Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

´First generation build the house, second generation lives in it, third generation burrns it down´.

It took me months until this online library loan was available which made me even more curious to get my eyes to this book. And, as in the case of the stellar debut by Brodesser-Akner, Fleishman is in trouble, I wasn´t disappointed.

An inter-generational family story, taunted by trauma, and an incident that marked the family - the kidnapping of the family father, a story inspired by a true story that took part on Long Island decades ago - Long Island Compromise is a novel of modern Jewish life in America. 

The author´s fantastic storytelling reminded me of literary sagas of Jewish life in the goldene medine, and it maintains a certain classical storyline, to which (limited) elements of modernity are added. You felt through the story at the end of the 1990s, but a bit far from our turbulent times, but I wasn´t bothered because the ambiance was although authentic, not necessarily relevant for the story. The meeting between worlds happens in a very smooth way, despite the tormented life of the characters themselves. 

What really mattered was the stories of the main characters, written over and over again, based on myths or impressions or desire to be different. As Rabbi Weintraum said in the book: ´all families are a Bible story into themselves´.

The stories intertwins with modern or old trauma, personal or generational. It may get subliminally transferred into addiction - sex or drugs - deep depression, identity crisis. Each wants to be out of it, but it falls over and over again. Jenny, the youngest, is the most categoric, as she focused her depressive thoughts into anti-capitalist attitudes. But her grandmother´s voice will come from the background: ´Thus money you hate, it´s all that stands between you and the gas chamber!´. (The book has a realistic critique of the income inequality, without falling into the trap of any ideological take).

People who once were poor, may know how to avoid the curse again, and the (happy) end of the story, with the drama-free acceptance of life - including the terrible secret that saved the family during the Holocaust - is a victory of life. 

I enjoyed the story and the ideas shared. Long Island Compromise is a contemporary intelligent Jewish story you shouldn´t miss. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

That Black Hasidic Lady by Sara Braun

´Even since I can remember, I was always a spiritual type of child who would have thoughts and experiences more so in feelings instead of words´.

 

Few days back I stumbled upon an interview the brilliantly kind Frieda Vizel did with Sara Braun, a Jew of colour from the Netherlands who decided to become Hasidic. Being Black, with a non-Jewish father, with a non-religious background, some may assume that she will face a strong resilience, particularly if she wants to join insular groups, but in her case, it was rather the opposite - with some limits though, such as shidduchim etc. 

Usually I am writing more about people who left the religious communities, the so-called off the derech phenomenon - which do usually receive a much wider acclaim, but in fact I am equally curious about the other way round. People who left their secular upbringing behind and willingly took upon themselves the strict rules of observance - and received as a bonus a warm knitted community as well.

That Black Hasidic Lady is the book Sara Braun wrote summarizing her personal story. Illustrated with beautiful photos of her and her equally beautiful family, it is an account of how a girl who grew up in a Dutch village, aware of her Jewish heritage, although in a non-religiously committed way, got to know and embraced herself the Hasidic way of life. 

Trained as a soprano, but with an entrepreneurial mind - she tailored wedding gowns for a while while in NYC - she got accepted - as a guest or as a family member, by Hasidic families, most probably Satmer way of Kiryas Joel. She does not mention the name of the group, the only Hasidic sects being explicitly nominated is Chabad - how can someone avoid them anyway - and Belz, to whom she is connected via her maternal side.

´Everything was just about family, community, good food and creating beautiful memories with God at the center´. This sentence clearly resumes what many people were longing for before joining Judaism or who are becoming religious - any religion, in fact. It is the feeling that some people who left the fold will always miss.

The book in itself though was kind of disappointment. In need of extra proofreading and structuring, it leaves you with the feeling that you still haven´t understand too much about her - although her video interviews are more assertive: What exactly was her relationship to God and observance before? How does she ended up suddenly with a non-religious guy from abroad when she was surrounded by Godfearing Jews? How did they negotiated within the marriage the religious observance - which was at the very opposite ends. Why did she returned to Europe though? What exactly meaned her ´radicalized´ observance, which specific minhag ? What about the relationship between her children and their father? How do they navigate between two different worlds? For a while she writes about her husband and suddenly he is ´ex-husband´...She went to the States at 18 as she always dreamed of, which is cool, found a job as an au-pair, and left the job but in any case one needs a valid working permit, including EU citizens. And so on and so forth.

There are also some spicy references about men she met who expected sexual favour from her, but everthing is related within the limits of modesty.

To sum up, That Black Hasidic Lady adds up interesting information about what does it mean to be Jewish - by birth - woman and black in religious communities - there is a lot of prejudice, but there is more than that - but also explores a personal journey of finding one´s place in the world. 

The book is a bit disappointing from the literary point of view though, compared to the videos I´ve watched. A slight editing would have changed and improved everything.

Operation Bethlehem by Yariv Inbar translated by Dalit Shmueli

´Daniel stared at his instructor and thought how convincing deception could be´.

I´ve recently read some good and very good books written by former spies, and the insights of their everyday lives, especially in fiction, brings a note of genuine creativity. But not all spies are easily allowed to share their personal details, even if they are long retired. They remain valuable assets for their institutions, who are, partially at least, continue to keep control over their life.

Yariv Inbar, whose Operation Bethlehem, translated into English by Dalit Shmueli, was awarded Jewish Book Council´s Jane Weizman Award, is a former Mossad operative with a taste of spy thriller. Due to the sensitive nature of his missions, his books needs to be first approved by the censhorship´s office of the service, a practice common for other intelligence institutions such as CIA. According to the same rules, the author is using a pseudonym.

Given the above mentioned limitations, Operation Bethlehem may have less spy core compared to your usual espionage thriller, written by civilian authors. However, out of limitations comes the diamond, which is the main character of the story, Daniel, a French Jew who immigrated to Israel and joined the Mossad, with an explosive personality that may take him on slippery ways, risking careers and operations. Through the twists of the operation on enemy territory - Bethlehem - Daniel is initiating on his own, there are remains of a love story with another Mossad operative and also a curious archeological take, fully in sync with the role of archeology in the everyday life and identityy representations in Israel. 

In the end, the story may be too sugary coated for my taste, but it´s worth reading it if you are curious to get a full immersion into a fragment of the everyday life of a spy. Once a spy, always a spy.

Rating: 3 stars