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.