The Yeshiva and the Rise of Modern Hebrew Literature by Marina Zilbergerts

I am reading a lot of OTD memoirs and novels, but very often I had a déjà vu. Every time I delved into stories of dramatically breaking up with tradition, and starting a secular life, while keeping the mental traces of the life before, it sounded like there is a much older story behind it.

The Yeshiva and the Rise of Modern Hebrew Literature by Marina Zilbergerts is connecting the historical and literary dots from past Jewish experiences to current times. The book aims and suceeds offering a new model for understanding the rise of modern Hebrew letters, in the larger context of and connected with the mentality challenges underwent by the majority in the midst of which Jews leaved.

The end of the 19th century Russia marked not only the rise of a new generation of Jewish writers, not few of them former yeshiva students, who will create under the more or less distant influence of thhe Russian intellectual trends, particularly the anti-religious ones. 

´The world of Talmudic study - its practices, themes, and language - served as a rich reservoir of expression for writers engaged in the creation of new Hebrew literatures well into the twentieth century´. 

Most of the anti-religious authors who pioneered the Hebrew literature used to be yeshiva students and although their work grew in the non-Jewish environment, whose topics - modern love, among others - were included into their literary repertoire, they remained anchored into the Jewish religious mindset. Similarly, the OTD literature - mostly memoirs though - is adapting to modern, anti-religious topics, while maintaining the Jewish mindset.

Interestingly, Zilbergerts specifically traces the influences from the Russian literature, with authors references, in the works of Jewish writers in Yiddish and Russian.

The book is well organised and very rich in literary references, particularly from the modern Hebrew literature. My list of classical Jewish writing is growing by the day and such well-written monographies are inspiring me to explore more sources and authors. 

Zionism. An emotional state by Derek J. Penslar

There are many different ways to approach a movement like Zionism and the focus on emotional aspects is clearly one of them. But what type of national-ism/-oriented movement isn´t emotional? Similarly with a religious awakening, a nationalism requests more emotiona connection than rational choice. In moderate dosis it can magnify the individual, offering them a place within the larger community, with at least one function to perform: being counted towards the identity group.

Zionism, at least in terms of theoretical origin, can be placed under the same category of national revival occuring in the 19th century. Canadian-American historian Derek J. Penslar is analyzing it as ´an emotional state´, which may be a very interesting take.

Is Zionism different than any other national mainstream movements? It answers a different national aspiration and clearly is based on a different narrative than, let´s say French nationalism. And although the book has a solid factual historical background, it lacks the deeper connection, including emotional, which makes Zionism slightly different also from the historical point of view. Across centuries, no one prayed to return to Germany or France, but the idea of Zionism pre-existed the 19th century.

The author quotes from Bava Batra 158B: ´the air of Eretz Israel creates wisdom´. I´ve heard a variant of this very often and it shows a thought that goes, including emotionally, beyond the current debate confronting antisemitism and anti-Zionism or the state of Israel in general. Such references would have offer a much realistic overview of a movement that, clearly, is the subject of more emotional interest than any other in the world. Understanding the ´why´ is still something that needs to be answered.

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

Dreidel Stories

Hanukka is over this year. In our household, it is our favorite holiday therefore in order to lift the mood up, we rely on stories while preparing for the next year chag.

Dancing Dreidels by Alva Sachs, illustrated by Patricia Krebs

The dreidels from this story are hardly preparing for their moment of glory as well. Rebecca, their owner, do practice before the holiday, but one, Shin/Sheila is struggling with spinning. With a bit of night practice though, she will succeed and for her Hanukka moment she will definitely play her part well.

Accompanied by explanations about traditions, food and the origin of the holiday, this book, beautifully illustrated adds some playful experience to the traditional Hanukka party. A great introduction to the holiday as well as a good story to keep the preschool children focused and entertained.

Rating: 4 stars

The Extraordinary Dreidel by Devorah Omer illustrated by Aviel Basil translated by Shira Atik

Israeli (secular) children books, also when they are approaching traditions as Hanukka, do have such a modern relatable way. In The Extraordinary Dreidel by late Devorah Omer illlustrated by Aviel Basil and translated into English by Shira Atik, just before the Hanukka party, the children are faced with the disappearance of a dreidel. But as the dreidel apparently appears, the four cats named after the four dreidel letters may keep it. Why bother them, anyway?

It is a funny story, with playful dialogues and characters and some behavior lessons for preschool to school children. 

My favourite of this season so far!

Rating: 5 stars

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

The Sword of Freedom by Yossi Cohen

 ´Don´t dare touch my country!´

The first Orthodox Jew to be named the director of the Mossad, the one during whose mandate the unforgettable stealing of Iran´s secret atomic energy archives took place and who planted the seeds of the pager operation wrote a memoir - The Sword of Freedom - that raises few questions.

Why would a veteran operative and former director of the Mossad share so many inside secrets? There are anonymised details about operations, fate of operatives, recruitment, more than in any other similar memoir I´ve read before. Contrary to how the saying goes, the history is not written by victors. Especially after the massive intelligence failure of 7th of October, the resilient history of Mossad may be forgotten. Yossi Cohen is insisting that there is a different angle to it and this is not the exception rather the rule of operation of an unbeatable intelligence service.

Another question is: what exactly wants Yossi Cohen to achieve with this very detailed memoir? He is sharing a very realistic geopolitical overview but also his own strategic considerations, based on his decades of experience in the field. He is articulated, as cynical as a Mossad spy is expected to be but also knowledgeable in terms of personal management and recruitment techniques. 

What´s next though? Or rather, is Yossi Cohen planning to put his art of government knowledge into practice? Never say never. Could he turn into an Israeli Putin - a political character whose (geo)political realism he outlined in two or three occasions ? It is clear that he does no intend to join any current political structure - although he was offered - as ´I am no one´s No. 3´, but with the new elections - long time not seen - looming towards the end of the next year, he may create his own structure. Currently he is a consultant and his interests are covering a wide array of topics like renewable energies, smmart use of information and AI. 

A patriot, he proudly mentioned his intellectual references: David ben Gurion, Jabotinsky und Menahem Begin. Meir Dagan was his professional model and rabbi Haim Druckman, the late spiritual leader of the religious Zionist community - Cohen also learned at Yeshivat Or Etzion leaded by Druckman - as his spiritual leader. Although a religious person, his stance regarding the military service for yeshiva bochurim is very clear: they need to be part to the patriotic efforts of the Israeli society otherwise their social aid may be cut. If determined to enter politics such a position will not bring him the votes of a specific community, but his target groups are nevertheless very well defined.

The next moths will show if there will be a politician Yossi Cohen. He was very diplomatic when mentioning Bibi, whose National Security Advisor he was and under whose guidance he intensively negotiated the Abraham Accords and who nominated him as the chief of the Mossad, but some referenes about how power corrupts and the need of unity may loudly beat the drums for anyone to hear. Despite his charming and wrinkle-free appearance, Cohen is in his 60s, so there is no game to talk about a new generation of politicians. His advantage though is that he is connected to the real world, has an already proven strategy but also the religious fervor of a Bnei Akiva; a leadership model who transcedes and goes beyond generational rifts.

Girls, Girls, Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee

 

A Jewish queer debut novel of coming of age set on the bubbling backdrop of the San Francisco in the 1990s, Girls, Girls, Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee is also an exceptional well written story. I had access to the book in the audiobook format - also read by the author -, and therefore the experience may have been different in narrative terms, but in any case, the story of Hannah, a young queer Jewish girl leaving Long Island, NYC, for San Francisco will stay with me for a long time.

Together with her crash, Sam, Hannah leaves her home, dominated by her newly Jewish Orthodox mother, and abandoning her beloved Bubbe to go to a place where she can be herself. No one to tell her what to do, how to dress and eventually who and when to get married. If separating from her devout mother was a relief, leaving behind her beloved Bubbe was so far the hardest thing.

But emancipation, growing up, involves also such decisions and Hannah´s life is taking unexpected turns: in order to make money she is stripping in a bar, then she is the crush of Chris whom, encouraged by Sam, would date for money. Her relationship with Sam is deteriorating, but she is building up a new network of friends sharing the same orientation, belonging to different religions. She learns to grief, as her Bubbe is dying of pancreatic cancer.

The tensions and emotions involved by this process are vividly described and so are Hannah´s efforts to find her place in this new world: new, difficult, but more representative for her search of self. The variants of the Jewish identity she is about to discover for herself may give her the freedom - as in ´frei´ - of being herself. Coming out is just the first step, putting together the fragments of identity, creating her own story, may be different. 

These tensions inherent to the growing up process, becoming an adult with different responsibilities and a life story, who builds the rest of the narrative, are very important for me. 

Shoshana von Blanckensee, who is also an oncology nurse, was inspired by her own experience with the queer scene in San Francisco in the 1990s. Different vocabulary and ways of talking, nevertheless a queer life of itself, that may look very different of today´s. Those nuances, especially regarding the choice of words, are part of the charm of this book, that is still echoeing in my head those days.

Rating: 5 stars 

An Israeli Indiana Jones

Discovering the Israeli graphic novels is like a full immersion - don´t think about mikvah, though - in a free world where words, and colours, and topics of actuality are freely flying over the nest. Not all of them are translated into English or other languages, but they can be easily used for improving your Hebrew, or just learning the language, thus, getting full access of the street language, so important for grasping the pace of the society in general.

Tunnel by Rutu Modan, children book author and illustrator and also one of the co-founder of a group of Israeli graphic artists, can be read as a local variant of Indiana Jones meeting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Archeology is an important discipline in Israel but it also plays an important role in the national building process as the discovery and authentification of artefacts is often instrumentalized in a process where history meets religion meets politics.

The artefact in case here is the hunt for an old tablet from the Babylonian exile raising questions about who wrote inscriptions on an old tablet. Nili, a single mother, returns to Israel and is trying to fight to save the legacy of her father, once a renowed archeologist, now took over by dementia, against the malicious efforts of the rival teacher Rafi - add academic rivality to the story. Also, Nili´s brother,m also an archeologist, is working with the rival teacher.  A hobby archeologist she is startingt o search for the famed Ark of the Convenent, but figured out that the missing tablet may be located in a Palestinian village. 

The next level concerns issues of ethics and morality in the antiquities world trade, as one person may be able to offer the key to the lost tablet, but this Abuloff is not trustworthy enough to be taken seriously.

Every single page and dialogue of this book has something to say about society and conflict, from the location of the artefact and the complexities of the archeological searches. It is not a political satire by purpose but nevertheless it shows how complex life in a conflict zone may be, without taking any specific political side.

The book was also translated into German by Reprodukt. 

Here is an interview with the author about the book and her creative process published by The Tel Aviv Review of Books, worth reading if interesting in finding out more about this book.

The Country I will Show You

 

From the impressive amout of books on Jewish topics I have on my TBR, this last read Das Land das ich dir Zeigen will - in my own translation, The Country I Will Show You - by German author and photographer Sara Klatt, was meditative and slow paced, filled with memories and thoughts about the land (of Israel).

Populated with very diverse characters, many Yekke and their grandchildren in Israel and Germany, the book doesn´t promise too much, but shares fragments of Jewish life, from the post-Shoah Germany to the bubbling techno clubs of Israel. 

There is a lot of connection between characters, although many of them cannot be imagined as there are not too many individual details shared that may help the reader to have a better visual representation of the characters. The fragmentation of the story reiterates the Jewish histories themselves, particularly in the 20th century. 

Compared to books by other German authors, this may not be the best book to date, but has a gentle tone and a way of telling the story that shows love for the land and its many stories.

Rating: 3 stars