The Very Best Sukkah by Shoshana Nambi illustrated by Moran Yogev

Sukkah, as many other Jewish holidays, offers a beautiful display of traditions and customs, adapted to the local histories and natural resources.

Written in a children´s voice, the multi-awarded The Very Best Sukkah written by Shoshana Nambi and illustrated by Moran Yogev published by Kalaniot Books takes us to Uganda. Shoshi and her brother are preparing for the celebration, trying to get the first prize of the most beautiful sukkah. Everyone in the village is taking part to the challenge, decorating it with local fruits like bananas, passion fruits, mangoes or jackfruits while adding a local touch to the design and colours. Everything is so beautifully described - and illustrated - that I can almost feel the smell of the village preparing for the feast. It made me so curious to taste the traditional kalo bread, made with cassava and millet flour, apparently a typical local staple. 

But then there is some unhappy natural incident taking part, with most sukkahs being destroyed, and everyone is leaving the competition spirit - nothing bad about it, by the way ´as long as everyone is sharing kindness toward each other´ - for more solidarity and community spirit. The most beautiful lesson of sukkah, where each of us stands for all, surrounded by family and friends and the taste of century-old traditions.

Since the first half of the 20th century, there is a community of around 2,000 people practising Judaism situated mostly in some villages in the Eastern part of the country. (I will not delve into halachic discussions and evaluations right now) Shoshana is the first female ordained rabbi by the Union of Reform Judaism originary from Uganda, currently serving an assistant rabbi in Los Altos Hills California.

The Very Best Sukkah was one of my best Sukkot-related reads for children in a while, a lessons in solidarity, as seen through the eyes of a child, beautifully told and illustrated.

Rating: 5 stars

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

Sisters of Fortune by Esther Chehebar

At the beginning of Sisters of Fortune by Esther Chehebar, Fortune is sharing her thoughts and worries about her life as she is about to get married. Her two other sisters, Lucy and Nina, are far from this moment, but until the end of the book, there will be a reversal of events during which the sisters will start writing their own love and life stories.

Set in the midst of the relatively clustered Jewish-Syrian community, this book is beautifully told, with a very vivid language - I had access to the book in audiobook format, excellently dramatised - that makes justice to the less represented world of the Syrian Jews. (The author explained herself why she wrote this book in this interview with Lilith. )

Through the story of the sisters´ parents we hear the echoes of the usual immigrant story struggling with acceptance, but it gets the colours of Aleppo or Damascus, and the longing for the food, language and a very special way of life and seen things. I was only a bit surprised to read how modern and emancipated the girls were, being allowed to ´date´ for long, spend time alone with their boyfriends and even come late at the break of the sun. Ah, and they also wear jeans. It sounded a bit too much for an obvious observant Syrian Jewish family. 

The three sisters, particularly Fortune, are however submitted to the expectations of their community, where there is also gossip and lots of idle talk. Fortune decision to break up the engagement and assume the freedom of making her own mistakes - without being ostracized by the community and her parents - was for me the favourite part of the story. 

Literarily, I enjoyed how the alternate stories of the sisters operate by fragments, with details resurfacing a bit later, without being explained into detail, so that we, the readers, we can figure out by ourselves what may have happened.

Rating: 4.5 stars  

Next Stop by Benjamin Resnick

 

Next Stop, the debut roman by rabbi and writer Benjamin Resnick, is not the kind of book to start your Jewish New Year round of readings. 

Set few decades into the future, the book is set into a world where the state of Israel was swipped into a black hole and the Jews in America are gathered into a ghetto-like area called Pale - a direct reference to the Pale of Settlement, a region that was assigned between the 18th and 20th century within the Russian Empire for the Jews where confined with limited mobility outside the area.

The events unfold through the eyes and experiences of Ethan and Ella. He, a writer, she a photojournalist with a son, Michael, that will be send in the end out of Pale with a children train transport. The crisis is deepening from a day to another, with mysterious holes consuming airplanes, among which the one where Ella´ sister was. 

I am not a fan of sci-fi or apocalyptic stories, but the depiction of antisemitism - both verbal and its violent form (no iron dogs, but still...) - hit the chord we are experiencing in Europe and North America and far beyond in the last three years. If there is something to keep in mind - over and over again - after reading this book, is the permanence of hate against Jews, combined with the inevitable rays of light brought by solidarity of humans in moments of crisis.

It is a dark read, patched with hope and humour at times.

 

Passage from Aden by Sarah Ansbacher

Israel is a country of stories par excellence. Stories of remote past, survival and just human connections. Sarah Ansbacher, a writer whose passion for stories I featured before, gathered her encounters with the visitors of Aden Jewish Heritage Museum in Tel Aviv where she works, adding so much colour and information about the life of a community who remains only in the memories of those who once left there.

This book is however not only a good source of information for anyone looking to learn more about the Adeni Jews. It also bring into the context of Jewish life, stories from all over the walks of Jewish life, but also those from just curious non-Jewish visitors, from all over the world, from Germany to America.

I loved the brievity of the stories, focusing on the main encounters, while elegantly covering so many topics and encounters, including the Jewish geography and unexpected connections. In most cases I recogized the enormous human web and stories that make Israel such an inspiring place.

Unfortunately, I haven´t visited the museum so far, but I promise to add it on my list the very next time I am back in Tel Aviv.

The Story of the Jewish Bund. Here Where We Live is Our Country by Molly Crabapple

Inspired by the story of her great grandfather the artist Sam Rothbort and looking to connect worlds, Molly Crabapple spent around seven years researching The Story of the Jewish Bund. Worh to mention the word ´story´ and not ´history´ which shows already the limitations and the subjective point of view this book was researched and written. 

Don´t take me wrong: the book is very well researched and is sharing a lot of atmospheric and subjective episodes from the history of the Bund that are rarely remembered those days. The Bund belongs to a period of hardship in the European Jewish history, where they grew up alongide with other intellectual and ideological Jewish movements - like Hashomer Hashair, and various brands of Zionism. 

While the book is so focused in documenting lifes of Bundists, it misses several points when it comes to connecting the Bund with the general history of ideas at the time, and their eventual ideological motivations. However, it is doing the very ´faux pas´ when connects instead with currrent ongoing events trying to present the Bund - currently belonging to the history books, as an example of Jewish dissent. 

As a historian, I find largely dishonest to try such an intellectual juggling, as it does not add arguments, but diminishes the credibility of the approach. It may follow a Marxist flow of thought but nevertheless  completely irrelevant from the historical point of view.

I enjoyed discovering the troubled story of Bund and especially of some Bundists, but my interests ended within the given space. I don´t see any connection with the present and I see no future, and Bundism ended with the world it belonged. 

Also, if you hear the audio version of the book, just a warning: the pronunciation of some foreign - Yiddish or not - is horrendous, the worst music for the ears.

And the Bride Closed the Door by Ronit Matalon translated into English by Jessica Cohen

 

There is no better way to get from afar into the life of a country than through its literature. But when it comes to translations, the edition houses will most likely paid for those with a chance of profit. Which means books covering topics appealing to the general audiences more than the locals. And thus, the local flair is lost for the sake of general interest.

This applies in most cases of Israeli authors in translation, but my observation is that for the case of women writers there is a significantly high interest in covering women voices, beyond the biased editorial borders. Which is a huge advantage for the honest reader, here for the sake of literature not for confirming his or her political expectations.

Ronit Matalon is an important name of the contemporary Israeli literature,even being considered one of the most important Israeli novelist of our times and her And the Bride Closed the Door, translated into English by Jessica Cohen has a timeless relevance. Author of nine novels, a Jew of Egyptian origin growing up in a poor immigrant neighbourhood, she often gave voice to the Mizrahi identity in a non-identiy biased way though, being the recipient of many prestigious literary prizes. And the Bride... is her last book published during her lifetime. 

This book is a novella, about a chaotic event, when a bride refused to leave her room during her wedding ceremony. That´s the event allowing the characters, mostly Mizrahi, but there is also an Ashkenazi hypochondriac, among others, to reveal themselves, in the most absurd and nonsensical ways. And, in between lines, you have the Israel that you don´t see on the news: making new names, always ready for a challenge. And there is the humour with situation one cannnot stop from viewing or thinking about. Matalon gives space to the multiple actors of the everyday life in Israel: the Russian (psychologist specialized in remorseful wives), the Palestinian (fireworker). There is also a trans cousin, which is pretty normal in Israel - being trans, not the cousin part. Also, not forget about how important weddings are in Israel, as social and personal events.

This book left me with the desire to read more by Matalon, but also to start reading more Israeli authors, preferably in Hebrew. 

 

Advice for the Kosher Traveler

With only one week left from the period of three weeks when one may restrain from joyful activities like travel, it is the right time to consider you next journey. If you are a kosher traveler there are so many things to keep in mind though.

Compared to few decades and even years ago, the kosher traveler may encounter less - although enough - struggles while on the road. There are ways and apps to recognize kosher products and Chabad houses are spread all over the world - including in remote places, but with an interesting travel potential like Congo or Vietnam. 

Mordechai Hasofer´s book Guide for the Kosher Traveler, published in English and Hebrew by Gefen Publishing House  offers guidance and lots of details about specific circumstances a kosher traveler should consider for a better yet kosher-safe experience, particularly when staying in a rented facility or during flights. 

The language is clear and so are the information, appealing to both the mid-experienced and beginner kosher observant. It covers rather general circumstance than individual cases, turning the book in a convenient travel companion, no matter the destination. However, some specificities are always welcomed, but this should be kept in mind by the travel themselves. 

For instance, Australia and New Zealand, do not permit entry of non-local foods, which may present some difficulties for anyone planing to bring some tasty food supplies from Israel, for instance. I am sure the author - originary from Australia - may know those rules, but once you start with specific details, you may just need more than one book to deal with.

The book has less than 70 pages, and is available both in English and Hebrew and also includes a list of kosher and non-kosher products to check.

It is a very useful and practical book, recommended also for anyone looking to better understand the stringencies and rules of kosher.

Rating: 4 stars

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