Nicht ohne meine Kippa! by Levi Israel Ufferfilge

'Für Antisemiten habe ich überhaupt keine anderen Eigenschaften. Keine eigene Geschichte´.

Levi Israel Ufferlige grew up in North Rhein Westphalia region of Germany. He graduated Jewish studies, was a religion teacher and speaker, and the director of the Masorti Jewish International School in Berlin, and currently he is the rabbi of the community in Oldenburg.

He is also proudly wearing his kippa on the German streets and further sharing his story in an account of his daily life in Germany as a Jew: Nicht ohne meine Kippa! (Not without my kippa!). The book was published in German and as far as I know was not yet translated into other languages.

In addition to the personal and family details, the author is extensively sharing his experience in facing and sometimes fighting against the antisemitism when openly Jewish. There may be voices complaining that there is maybe too much ´love for the Jews´ in this country, but for someone living as a Jew here, the experience is largely contrary to this assumption.

For Levi Israel Ufferfilge, as for many others before him, and many other right now, especially after 7th of October, there are the same challenges over and over again. Although holding official positions - including as a teacher - he is sharing the experience as an individual, without any institutional support or intervention. 

Although I´ve found his experience very relevant as an alternative and realistic version of the everyday Jewish life in Germany, some of the personal details shared weren´t necessarily a contribution to the main topic. But because I was so avid to find out all the possible details of his Jewish experiences as a visible religious person in Germany, that´s it.

Rating: 4 stars

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

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.  

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