June 2025 Mid-Month Update: Two New Stories

Plus, an upcoming Literary Modiin event and a brief update from Day 621 & Day 6

Dear friends,

Thanks to everyone who has reached out over the last six days!

It’s been several months since I put out a “mid-month update” — I seemed to lose a bunch of subscribers when I put out such a post, which made me think that more people are “here” for the literary news (the book recommendations and literary events and selected stories/essays of the month, etc.) and less for my updates on life in Israel. But even before the events of the last six days, I knew I’d have some nice literary things to share mid-month, so let’s get to those first, and perhaps I’ll share a brief update at the end for those who are interested.

Celebrating the Wins: Two New Stories

My friend was saying last night that we have to celebrate the wins. She meant it in a different context, but in that spirit, I’m thrilled to share that I had *two* new stories published in the last week!

For those who have read The Book of Jeremiah, you may recognize the characters, and for those who haven’t - no worries - these are two new stand-alone stories, both of which will appear in my next book.

“Baby Face” in Eleventh Hour Literary

“Rites of Passage” in Of the Book

I hope you enjoy the stories, and I’d love to hear what you think in the comments!

I made some AI-generated images to go along with the stories! :-) And I hope this does not need to be said, but just in case: no AI was used to WRITE the stories!!

(PS if you haven’t yet read The Book of Jeremiah and you’d like to grab a copy, here are a few handy links: get a signed copy here, or purchase on Bookshop, Amazon, or from Press 53).

Literary Events

I’m excited for Literary Modiin’s June event, coming up in a few days, on Sunday, June 22 at 20:00 Israel time / 1 pm Eastern - on Zoom. We’ll hear from Danny Goodman (AMERIKALAND), Margot Singer (SECRET AGENT MAN), and Emanuela Barasch Rubinstein (INTIMATE SOLITUDE). Register here:

Save the date for our July event - Sunday, July 27…possibly in-person and on Zoom?? Stay tuned…

Last week, before everything started with Iran, I attended the Shaindy Rudoff Memorial Lecture at Bar Ilan University, featuring Oren Kessler and Benjamin Balint in conversation with Ilana Blumberg. It was fantastic discussion about narrative non-fiction, and got me thinking that I may want to feature some narrative non-fiction at Literary Modiin. Stay tuned again…

There are several in-person literary events in July I’ve been hoping to attend. Fingers crossed they will happen as planned, and if so, I’ll be able to mention them in my upcoming July 1 newsletter.

What I’m Reading

I’m currently listening to Kevin Wilson’s new book, Run for the Hills (Marin Ireland is a fantastic narrator), and before that I “wolfed down” (if one can say that about an audiobook) Taylor Jenkins Reid’s newest, Atmosphere (ditto for Julia Whelan as one of the narrators). It’s been a bit hard to concentrate on reading in the last several days, but I recently finished Margot Singer’s Secret Agent Man; Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell; and Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s The Wolf Hunt. Look for my book recommendations in the upcoming July 1 newsletter.

Quick Israel Update

There is always so much to say, but I’ll try to keep this brief. Off the bat, I’ll acknowledge that I am exceedingly lucky to have a safe room in my house, which we can reach within 90 seconds, and also lucky that thus far Modiin has not seen any destruction from the more than 400 missiles and hundreds of drones launched at Israel from Iran since Friday. My friends and colleagues and Israelis of all stripes in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Rehovot, Bat Yam, Haifa, Tamra, B’nei Brak, Petah Tikvah and other places cannot say the same. To date, 24 Israeli civilians have been killed and over 500 wounded in these barrages. The footage is hard to watch and I’m heartbroken for those who have lost their loved ones and their homes.

Yes, we are a bit tired from being awakened every night, sometimes multiple times a night, and running to the safe room, but my family is okay. We are staying close to home. A quick trip to the supermarket here, or driving my daughter across town there. No gym. No school. No going into work. No shul. No non-essential stores open. Very short bike rides, and only on the bike paths inside the city so that I can dash into a building or knock on a stranger’s door if necessary during an attack. (Tfu tfu tfu, so far it hasn’t happened).

We are all hoping that this will be wrapped up quickly, and that our brave Air Force will do what needs to be done, with minimum loss of innocent civilians, both here and in Iran.

I began this update with our experiences over the last few days, but we need no reminder that we’re now 621 days into the nightmare that began on October 7, 2023. Our hearts and minds remain with the 53 hostages languishing in Gaza and their families. We continue to pray for the safety of our soldiers, and for a resolution that will bring peace and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

On Monday evening, we learned of another terrible loss - a soldier from Modiin who was killed in Gaza - Tal Movshovitz, 28-years-old, father of two small children. We did not know Tal, but his father-in-law has taught all four of my kids, and many of our friends are close with the family. Everyone is devastated. Here’s a snippet of what our friend Jonny just posted on Facebook, including an English translation of an article about Tal. (Read the full post here).

Tal is someone I knew well on a personal level…

Tal was a truly wonderful human being - warm, kind, generous - always looking to help others. His big smile could light up a room, all on its own. He was also a real patriot, in the very best sense of the word, dedicated to ensuring the security of the State of Israel and the safety of his fellow Israelis.

He really was the best of the best.

May Tal’s memory be a blessing, and may his family find comfort among the mourners of Zion.

As always, I’m heartened by the many amazing people in this country and I appreciate your messages of support from abroad.

Until next time, b’sorot tovot. Stay safe out there. Am Yisrael Chai.

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A small way to support my work: Since June 2019, I’ve hosted the monthly Literary Modiin author series, and since April 2020, I’ve been putting out this monthly newsletter. Both represent a significant amount of effort for me, but I love talking about books and promoting other authors, and I’m committed to keeping both of these things FREE for all. I do incur some expenses to keep these up, however, so if you have enjoyed the Literary Modiin events and/or if you enjoy the newsletter or both, and you’d like to support my work in some small, tangible way, I’d be grateful if you’d click on the “Buy Me a Coffee” link below. (If you can’t, that’s fine too)! I appreciate your continued support for these events, book recommendations and my literary musings.

Request: If you’ve read (and liked) The Book of Jeremiah, please help me out by writing a brief review on Amazon or wherever you purchase books online. It can be as simple as one or two lines. Thank you!

Julie Zuckerman's debut novel-in-stories, The Book of Jeremiah, was published in May 2019 by Press 53. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in CRAFT, Tikkun, Jewish Women’s Archives, Crab Orchard Review, The Coil, The SFWP Quarterly, Ellipsis, MoonPark Review, Sixfold, and The MacGuffin, among others. She is the founder and host of Literary Modiin, a monthly author series celebrating fiction, memoir and poetry with Jewish content. A native of Connecticut, she lives in Israel with her husband and four children. www.juliezuckerman.com