Songs for the Broken Hearted by Ayelet Tsabari

I waited to read this book my whole year. After reading Ayelet Tsabari´s eyes widening memoir and few of her short stories, I knew that this author will be on my TBR for ever. Israeli of Yemeni origin, she is openly sharing stories telling stories that were rarely shared before: the Yemenite babies affair, the cultural clash, the denied identities. 

I was able to fulfill my bookish fantasy this week, except that I did something much better: I got the audiobook which is read by the author with Yossi Zabari and Assaf Cohen, starts and ends with an original song sang with the inflections of the Yemeni dialect, with names pronounced with the right accent. It added so much value to the average reading experience.

Songs for the Broken Hearted is a beautiful secret love story, of Saida, a Yemeni married woman, who met his love Yaqub in the immigrants´ camp in Rosh Ha´ayin, had to leave once their affair discovered only to meet again 40 years after. Love can be so strong and remain lit no matter how many times separate from the encounter. Zohara, the rebelious daughter, is called from Thailand to her mother´s funeral and got enthralled in the search for the secrets of her estranged mother. A typical story of mother and daughter, taking place in the incertainties and tensions following the Oslo Accords.

Every detail of the setting is a revelation for the reader; the ways in which the characters are built, their ambiguities and unexpected private episodes; the political and social context and the ways in which the new identities - Yemeni, Mizrahi - are reshaped, decades after the first arrival and many disappointments that did not diminish however the deep attachment to the land of Israel. Songs for the Broken Hearted is a human chronicle which unfolds in the most genuine possible way. 

Some stories shall be told and once aired they may change completely the way one looks at life, history and love too. Life will be completely different, poorer, without those stories, I am convinced.

Rating: 5 stars

Ayuni by Sarah Ansbacher. An Adeni Love Story between London and Israel

 

Once upon a time, when I used to travel often to London for various reasons, someone told me a story about how he - with a Chassidish background - ended up on a shidduch with a divorced Yemeni woman and although he was tempted to advance with the match, his family was completely against, although until now he is still single. The reason was mostly the ´different background´ which sometimes easily translated as a nuanced refuse to accept someone of a more ´Mizrahi/Oriental´ in the family. I don´t want to develop too much, but often such reasons do not lack racist considerations and unfortunately, it could operate both ways.

I completely forgot about the story until I started this Shabbes to read a Jewish Romantic novel set in London, about the love between an Adeni boy and a Chassidish girl, Ayuni - a term of endearment in the Yemeni/Adeni dialect - by Sarah Ansbacher. I don´t remember ever to have heard about a Jewish novel featuring Adeni Jews, therefore I was pleased to read also for reasons related to the pure information about this group.

As part of the former British Empire, Yemeni Jews especially those from Aden, used to have strong trade relationship with London therefore  when the antisemitic attacks intensified, the British passport helped some to move to the UK. This was the story of Ben Aharoni, the young male character of the story, the first generation born on the British soil. He fell in love with Miri, an innocent Chassidish girl who just happened once to be the backup story to her best friend Raizy, while she was casually dating Ben´s friend. Although Raizy will eventually return to the usual dating cycle and will end up marrying a heimische boy, Miri will remain with Ben through which a new world opens up to her: movie theatre, TV set, physical contact with men, a relationship burgeoning before marriage.

And although everyone in this story knowns that this love cannot go anywhere, Ben and Miri included, the two keep adding to their story. Until it is too late to turn back, anyway. The diversity of London Jewish life, observant Jewish life, I dare to outline, is unfolding under our eyes through Miri´s innocent discovery of a different perspective, outside the shtetl - probably around Golders Green. The fact that in the end she will relocate to Israel, where it should be place for anyone, no matter the origin, is symbolic.

I was almost sure for half of the story where the story will lead to, but haven´t expected to happen this way and wasn´t prepared for the spectacular twists either. I was definitely pleased with the ending, after running fast through events in the second half. Ansbacher is treating her characters with empathy, trying to understand their motivation rather than accuse, judge and eventually kill their characters.

Ayuni is a diverse and insightful Jewish love story, that besides introducing the discussion about Jewish diversity - as we are all am echad - it also builds up an entertaining story. Although there may be not many Adeni-Chaddisische couples in London and elsewhere, as one of the characters of the book mentioned, ´it´s a different generation´ and hopefully the old stories of prejudice can win against love - for each other and am Yisroel.  

I am so curious about other Adeni stories that I am about to read her other book, this one seems to be fully inspired by stories of Jews originary from Yemen. I can hardly wait to finish my work chores for today and delve into the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Unforgettable Short Stories by Ayelet Tsabari

Ayelet Tsabari's short stories, published under The Best Place on Earth were a literary revelation for me. My aim was to purchase her recently published memoir, The Art of Leaving, but got a bit lost into the recommendations of my Amazon algorithm and challenged by the descriptions of some of the stories. Convinced, I purchased the short stories first and since then - yesterday afternoon - couldn't put them down.

I am not a great reader - and not a writer either - of short stories. I am in love with big, long stories and I rarely get the literary enthusiasm for couple of pages only stories. Especially when it comes to accounts defined by a specific identity and geographic realm, I prefer those boundaries to be journalistically clear, simple in order to allow in the good filling of the story. 

Ayelet Tsabari succeeded to achieve it in a very entincing, I dare to say even addictive way. The stories do have a clear geographical reference - Israel - and a frame - Jewish life, mostly of Jews of Mizrahi (Oriental) origin, specifically Yemeni. Within this matrix, memories are created, unique stories are told and existential crisis or questions are occurring. At the end, frequently the reader is left out, as it seems that once you are reading the next one, in the previous one there is still a life going on, you are not privy to. Thus, expectations and inner discussions are created. 

There is always a tension - mostly between the new and old, the traditional lifestyle versus the modernity liberation, the silent revolt against the Askenazi establishment - around which each of the stories are created, but those tensions are gently, fuel the story and nicely make the balance. 

After becoming familiar with Tsabari's writing, I am very curious to read more about the sources of her writing, her own life story and therefore can't wait to start reading her memoir. 

Rating: 4 stars

The mitzva of saving the Jews from Yemen

Yemen’s dwindling Jewish community faces extinction | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California