Book Review: Isidor. Ein judisches Leben by Shelly Kupferberg

 

A well known moderator of Jewish cultural events, Tel Aviv born Shelly Kupferberg published this year her first novel, a literary memoir of her great uncle Isidor Geller. 

First pages into the book, one may believe that the book is a work of fiction, but once the mentions of searching through the letters and diaries and scraps of the past in the Tel Aviv apartment of her grandfather - the Austrian-Israeli historian Walter Grab - we realize that Isidor is in fact a memory reconstruction. Literarilly speaking, it is impossible to fully reconstruct someone´s past assuming a full precision. Indeed, especially placed in a literary context of a family figure, most probably there will be life episodes and testimonies of a high personal, subjective nature therefore fictionalisation has its own place. Personally, I was not extremely pleased with the blurred lines between those approaches - literature and historical reconstruction - but it is a matter of clarity that I am feeling comfortable with sometimes in specific literary contexts. There are also a couple of repetitions about the characters, which although may make sense from the point of view of an unfolding storytelling, still does take some precious storyline time.

Returning to the novel as such, there are elements so familiar to almost all Jewish stories from the German-speaking realm - both in terms of common tragic destiny and, in some cases, assimilation. There are also many details that are resurging more and more boldly lately, especially related to the stealing - concealed for so many reasons - not only of Jewish properties, but of art and valuable objects, as well as book collections. However, the specific personal traits are equally important and do make the stories uniques and worth telling.

Isidor. Ein judisches Leben contributes to the emerging literature in German, by Jewish authors, about Jewish lives before and during the Shoah. The mentions: ´in German, by Jewish authors, about Jewish lives´ are simulataneously important for the sake of authenticity and owning the narrative in a way that does not try to excuse or to edulcorate the facts, but to share stories as they were, instead of fitting into a narrative imposed from outside the Jewish realm.

The outstanding poetic cover deserves a special mention as well, and as usual, I am in awe about the high quality of the covers of German books.

Rating: 3.5 stars

A rabbi and an imam are going to Jerusalem

It may sound like the beginning of a traditional joke, but I think it sounds much better than a rabbi and a imam started a war in Jerusalem. Ramazan Demir, the imam, and Schlomo Hofmeister, the rabbi, are both young and religious and involved in the daily discussions regarding religion and tolerance, both between their religions, on one side, and in relation with the majority. 

Together, they spent a couple of days in Jerusalem, via a stop over in Istanbul, exploring their roots and the big dilemma of the 21st century. Both of them are European citizens and acknowledge the main challenges of our times, while trying to make the world a better place.

During their trip they approach issues such as extremism, radicalization, missionarism, relation with other religions, head covering for women and in general how to preserve the difference while being part of the majority. On purpose or not, they behave like well trained diplomats, avoiding as much as possible particular tensed situations and political disputes - which do exist and fuel greatly the current dissent, particularly in the Middle East - trying to assume that extremes and over politization is in fact the main reason for misunderstanding. Even when they are visiting Hebron, a place torned out between two religions, where a visit from outside cannnot be done without special supervision, particularly when it comes to going to the religious places, the two enlighted religious leaders are just mentioning that the holy places of the two religions are situated in the other religion's place. 

In my opinion, the most interesting part of the book were the discussions about the current relation of Western Europe to religion, the post-post-Enlightment years and the difficulties of accepting the religious difference. The dialogue omits to address, among others, the root causes of the current radicalization among Muslim communities in Europe, but hope the dialogue will continue and, at least in the German-speaking media, a more complex discussion will ensue.