Many people may think that talent and religion can not coexist. Once again Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim takes pride in one of their graduates who has managed to excel in both the religious and academic world simultaneously!
Lubavitcher Wins 5 Poetry Awards
Many people may think that talent and religion can not coexist. Once again Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim takes pride in one of their graduates who has managed to excel in both the religious and academic world simultaneously!
“It is our goal to encourage students to pursue a professional career after their studies in Morristown” says Rabbi Dubinsky Rosh Yeshiva.“The time spent studying Torah in Yeshiva often turns out to be one of the greatest assets for that student, empowering him to excel by far ”.
God’s Optimism (available on amazon.com) is Yehoshua November’s debut poetry collection. In addition to winning the MSR Poetry Book Award, it was named a finalist for the Autumn House Poetry Prize and the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. November teaches writing at Rutgers University and Touro College, and his work has appeared in The Sun, Prairie Schooner, Margie, The Forward, and other publications. His poetry has been anthologized, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and selected as the winner of Prairie Schooner’s Bernice Slote Award. He lives with his family in Morristown, NJ and is still an active part of the Yeshiva.
Below are some excerpts from a recently published article .
“Yehoshua November studied poetry at Binghamton University and in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Pittsburgh, but as he became more involved with Judaism, he could no longer reconcile the secular poetry world with his faith. He stopped writing, and attended yeshiva for two years. Later, his rabbis encouraged him to continue to write.
The unenjambed lines project confidence, while the lack of periods reflects a sense of flow between the material world and the unseen. This flow embodies the Jewish practice, emphasized by the Lubavitch ideas that November follows, of drawing down the spiritual into the physical. What makes his writing stand out are his two years in yeshiva, which provide the poems with a spiritual foundation.
When November’s nonmodern mindset collides with questions about atheism, something explosive happens. In “The Purpose of This World,” November writes
When some Jews cannot explain the sorrow of their lives
they take a vow of atheism.
Then everywhere they go,
they curse the God they don’t believe exists.
November’s response to this dilemma is almost surreal, yet grounded in Jewish tradition:
But why, why don’t they grab Him by the lapels,
pull His formless body down into this lowly world,
and make Him explain.”
auntie
some people don’t get it that the bal tshuvas bring alot of richness in our lives. Very special
anon
WONDERFUL!! Amazing job. I will purchase his book asap. I am so proud so see a Lubavitcher with an appreciation and talent for poetry.
Ezra & Shoshana Solomon and family
Mazel Tov from all of us at Congregation Levi Yitzchok, Morristown
woww mazal tov
very nice so glad to see the yeshiva boys succeeding!!
Chaim
Have the book and love IT! Mazel Tov!
college student
He’s my college professor, he’s great! Go professor november!!!
Itamar Rosenblatt
yay yehoshua i always knew you could do it!
Touro student
Professor November taught me at Touro College-he was a great teacher! It’s awesome he is being recognized for his work.
A fan
Wonderful to see a Jew who knows what this world is really about! I have his book and have given it to people as a present. His poems are inspiring and touching. Highly recommended.
LTC Stephen and Nancy November
B”H-Proud of out son.He has amazing insight and his fine words do bring a feeling of meaning and optimism.
ABIGAIL November
He is a gifted ,sensitive and brilliant poet…
an old neshoma and a real mensch, tante Abby from Texas