Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish: The Heeb Storytelling Collection

Editor Shana Liebman explains the genesis of this collection of essays in her introduction--and it provides a fascinating glimpse into the American Jewish culture, a culture rife with humor, sarcasm, and the ability to laugh at mankind's foibles. And these aren't just Jewish foibles, they are universal. The collection of essays in //Sex, Drugs, and Gefilte Fish//, divided into six sections (sex, drugs, youth, work, family, and body & soul), is unified by a shared cultural heritage and a vast ability to cover pain not with anger, but with humor (well, maybe just a little anger!). The essays--and perhaps some of the situations--may be uniquely Jewish in nature, timbre, or humor (after all, not everyone has experienced life--or even a summer--on a kibbutz!), but they are universal in appeal. You will laugh; you may blush. You will definitely come back for more. Reviewed by Claudette Smith

While I was excited to review Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't fully appreciate the humor or the nuances of the writing. I found the book thoroughly entertaining, even though I'm not Jewish. The book is divided into six parts: Sex, Drugs, Work, Youth, Family, and Body & Soul. Each part has from six to twelve short stories, each by a different author. The stories of young love, awkward encounters, and self-discovery are sometimes touching, often hilarious, and fun. The stories aren't connected, so you can start with any story. You'll likely not be able to stop at one. I would read at least three or four at a sitting. No doubt the stories would be even more enjoyable to someone fully familiar with the culture and religion. Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 26, 2009), 288 pages. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Liebman, Shana (editor). "Sex, Drugs and Gefilte Fish: The Heeb Storytelling Collection", Grand Central Publishing, 2009. Excellent Humor Amos Lassen This is a personal collection that is at times irreverent on serious themes. The essays collected here are in a sense confessions of which many self inflate and raise issues from trivia to importance. The stories seem to have a touch of the past in them and even the most hip of today's Jews look back. There is some really gross comedy here and I understand that the purpose of the book is to give pleasure from humiliation. There seems to be a moral to some of the stories. Again I am not demeaning anything here as some of it is very, very funny but the humor points at universal absurdities. The stories are honest and funny as well as sensitive and vulgar. The book is a combination of humor with assimilation. Irreverent yet relevant, this is an anthology that uses humor to tell our story and it is a very funny story at that.

This compilation by Heeb magazine combines humor with a profound look at being a Jewish-American assimilated into the country's culture yet keeping oneself partially immersed in Judaism. The forty-eight essays are divided unequally into six classifications that cleverly reflect like for a Jew in the United States: sex, drugs, work, youth, family, body and soul. Each is well written to bring out an experience using PowerPoint as Caryn Aviv did rather than the Rabbi or "Lesbians at temple" in which Lisa Kron explains the meaning of "Please Rise" during the High Holy days using bowel obstruction for lucid denotation. Whether it is naked at the kibbutz (Rebecca Addelman) or seeing the Hebrew School teacher naked at her home (Eric Weingrad), readers will enjoy this irreverent yet relevant look at being Jewish in America. As my spouse fondly recalls growing up with an Orthodox mom, a pagan dad, and two leaning towards paganism brothers, he remains proud four decades after bringing out into the open over the kitchen table: the point spread during Hanukkah with the pot being chocolate money. This collection is a terrific anthology that uses jocularity to tell the story of Jews adapting in America several generations after having our centuries old ancestral names anglicized at Ellis. Harriet Klausner

The stories in this collection are both hilarious and honest, they're vulgar and sentimental. They run the gamut from a broken-hearted Bigfoot to a "gay" Bar Mitzvah to discussing politics with Grandma. The writers discuss their love lives, their careers and, of course, their families. I'm not Jewish, but I could still relate to many of the stories and laugh out loud along with the writers. It's a funny, funny book. I found myself picking it up every time I glanced at it to read just one more story. Of course, the "just one more" turned into two or three or four. I also had to share bits and pieces with my husband, who sometimes laughed and sometimes looked at me like I was crazy.