t have to be on a specifically Jewish topic. But, then she began to talk about her own development as a Jewish writer and as an Orthodox Jew.

She grew up in an affluent household in Connecticut, her father was Norman Cousins, the famous editor of “Saturday Review.” Growing up she hardly had any concept of being Jewish, her parents were universalists.

She has written about her life and experiences (see "A gift passed along" and "Wish I were here", on artscroll.com or aish.com) and has enabled many other Orthodox Jewish women to express themselves through her editing of the “Our lives” series. Those of us who were lucky enough to be present were fascinated by her story.

It reminded me somewhat of the heroine in the novel “Lovingkindness” by Anne Roiphe, which I heartily recommend. We agreed that the large number of Jewish writers in every language (Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, Elias Canetti, Boris Pasternak) and particularly in American literature (Saul Bellow, Arthur Miller, Bernard Malamud, Norman Mailer, etc.) probably reflects a cathartic sensibility of the Jewish soul, that even many Jews who don’t realize that they are Jews have.
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PS. For those who would like to read about Sarah Shapiro's life changing experience go to: http://www.aish.com/f/hp/48965231.html