Traces of Jewish life in Perleberg, Germany

My travels through Germany often bring me near traces of Jewish life. There are so many places now where Jews are no more since the end of the 1930s, but their memory is preserved and the places of memory are symbolically converted into cultural meeting points. Although there is a lot to talk about this issue too, as for now I will focus on the way in which the Jewish memory is introduced into the bigger narrative of a city without Jews.

My latest discovery was into the city of Perleberg, a former Hansa city with an interesting old town architecture.

Perleberg has the best maintained Jüdenhof in Germany. Situated on Parchimerstrasse 6a (previously Jüdenstrasse), close to the city center but on a side street, its entrance is symbolically marked by a big white arch. The Jewish history is introduced to the visitor on a big billboard in German, right at the entrance.

The Jewish community here, attracted by the opportunities of trade, went through different stages. Its first history dates back from the 14th until the 16th century, troubled times when the Jews were often the victims of unjust anti-Semitic trials and pogroms. 

The second episode of Jewish history in Perleberg starts in 1800, when a new Synagogue is built and the community is flourishing, but again, only for a short time. In 1942, all the local Jews are sent to concentration camp and killed. Nowadays, there are no signs of organised Jewish life here and most probably no Jew is living here.

The space that was used before to keep the Jews isolated from the rest of the city is used nowadays for cultural encounters and as a meeting point where topics which include Jewish history and traditions are introduced to the wider public through conferences or art and photo exhibitions. Most events are hosted in a simple modern looking rectangular building on the place of the former synagogue, neighbouring a traditional timbered house.  

Book review: Trail of Miracles, by Smadar Herzfeld

Told in the slow pace of a Hasidic story, Trail of Miracles is the story of Gittel, born in the lands of Ukraine, daughter of a Torah scholar and daughter-in-law of the famous Maggid of Mezeritch. Written as a first person memoir, the story focuses on Gittel's account of a life in shadow, a pioneer of her own kind, married as a 12-year old who decided to follow the dream of her youth and go all by herself to Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem she discovered is a faint copy of her dreams but it is the last step of her ladder towards self-discovery and the litmus test of her ability to take over her destiny. Always living in the shadows of men, not encouraged to learn enough because not a boy, she is there all on herself, anonymous, her past left far behind but strong enough to start over and over again. Because this is life, swimming through hardship. 

The writing is beautiful, the words creating beautiful images, talking in dreams that you need to take a break from the book to decipher. Gittel is sharing her experience from the bottom of her heart and at a great extent it is not easy to see her account as familiar as it resonates with some opinions regarding the women's role in religious communities. Only the individual example can demonstrate that there is room for balancing roles. 

My only disappointment is that the story finishes too early, exactly when I was in the perfect mood to discover new stories. 

Rating: 4 stars

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

A Land Without Borders, by Nir Baram

When it comes to the political situation in Israel, particularly in regard with the Palestinian population, most of the books are either black or white, up to the ideological affiliation of the writers. If unsure a book is worth, or not, your time and your money, you only have to Google the author and you can easily figure out which orientation he or she has and the main thesis and assumptions are almost crystal clear. 

It is a pityful pathetic intellectual situation, but this is how things are. After all, it is not bad to take sides, but the ideological sides are very narrow and obstruct the real view, particularly when it comes to Israel. Although I have my own view - narrow also - about the 'situation', I realized that I need more understanding and insights from the 'other side' therefore when offered the chance to get an ARC from Nir Baram book, I decided to take the challenge and offer myself the opportunity of a different lecture.

I think that one of the mistakes done in this case, either you are right or ('wrong') left is that we are tempted to ignore arguments and look only for the over-validation of our points of view. But if you are curious by nature, this is not enough, and things may change as people can change too. 

In the tradition of Amos Oz and David Grossman, Nir Baram is visiting Palestinian villages and inquires about what future stays ahead for the relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Unfortunately he doesn't look necessarily to answer his questions with new questions, but there are interesting facts revealed that may help to do your own further research. Like, for instance, how happened that in Betlehem the percentage of Chrisian Arabs decreased, a fact noticed by the author but not worth the effort of a serious journalistic research. The book is less ideological than expected though therefore, especially if you are curious to gather arguments and even get a sociological overview of the profile of the Palestinian leaders and their background there are some good information to take from it, although parsimoniously.

As for the future, is very unclear after so many chances were missed or peace plans were drawn without taking into consideration the local dynamic. Personally, I keep my assumption that in order to build a state you need elites and if there is any serious research that will show me the potential of a Palestinian elite able to take over the state bureaucracy and lead it to the creation of a modern - not terror-based state - I am more than happy to take the challenge. Otherwise, we are not taking about a dream but a scary nightmare.

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

Catch the Jew!

I was familiar with Tuvia Tenenbom from a previous book where he investigated in a very cynical-humorous way the state-of-the arts of the anti-Semitism in Germany, as well as from his public appearances in the German media. His writing is provocative, clowneresque at the limit, but he suceeds to reveal the ridiculous and the many layers hiding the truth.

Catch the Jew - with the German version Allein unter Juden - is taking over the topic of Israel and presents it on a plate with many mezzes, as any well respected Israeli breakfast should be. Tuvia Tenenbom is the follower of the trustworthy and small sect of the journalists that don't give up asking questions, regardless the circumstances. He needs to know and understand and when people are getting angry because of the boldness of the questions it means that he is a real 'tzaddik', because this is how real journalists used to behave. 

Although many of his trips in Israel have to do with the leftist and pro-Palestinian causes, he is also once in a while also visiting some wonder rabbi or paying his comical respects to some out-of-order strange custom. 

If you want to read a different story about Israel, which doesn't necessarily take any side but that of the inquisitive journalist, I recommend this book. Maybe you will not learn too much new things about this region, but at least will raise some questions about honesty, facts vehiculated in the media and the political realm. A very useful challenge to take once in a while.