No Other Land

I am terribly late in terms of catching up with latest films and cultural productions from Israel that got a certain notoriety. Those times are hard for the truth and what really appeals abroad may be rather what the audiences are expecting to hear and see. Definitely not the truth.

No Other Land was extremely praised and I wanted to keep my mind clear from various toxic views on a conflict that is commented from abroad and rarely shared from inside. 

Basel and Yuval, one Palestinian and another Israeli are witnessing the constant demolition of Palestinian homes in the village of Masefer Yata in the West Bank. Watching the movie and seeing how the IDF is repeatedly destroying the houses rebuilt overnight and sends the inhabitants in a precarious cave-based habitations you can hardly control your hate against the IDF. Women fighting barehands, children growing up in the middle of the rubble, men took to prison, Yuval recording everthing, Basel looking forward in this hopeless world. Terrible times and precarious existences.

It´s really sad, but you know what is also sad: half-truths or undocumented affirmations. No one producing this movie seems to really care to offer a bit of background about why we have this situation, what exactly in bureaucratic terms creates this unclear property situation. In no normal country in the world is it possible to start building without construction permit. 

And you know what is also sad: that the Palestinian living there, do have authorities to represent them, to have their rights defended using the democratic tools. No authorities to check out and negotiate new legal arrangements and laws allowing people to live in houses instead of caves, giving the chance to someone like Basel who studied at the university to get a job. 

Yuval and Basel may do a great job documenting, but decision making is somewhere else, in the place where people taking decisions may be. Until there will be no responsibilities taken and people in charge with clarifiying the legal framework, children will continue to waste their childhood in the middle of the rubble.

Indeed, there is No Other Land, but don´t expect others to do for your land what you are not doing yourself for it. And it is not about the ´resistance´.

Satmer kidnapping in Argentina?

Last evening, I watched the shocking life story of Chanie Werzberger that was previously presented in series by Ami Magazine. She is a fantastic strong woman, that despite the tragedies she went through, she is able to embrace the day with resilience and emunah. Her story was recently published by ArtScroll and I am definitely curious to find out more about all the details of her life.  

There were many thoughts that stayed with me or developed shortly after watching the interview. The story itself, and the way in which Chanie is telling it, is traumatic. 

Born in Argentina in a non-religious family, when she was 4, her parents separated. Her mother was a bohemian and apparently used to leave her and her sister (6 at the time) alone at home for long amounts of time, including by night time. Following a phone discussion with the Satmer Rebbe in NYC - there is a significant number of Satmer Hasidim living in Argentina, result of post-WWII immigration, a community Askenazi by name and Sephardi by customs -, decided to kidnap the girls and take them to the US. It took Chani 21 years to meet her mother again. The mother´s side on the story is not known as for now.

During their stay in NYC, they were hosted in different foster families across NYC - she doesn´t say it but probably it was a way to lose their trace - , and joined their father lately, living in precarious, rat-infested basements. They received new names. 

It takes a lot of courage to share such a story, and although she is not accusing anyone for what happened, this is a clear example of parental alienation and it is no wonder that the religious argument was used as a subterfuge for the kidnapping. Altough I may have a more radical critical take on the situation, I deeply respect this pious courageous woman.

The events took place almost six decades ago therefore also the rules and awareness about such cases was lower. The fact that her father got the support of Satmer Rebbe is another level of interest though, that may require a bit of more journalistic inquiry. If it was so easy to bring two girls from Argentina and alienate them completely from their non-religious family, what about from other countries, or from the USA? Satmer used to be very active in Yemen from where they brought Jews to the US and integrated into the sect, so maybe there is much more to search about this case, and maybe many similar others.

Hopefully, to be continued...

About Lies

Anyone with an ounce of observation skills, interested to take the pulse of the daily life on the streets of Berlin may have notice that in the last two years a different mood is growing. Yeah, Berlin remains a party city and people love to dance on the street, but this time they do it in the monotonous pace of screams to ´globalize the Intifada!´ I give the benefit of doubt that many of those in trance when hearing it were not even born during the time of the Intifada, and some really don´t have anything to do with the Middle East - except some T-shirt they got for free with the bold Palestine word on their chest - preferably red. But there are many who actually know it very well, and they may fantasize about playing its game. Those who may produce the T-shirts and may hand some financial support to those in need, laying idly near the Shisha bars of Neukölln. 

Jüdische Allgemeine editor-in-chief Philipp Peyman Engel wrote recently a book about Germany´s Existential Lies - Deutsche Lebenslüge in original, the English version of the translation belongs to me - which sums up facts and figures, experiences shared and lived. In Berlin, in Israel, in Ruhrgebiet - where he was born. Experiences from his mother´s country of birth, Iran.

I don´t think this book is for the German Jews, they may know and see by themselves, no matter how distant from the daily practice may be. But the Germans themselves, they may want to read about the duplicity - those...´yes...but´ just for the sake of playing right while hiding the truth (it is just me or the practice of taroof is taking too much over our public lives, no matter where - hint, see the current ceasefire between Iran´s mullahs and Israel). 

Instead of creating a debate, a dispute, some truths on the table, due to some cacophonic screams that will make the most aggressive bazaari hide of shame - bazaari people are lovely and hardworkers, don´t take me wrong - that diverted the discussion into a direction that really do not matter for the discussion - if Payman Engel´s mother was or was not member of Baha´i when for most of the people heating the debate this name says much less than a Mai Tai they order to drown their existential self-doubts - we may be skipping the chore of the book. Is that true? Is life for Jews in Germany becoming more threatening after 7th of October? Is it fair to expect the Jewish citizens of Germany to enjoy life or only if you screem ´Free, Free´ waving the flag of a country murdering its own citizens you have the right to breath without fear?

What about reading the book, taking notes, create some bullet points, read some history books or hire some people to do it for you, bring your friends from all over the river and seas and discuss. Use arguments, examples, counter-argument, you name it. Instead, we are missing another occasion of self-reflection and all we are left with are the loud screams of mediocrity.  

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

´First generation build the house, second generation lives in it, third generation burrns it down´.

It took me months until this online library loan was available which made me even more curious to get my eyes to this book. And, as in the case of the stellar debut by Brodesser-Akner, Fleishman is in trouble, I wasn´t disappointed.

An inter-generational family story, taunted by trauma, and an incident that marked the family - the kidnapping of the family father, a story inspired by a true story that took part on Long Island decades ago - Long Island Compromise is a novel of modern Jewish life in America. 

The author´s fantastic storytelling reminded me of literary sagas of Jewish life in the goldene medine, and it maintains a certain classical storyline, to which (limited) elements of modernity are added. You felt through the story at the end of the 1990s, but a bit far from our turbulent times, but I wasn´t bothered because the ambiance was although authentic, not necessarily relevant for the story. The meeting between worlds happens in a very smooth way, despite the tormented life of the characters themselves. 

What really mattered was the stories of the main characters, written over and over again, based on myths or impressions or desire to be different. As Rabbi Weintraum said in the book: ´all families are a Bible story into themselves´.

The stories intertwins with modern or old trauma, personal or generational. It may get subliminally transferred into addiction - sex or drugs - deep depression, identity crisis. Each wants to be out of it, but it falls over and over again. Jenny, the youngest, is the most categoric, as she focused her depressive thoughts into anti-capitalist attitudes. But her grandmother´s voice will come from the background: ´Thus money you hate, it´s all that stands between you and the gas chamber!´. (The book has a realistic critique of the income inequality, without falling into the trap of any ideological take).

People who once were poor, may know how to avoid the curse again, and the (happy) end of the story, with the drama-free acceptance of life - including the terrible secret that saved the family during the Holocaust - is a victory of life. 

I enjoyed the story and the ideas shared. Long Island Compromise is a contemporary intelligent Jewish story you shouldn´t miss. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

That Black Hasidic Lady by Sara Braun

´Even since I can remember, I was always a spiritual type of child who would have thoughts and experiences more so in feelings instead of words´.

 

Few days back I stumbled upon an interview the brilliantly kind Frieda Vizel did with Sara Braun, a Jew of colour from the Netherlands who decided to become Hasidic. Being Black, with a non-Jewish father, with a non-religious background, some may assume that she will face a strong resilience, particularly if she wants to join insular groups, but in her case, it was rather the opposite - with some limits though, such as shidduchim etc. 

Usually I am writing more about people who left the religious communities, the so-called off the derech phenomenon - which do usually receive a much wider acclaim, but in fact I am equally curious about the other way round. People who left their secular upbringing behind and willingly took upon themselves the strict rules of observance - and received as a bonus a warm knitted community as well.

That Black Hasidic Lady is the book Sara Braun wrote summarizing her personal story. Illustrated with beautiful photos of her and her equally beautiful family, it is an account of how a girl who grew up in a Dutch village, aware of her Jewish heritage, although in a non-religiously committed way, got to know and embraced herself the Hasidic way of life. 

Trained as a soprano, but with an entrepreneurial mind - she tailored wedding gowns for a while while in NYC - she got accepted - as a guest or as a family member, by Hasidic families, most probably Satmer way of Kiryas Joel. She does not mention the name of the group, the only Hasidic sects being explicitly nominated is Chabad - how can someone avoid them anyway - and Belz, to whom she is connected via her maternal side.

´Everything was just about family, community, good food and creating beautiful memories with God at the center´. This sentence clearly resumes what many people were longing for before joining Judaism or who are becoming religious - any religion, in fact. It is the feeling that some people who left the fold will always miss.

The book in itself though was kind of disappointment. In need of extra proofreading and structuring, it leaves you with the feeling that you still haven´t understand too much about her - although her video interviews are more assertive: What exactly was her relationship to God and observance before? How does she ended up suddenly with a non-religious guy from abroad when she was surrounded by Godfearing Jews? How did they negotiated within the marriage the religious observance - which was at the very opposite ends. Why did she returned to Europe though? What exactly meaned her ´radicalized´ observance, which specific minhag ? What about the relationship between her children and their father? How do they navigate between two different worlds? For a while she writes about her husband and suddenly he is ´ex-husband´...She went to the States at 18 as she always dreamed of, which is cool, found a job as an au-pair, and left the job but in any case one needs a valid working permit, including EU citizens. And so on and so forth.

There are also some spicy references about men she met who expected sexual favour from her, but everthing is related within the limits of modesty.

To sum up, That Black Hasidic Lady adds up interesting information about what does it mean to be Jewish - by birth - woman and black in religious communities - there is a lot of prejudice, but there is more than that - but also explores a personal journey of finding one´s place in the world. 

The book is a bit disappointing from the literary point of view though, compared to the videos I´ve watched. A slight editing would have changed and improved everything.

Operation Bethlehem by Yariv Inbar translated by Dalit Shmueli

´Daniel stared at his instructor and thought how convincing deception could be´.

I´ve recently read some good and very good books written by former spies, and the insights of their everyday lives, especially in fiction, brings a note of genuine creativity. But not all spies are easily allowed to share their personal details, even if they are long retired. They remain valuable assets for their institutions, who are, partially at least, continue to keep control over their life.

Yariv Inbar, whose Operation Bethlehem, translated into English by Dalit Shmueli, was awarded Jewish Book Council´s Jane Weizman Award, is a former Mossad operative with a taste of spy thriller. Due to the sensitive nature of his missions, his books needs to be first approved by the censhorship´s office of the service, a practice common for other intelligence institutions such as CIA. According to the same rules, the author is using a pseudonym.

Given the above mentioned limitations, Operation Bethlehem may have less spy core compared to your usual espionage thriller, written by civilian authors. However, out of limitations comes the diamond, which is the main character of the story, Daniel, a French Jew who immigrated to Israel and joined the Mossad, with an explosive personality that may take him on slippery ways, risking careers and operations. Through the twists of the operation on enemy territory - Bethlehem - Daniel is initiating on his own, there are remains of a love story with another Mossad operative and also a curious archeological take, fully in sync with the role of archeology in the everyday life and identityy representations in Israel. 

In the end, the story may be too sugary coated for my taste, but it´s worth reading it if you are curious to get a full immersion into a fragment of the everyday life of a spy. Once a spy, always a spy.

Rating: 3 stars