Back in the spring of 2023, when we announced our first-ever fiction contest, we here at Hey Alma dared to ask the question: What is Jewish fiction? Does a story’s characters need to be Jewish? Do its themes need to feel Jewish? And what’s the correct rabbi to page ratio?
By the end of the contest, we had a winner in Phoebe Kranefuss’ “Husband, Baby, Shell,” a pile of fantastic short stories we had read through and still no definitive answer to our question. Nevertheless, we persisted.
This summer we announced our second-ever Jewish short fiction contest and we were again astounded by the number, variety and caliber of submissions we received. It was beyond enjoyable to read each one of these stories. We got to experience a queer, genderful longing mixed with the Yiddish Book Center; the complexity of being a single Jewish woman at a bachelorette weekend in Scottsdale, Arizona; family ghosts at Cohen’s Delicatessen; and so, so much more.
Today, we are thrilled to announce our winner. “Home Is the Sailor” by Deborah Zafer — the title a reference to a line in Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Requiem” — is the kind of story that instantly makes the reader ask themselves, “Who is this character reaching out from the page?” The urge to find out propels the reader forward and the story does not let go of its reader’s psyche until the very last word — and even after that, its prose and its themes linger.
Guest judge Gabrielle Korn tells us it was a hard decision to select the winner among the five finalists we sent her. But ultimately, she has this to say about the winner she selected:
“Written in a voice seething with rage, grief and disappointment, this short story captures the hours before a [Jewish] woman goes to her father’s funeral as she grapples with her complicated feelings about what it was like to be the daughter of a famous writer. I was immediately pulled in by the story’s urgency and controlled messiness as the narrator slowly reveals why the relationship was so fraught. The final revelations took my breath away, as did the smaller moments, like this one: ‘My father returns. He gives me one of those nested Russian dolls. I only like the tiny empty baby.’ Ultimately to me this was a story about finally stepping out from the shadow of a narcissist parent, and the devastation of realizing sometimes you can only do that after their death.”
Deborah Zafer lives in London with her family and rabbits. Her writing has been published in Lilith Magazine, Jewish Fiction and 3:AM Magazine. She particularly enjoys writing about family dynamics, female friendship and the choices women make. She is currently working on her first novel and is the Director of the European Writers Salon, which connects writers across Europe. You can learn more on her website, and follow her on Instagram and Bluesky.
Without further ado, please enjoy Deborah’s short story “Home Is the Sailor.”
