Hostage by Eli Sharabi translated into English by Eylon Levy

A couple of weeks back was chatting with an American-Jewish writer who just returned from Israel and on her storytelling voice she was rhetorically asking how the cruelties of 7/10 were possible? What monsters can do what the Hamas terrorists did to women, children, other humans?

Hostage by former hostage Eli Sharabi, translated into English by Eylon Levy is a testimony that can be only compared with the similar Shoah testimonies. It shows a permanence of the evil, generated this time from individuals growing up in a fanatic cultish ignorance or cultivating the same ignorance for the sake of illicit political and economic power. 

For 491 days, Sharabi, who is of Moroccan-Yemeni origin and an Arabic speaker, was kept barefoot, moved from one tunnel to another, humiliated, starved and ´offered´ to convert to Islam - as it happened to other captives as well. He was submitted to psychological terror, being lied they were abandoned and that Israel will be soon destroyed. 

Those fanatics for whom Titanic is a great newly released movie, clapped their hands for Iran, and predicted a massive Islamic take-over of the ´West´. They nicknamed Sharabi Abbas, as in Mahmoud Abbas or by his nom de guerre, Abu Mazen, whom they despised. 

Sharabi and his other fellow hostages nicknamed their guardians as well, based on their physical features or behavior. It was their distraction in between the verbal and physical aggression they suffered, and their deteriorating health situation. Food, as in the Shoah memoirs, plays an important role in the survival strategies. But bravely, the solidarity won in the front of the efforts of their captors to create dissent in the group, due to the food rations. Every Friday evening they recited the Shabbes songs, and the next day the Havdala songs. They prayed in the morning. Another example of strength and survival.

Sharabi found out the day of his liberation that his brother, Yossi, also took captive from kibbutz Be´eri was killed. His beloved wife and daughters were killed on 7/10 and although he imagined this scenario, he was informed about only upon his return to Israel. 

It is so much tension in this book and you feel overwhelmed by the weight of the dramatic realities of the last two years. I think we should not try finding an answer about the human nature and how was it possible, but to find the best ways to never allowed such a cruelty to be committed. It is like the post-WWII history is written over and over again. 

I´ve had access to the book in the audiobook format, extraordinarily read by actor and coach Geoffrey Cantor. 

Book Review: Hunting in America by Tehila Hakimi translated by Joanna Chen

The unnamed woman character of author and poet Tehila Hakimi´s debut novel Hunting in America, translated into English by Joanna Chen (here is an interesting dialogue between the author, the translator and the Jewish Book Council about the book) got promoted to the American branch of the Israeli company. A three-year contract as product manager, and the promise of a new life.

She moves, learns from the mistakes of addressing her colleagues in a very direct frontal way, not getting used with the tasteless food, and got invited by her direct supervisor to hunting. Weekend after weekend, this will be her intermezzo that makes the difference between work and non-work. And as she advances into the experience of the hunting her life takes a dark edge. Her job is unsafe, she is getting involved with David, her supervisor and hunting partner. 

First and foremost, except hunting - Hakimi brought the topic as a common bridge between Israel and USA - there is nothing else happening to the character´s life. (and here there are again similarities between the two cultures). The daily work instills importance and relevance to the day, consumes the energy. What else is left ? Therefore, the confusing experience of the hunting, where deers may acquire human features. Can you imagine the exhaustion of being took out of the safety of the office and the project management tasks? Work is an alienation (and the protagonist is fully alienated from herself during her intensive working episodes, manifesting her eating disorder) but not-work is a hallucination.

The timeline of the story is mixed, with the episodes leading to her American chapter being mixed with the accounts of the present time. The counting - ´on my first hunting in America...´ - split the story into different benchmarks. It is like an effort to make sense of a lonely life, who does not exist outside the work framework.

This is a short novel, that I´ve listen in few hours as audiobooks, read by Sharone Halevy - her use of the right Israeli accent at the right time in the story added more authenticity to the audio-reading.  

I´ve found the angle of the book very interesting, but sometimes a book built around a thesis may have shortcomings in terms of other elements, such as character development etc. But it is a concise explanation of the idea and would definitely love to read more by Hakimi, especially her poetry, hopefully in original.

Rating: 4 stars

Writing About 7/10

It is very difficult to write about ongoing traumatic events. The trauma of 7/10 is unfolding, although today more than two days ago there are more chances to see a closing - although not an end of it. 

Recently I attended at the International Festival of Literature Berlin a discussion about writing after 7th of October, with Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, Julia F. Tzaisler and Yaniv Iczkovits. Gundar-Goshen, who is a clinical psychologist by profession, and was asked to offer assistance to those affected by the events, outlined that right now, the trauma the Israeli society is experiencing is still ongoing since two years. Healing requires at least a closing of the current state of affairs, meaning the return of the hostages and end of the ostilities.

Therefore, it is hard to read and think about the future of Israel when the past is in the making. The hope, that toxic hope that poisons sometimes our senses, requires a balance that only books can offer. Hence, an overview of three books I´ve read in the last years related to the 7/10, in German and English.

I classified the three books in a past-present-future timeline, although this does not reflect exclusively the sequence. But, we humans we need structure and categories to organise the world, even in the midst of the most terrible catastrophies. 

The Past: Israel.7. Oktober by Lee Yaron, translated into German by Maria Zettner, Sigrid Schmidt, Cornelia Stoll

This book by award-winner journalist Lee Yaron is my favorite approach on the current events so far. In 10 ´human stories´ she brings to the life of the written word personal histories of victims of the massacre. It is an enormous but worth every word of it, of oral history. It keeps the memory while outlining the diversity of destinies and the precious lives that were lost.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Present: Fenster ohne Aussicht by Dror Mishani translated by Markus Lemke

When 7th of October happened, crime author and literature professor Dror Mishani was in Toulouse. His diary of the time covering those first moments following the massacre until 10th of March 2024 were collected in a Tel Aviv diary translated into German as Windows without View (the translation belongs to me). Exactly as a windowless window, the words - his, his students´ - are hardly finding their way. For a while, he is not writing crime novels, he cannot do it right now, but took notes of the reflection of his memories and thoughts, with snipets of information, about this new society. Literature makes not sense, and his refuge are old prophets´ and the Ilyad. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Future: Fire by Ron Leshem, translated into German by Ulrike Harnish and Martin Lemke

Ron Leshem, the author of Fire - in the German translation, Feuer. Israel und der 7. Oktober - overviews Israel´ strategic mistakes, including regarding Sinwar, from the perspective of a future that must be focused on healing the trauma. It is a personal and society trauma, as Leshem had family members who lived in the kibbutzim and eventually got kidnapped. His insider knowledge combined with his analytic skills - he was a former intelligence officer gives a realistic chances of a difficult future yet not impossible to fathom. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Adama by Lavie Tidhar

´They´re good boys, but bad things happen in war´.

 

The Hebrew word ´adama´ - earth, do include the word ´dam´ - blood.

Lavie Tidhar´s noir story of Israel, is subversively embracing a different, less romanticized narrative of the country. An inter-generational story that does not act according to the usual back and forth towards the memory lane, with gangster kibbutznik women following revenge until death do us apart. I laughed and had second thoughts and even checked some references that were obviously fictional, intentionally confusing the reader.

In Adama the kibbutzim and their inhabitants are everything we wished they are, and what some of them really were: fierce, boiling revenge, breaking up every single rule, breathing freedom. Tidhar moves with a joyous irony through fragments of Israeli history, with fine irony and historical references made in full honesty.

Ruth, the matriarch of kibbutz Trashim - ´rocky ground´, not ´trash´, but who knows - a fictional location placed in the North of Israel, is the perfect new Jew. A Holocaust survivor from Hungary, hard as stone, fierce. She hates Zohar Argov. Unstoppable even when touched by early setting of dementia. But some things simply cannot be forgotten. 

I always despised the Romantic view on kibbutzim. Pioneers, hard working, patriots. They were all of it and a bit more. Tidhar, a prolific science fiction writer and pulp fiction consumer, instilled life in the usual stereotypical kibbutznik. And how I love the gangster touch of it. After all, history is made by people, people like Ruth and the boys hidding weapons between the freshly harvested vegetables. 

The book is the second installment from the Maror Trilogy, and it was only my personal choice to start with the second one. I will continue with the reviews of the other two books at a later time.

Rating: 5 stars

No Other Land

I am terribly late in terms of catching up with latest films and cultural productions from Israel that got a certain notoriety. Those times are hard for the truth and what really appeals abroad may be rather what the audiences are expecting to hear and see. Definitely not the truth.

No Other Land was extremely praised and I wanted to keep my mind clear from various toxic views on a conflict that is commented from abroad and rarely shared from inside. 

Basel and Yuval, one Palestinian and another Israeli are witnessing the constant demolition of Palestinian homes in the village of Masefer Yata in the West Bank. Watching the movie and seeing how the IDF is repeatedly destroying the houses rebuilt overnight and sends the inhabitants in a precarious cave-based habitations you can hardly control your hate against the IDF. Women fighting barehands, children growing up in the middle of the rubble, men took to prison, Yuval recording everthing, Basel looking forward in this hopeless world. Terrible times and precarious existences.

It´s really sad, but you know what is also sad: half-truths or undocumented affirmations. No one producing this movie seems to really care to offer a bit of background about why we have this situation, what exactly in bureaucratic terms creates this unclear property situation. In no normal country in the world is it possible to start building without construction permit. 

And you know what is also sad: that the Palestinian living there, do have authorities to represent them, to have their rights defended using the democratic tools. No authorities to check out and negotiate new legal arrangements and laws allowing people to live in houses instead of caves, giving the chance to someone like Basel who studied at the university to get a job. 

Yuval and Basel may do a great job documenting, but decision making is somewhere else, in the place where people taking decisions may be. Until there will be no responsibilities taken and people in charge with clarifiying the legal framework, children will continue to waste their childhood in the middle of the rubble.

Indeed, there is No Other Land, but don´t expect others to do for your land what you are not doing yourself for it. And it is not about the ´resistance´.

Satmer kidnapping in Argentina?

Last evening, I watched the shocking life story of Chanie Werzberger that was previously presented in series by Ami Magazine. She is a fantastic strong woman, that despite the tragedies she went through, she is able to embrace the day with resilience and emunah. Her story was recently published by ArtScroll and I am definitely curious to find out more about all the details of her life.  

There were many thoughts that stayed with me or developed shortly after watching the interview. The story itself, and the way in which Chanie is telling it, is traumatic. 

Born in Argentina in a non-religious family, when she was 4, her parents separated. Her mother was a bohemian and apparently used to leave her and her sister (6 at the time) alone at home for long amounts of time, including by night time. Following a phone discussion with the Satmer Rebbe in NYC - there is a significant number of Satmer Hasidim living in Argentina, result of post-WWII immigration, a community Askenazi by name and Sephardi by customs -, decided to kidnap the girls and take them to the US. It took Chani 21 years to meet her mother again. The mother´s side on the story is not known as for now.

During their stay in NYC, they were hosted in different foster families across NYC - she doesn´t say it but probably it was a way to lose their trace - , and joined their father lately, living in precarious, rat-infested basements. They received new names. 

It takes a lot of courage to share such a story, and although she is not accusing anyone for what happened, this is a clear example of parental alienation and it is no wonder that the religious argument was used as a subterfuge for the kidnapping. Altough I may have a more radical critical take on the situation, I deeply respect this pious courageous woman.

The events took place almost six decades ago therefore also the rules and awareness about such cases was lower. The fact that her father got the support of Satmer Rebbe is another level of interest though, that may require a bit of more journalistic inquiry. If it was so easy to bring two girls from Argentina and alienate them completely from their non-religious family, what about from other countries, or from the USA? Satmer used to be very active in Yemen from where they brought Jews to the US and integrated into the sect, so maybe there is much more to search about this case, and maybe many similar others.

Hopefully, to be continued...

About Lies

Anyone with an ounce of observation skills, interested to take the pulse of the daily life on the streets of Berlin may have notice that in the last two years a different mood is growing. Yeah, Berlin remains a party city and people love to dance on the street, but this time they do it in the monotonous pace of screams to ´globalize the Intifada!´ I give the benefit of doubt that many of those in trance when hearing it were not even born during the time of the Intifada, and some really don´t have anything to do with the Middle East - except some T-shirt they got for free with the bold Palestine word on their chest - preferably red. But there are many who actually know it very well, and they may fantasize about playing its game. Those who may produce the T-shirts and may hand some financial support to those in need, laying idly near the Shisha bars of Neukölln. 

Jüdische Allgemeine editor-in-chief Philipp Peyman Engel wrote recently a book about Germany´s Existential Lies - Deutsche Lebenslüge in original, the English version of the translation belongs to me - which sums up facts and figures, experiences shared and lived. In Berlin, in Israel, in Ruhrgebiet - where he was born. Experiences from his mother´s country of birth, Iran.

I don´t think this book is for the German Jews, they may know and see by themselves, no matter how distant from the daily practice may be. But the Germans themselves, they may want to read about the duplicity - those...´yes...but´ just for the sake of playing right while hiding the truth (it is just me or the practice of taroof is taking too much over our public lives, no matter where - hint, see the current ceasefire between Iran´s mullahs and Israel). 

Instead of creating a debate, a dispute, some truths on the table, due to some cacophonic screams that will make the most aggressive bazaari hide of shame - bazaari people are lovely and hardworkers, don´t take me wrong - that diverted the discussion into a direction that really do not matter for the discussion - if Payman Engel´s mother was or was not member of Baha´i when for most of the people heating the debate this name says much less than a Mai Tai they order to drown their existential self-doubts - we may be skipping the chore of the book. Is that true? Is life for Jews in Germany becoming more threatening after 7th of October? Is it fair to expect the Jewish citizens of Germany to enjoy life or only if you screem ´Free, Free´ waving the flag of a country murdering its own citizens you have the right to breath without fear?

What about reading the book, taking notes, create some bullet points, read some history books or hire some people to do it for you, bring your friends from all over the river and seas and discuss. Use arguments, examples, counter-argument, you name it. Instead, we are missing another occasion of self-reflection and all we are left with are the loud screams of mediocrity.