Unknown Heroes of the Israeli Air Force

 

Air force is the backbone of any modern army. The target of military objectives by well trained pilots guaranteed the success during WWII and it is the source of military achievement nowadays. 

In the aftermath of the creation of the state of Israel, there were many skilled fighters, well trained in terrestrial combats, but much more was needed to guarantee the success in a fight that was extending of several fronts. Pilots and modern airplanes were the guarantee of success.

An assimilated Jew with no connection with his roots, former veteran of the Pacific War, sketcher, poet and lover of words and beautiful women, Stan Andrews answered the call to help the creation of the Israeli Air Force. Although distanced from the religion of generations before him, he experienced antisemitism, particularly during his military service. He chose to change his name in order to better match the general society. Not a fanatic of any kind, he saw in the promise of the new state a chance of a new life, maybe a better one of Jews. He had the knowledge and wanted to help.

The chronicle written by Jeffery Weiss and Craig Weiss belongs to a historical category aimed to outline stories of unknown characters that played a part, although not a major one, in important major events. Andrews did not changed the course of history, but was part of it. His story is aimed to display the individual stories of actors involved, at the time also non-Jews that under the effect of the events they witnessed during the war, they felt compelled to share their experience with the leaders of the Jewish state.

The book reads easily, as a story, but does share noteworthy information about the post-war state of mind among the veterans, as well as the unfolding events in the Middle East. A recommended read to anyone passionate about aviation history and Israel stories.

Rating: 3 stars

Intellectual Boycots

Signing letters of support for boycotting intellectual institutions, and academic cooperations is essentially anti-intellectual. The last twelve months were just an opportunity for many people sharing more or less loudly radical anti-Israel opinions to raise them at the level of open statements. In a way, it is a good way as it offers to people the chance to show what they think. Psychologically and not only, it releases them of the pressure of saying - or rather not saying at all - things they were thinking about. 

The list shared by LitHub, which is slightly growing by the day, appealing for a boycott of Israel cultural institutions, was created around voices like Sally Rooney who already announced very proud at the beginning of the year that she does not allow her books to be translated into Hebrew. (Nothing about Russian, or other languages of countries where people are really opressed by their own governments). Some of the people who signed are famous in the literary world for their works, some for being vocal. Some are writers or poets, some are just translators. Some are just names that hopefully will sign one day more than just a protest for a far away cause they are trying to get advantage of from the comfort of their lofts. Some authors I may know, some I really like, some are just as toxic as what they claim they believe in.

I think is everyone´s right to have an opinion, also a wrong one. We expect too much from intellectuals, but as history showed already, they are humans as everyone of us. They need to pay bills, sign political protests in the hope to get some points for their portfolio always in the making. Totalitarian regimes were supported by intellectuals, created by intellectuals, fuelled with ideological content by intellectuals. Sometimes they have no idea what they are getting into, but sometimes they are fully aware as they are widespreading lies and old libels.

This letter, in addition to many other moves that happened since 7/10 do not talk about peace, do not want to build bridges with intellectuals in Israel who do share critical points of view towards their government, as shared in their books and public statements. The letter is just building a wall, aimed at pressuring the public opinion in a direction that does not have nothing to do with being an intellectual. Also, not with intelligence, in the genuine sense of the world.

I would have been really empathic to the interest of the signatories if they will be so acribic vested in, for instance, cutting any cultural ties with Russian institutions - as we speak, Russia is attacking Ukraine; Chinese cultural institutions - Uyghurs are opressed, intellectuals are not free, the authors allowed outside do share propaganda messages; Islamic Republic of Iran - who brutally murdered intellectualls, among many other things against freedom of thinking and women rights; and so on, and so on...

In free countries, people are free to be wrong and long for propaganda vitamins and wear keffiyeh or for anything they wish for some or the others. But also in a free country, they may not be out of criticism for their childish or well-funded/intentional misleading investment in a cause obsessively taking ovet any others, with a not so humanistic intention.

There Was Night and There Was Morning by Sara Sherbill

If one will have the curiosity, as I did, to do a bit of search of rabbi Daniel Sherbill, the rabbi father of Sara Sherbill, he or she will only stumble upon heartwarming obituaries, mentioning him as a kind and helpful person. 

Coming to religion during the 1960s, Sherbill served as a rabbi in several communities across America. Displaying a spiritual yet anchored in the Orthodox restrictions type of belief, he was a different person in relationship with his family and with some of the younger - way too younger - women members of his communities. He was praised for bringing Jews back to Judaism, in the midst of his hippie-like, denominational type of religious practice.

His daughter, Sara, the author of the recently published memoir There Was Night and There Was Morning - I recommend to have access to the book as I did, in audiobook format read by the author, an to feel the emotions of accounting the abuse and trauma from her own voice and emotional breaks - knew a different person. And so did her mother, and siblings too. Prone to terrible anger attacks and violence, he was also a sexual abuser, targeting very young girls from his community, luring them into drugs, as he ended up as a drug addicted too.

Sherbill´s memoir is very much focused on the tentacular outreach of trauma, sometimes inherited, that can permeate our lives in so many unexpected ways. First and foremost though, it affects our way to trust other people, to position our relationships, our human connections. It may make you believe that the world is full of predators and bad people hiding behind a pious mask. It pushes people out of religion, any kind of religion, although sometimes by converting old rituals into daily routines that keep the life go on, 

It is a very emotional story although I struggle a bit trying to understand the type of community it was, and how it really operated in real time. But for the storry itself, it is largely irrelevant, as we are left with the right approach and knowledge of trauma that is more important than the context.

Rating: 4.5 stars

 

The Enemy Beside Me by Naomi Ragen

 

It is always a great pleasure to read and review books by Naomi Ragen, whose characters and topics are allways mind challenging. My latest read by her though, The Enemy Beside Me is reaching a different level, both in terms of topic and complex approach. Set during Corona times between Israel and Lithuania, this is her 13th book. 

Taking over Survivor´s Campaign from her father, Milia Goldstein is a fierce campaigner for revealing the truth about the crimes against Jews committed during WWII in Lithuania. Perpetrated by local nationalists whose memories were brought to life after the independence of the country from the Soviet Union, those do fuel false identities and legitimities. While listening to some of the testimonies inserte into the story about the horrible cruely against Jews, who mostly went unpunished, I could not refrain from thinking about 7/10. What is wrong with this world to enjoy torturing to death innocent children and women?

The wife if a successful surgeon, Milia is faced with the fail of her marriage, as she is revealed that her husband cheated on her with a family friend. A strong woman nevertheless, she is decided to focus on what really matters and accept the invitation to speak at a conference in Lithuania, organised with European money by Dr Darius Vida.

Although there is a kind of burgeoning romance between the two - quite predictable, if you ask me - the strongest part of the book is Vida´s acknowledgement of his own family past. Somehow, Milia is giving him strength to not give up principles over immediate financial or social status. Milia and Darius are both of them fighting for reconciliation, coming from two opposite directions. Their concerted efforts do make this world a much better place.

Ragen treats always her characters with attention, and all of them play their role in the configuration of the narrative. My favorite is Vida, because he shows exactly what we may always expect in our fellow humans, no matter their ethnicity or religion; capacity to change, strength to chose to truth over lie, no matter how hard it is.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Traces of Jewish Life in Ulm, Germany

Travel across Germany allows me always not only to get to learn more about the country, but also to identitfy traces of Jewish life and memory. While in Ulm, I had the chance to discover more details about the tormented WWII history. 

A permanent exhibition an Einstein Haus/Ulmer Volkshochschule, on Kornhausplatz is dedicated to explaining historical episodes of the resistance against Nazi regime.

As for now, I do not have enough historical information to offer a critical outlook to the exhibition as such, but as expected, it features extensively Hans&Sophie Scholl, born here. 

There are also featured another members of the White Rose - the name of the most important resistance movement, at least in this part of Germany - as well as testimonies of Jewish citizens of Ulm. Take them with a grain of salt, but there are many details that deserve a further research.

As in many other German cities, what once was the Jewish quarter was clearly named - Jewish street, or yard. Judenhof in Ulm used to be the centr of local Jewish life from the late Middle Ages onwards. In 1353 a synagogue used to serve the community here. The name served usually to create clear boundaries between Jewish and non-Jewish residents and very often limited the freedom of movements of Jews living there.

As all over Germany, Jewish life got a new impetus in the 1990s, with the arrival of Jewish from former Soviet Union. The community increased considerably in the decade onwards, prompting the need for a bigger religious and community meeting point. Right now, the members count around 450-500, mostly Russian-speakers.

The new synagogue, a cube marked on sides with windows outlined by Stars of David, was inaugurated in 2012, 70 years after the Kristalnacht pogrom. 

It is situated on Weinhof 2 where the 19th century once stood, and is currently following the Chabad orientation. Due to the lack of time, during my visit I was not able to visit the synagogue, but according to the general descriptions of the location, it hosts a community center, a mikwa, a nursery and various educational programmes for children.

 

A Day in the Life...

There are so many books around, not necessarily on fantastic topics, but some may receive more attention than others based on a purely subjective circumstance.

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall received an outstanding ovation and was multi-awarded several distinctions, among which the prestigious Pulitzer. It was named ´the best book of the year´ by several publications. 

I was curious to read the book as well, and I may say that the topic - the way in which a deadly car accident outside Jerusalem reflects the deep divisions in Israel, especially towards Palestinians, was not bad. Clearly, that´s a reality to deal with, that creates a complex mentality context that do balance between death and life. 

It is a tragedy, indeed. But being simplistic is also tragic, insisting on the results before taking into account the causes. Thinking that you are on the good side, no matter what. What it really iritates me lately is the way in which some authors, or public personalities, assume that the reader should not think by her/himself. What about being really journalistic, presenting facts, and not jumping into conclusions? Considering your readers at least as smart, or even smarter than you, thus able to decide by themselves and draw their own conclusions.

That´s all about this book. And any other book and its author underestimating the reader´s intelligence.

9 Months and 1 Day...

 ...since those very first moments of shock and panic...are they all right, why are they not answering, maybe there is just one of those attacks that will be contained shortly after - no worries, we are strong, we are awake and not allowing the enemy, any enemy to destroy us again, to kill our children -, of feeling powerless...

...of being grateful for those few ones who asked how do we feel...

...of checking again and again who´s still alive and who is not answering and who is doing the miluim and who is gone...

...of feeling sorry for being alive, for being safe, for hiding in the attics of our fears...

...of Farhouds and Shoah and pogroms and Intifadas and terrorist attacks and 11/9...over and over again

...of learning again how to tell my children to stay away from them without telling them, to hide their stars, to train to fight, to distrust and still keep being proud...

...of highest security measures I´ve ever seen in the Gallut any kind of Gallut, for police guards on Shabbat and on Pesach and every day at schools and kindergartens and shops and broken glasses (again)...

...for tears and anger and screams and fighting and silence...because words cannot help...of running away from news because anyway, you cannot change anything, no one seems to can change anything, not today, not tomorrow never ever again...

...of seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months...nine months and 1 day since the world will never be the same again...

...of seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months of hope and despair of asking for a sign of life, or hoping there will be not another shiva...

...of simply building your own four-wall world, with a patch of sky, where to throw your curses and screams because no one, literally no one will ever help you, us, me and you...

...of having enough of rivers and seas and everything in between, of spitting on arguments made of poison and bile, of smeared Free Palestine and watermelons and ´Eyes on Rafah´ but not because hostages are kept there and keffieh and ´as a Jew´ and journalists praising them only because they cannot stop from hating us...

...of praying without words...

...of reading the news and seeing the pictures, of couldn´t stop from being anxious and fearing the worse for the world...

From Southerner to Settler

 

This is a fact that nothing and no one will change it: if you love the land of Israel and you feel connect religiously with Zionism, there is no other place to be but the land of Israel. There is no other place where one is able to learn the laws of the land and discover the everyday history in the making, but living and breathing there. 

There is a lot of harsh criticism against the ´settlers´, but rarely are took into consideration the testimonies and motivations of people included in this category. As in the case of any mass movement, there are different directions and school of thought, and listening to them may clarify this very important movement in the recent history of Israel.

And even if you are not reading books and making theoretical comparisons, spending some days in places like Efrat or Neve Daniel may put anyone in contact with the passion of people who moved to Israel by passion for the land.

This is how Susannah Schild, author of the blog Hiking the Holyland describes her decision to relocate with her family here: ´For me, Israel became the place where true spiritual pursuit was available, where religion was valued´. 

Her memoir: From Southerner to Settler. Unexpected Lessons from the Land of Israel may serve as an important guidance and explanation. Growing up in a family of established neurologists, she was aiming at raising her children in a less materialistic society. Once moved to Israel, the dissonance between life at home and life outside ended. As a Jew, she and her family were able to walk in the steps of our people, to feel the history of those places, to identify on the spot where history happened: ´an opportunity to really get to know Israel, the physical land of our forefathers and to understand its hidden message´.

The book is written in a relatable direct way, convening clearly the message and the meaning, an important testimony of Israeli and Jewish history.

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Other Jews

How actual is the rift between Askenazim and Sephardim nowadays? More than one generation grew up fuelling the differences, but aren´t now the differences supposed to estompate, as the colours of an Impressionist painting?

Clearly, the new generation of Israeli, born and bred in the country, may not put too much emphasis on those old times´ differences. There are mixed marriages and except Pessach - with or without rice - there are not too many occasions when there is a clear reminder about those distinctions.

But it was not always the same and even nowadays, although praised and integrated as part of the everyday society, being Askenazi and being Sephardi may come to separate ends of the story. Which may turn against the everyday Israeli realities and may also fuel an old antisemitic stereotype regarding whitness myths and colonizer delusions.

Demographically and not only, Israeli society is not purely white. Descendants of people forced to run for their lives from the Arab lands do count in the country that, indeed, institutionally was set for the descendants of people murdered in the European lands. But Israel belongs to the Middle East and it is a success story of the Middle East, not Europe´s. 

Written at the end of the 1980s, The Other Jews. The Sephardim Today (Sephardim, not Mizrahim being considered the politically correct term used to designate Jews from Spain, Portugal, Balkans - such a neglected topic - Arab lands and Iran) , by the late researcher Daniel J. Elazar although it may have a lot of outdated information, it also has the merit of extensively covering the social and political origins of the issue. 

There is a certain note of outrage in the writing, that accompanies the general information about Israel´s ethnical origins as well as the failures, particularly institutional, in approaching the topic - but which country at the time was able to really foresee the difficulties of integration of groups of people with so different cultural and social backgrounds?

I was not very keen of the structure of the book, which outlines the situation of the Sephardim in Israel at the time, followed by a long list of short historical inserts covering communities around the world - although information is outdated, there are noteworthy details regarding the history of those communities, worth researching into depth further on - only to return to considerations about Jewish interactions and institutional and political considerations within Israel.

Looking back at those problems with the eyes and tools of 2024 gives more hopes than some of the conclusions of Elazar´s book. There were mistakes and maybe a one-sided perspective, including in the promotion of one vision of the country, one vision of history, one vision of Zionism, one vision of religious observance. But media, particularly social media, offers alternatives, displays the differences and diminishes the gaps. On the other hand, there is still so much to study and research about those communities and hopefully, will be able soon to present more studies, books and researches on this topics. Because, the biggest power of all times is knowledge, a powerful weapon against ignorance of all kinds and from all directions.

Kissing Girls on Shabbat by Dr. Sara Glass

If you read a certain amount of books, more than the average anyway, on a specific topic or belonging to a well-defined genre, sooner or later you will become satiated with the topic. There is a certain pattern repeated over and over again, with only personal details filled in. Take, for instance, the case of the off the derech memoirs, out of which I´ve read a good bunch of in the last years, as the genre is becoming more and more popularity.

You have the person who does not fit in, the oppressive religious conformity that cannot be tolerated any more, following an illumination-kind of acknowledging the absurdity of some or all religious tenets. Afterwards, there is the fight or the loneliness, faced with the lack of skills for economic survival and very often the struggle to keep the children or the broken heart for not being able to keep them.

However, despite the overall predictability, I will not give up reading those memoirs, because the more repetitive they are, the clearer the certain trends within religious communities - I read in general memoirs of getting out of faith: there is a new generation that may find different ways of positioning towards religion and willingly or not, even the most closed groups will be suprepticiously changed one day.

Take, for instance, the Gur Hasidim, who are practicing very strict marital relationships, considered by many as oppressive: not using the given name for the wife, separate walking ways, discourage of any closeness between spouses unless for procreation. Being born a Gur in America, experiencing queerness from an early age, Dr. Sara Glass succeeded to write her own story: becoming independent, cutting the dependency ties with the community while keeping her precious children.

Manipulated into religion by the sake of her children and the religious background of her family - ´A kosher woman does the will of her husband´ -, she had to play the appearances, even after her divorce, otherwise she may have lose them. The power of the batei din - the religious tribunal deciding, among other, in issues of divorce and child custody - may overcome that of the secular authorities, especially when the woman does not have the proper knowledge and advice for checking the content of the documents she is signing. You are not represented by a lawyer in the front of the religious courts thus the risk of being completely unaware of the legal consequences of the documents signed. Religious communities are tied by trust, obviously, why do someone may need a lawyer anyway?

Kissing Girls on Shabbat that I had the chance to have access to in audiobook format, read by the author, focus less on how bad, backwarded and generally disgusting the community is - as it is the case in at least one such memoir - but on her own story. Her own work to achieve the best version of herself, the engagement trying to help people in a similar situation, her doubts and obsessive fears of being taken away her children. Also, more importantly, the importance of actively being involved in helping distressed people, unable to get over by themselves of their mental health struggle, overcoming generational or recent family trauma. 

It is love not hate or revenge that motivates her life. At 24, she was the mother of two children, at 32 she came out, and established her career as a therapist while being together with her children. Education gives power, including to gently overcome one own´s struggles.

Kissing Girls on Shabbat - whose collage-like cover is also worth mentioning - is a moving testimony of those strengths.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Bad Jews?

From within the Jewish Orthodox realm, the choice between good and bad in terms of Jewish practice - although halachically not recommended - is relatively easy. There are degrees of religious conformity, things that should never be done - like mixed marriages, but lines and limits are very clear. However, outside this safe space, the diversity may be a blessing and a curse as it rather delves into questions, way too many questions that may overshadow any trace of clarity.

Journalist Emily Tamkin - published, among others, in The Washington Post, New Statesman, The Forward - does not pretend to have an answer, but collects pieces of a mosaique that may be, in the end, constructed in many possible ways. 

Bad Jews. A History of Jewish Politics and Identities is a welcomed contribution to the neverending, very actual debate about who is good and who is bad - which confounds sometimes with the question about right and wrong, but not necessarily. The debate is even more important since 7/10, with often mentions of ´Jews for Palestine´ or ´Against the ´Genocide´´. For some, such individuals are ´good´, for many others they are as ´bad´ as any plain Hamas supporter.

It´s relevant to read the book from this perspective time-bounded, but for a full understanding of the Jewish identity in the US, and in some cases outside Israel in general, the book offers that general frame. It analysis not only stereotypes and the ideological division - very normal as long as Jews do belong as citizens to a national community, but also go the the root of the motivation for different divisions - for instance, for most American Jews, Israel may not be the most important identity issue. Some Jews may grow up with a synagogue affiliation, some of them without a Sunday school, some may send their children to Jewish camps although they are not observnt any more. Some may think that protesting for Palestine is your mission to ´make the world a better place´. 

Identity may be fluid. Opinions may be wrong. People may be unaware of what they do support. People may love to be wrong. A lesson learned of Tamkin´s book is that before judging one should consider several identity markers. Which does not mean that everyone is right. 

Jerusalem, via Berlin

 

The intellectual history of Israel is still to be written, but for sure it reveals as more complex than a black-and-white painting separating Zionists from anti-Zionists. As it usually happens in the case of intellectuals, the more nuances the better in order to reach a higher level of understanding.

Personally, I believe that historians should take a big distance from emotional involvement and often felt like the split between the abovementioned categories of historians is too feeling-driven. It´s like each is trying desperately to prove the other one is wrong, ignoring on the way to accomplish the researcher´s mission of finding and exposing the truth. 

Hence, I usually took very critically the works by Tom Segev, but could not resist the temptation of reading his memoirs, hoping that maybe I can have a better understanding of his background.

Born as Thomas Schwerin, in a German family, his parents fled Germany in 1935. Both of his parents were involved with the Bauhaus movement, his mother a photographer, his father an architect and toy manufacturer. Only his father was Jewish, and he grew up speaking German as mother tongue. His sister, Jutta, is based in Germany and is an architect and a politician for the Green Party.

For many years, Segev worked as a journalist, among others, for the left-wing Haarets, reporting from many parts of the world, interviewing famous local and international personalities. Maybe his love for journalism, permeated too much his everyday life, as according to his memoirs, he used at least twice his acquaintances as subjects of daily feuilletons and reporting - one was his adopted son, an Ethiopian-born Jew, another one, a drug addicted acquaintance who stalked him obsessively for years, asking for money and a warm blanket, a weird relationship between source and journalist to be honest.

What is really important to understand from his memoirs - subjective, as one may expect from this type of writing - is the many nuances and motivations of the Israeli intellectual life. Layers of personal experiences, expectations, personal choice, ideological profile. After reading this memoir, I will be most probably interested in reading his historical books as well, obviously, with that grain of salt that comes into question when reading history anyway.

Ironically, for a language buff is that the book was published by Munchen-based Siedler Edition House. ´Siedler´ translates as ´settler´, but the name of the edition house does not have anything to do with the category that people like Segev do not agree with. The name takes it from the founder, Wolf Jobst Siedler.

The Matchmaker´s Gift by Linda Cohen Loigman

´Love is not always a straight, shining line sometimes, love is a shady part, full of unpredictable truths´.

Shadchans - Jewish matchmakers - do have sometimes a shady reputation and there are many scary stories about how people - particularly older (matches from 23 years onwards) or divorced, or divorced with children, or from divorced parents and the list can go on and on and on - are treated. Or rather mistreated. But there are also happy couples who were successfully matched by heartwarming shadchans who put the interests on their clients beyond their profit expectations.

Although I am pleased to hear stories, any kind of stories, about matchmaking, religious or not, literature about the topic is rare. Hence, my high interest in reading The Matchmaker´s Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman, a book I had on my TBR for way too long.

Inspired by real matchmaking stories she was shared, the book is set alternatively at the beginning of the 20th century and mid 1990s. Sara, a gifted intuitive matchmaker who set up people since she was 10, based a mysterious outerwordly reading of people - there is a hollow and a spark she is able to see when people interact - and her divorce lawyer Abby are the main storytellers. Shortly after Sara´s death in her late 90s, Abby is going through her grandmother´s diaries. The knowledge she got, matched with the constant memories of being told she may have the same gift, almost ruined her hardworked career. After all, which divorce lawyer would want to work with someone who is actually convincing people to stay together? But in America, everyone has a place, and it seems that Abby found her niche.

The Matchmaker´s Gift is a heartwarming book, with so many interesting insights including in the ways in which marriage changed from being an institution to a story of love and consentment. Sara´s matchmaking, set to deal with ´no negotiated or mercenary marriage´, fuels dreams of love and stories ´brillant enough to last´. 

The type of Judaism manifested is North American, not necessarily religious, and Sara´s matches touched upon a large variety of people, outside the tribe as well. 

The interactions between characters count the most and although I would have expect more interaction, social context and stories in general, I´ve enjoyed the book. Somehow, it feels as the author is tiptoeing carefully on a very complex area hence the modest story and character development. However, I would definitely read more by Cohen Loigman in the future.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Movies with a Jewish Topic on Netflix: Kulüp

 

For a long time I haven´t watched a movie with a Jewish topic on Netflix, but this was only a metter of time. As I am getting more and more interested in discovering the Ladino culture and its representations, I was recommended by several respectable sources to not miss Kulüp - The Club - set in the 1950s multicultural area of Pera in Istanbul. And what a journey it was - a binge watching one, for sure.

The series were released between 2021 and 2023, is spoken in Turkish with many Ladino expressions and beautiful songs. It is built around the story of a night club, who is undergoing various challenging, both at the personal, socio-political and economic level.

The film starts when Matilda Aseo, the heir of a once rich Jewish-Turkish family, is returning after an amenisty following the murder of her once lover, a Turkish entrepreneur who apparently ruined her family. After 17 years spent in prison, she is supposed to get in touch with her daughter, Rașel, who was sent meanwhile in an orphanage. The relationship is tensed and while trying to save her rebelious daughter from prison, she makes a deal that may mark her life from now on.

First and foremost, the screenplay is very well written, with way too many changes of situation, which correspond in fact to the outside environment, such as the riots against the Greek minority, the taking over of Jewish properties during the war, the military putch, the raise of real estate tycoons and the subsequent gangster-like crimes.

The representation of the Jewish identity is set in the context of interaction with the majority, the restrictions and the challenges. Matilda, although twice in love with Muslim men, she is lighting the Shabbes candles and keeps a mezuza at her door. It´s a feeling of being fully aware of who you are, in a nonstrident yet careful way. It is a sense of measure forgotten sometimes.

I am not familiar with a nuanced local representations of Jews within the Turkish society, but would definitely interested to explore more, but as for now, the feedback I´ve read about this film, coming from Jewish sources, was positive.

Personally, I´ve found the play of the actors very good, especially Rașel, particularly towards the end of the movie, as she is fighting against depression, set following her traumatic birth and first almost two decades of life.

With an interesting story and a lot of Ladino references, Kulüp can be a good introduction to a less known Jewish episode. Recommended for a good binge watching, but be ready for a lot of drama.

Diary of a Crisis

 

One of the most dramatic consequences of applying the absurd BDS directions in academia, aiming at excluding Israeli academics from world universitities, is to deprive the world to fathom the diversity of the Israeli society. Israeli academics, and many prestigious intellectuals, do share very leftist positions, based of an old socialist and communist mindset, often shared by the founders of the state. Many of them do have a moderate position towards Palestinian statehood aims and are very critical towards the mixture of messianism and politics struggling to become mainstream. Many of them are also very critical of Netanyahu´s policies.

Prestigious historian Saul Friedländer observed with fine knowledge and detail, the tumultous last year, noticing the political events and mass street movements stirred by the judicial reform initiated by Netanyahu for self-survival reasons. While noticing the actors and stages of the crisis, he is smoothly sharing personal memories - including of a meeting with Golda Meir - as well as personal observations about the many rifts of the relationship between Askenazim and Mizrahim - some of the analysis of Shas as an identity political movement are very pertinent. +

It´s obvious that Friedländer, who is a resident of the USA, do have a clear bias and takes many of his information from left-wing publications such as Haaretz. On the other hand, he belongs to an intellectual tradition that do have his own mentality limitations, but whose clarity and secularist tendecies are very important for the democratic functioning of Israel. An Israel in turmoil who is still struggling to get out of a crisis that seems without an end in sight - the diary ends shortly before October.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Kantika by Elizabeth Graver

Although at a different level compared to Yiddish, which is very much alive and very much kicking, Ladino is making a timid yet steady comeback, at a personal and scientific level. There are classes - online and in person - books and scientific articles, audio and video recordings of linguistic variations. Few days ago I´ve met someone whose grandparents are still active Ladino speakers, which is a surprise because we´ve been mostly told that Ladino is actually dying. Hopefully not.

Part of this revival is the emergence of a cultural wave of literary, visual - films and photography - as well as music renditions of Ladino identity. I am slowly going throuogh it myself - learning bits of language, reading studies and listening to experts - but literature is always for me the easiest door to a culture. Hence, my curiosity to read Kantika by Elizabeth Graver, a book I´ve heard about for a long time. Another pleasant revelation was The Wold and All That It Holds, also warmy recommended. 

Partly inspired by her own family experience - but unable to fully document it and turn into a memoir, hence the fictional choice - Kantika is a multi-generational account that starts in Constantinoble - soon to be Istanbul - in 1907. Through the jouorney of Rebecca Cohen - character inspired by the author´s grandmother - from modern Turkey to America, via Barcelona, there is a long episode of Jewish history revealed, although it gives place to relate to individual stories to unfold. 

Each chapter is illustrated with family photos and do contain a generous amount of expressions and words in Ladino - an useful tool for anyone trying to learn the language as well. What is remarkably from the point of view of the narrative construction, is the multiplicity of voices heard within the story, allowing almost all characters to have a say, to tell their own version of the story.

Kantika will make you curious to find out more about Ladino culture and individuals, to hear more stories. It adds more depth into an important episode of world Jewish history that needs a lot of more emphasis nowadays.

Rating: 5 stars

I.M: A Memoir by Isaac Mizrahi

´The Syrian community have never seen anything like me before´.

One of the most successful Jewish designers in the US, Isaac Mizrahi is a bubbling personality that wrote fashion history. Born in a Syrian-Jewish family and a student of Yeshiva of Flatbush, he broke up with the religious community, came out as gay and fulfilled his artistic dreams. In addition to being a fashion designer, he also performed on the stage and movies, wrote a graphic novel and created costumes for opera or theater.

I.M is his memoir relating his life story. I  had access to the book in audio format, read by the author and it was a very pleasant experience - although Mizrahi mentioned that he does not like to hear his own voice. 

The book unfolds as a chronological suite of the events that marked his early childhood, his relationship with his parents - especially with his mother who was and is a model for him - with the Syrian Jewish community and his steps into the world of fashion, as well as his sleep problems and lifelong struggle with insomnia - an aspect I largely relate to as well. There are many details and observations interesting also for the fashion business history in general.

At times I felt that there are way so many details and a larger focus on events, without a specific structuring of the memoir based on milestones or various categories, but it belongs to the genre of memoir to follow the timeline and style that it is considered appropriate by the author and no one else. It is a subjective choice that the reader shall accept in its entirety.

A special not to the cover which is elegant, simple and straight forward. It suits very well Mizrahi´s fashion style.

Rating: 3 stars

One Year among Haredim

Curious to dislodge the absurdity and helped by an enormous sense of humour - and appetite too, and some may even say that people who love food laugh the best - Tuvia Tenenbom - whose previous adventures in Israel I had the chance to review earlier - spent one year between Mea Shearim and Bnei Brak, experiencing life as a Haredi in Israel. 

Gott spricht Jiddisch - translated from American English by Michael Adrian was published originally under the title Carefull, Beauties Ahead. I am not sure which title did the best and instead of wondering I better keep writing my review, at least until he is not publishing another book already (right now, it seems he is spending time with settlers and I can´t wait to see the results).

The stories - some of them a bit repetitive, but people in those places love to show their belonging to a group and do not fancy individualism as we do in other part of the world and even of Israel - are sometimes grotesque, sometimes written with full sarcasm, but nevertheless unique. And if you find normal to pray at a grave when looking for your soulmate, maybe you spent too much time or your entire life among Haredim. 

He is curious especially about people and groups at the fringe of the Haredi society - like Toldot Aharonot and Neturei Karta - but there are also interactions with larger and brand names such as Belz or Ger - and he is getting a lot of insights following the split within the sect. Although, there is a lot of fluffy text - but delicious food - there are snipets of information that may help someone to make an idea about what does it mean to be Haredi in Israel nowadays, including in the author´s cartoonish version.

I do have another book by Tenenbom that may keep me company until his next one is ready, so will keep my humour - and sarcasm - levels high. 

Rating: 3 stars

Shanda by Letty Cottin Pogrebin

´(...) how sacrosant privacy once was´.

Shanda. A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy by American Jewish journalist and author Letty Cottin Pogrebin is not only a historical testimony of Jewish life after the war, but also offers to the reader an unique example of memoir writing and researching.

Secrets are part of the Jewish life, particularly for the post-war generation, but Pogrebin set the culture of shame and secrecy into a larger realm of cultural context and sociological understanding. Secrets are more than a pathological temptation of lying, but they are the result of (sometimes too high) social expectations and communal curiosity. Some facts are better left untold and the culture of sharing - the naked social self built under the pressure of social media exposure, among other things - is not necessarily meaning a better family connection. It is just a different relationship no more or less authentic.

There are different ways in which Pogrebin is able to trace those secrets and deleted traces of assumed social shame: her own memories, random pictures found in family throves or forgotten enveloppes, discussions with different family members, her own genealogical researches. Although I loved to follow up the Jewish story, this part was in many respects more fascinating, as it shows the many diverse ways in which a good memoir and a family research in general can be done. 

Shanda is a testimony of diversity of Jewish life in America and a model for anyone - Jewish or not - is interesting in the art of memoir.

Rating: 5 stars

On the Mikvah Strike

Since few days, the religious Jewish Internet is boiling hard on the mikvah strike. The details of the initiative started by Adina Sash aka Flatbush Girl, are getting more and more spicy - religious women do go to mikvah at the end of their period, this act permitting them to their husbands for sexual relationships - obliterating - with or without intention, Gd knows which is true - where did it start for.

Divorce is not only a goyishe recognition of the failure of a marriage. As long as there are halachic prescriptions about the circumstances of giving a get - a divorce  according to the Jewish law - it involves that from immemorial times, divorce was a possibility of ending a marriage. There are many reasons to do it, some of them also halachically requested. The stigma associated with children of divorce - with lower chances to get married, as introduced by various shadchanim - and the refuse to accept abusive behaviors of men, some of them respected religious figures - may make people - women particularly - reluctant towards such a dramatic step. Also, the situation of agunot - women chained to their ex-husbands who are not willing to give them a get; according to the Jewish law, a man can marry another woman while still not officially divorced by his first wife, while the woman she cannot re-marry without a get, as her children with the new man may be further considered mamzerim, bastards - may discourage women to ask for divorce. Thus, the man can keep the control over the woman´s body, preventing her from starting a new life, re-marrying , being free...

Adina Sash, aka Flatbush Girl, is a smart and creative Jewish Orthodox woman, educated and mother of two. I follow her account for a very long time and I appreciate her unique personality. She shows that a Jewish Orthodox woman can wear proudly many hats in an open Orthodox Zionist way. She is part of a larger movement within the Orthodox Judaism of knowledgeable women who are decided to not allow extremist religious men randomly decide their fate, like Chochmat Nashim, pioneering among others against the erasure of women from the public space, without any halachic basis in this respect. 

What Flatbush Girl and other organisations and individuals - mostly women, but not only - are fighting for - literally, as their vigils in the front of synagogues may esclate sometimes - is the injustice done to women. I can count on more than two hands the cases that I´ve heard about of women manipulated into staying with abusive men, or refused the get for the sake of ´honor´ and/or money rewards. Women threatened to be taken away the children from men - and their families. (Here is a beautiful visual essay by Frieda Vizel about her experience getting the get while leaving the Hasidic community.)

Malky Gold is waiting her get. Four years have passed and her ex-husband whose family is manipulating his mental weakness  refuses to grant it to her. For Malky, and many other women like her - many waiting for more than ten years, or dying without being granted the get. This is a crisis that affects deeply the soul of the Jewish women and families.

In Israel, strict rules against get deniers are aimed to prevent such situations and reluctant men can even go to prison. But when they escape to galut, or men who are living in galut, cannot be forced as the local - non Jewish laws - do not have any previsions in this respect. The strike is extreme - the good point is that the discussion about marital relationships are becoming more talked about lately which is a very normal adult thing to do - but the situation requires such intervention. Men, women, people of good faith should get together to end this crisis. Until no more women are about to suffer an absurd manipulation of not-wise men, any mean should be used to challenge this situation. We can do more, men, women, people who could not accept this abuse against our mothers and sisters any more. 

Between Satmer and Neturei Karta

This is a note I wanted to write for a long time. But after the tragedy of October 7th, both Satmer and Neturei Karta were mixed together in the fish bowl of anti-Zionism. Which at a certain extent they share, the difference being in the manifestation and the extent of the anti-Zionist take.

Both movements do share a common opinion about the state of Israel: Zionism is wrong, and the real return of Jews to the land of Israel should happen only when Moshiah will come. In the words of the late Satmer Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum - who was helped to escape Hungary during the war thanks to the efforts of a Zionist, Kasztner : ´even if the members ofthe Knesset were righteous and holy, it is a terrible and awful criminal iniquity to seize redemption and rule before the time has come´. Both Satmer and Neturei Karta may do mention lack of religiosity as a cause of the Shoah, but such outrageous statements are usually normal for the religious self-righteous.

But except those points of contact, the gap is only getting bigger and bigger. Among others, Satmer are a Hasidic group, while the Neturei Karta, founded in the 1930s by Amram Blau - whose late wife Ruth Blau was a very interesting character - , following the split with Agudah Yisrael is rather anti- and non-Hasidic.

Satmer, a Hasidic group originary from Satu-Mare/Szatmar/סאטמאר currently Romania, usually avoid political and ideological statement against the state of Israel. On the other hand, Neturei Karta, whose representatives wearing Palestinian shawls and carrying ridiculous billboards at pro-Hamas gatherings, are actively taking part in dismantling the state of Israel. Satmer is usually avoiding any kind of association with NK, and every normal human will do it. NK has a provocative history of being associated with PIJ or Hamas, and used to regularly receive money fromt the Palestinian Authority. Some of their representatives even visited Tehran in order to participate at an infamous Holocaust denial event. 

Hopefully, those distinctions will be helpful to properly associate ideological and ideatic patterns in relationship with certain anti-Zionist religious trends.

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe

 

Time and again I am returning to midgrade novels because the age of such novels - 8 to 12 years - is formative for this kind of readership. It is the age when children are learning their ways through life, being faced with the adult world while still remaining anchored in the fantastic worls of the childhood.

For the Jewish - Orthodox segment, it is not easy to find such novels with girls characters. Devora Doresh mysteries are one of a kind - hopefully soon would be able to write an extensive review of the story - but I am still on the look for more characters relevant for the nowadays young Jewish Orthodox girls, their concerns and interests.

Last week, I had the chance to read Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, the debut novel by Mari Lowe. Actually, it was a delightful chance as the book is well written and paced, with an unfolding story touching upon an impressive amount of topics: parental loss, friendship, depression and other mental health issues, antisemitism, the power of community. It is a long list of topics, but it does reflect the random subjects anyone living in a Jewish community in the diaspora may face it. In addition to the specific Jewish layer, many of the topics are relevant for the gender/age categories of the book.

Aviva is a sixth grade girl, curious and with a fuzzy hair. Her mother, once a teacher, is now, after the ´accident´ - the event during which her father lost his life, that is explained to us only at the end of the story - is a mikvah attendant, rarely leaving the house. She is observing her mother at work, with a dybbuk as her only companion.

Either you are midgrade or not, it´s hard to put this book down. Aviva is in the middle of different situations - either as a main character or as a storyteller. The turns are impredictable, but the author uses the occurrences to add more details about the characters who are therefore evolving at the same time with the story. You feel that every single element comes along together in a perfect puzzle, at the end of a process both eventful and insightful.

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk has relatable characters and a well built story. It is recommended to any curious girl from a modern Orthodox background that loves to read and discover her world through characters speaking her language.

Rating: 5 stars

A Cold War Exodus by Shaul Kelner

From the early 1960s until beginning of the 1990s, the American public opinion mobilized in favor of the Jews living in the Soviet Union, requesting in various ways the authorities in Moscow to ´let them go´. Jews from the Soviet Union represented the noble cause of many politicians - Jewish or not - cultural and religious personalities, in the US and abroad. 

In October 1963, wrote professor Shaul Kelner in his forthcoming A Cold War Exodus. How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews, the members of a synagogue club in Cleveland, Ohio, established a Committee on Soviet Anti-Semitism. This will be the first American organization dedicated to aiding Soviet Jews. In addition to the efforts of the state of Israel herself to offer a smooth passage through Nativ and other initiatives more or less public, a whole network of organisations and movements operated in the US on behalf of them, both from the right and from the left.

What the book extensively analyses is the extent of the network and the strategies, including by tracing the specific alliances between some of those organisations with stake holders and non-Jewish organisations and initiatives. ´For a generation, this social movement shaped Jewish Amerians´ civic and religious culture´, mentions Kelner and his efforts are aimed at revealing important aspects for the general history of social and cultural movements during the Cold War.

Kelner´s book is an important contribution that tries to extract the lessons learned of the mobilization on behalf of the Soviet Jews in the US for the overall history of social movements. It uses fine anthropological and sociological approaches and sources of very diverse nature. A recommended book for historians of the Cold War as well as researchers in the field of Soviet Jewish studies.

Rating: 5 stars

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

Jewish Stories in Germany: Gewässer im Ziplock by Dana Vowinckel

In Germany, as anywhere in the intellectual (-related) world, there are many people repeating ad nauseam the same old tropes on topics of general interest, only for the sake of getting public attention, but there are also quiet, more intellectually productive and creative individuals whose achievements may be shadowed due to the noise of those with not too much to say. Nevertheless it is intellectually refreshing to discover books and authors not necessarily asked to express their opinion on almost everything, always delivering the same battle lines, but still writing and creating their works.

Thus, I was more than delighted to spend some days listening to the audio version of the debut novel by Dana Vowinckel, Gewässer im Ziplock. The book was published last August and as for now, is only available in German.

The action of the book has Germany in the background but the characters are not German. Margarita, 15yo, is born in Hannover, in an American-Israeli family. Her father is religious, a cantor in a synagogue in Berlin, while his mother, American by birth and a linguist, abandoned her as she was a little child, unable to cope with life in Germany. This summer, after a stay with her grandparents in Chicago, she is sent to spent some time in Israel with her mother. During a short time, during the summer vacations, Margarita is going through conflictual events and emotional challenges, not only getting to know her mother and secrets from her past that may dramatically change her perception of identity, but also is getting a different grasp of the world around - her first sexual encounter, body perception, starting to understand relationships (through her parents and grandparents interactions).

The book is intense and so are some of the characters - Margarita and her mother, Masha, in particular, and the women characters in general. The women characters do have an attitude and issues to deal with in the society or the family. Men, however, do lack a certain consistency and they are mostly hard to understand - especially Avi, Margarita´s father, both in emotional and religious terms.

My favorite character was definitely Margarita, assigned a clear voice and attitude. Her growing up experience within such a short amount of time sounds natural and relatable. The snippets of Jewish life building up the environment of the story fit naturally into the story.

Gewässer im Ziplock is definitely representing a different way of writing literature about Jewish life in Germany, in German. I hope to be able to discover this year more such individual literary voices, with definitely a lot to say within the Jewish literary stage.

Rating: 4 stars