By, Anonymous
1 min read
Linda Grant is a journalist and novelist.
What is your most significant Jewish moment?
A conversation with the Israeli novelist Aharon Appelfeld in Jerusalem in 2003, which has stayed with me for his insights into antisemitism.
Which biblical character would you like to meet, and why?
Moses. I’d give him satnav.
What is your favourite mitzvah?
I think there’s one about building a parapet around a flat roof. Very wise.
Israel for me is…
Davka.
When was the last time you went to synagogue?
A barmitzvah three days before 9/11.
What is your favourite Jewish book?
The title story in Delmore Schwartz’s In Dreams Begin Responsibilities. Schwartz is a forgotten writer who peaked too early and went down into alcoholism and madness. This story, his first published, shows the courtship of a Jewish couple in New York before the First World War, concluding with a remark which made me explode with laughter.