The Things with the Fetish

Imagine you have a family member that comes to your house. It´s kind of picky, as he/she -gender really does not have any relevance here - and already had some bad experience him/herself - with life, relationships and his/her own family. He/She doesn´t like your house, doesn´t like you, and even if you may be the other person in the world, he/she will not care a dime about you because the idea is to keep playing the role of the outsider no matter what and when.

The story of Jewish community in German after the war and particularly in the last three decades is complex and complicated, both in terms of human resources and conflicts, halachic challenges, perceptions and membership. For everyone coming from Israel or the USA, the difference is huge, but I suppose a Jew from Germany will feel the same about communities and traditions in the USA or France. 

Most of the people who are members of the community in Germany, do want to earn their life, have a place for the holidays, educate their children in the Jewish tradition, celebrate a Bar/Bat Mitzvah and eventually be guaranteed a place in a Jewish cemetery. Not everyone has plenty of time to play the star and conceptualize their identity. 

One of the things I always find impressive when I moved to Germany was to hear the stories of Jews coming from the Soviet Union. People who went to prison because they wanted to learn Yiddish, people who were harassed because they were Jews, no matter how high the personal status they reached. People who insisted to remain Jews no matter the challenges of being a Jew. There are not too many former communist countries whose Jews are so proud of their identity.

By attacking those humble people whose stories are worth so many good novels, someone is just following a pathway of those extremists this person is assuming she left to become herself. It´s so convenient to be an outsider in this country, talk about ´fetish´ while being oneself part of the system allowing only those funny individual people to take the floor. Claiming cancelled membership in a community does not promote you to an expert and even the less a judge in all things related to a community whose ´deep knowledge´ was acquired from newspapers or encounters in the bar around the corner. 

Playing the role of the outsider for purely personal branding reasons may work for a while, but repeating over and over again, on a highly pitched indignant voice the same empty sentences learned by heart to an audience paying you to play this role is aimed to fail. It does not take too long to figure out the intellectual kitsch. 

 

Sledgehammer

 

Some ideas need time and right circumstances to happen. Sometimes it happens independently of individual people as it took enough time for the idea to grow and for the diplomatic discussions to advance to make it happens.

The Abraham Accords, definitely, haven´t start with Pres. Trump administration. In order to achieve such a historical peace between the State of Israel and some Arab/Muslim countries, it took time to create the momentum. Discussions and negotiations, steps forward and meetings behind the close doors were ongoing long before Covid. For instance, at least 10 years ago, in Dubai there were Bar Mitzva celebrations organised and a small Jewish - mostly American - community was discretely burgeoning. 

Sledgehammer. How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East by former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman accounts about the final steps of the process, when he, together with Jared Kuchner and Jason Greenblatt sealed off the signing of the Accords. It is also the testimony of the ambiance in the Middle East and Israel during Trump administration.

Friedman used to be involved in various legal cases for the Trump family, a Cohen, with strong connections with Israel. In general, for important embassy positions, US administration - and not only -usually nominates people close to the winner at the White House therefore Friedman´s presence was normal in the logic of things of American bureaucracy. Definitely, an ambassador is not alone and his everyday activity was facing sometimes opposition on behalf of the State Department diplomats. However, no matter what, some of the decisions took during Trump administration, often leaked to the press in advance for various non-diplomatic reasons, were still in force nowadays. The embassy remains in Jerusalem and there is no rebuke of the Golan Heights administration by Israel. 

A businessman rarely have time for the byzantine intricacies of diplomacy, but this is what is needed in times of crisis to take a decision and move things forward. I am not sure that there would have been any other administration opposed to the courageous steps took by the Abraham Accords - the current Biden administration, for instance, supports the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel - but what is important is the alignment of political will and circumstances that made it happen. 

As the ongoing events in the region already show, we are far from getting the real clarity in this respect, but good things take time to happen.

Amb. Deborah Lipstadt: ´Never Seen Anything Like That´

In times of incertainty, one needs clarity. The surge of antisemitism in the campus and streets of US and European capital cities has no precendent and the implications are going far beyond the Israel versus Palestinians conflicts: it threatens the democracy, stability and national security of every state where such events are taking place.

US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Amb. Deborah Lipstadt firmly outlined today in an online media briefing that media nowadays has the responsibility to tell what is going on, while carefully checking the sources and naming the things as they are. Although freedom of speech and of reunion should be allowed, attacking Jews is antisemitism. 

No context or explanations about the causes of the incidents do dilute the gravity of the situation. The right to peacefully protest does not allow anyone to break the law. ´(...) when you see people chanting or hear peiople chanting kill the Jews or calling for a violent Intifada, for saying gas the Jews, for when they harass Jewish protesters (...) That´s not support for the rights of the Palestinian people. That´s antisemitism, pure and simple´, mentioned Lipstadt. A historian and author on the topic of antisemitism, she said that the wave of current antisemitic surge is unprecedent: ´never seen anything like that´. Current antisemitism is ´ubiquitous´, originating from the left and from the right, from Muslims and Christians as well.

Lipstadt visited in the last weeks many European capital cities, among which Rome and Berlin, and outlined that there are discussions also with representatives of the European Union in order to create a ´worldwide strategy´, ´globally happening´ to combat antisemitism. When Jews, citizens of those countries are threatened, the state has the responsibility to protect them, a ´vulnerable population´ that needs state protection.

A Moving Target

 

The tragic events from 7/10 in Israel changed definitely a lot of details from the overall Middle East equation. Alliances, geopolitical positioning, Western perceptions as well. One thing though remained the same: the constant Iranian threat against Israel, done through supporting a war of proxies, even with the price of destabilizing the countries were those proxies are located - for instance, Lebanon, who has for years enough of the mullah´s regime intrusion in their everyday life and politics.

Target Tehran by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar is an informative approach on the Iranian-Israel cyberwarfare and sabotage stories - if you already read Ronen Bergman you may not discover too many new information - but also delves deep into the behind the scenes diplomatic efforts to achieve the Abraham Accords (more about this in an upcoming review featuring the political memoir of former US Ambassador in Israel David Friedman). 

As both authors are journalists, they are extensively using sources, especially part of the various establishments - particularly Israel and US - which give more credibility to the account. I´ve found very interesting the mentions about how smartly Israel used the soft diplomacy - vaccines´ during Covid, among others - in order to expand cooperation with former ´enemies´. I am looking forward one day to read about a Middle East free of poisonous intrusions, where former enemies are fighting hard to achieve common economic goals and exchange scientific experiments.  

An Iranian Jew in Wedding, Berlin

 ´Ein kleiner, von allen gehasster, feiger Jude war ich. So fühle ich mich zumindest´.

Arye Sharuz Shalicar is a often spotted in the German media those days, as a spokeperson of the IDF for the German journalists. He is articulated, up to the point and fluent in the international language of public relations. But before, a few years ago, before making aliya in 2001, he was a boy from Wedding, versed in the language - both body and verbal - of (mostly) Arab gangs of Berlin, like the PLO-Boys and many more.

In a similar vein with Ben Salomo´s memoir of life as a Jew - and Israeli - in the Berlin rap scene, Shalicar adds a different layer of information about the heated hate against Jews among his Palestinian and non-German colleagues. While reading his fights and humiliations as a teenager growing up as a non-religious Iranian Jew, I was automatically thinking the latest weeks of anti-Israeli protests in areas like Neukölln or Sonnenallee. Nothing new under the sun, apparently.

Shalicar´s memoir also shares his limited contacts with the local Jewish community, limited both in terms of language - due to the predominance of Russian - but also the reserves against non-European Jews. 

The book is a journey of self-discovery and reconnecting with his own roots and heritage, against all odds. A story of resilience in an unkind world. 

Être Juif, according to Edmond Jabès

´Être Juif, c´est avoir à justifier de l'existence; c'est avoir, en commun, les mêmes nuits sans sommeil, avoir essuyé les mêmes insultes; c'est avoir cherché désespérément la même bouée, la mêmê main secouable; c'est avoir nagé, nagé, nagé pour ne pas sombrer.

Être Juif, c'est avoir les mêmes cernes sous les yeux, le même sourire sceptique - et, pourtant, le Juif est capable de grandes enthousiasmes -; c`est avoir cligné les yeux face au soleil défendu.

Victime de l'injustice, le Juif est l'ennemi de ceux qui fondent leur justice sur l'injustice. Gênant pour les pouvoirs absolus, il est la cible de ceux qui détiennent le pouvoir absolu; gênant parce que réfractaire.

Être Juif, c'est apprendre à se mouvoir à quelques mètres du sol qui vous est contesté; c'est ne plus savoir si la terre est d'eau ou d'air ou d'oubli.

Que de ruses emploie-t-il pour survivre. Quelle ingeniosité dans les moyens, quelle application dans ses métamorphoses.

Déduire, s'adapter, tracer. On peut s'acharner sur lui, on ne réussit pas à le détruire.

Mi-homme, mi-poisson, mi-oiseau, mi-fantôme, il y a toujours une moitié de lui qui échappe au bourreau'.

Edmond Jabès, Le Livre des Questions

Questioning the Answers

In time of distress, we are asking questions not always waiting for an answer. Answers sound impossible and obsolete. Asking questions is an existential duty. And so is questioning the answers.

I´ve heard the first time about Kayla Haber-Goldstein while listening to her interview with 18 Forty Podcast, one of the few Jewish podcasts I am regularly listening those days. I am regularly writing about people who left the religious life for various reasons, but her story, told on a very honest voice, was different: while struggling to the observant life, she challenged herself to start a life project of documenting and researching various aspects of Judaism. 

The result of her four years of intensive search, discussions and learning was Questioning the Answers, a book that echoes the honest and curious voice I´ve heard during the podcast. I just finished the book and I could not stop thinking how it reminds us what an awesome family we are all part of. How important it is to understand instead of judging, try to repair instead of destroying. 

The whole book is a personal yet important view on many topics, including the role of women in Judaism, our relationship with Gd, prayer, mental health, prayer. My favorite part of it is the last long closing chapter dedicated to the Jewish holidays, that she is re-reading in her personal key. A reminder of how important for everyone is to never stop thinking and give meaning to our cycle of life. 

Questioning the Answers is a beautiful contribution to traditional interpretations. I only wished it went a bit longer.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Book Review: Shmutz by Felicia Berliner

 

Raizl, the young Hasidic girl from Brooklyn getting addicted to porn just before of starting her matchmaking process may be one of my favorite women curious Hasidic characters. In the debut novel Shmutz - which may translate from Yiddish as something impure, spiritually treif - of Felicia Berliner, Raizl is coming of age, acknowledging her way of being different and not necessarily fitting in, still wanting to stay and find a place in her beloved community.

One of the most important feature of this book in my opinion is that avoids the usual black and white stereotypes about the Hasidic community, introducing to the reader people struggling, hiding their real intentions, having double life, as many others do, no matter where. The family of Raizl for instance, is a mosaique of such characters: curious about the outside world, smoking, getting a bit high once in a while, hiding from their parents, not brave enough to come out. They are not breaking out completely and suddenly and may even try to see how it is to wear pants and play some sex games; but in the end, they are returning and going on with their lives. 

Raizl is also relatable because she has a lot of humour and ask so many questions related to her addiction - should she say Shma before or after watching porn, and what exactly does it say about the activity of watching porn anyway? She is not just an angry teenage hating everyone, rather the opposite, she is worrisome embracing her habit, doing some therapy where she is talking (only) about it, trying to give up and once getting close from getting the real thing, is completely deconstructing her experience. 

My only objection is that maybe there would have been other characters in the book that deserved more attention, but Raizl is nevertheless alive and hard to forget.

Shmutz is a recommended read for anyone looking beyond the black-and-white narrative of the literature inspired and on this topic. Personally, would love to read many more such good books.

Rating: 4.5 stars

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

The Story of the Jewish Deli

´I think the future of Jewish foods is that they´re incorporated into other menus and enrich them´.

Ken Raskin, Owner of Manny´s Cafeteria 

A graphic journey of Jewish food stories, The Jewish Deli by Ben Nadler is an illustrated guide of the staple foods of the North American Jewry but also a permanent questioning of its future. From the old times, Jewish communities adapted to the customs of the place they were hosted and translated local recipes into the kosher food love language. 

´When I bite into a good pastrami sandwich, I feel in my Askenazi blood that I am satisfying my basic human instincts´. Indeed, food meant for the Jewish immigration more than survival, it meant maintaining the identity and a reminder of the tastes from the ´old countries´. Thus, talking about a Jewish deli is a historical and existential adventure: ´A Jewish deli is begging to be illustrated, no detail too small to be appreciated, nowhere to look without some sort of secret delicacy waiting to be discovered´. 

Nadler´s enquiry is more than a graphic novel, it includes interviews with owners of successful delis, but also includes many historical and culinary details. When he refers to the stories and the people who made those delicious pastrami sandwiches, the magic of words and images are there to help. The book is not less serious than other encyclopedic approaches to Jewish food  asking very important questions about how tradition can survive in a world on the move, but also doing some outstanding justice to meals and products that are hardly mentioned those days - like Karnatzel.

The Jewish Deli is an important contribution to the emerging debate about the past and future of the Jewish Askenazi-inspired food, in the North American realm. Hopefully, there will be more similar approaches following the same curious yet humorous pathway.

Rating: 5 stars

A Sweet Film About Bat Mitzva and A Bit More

 

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah available since the end of August on Netflix is a sweet coming-of-age comedy featuring Adam Sandler, his wife Jackie (as Gabi Rodriguez Katz) and their daughters Sadie (as Ronnie) and Sunny (Stacy, the girl who is looking forward to her bat mitzvah party). Sunny´s preparations for the bat mitzvah party may involve more than preparing for an epic event, as the world seems to crush: her best friend is dating her crush, she is constantly fighting with her parents and otherwise the preparation of reading her Haftorah seems to be going nowhere. But what about taking the mitzvah from the party seriously and trying instead of throwing an expensive party to fix somehow the world, starting with repairing her friendship.

The movie is based on a 2005 book by Fiona Rosenbloom that I haven´t read by now.

The movie is entertaining, relatable to both teenagers and their parents, with topics that are generally common to such age-related issues. However, the subject as well as the framework of the movie is fundamentally Jewish and definitely proudly outlined. The teenagers and their parents featured in the movie are proud to be Jewish, wearing their Magen David and kippot, attending the Sunday school in the ´Temple´ held by a hippy rabba who loves to be on the threadmill while teaching having her consulting hours. They are diverse children of all possible appearances and names, all of them sharing the same identity and - again - being very proud of it. 

For an American audience, it makes a lot of sense and it´s pretty common, but for the more traditional realms, including in Israel, it´s hardly heard of. Luxurious bat mitzvah parties, where girls are reading their portion in the ´Temple´ during the week and party as crazy in the weekend, are rarely heard of. And so is the idea sometimes that there is a vibrant non-Orthodox/non-traditional Judaism, happy and unproblematically own. Which is obviously wrong.

Therefore, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is a both a movie for children and their parents, more or less traditional, funny but equally a reminder that Jewish life in general is beautiful and a blessing and enjoying it in the many ways it´s experienced is equally a mitzvah.

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Austrian Jews Family Story

Netsuke are Japanese miniature sculptures, who became very popular in the 18th-19th century Europe, at a time when Japonaiseries were entering the houses of European bourgeoisie. Took out of their original cultural and narrative context they became part of a different cultural register and story. 

That´s the story of objects sometimes, able to co-exist in two different stories and family narratives. 

The Hare with Amber Eyes, Winner of 2010 Costa Award, by pottery artist and writer Edmund de Waal retraces minutiously his family story through 264 netsuke inherited from his late uncle in Japan. From Paris to Austria, Odessa, Englad and Tokyo, the small figures is the red thread bringing together the more or less known episodes from her family, the once European famous Ephrussi. 

When one revisits the past, there are present-day fragments that are actually re-written with the words and eyesight of the present. It is an essay in re-imagining other people past, but although it may reproduce the stories, it misses the real feelings and the excitement of the moment. 

But a netsuke is ´hard to break: each one is made to be knocked around the world´. His documentary journey through centuries of family history De Waal keeps discovering hidden things and memories. 

When the book was published and documented, there were scarce news about the situation of looted Jewish art from the Austrian Nazi authorities. As in many other countries when it comes to Jewish properties, it looked like the laws were made having in mind the prospect that one day, those works of art would be requested back. The situation is far from being solved, although one step at a time may be victoriously announced in the media. The dramas of the sudden changes of fate and often, dramatic fatal encounters, are for ever encrypted in the DNA of so many Jewish families.

I particularly loved the tone of the story, curious yet careful in bringing up the facts and permanently confronting the unexpected results to the already known/confirmed memories. A delicate work, as delicate as the making of pottery.

Rating: 5 stars  

The Extraordinary Life of Ruth Blau

 

A controversial character having played a main role in the denuement of the infamous Yossele Schumacher affair, but with much lesser known involvement in trying to save Jews held captive in the Middle East or endangered by Iran´s mullahs, Ruth Blau had a life bigger than life itself. The biography dedicated to her by researcher of religious extremism Motti Inbari reveals the paradoxes but also the (blind) dedication to the Jewish life she chose as a convert from Catholicism.

Resistance fighter in a France under German occupation, spy - for the French intelligence and occasionally Mossad - Ruth Blau acted guided by religious belief and dedication to her understanding of the Jewish ideals. With the fanaticism of someone who feels his or her religion needs to be showed off, she embraced the extreme views of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta, although the marriage with the leader of the organisation, Amram Blau, ended his leadership of the organisation.

Based on interviews and unique documents from her personal archives, with the patience for detail of the detective, Inbari drew not only the portrait of a rebbetzin but also an unique destiny of a strong and determined personality. Trying to avoid the fully negative portrayal of her - for some, due to her implication in helping for years the religious relatives of Yossele Schumacher to keep the kidnapped child out of his nonreligious parents; for others, due to her status of convert with aims of leadership within the very male conservative Haredi establishment - he is trying to analyse intentions and aims, personality features and psychological challenges.

This book is an important source of inspiration and information on several topics, such as women leadership in Haredi world, Jewish recent history, psychological profile of religious converts and many more. 

Although I really enjoyed the information and its treatment, I struggled sometimes with the style of the argumentation. For instance, before explaining in detail her role in the Schumacher affair, there are way too many references of what is supposed to come and how although she was, for instance, sincere in her commitment to Judaism, she never apologized for the pain made to another Jew while being part of the plot of kidnapping Yossele. And many more.

I wish someone will make a movie about her life.

Rating: 4.5 stars

My Road to Remembrance by Fred Katz

 

A black-and-white photographic memoir of Holocaust memorials around the world, My Road to Remembrance by Fred Katz is a visual testimony of the painful history of European Jewry. The tragedy of 6 Million people systematicaly murdered in cold blood has no precedent in history. The power of the images collected by Katz through travels from all over the world - USA, Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Latvia, Holland, Greece, Cuba, Uruguay, Chile, Italy, Hungary, Canada, Israel - is to bring a tribute to the victims and keep the world awake of the tragic events. A testimony against forgetfullness and a warning. 

Rating: 5 stars

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

´Impossible Takes Longer´

 

There is hardly right now in Israel a more balanced and lucid public intellectual than Daniel Gordis, an author I was given the chance to review in other post a couple of years back.  His newest book Impossible Takes Longer is dedicated to analysing at what extent Israel has fulfilled its ´founders´ dreams´, 75 years after the creation of the state.

Quoting documents alternatively with various episodes, more or less known, from the latest seven decades and a bit from the creation of the state, he is asking questions regarding the ups and downs in the life of an extraordinary people and country. If one may have some doubts about the many reasons Israel shall exist, or do have some doubts about the exceptional character - even non-religious people may acknowledge the miracle of a country and especially people that were able to conquer their own trauma.

Gordis analyses the intellectual basis of the state and of its statemen and women, without ignoring the people who built the history: the soldiers, the victims, the children running to the bomb shelter. 

The author offers a balanced, neutral view, with the pros and cons, shedding light into the shadows of misunderstanding. Without being complacent, he is severe and do not obliterate the context, but at the same time it also instills a feeling of pride for all the successes of this small yet fierce people.

Impossible Takes Longer is a book to read for anyone interested in the recent history of the Land and people of Israel. If you are rather on the Israel critique side, or just skeptical about the state of Israel, at least for a few minutes you may be proud of everything this country did - for itself and for the others.

Rating: 4.5 stars

´Free as a Jew´

 

Prof. Ruth R. Wisse belongs to a generation of Jews that seen and experienced too much to accept any pressure to change their opinions, no matter how controversial. The direct contact with realities of the last century, filtered through a knowledge acquired using the classical literary and religious sources leaves no space to compromise.

Born in Czernowitz, she and her family escaped to Canada via Romania, fearing the Stalinist repression. This early life experience will deepen her understanding of communism, particularly during Cold War. As a Canadian Jew, she witnessed the birth of a new post-WWII diaspora, as well as the multicultural local policies, making friendship with Leonard Cohen. Further more, on the educational level, she experienced directly the birth of Jewish studies in the North American realm, and was directly involved in the rebirth of interest for Yiddish literature. A staunch supporter of the state of Israel, she seized the right directions that may lead to the new forms of Jew-hate - like anti-Zionism. 

She assumed her opinions of being against the ´affirmative action´, criticized the Oslo Agreements and remained a clear supporter of what would be later called ´neo-conservative´ political directions. 

And when the world was over and over again took by troubles, she found comfort in the old tales of Yiddish writers, that she promoted and taught over the years. Besides the strong memorialistic perspective, the book is also a reminder of the timeless value of Yiddish literature and its importance for the Jewish intellectual history.

Testimonies like the ones generously shared by Prof. Ruth R. Wisse are very important from the intellectual point of view. No matter what we may disagree with, she fully assumes her values and beliefs. Making and defending an intellectual choice should be no shame. Accepting someone else´s different standpoint is the beginning of a conversation that may not bring us to changing someone else´s mind, but at least will benefit in terms of understanding the difference and the diversity of ideas, without taking personal offense and directly attacking the opponent.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Bring Back the Babka!

 

Shortly before Shabbes, the freshly baked babka disappeared. Sol and Sammy, followed by the dog Mazel, are helping their mother to find it, hoping that they will be lucky enough before the guests are coming for dinner. On their way, they are welcomed with delicious Jewish foods - cholent, gefilte fish, compote - and although the babka seems to have vanished without a trace, they are bringing back home kind foodie gifts for their evening meal. 

Bring back the Babka! by Marilyn Wolpin with colourful illustrations by Madison Safer, to be published this October by Barefoot Books, is many things at once: a funny foodie mystery - wait until the end for a smart hint -, a book about Jewish foods and traditions, a refreshing story about solidarity and friendship. 

As I consider myself a skilled creator of babka, and a hungry consumer as well, I couldn´t resist a story created around one of my favorite Jewish treats. At the end of the story, there is a short glossary - with photos - of the foods introduced and a recipe of babka I can´t wait to test it.

The book is recommended for pre-school and primary school little readers and their parents. It teaches in a joyful funny way about traditions while inspiring the children to be kind and empathic. A recommended read to both parents, their children and Jewish educators and babka lovers too.

Rating: 4 stars

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

One of My Bests Films on Netflix: Rough Diamonds

 

I am watching movies on Netflix for over 5 years, but until now, I haven´t encountered any other better series in terms of both actors play and authenticity of the topic as Rough Diamonds. Set in the famous and most secretive Diamond District of Antwerp, it follows the fate of the Wolfson Jewish family, whose fate was shuttered by the sudden suicide of one of the sons. As Noah - remarkably played by famous Belgian film and theatre actor Kevin Janssens -  returns from his self-imposed exile from London, a chain of events is put into motion that may save the company but jeopardize the traditional way of doing businesses.

The series, created by Israeli Rotem Shamir and Yuval Yefet (of Fauda) is remarkable from more than one reason. First and foremost, it presents a Jewish family caught between the traditional life and the new challenges of the business in a balanced, authentic way. Noah, a classical off the derech, does not have anything from the deep cartoonish hate of his upbringing often represented in movies and other media productions, and his family does not reject him fully, as usually expected. He is returning with a non-Jewish son, being welcomed with human kindness although trying hard to overcome the resentfulness of those left behind - among which a fiancée that later married his late brother. 

Another important part of this movie is the knowledgeable way in which it describes the current state of affairs in the diamond industry, from the hard games of the new comers from India to the almost death of traditional small diamantaires, as the Wolfson, and temptations of playing out of the legal game. Diamond industry, the pride and sometimes the legal nightmare of Belgium, does play on different terms and does definitely have its very black secrets. Rough Diamonds does not spare any single romanticism trying to display it as it really is.

Rough Diamonds is a great Jewish movie to watch on Netflix this season. It has eight shorter than one hour episodes that I literarally binged the last weekend. It´s worth watching it for the action, genuine story and the good play of almost all the actors. 

Learning about New York Jewish Intellectuals

The group of New York Jewish intellectuals, grouped around Commentary and Partisan Review mostly, do represent not only an important episode in the intellectual history of Jewish thought in the aftermath of the WWII in America, but also do follow patterns and mindset reflected by the overall flow of thought in the American society itself. 

The insightful online course held by Prof. Ruth Wisse from Tikvah Fund is revealing in more than one aspect. In addition to discussing the changes underwent by the Jewish representation among this group of intellectuals it also offers important details, often acquired first hand, about the evolution of mentalities in the US. Last but not least, it outlines profiles of significant yet forgotten intellectuals, such as Delmore Schwartz or Robert Warshow, besides featuring famous names like Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, Milton Himmelfarb or Irving Kristol and Saul Bellow. 

This course is a very important source of inspiration and understanding about the New York intellectual realm in the context of the Cold War, with communists/liberals versus conservatives taking the first stage. Only that the debates weren´t purely of intellectual nature, with FBI watching over the Moscow connections, that sometimes were more than purely of intellectual nature. Interesting times, one may say, but nevertheless also part of the Jewish post-WWII narrative.

What it definitely interested me the most and hopefully will be able to follow further in detail through essays and memoirs by some of the members of the movement, is the ways in which those intellectuals connected to tradition. Some needed to reinvent it, as the second or third generation of immigrants, coming from families that did their best to turn into ´Americans´, some needed only to connect the missing link in the story. Topics like intermarriage and Jewish demography in the diaspora as well as the position towards Israel continue to be of high interest among the US Jewry and following this path those ideas took, including by being completely reshaped, may offer interesting details about Jewish-American realm of ideas nowadays.

A recommended class to anyone keen to expand his or her knowledge about New York Jewish intellectuals and Jewish stories in general. 

Random Things Tours: In the Midst of Civilized Europe by Jeffrey Veidlinger

One of my main fascination with the history of mentalities - my favorite historical method of interpretation - is how it integrates the simple, apparently disparate, facts into a longer perspective, the so-called braudelian ´longue durée'. Thus, the general understanding of a long period of time deepens in relation to the ongoing mapping of spiritual and material facts, recreating the mental and intellectual environment of an epoch.

The multi-awarded In the Midst of Civilized Europe by Jeffrey Veidlinger is such an example of exceptional reconstruction of facts, based on a rich and newly discovered reservoir of sources, particularly interviews and personal testimonies. Facts often featured in historical references of Jewish history and regional Eastern/Russian European history like the pogroms between 1918 and 1921 to acquire a premonitory role in the Shoah. The more than 100,000 Jews killed during the pogroms were just the sad premonition of the 6 millions. 

Particularly at the begining of the 20th century, the Jewish history of this part of Europe is written in one pogrom after another. The ones between 1904 and 1914 for instance, including the notorious Kishinev pogrom - magistrally described in the dramatic poem by Bialik In the City of Slaughter - , prompted a massive immigration to the Land of Israel, during the so-called second Aliya - HaAliya HaShniya. But the pogroms continued and took a higher intensity during the three years analysed in the book. The murder of innocent Jews was followed by massive looting of properties and devastation of the shtetl, whose image of a craddle of Yiddishkeit is about to take its last breath. It is a pattern that will be easily accepted few decades later, a couple of countries away, in Germany and replicated at different levels in many Central and Eastern European countries. 

A warning that history may be undestood not only in terms of past occurrences but also from the point of view of the dots that should be connected to understand a bigger picture where past, present and future are dangerously melting together.

In the Midst of Civilized Europe was shortlisted for this year, 46th edition, of The Wingate Literary Prize, awarded to the best book - either fiction or non-fiction - translating the idea of Jewishness to the general reader. The prize was established in 1977 by late Harold Hyam Wingate and it is currently run in association with JW3, the Jewish Community Centre. 

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Best Hanukkah Jokes for Your Purim Shpiel

 

It is never too late to exchange some Hanukkah jokes. With Purim just around the corner - and one month afterwards Pesach - that´s the perfect timing for getting ready for some warmhearted ´hahaha´. Not that ´hohoho´, obviously.

I don´t know too much about what kind of jokes - if ever - kids are laughing at - I bet there may be some memes involved anyway - but the jokes in this book do have the naive touch of the old times. So old that I may feel myself shamefully old for even remembering those times.

Making jokes and keeping the smile, no matter what, it is important for your health. What´s also funny is that you can make your good old Jewish jokes, and therefore, through laughing, one can also learn some good Jewish history and religious stories. Maybe it will be a bit difficult to explain them to the very young generation, but some funny drawings included in the book may be useful in just getting into the funny spirit.

It is never too late for a joke, even when Hanukkah is quite a couple of months away.

Rating: 3 stars 

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review but the opinions are, as usual, my own

No one Wants You to Disappear

 

One morning, Israel wakes up with its Palestinian residents disappearing out of nowhere. 24 hours after, there is still no trace of them, and it seems there is no security danger to cope with either. The Book of Disappearance by Jaffa-born, Hebrew University of Jerusalem educated Ibtisam Azem - translated into English by Iraqi poet Sinan Antoon who also translated Mahmoud Darwish- explores exactly this premise: what will happen if suddenly all Palestinians in Israel disappear unexpectedly. 

The story is told through the inter-twinned stories of Ariel, a Jewish journalist, and Alaa, a young Palestinian who converses with his grandmother in the diary he left after disappearing. They are neighbours on Rotschild Boulevard and Ariel ends up by translating Alaa´s testimony and taking over his home, whose locks is planning to change at the end of the story.

Although the writing is good - in its political satyric take - and the details are realistic, any book that imagined the disappearance of a group of people only to narrate the same ideological truism about various interpretations of the ´occupation´ it does not have any of my sympathies. It just extends the ´either or´ mindset, creating a mentality that in any way will improve anything but the high level of hate and intolerance, taking away any chance of building a new world, outside the one based on a hyper-historical narrative. 

Remembering Baghdad

´We are part and parcel of Iraq and I will not let go´.

Remember Baghdad, currently available on Netflix, documents the 2,500 years of Jewish history in Baghdad through the eyes of five families currently living in London. Although the traces of Jewish history are everywhere in Iraq, particulary in Baghdad, few people may remember nowadays the 140,000 Jews that were forced to leave the country.

Formerly a center of the Jewish world, Iraq is coping with a decade of dictatorship, war, civil conflict and foreign involvement. The film brings to life family stories and memories, businesses that were left behind and political projects - such as involvement in the Communist Party, were some of the former members got later involved in similar projects in Israel.

Like in the case of Persian Jews, Iraqi Jews nourish kind memories of their former country. It is a love for a country were they used to live or about whom they dreamed about with the dreams of their parents and grandparents. 

The film is using both documentary sources about Iraqi Jews and the making of the Middle East and Israel during and after WWII and direct interviews, as well as ground research in Baghdad and Irbil. It is balanced, nostalgic and keeps the distance from the subjects in order to let them unfold their stories, and the testimonies about their contribution to the local economy and culture.

Until the time will come for the Jews of Iraq to be able to visit again the places where they or their parents and grandparents were born, documentaries like Remember Baghdad are here to make everyone aware of their presence and memories. One day...

Recommended Book for Learning and Teaching Hebrew

 

Teaching languages is always a challenge, as one needs to relate in multiple ways to the material taught. Some may learn faster than the others based on the immediate interest in the topic, as well as the emergency to succeed mastering a language for different aims - immigration, job, relationships etc. 

For non-European languages, written in a different alphabet, like Hebrew, for instance, the challenge is even bigger because learning in this case means a full re-wire of the brain, that is supposed not only to reconnect to a different way of saying and grammar rules, but also to alphabets read from the right to left.

As both a teacher and learner of Hebrew, I coped sometimes with the right materials, allowing me not only to expand my vocabulary, but to remember it easily. Ma se be´ivrit - how do you say it in Hebrew - by Smadar Raveh-Klemke was my revelation of the last months. Each page has a graphic representation of a topic - kitchen, bathroom, at the beach, two people seated in the front of the TV etc. - with words written in Hebrew, with transliteration. Thus, you can learn the vocabulary of the topic but also engage in short conversation about it, for instance ´what do you see?´ ´what people are doing?´ etc. Although the discussion may be A1-A2 level, the vocabulary is rich and helps to express properly different situations, objects and contexts. 

The book is mostly aimed at German speakers - with a rich vocabulary explained alphabetically at the end - but for the visual part at least, it can be used by any kind of learners. As for now, the book is available only in print format, therefore it is hard to use it for online classes.

Rating: 5 stars