Book Review: Second Person Singular, by Sayed Kashua

Inspired partly by his own (unhappy) experience, Sayed Kashua is approaching in Second Person Singular (that I've read in the German translation) a different category of Palestinians that are rarely portrayed in the media: the Muslim Palestinians living in Israel with a very successful professional career. 

As the author himself, they successfully went through all the levels and requirements of the Israeli educational system, acquired good university grades, were able to overachieve while leaving completely or partially behind their ties with their old life in the villages. They are rich, speak perfect Hebrew, can purchase their goods from the same expensive suppliers as the rich Israeli. Are they in fact integrated? Are they really feeling as priviledges as their Jewish neighbours?

Kashua himself that has a long career as a journalist for the left wing Ha'aretz decided a couple of years ago to leave Israel (here is his letter of 'resignation' from the country published in 2014 as an essay in the German-speaking Spiegel). 

Both male characters in the book - Amir/Jonathan and the Lawyer - decided at a certain point in their lives to do their best - at the limit of legality - in order to achieve in the Israeli society. However, their efforts will not bring them farther than their community limits. At the macro-society level, they and their children will always be second class citizens. Breaking their ties with their history, and without any national/political ambition, they are outsiders for their families, and not interesting enough for the left who rather prefers to focus, sometimes with a certain level of irritating condescendence on the weak and poor ones, emotional thus confirming an implicit projection of inferiority/non-civilized status.

I've personally found the display of this relationship and dynamics very interesting and relatively new from cultural and sociological point of view.

The book has another running plot, which I expected to offer more from the literary point of view. The two main characters connect each other through a piece of paper that the Lawyer (this is how he is always mentioned in the story) found in an edition of The Kreutzer Sonata by Tolstoy. The note was written by Amir/Jonathan to the current lawyer's wife while he courtshiped her for a short time. Through the note the two characters and their histories are introduced and this is the note that will bring both of them together. Like in Tolstoy's book, jealousy is a consuming feeling but it does not end up in passional crime (it would have confirmed the wildly emotional portrait assigned to Palestinians). The jealousy - for whom Tolstoy, the representant of an extreme mainstream within the Christian Orthodox Russian church, recommended as antidote the sexual abstinence - is the only connecter between The Kreutzer Sonata and Kashua's book. I would have expected a more creative literary exploration of this narrative line.

Besides this literary disappointment, Second Person Singular is eyes opening. I am curious to read more of Kashua's books and eventually better understand at a practical level the identity issues he raised in the literary form. 

Rating: 3 stars

Watching Fauda on Netflix

Fauda - which means chaos in Arabic -, labelled as the Israeli version of Homeland which is available in 2 series on Netflix is aggressive, unbearable cruel and might raise a lot of red flags on the part of the left-wing but it's genuinely realistic. 

Based on the experience the authors of the screenplay - Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff - had themselves during the Army service in the Mista'aravim unit - dealing with special counter-terrorism operations - it shows both sides - Israeli and Palestinians in a different light that supporters of both would love to see them. Israeli are psychologically manipulative while Palestinians don't miss a change to kill each other in a fight for power which overcomes sometimes their 'resistance'. Betrayal is such a human sin and desire to survive might be bigger than any potential reward in the world to come. 

You have dangerous terrorists addicted to chocolate, and poor Cpt. Ayoub who in the middle of a complicated interrogation shall give clear directions to his kids about what to eat for dinner - and terrible strong women who are hard to break, although destiny broke their lives more than once. The political and social context in the area - on the Palestinian side especially - is relativelly well portrayed, with the complex fight for power and authorities between different political and military factions as well as the impact of newly 'imported' radical movements, mostly from Syria, such as Daesh (ISIS).

Not all episodes are equally interesting and not all the actors are outstanding good, but watching them on binge - two series in a short week - might give an short idea of life and death in this part of the world. There is no romanticism and no black-and-white drama either, just raw confrontations and fight for survival - personal and/or political. No one could be brave in this fight.

This fight for survival, which involves also having to deal with some people that might think are your worse enemies is unfortunatelly unknown to many outsiders. The fact that besides the black-and-white, occupier vs. victim perspective, on the ground there are much more complex interactions and people from both sides of the wall can work - sometimes very well - together. There are Arabic speaking Jews and Hebrew speaking Arabs, there are people who are friends regardless their religion and language their speak. Jews from Arab lands and Iran, mostly the first generation, but sometimes the second too, do feel at home among their Arabic neighbours (ask any old Jew from Iran and Iraq about their memories about their home lands and you will be surprise how much love they kept in their hearts for their place of birth). They don't love each other that much and maybe they are not friends either, but they know each other much better than people whose only political activism is to post on social media ready made materials often produced by the propaganda departments of Hamas or other proxies (in Fauda the members of Hamas, compared to other radical military wings, look like a bunch of playboys). The propaganda reality that various political entities (none sides are innocent) want to project is that some are always good and some are always bad and until one side disappears, there will be no peace.

When someone wants to really start understanding beyond the propaganda narrative, it should start by gathering data and information and facts, talk to people and understand both sides with an open, realistic and emotion-free mind. The fact that some always started their school days cursing Israel and the Jews make them the least experts in understanding the area unless they really want to. Reacting with tears in your eyes when you see a video about 'Nakba' or graffiti on the wall portraying the resistance, donning a keffiyeh is nothing. Really nothing. Did you RT and liked religiously all those messages about Nakba/Nekba today? With the right hashtag? Complained to a random colleague about what the occupation is doing to people? You paid your moral duties to the world today. Repeat. (Al Jazeera Network which produced many of those easy-to-share videos is supported by the gas-rich Qatar which generously subsidizes Hamas, besides the Palestinian Authority).

Sometimes I wish very much I will get to live the moment when Israel will be friend again with Iran and the Arab countries will recognize the state. All those people who really believed what the political propaganda wanted them to believe will need to find a new cause to 'fight' from the comfort of their chair in the front of their computer RT-ing or sharing what they were supposed to share, isn't it? During the Cold War, such people used to be called - excuse my French - 'useful idiots'. By the way, top leaders of the terrorist movements almost never offer themselves to die in terror attacks. Just an observation.

Knowledge brings always power. With all its imperfections and Hollywood-touch, Fauda can help a little bit to see a different side of the coin. Politics are complicated and not for everyone's understanding, especially in the Middle East (something that the US, Russia, France and the Britain among others hardly grasp, if ever). 

'Chutzpah&High Heels'

Jessica Fishman left the comfort of her Minnesota part of America in order to join the IDF, search for love and identity in Israel. Apparently, after almost three years, she achieved all the three objectives, but not necessarily in the way she ever imagined. She was able to be part of the office in charge with the media of the Israeli Army, but she had to deal with a lot of psychological abuse and situations when her knowledge and love for the land were not necessarily a big advantage. Love, she had it too, but ended heartbroken as she insisted to keep being with someone that for a long time was not really in love with who she really was. As for identity, her experience in Israel showed her that she cannot be anyone else but who she really is, and the various institutional and religious definitions assigned to her do not change her perception.

The fact that she realized that she can better love Israel from outside - from the diaspora - is common to many of people from the Western world - USA and Europe included. Especially if you are coming from a relatively liberal/reform background, dealing on an everyday basis with the struggle of surviving a mixture of religious and secular establishment is very frustrating. Especially when the lines between those two opposite sides of the society are so blurred. 

Jessica's 'problem' was that her mother converted through a system not recognized by the Rabbinate. Therefore, although she qualified to make aliyah, she could not marry there because not officially recognized as Jewish. The boyfriend who broke his heart wanted her to convert the Orthodox way, because this was the only way they could marry. (Why she accepted to stay any second with him when it was obvious that he really had some character flows, it's hard to explain, but they say love is blind for a reason). She refused in the end and the relationship ended, but his way of accepting the Orthodox restrictions although not observant is typical for many Israeli (especially young ones): they can drive on Shabbat without regrets, but keep kosher for instance. The fact that someone who doesn't want to deal with the Rabbinate for different reasons can actually marry in Cyprus or Czech Republic and the marriage - which can be secular - is accepted by the state of Israel but however, for the divorce, it should be done through the classical Orthodox way, tells galore about how complicated this country could be sometimes.

In the end, to stay or to go is a matter of choice but many young people especially coming from America or Europe are landing to Israel with their one way ticket full of hopes and dedication for the country. They are happy to finally be part of that Jewish life they longed for in their home countries where they attended the Jewish Sunday schools and the activities of the inclusive Jewish Community Centers. After a couple of weeks only they might figure out a different reality: bureaucratic nightmare, religious discrimination or, if you are into dating, lots of rude and unreliable men that might have once a spiritual awakening and end up leaving you unless you want to join him into one way adventure (most likely not). 

Books like Chutzpah&High Heels by Jessica Fishman - who after a short break(down), returned to Israel to keep living the dream - help those considering a big move to Israel to make a decision knowing all the details of the problem. After all, better have the mindset of 'no expectations, no disappointments' than to end up suffering of a kind of 'Jerusalem Syndrome'.

The book reads easy, has a lot of humour and self-irony, with some lessons learned and hilarious dating experiences. Having an idea about a country when not living there - and seldom visiting - might be a big contrast to the reality of living in that country on a daily basis. Is it possible to change something from within right now? Not sure about the answer but those who keep living there although in relative dissonance with the establishment - mostly the religious one, made their choice and could at least offer a different version of the reality. 

About eva.stories

On the occasion of Yom HaShoa (Holocaust Remembrance Day) an intriguing Instagram project was launched from Israel worldwide: eva.stories. 

Featuring the last nine months from the life of Eva Heyman, killed in Auschwitz in October 1944, it uses the tools of social media to document the daily realities through the eyes of a young Jewish girl facing everyday anti-Semitism, racism, life in the ghetto and finally, death.

Produced with the financial support of the Haifa-born high-tech Zurich-based billionaire Mati Kochavi - who also produced and even written some episodes of Dark Net - the project was mostly aimed at a target of young Israeli between 13 and 30 years old. Spoken in English with an European accent, it has Hebrew substitles and it was featured as Instagram-stories starting with the evening of the 1st of May.

The film, which was shoot in the Western Ukrainian city of Lvov, is based on the dairy of Eva Heyman, born in the then Hungarian city of Nagyvarad (nowadays Oradea, in Romania). 

Once upon a time, I was crazily enthusiastic about the power of social media. I used to think for a long time that a social media network and a fast reliable Internet connection can change lives, the world, and it helps to counter discrimination and all the ills of the past century. However, many of the warnings expressed not so long about by Evgeny Morozov in The Net Delusion are unfortunatelly becoming everyday realities. Internet and social networks can be easily used to control, spread fake news and manipulate minds. 

I am a full supporter of the idea that any kinds of injustices and discrimination and anti-semitic and racist manifestations shall be carefull documented and shared to the world. But it is enough? Anne Frank and Eva Heyman and many others wrote diaries and their testimonies were important in revealing the realities of those terrible times. Writing, especially journaling and photography printed on paper were the ways in which memories were created at the time. Nowadays we have Instagram stories and Facebook live and blogging. 

The sad truth of eva.stories is that even she had a smart phone and apparently Internet also in the concentration camp, she couldn't do anything but sharing the stories to the world. No one come to her rescue or made a world campaign to stop the atrocities. The Germans who took her and her family to Auschwitz did not change their mind. Eva died and the fact that even her last moments were documented on social media sounded kitsch to me. 

It is not what I would have expected to happen If a Girl in the Holocaust Had Instagram.

Henny Brenner: A Jewish Destiny in Dresden

The Allies bombing of the city of Dresden on mid-February 1945 saved the life of Henny Brenner (born Wolf) and to many other Jews who were ready to take the road to concentration camps. Henny, the mother of Munich-based historian Michael Brenner (his father is also a Shoa survivor) shared her story of survival during those terrible years with a journalistic detachement. 

People, situations and political circumstances are displayed in a slow moving cinematic chain of events. It is a relatively short book, but informative enough to request at least two additional readings. One, about the situation of Jews married with non-Jews and the other regarding the anti-Semitism in the ex-GDR.

Henny was the only child of a family with a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father. This situation delayed at a certain extent the moment of the deportation to the concentration camp, although the family properties were seized and she and her mother were obligated to do forced arbeit for ZESS Jena factory. Although mistakenly taken as an example of the pure 'Aryan race' by a teacher, she was expelled from school and suffered under the absurd anti-Semitic measures directed against Jews: among others, the interdiction of using the public transportation, to get a normal hair cut, to go to cultural events, to use the services of a non-Jewish doctor. However, her book also includes testimonies on the Jewish (reform) religious life in Dresden.

Henny and her mother lives' were saved by the Allies bombings, but what followed after the war was over in the so-called Nazi-free Germany was not pleasant either. Following the patterns of the set-up trials against Jews members of the communist establishment, the GDR leaders followed and put into prison representatives of the local community. Adviced by the wise - probably the only after the war until today - leader of the Berlin Jews, Heinz Galinski, Henny and her family will escape to Berlin, before the Wall and from here, she will further move to Bavaria after marrying Hermann Brenner. 

Henny Brenner book about her experiences as a young Jew in Dresden adds on to the literature about those times. It shares some new and detailed information about those times and outlines the horrors of facing on a daily basis racism and discrimination. Another dramatic testimony of a disturbing and haunting human experience.

Rating: 4 stars

On Dating with Mental Disorder

Once upon a time, when my friends and some of my relatives realized that I am past 25 and not married yet, I was recommended - pushed towards - to give a try to the traditional matchmaking methods to find the one and only. (Scientifically, the recent results say that it might be more than one that you can consider as a soulmate in a lifetime, so give it a try again, singles).

The process started as any serious top management job search. With a very detailed CV, pictures and interviews with various shadhanit - matchmakers. The fact that I was in my early 30s, educated - actually, too much educated as one of the kind ladies confessed - and with a mixed background of religious and non-religious family, including many people with - oy gevalt - way too much high education - it was a disadvantage, apparently. The fact that I was also working and building my own career and being - again oy geval - independent - including not living with family and living in a secular world with secular friends was again problematic.

At the end of the many interviews and after dozens of phone calls, I started to be offered matches. Mostly bochurim - single men - in their late 30s, never married and as I was told once by one of the ladies matchmaker - 'a bit special'. When insisting to find out more about those special features, I was considered a bit insolent and replied that...'after all, what do you expect to get at your age, all the good ones are already given'. In fact, as I would have find out myself, without getting through interviews and other human resources procedures, those 'special' ones were in fact people that had specific mental health disorders. Apparently, most of them were never treated properly and therefore, their issues were just hidden under the carpet in the hope that sooner or later some 'special' lady will ignore them and just go on with the match. 

In my case, it was not meant to be and I pursued on my own the search for my soul mate, with all that involves in the secular world, including failures, heartbreaks and way too many hopes. However, the concern about how mental health issues are tackled in the community. Although there are lately therapists belonging to the community and with a certain sensibility and knowledge of the everyday problems and the religious challenges in general, the stigma remains and often taking the right measures is way too late for an appropriate intervention. 

And dating with a mental disorder in general, remains an issue - not only for the religious world, by the way. People with mental disorder are not easy to cope with and the immediate relatives and people that care for them might be direct victims and special knowledge, love and love again is needed. However, my main frustration was the way in which those issues were never acknowledged openly. Being offered someone 'special' was an example of the wrong way in which such issues are addressed, especially when it comes to dating and social relationships in general. 

This article I've read at the end of the last week is in fact a good contribution to this discussion. Especially this quote: 'Threability in mental health is largely a function of access to high-quality evidence-based care and willingness on the part of the patient to do whatever it takes to get better'. Recent epigenetic studies outlined that mental disorders are inherited only if certain genetical and social conditions are met. A good education, life standards and professional integration, plus an appropriate therapy are chances of getting out of most of the mental disorders. In the case of a couple, being able to assume together the weight of the relationship makes everything much easier and bearable and helps to save the relationship in the end. 

It is a matter of will, but taking the right decision based on the correct data is crucial to a relationship, including in the religious world. 

Rav Pinto on Assignment in Morocco

This Motzei Shabbes, in a ceremony where representaties of the King and local muslim leaders took part, Rav Yoshiyahu Pinto was confirmed as the kashrut inspector and chief rabbinical judge in Morocco. 

Counted in 2012 by Forbes among the wealthiest rabbis, Pinto spent one year in prison for attempting to bribe a high-ranking police officer. His list of problems was much larger and complex, and included embezzlement. A Kabbalist, Rav Yoshiyahu Pinto is the grandson of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira - or Baba Sali - but he studied extensiely in Litvishe and even Satmer yeshivas. At the age of 37, he founded a yeshiva in Ashdod, very popular among Jews of North African and Iraqi descent, including people who returned to religion. 

Among his followers - and also sponsors of his extended network of institutions under the umbrella of Shuva Israel - there are many non-religious wealthy businessmen, like Nochi Dankner, Ilan Ben-Dov, Jacky Ben Zaken or even Yossi Harari main job: mob boss. Harari even accompanied Rav Pinto during his annual pilgrimage to Silistra, in Bulgaria, to the tomb of Rav Eliezer Papo. Born in Sarajevo in the 19th century, Rav Papo - also known as Pele Yoetz, after the name of his main book on musar ethics - encouraged in his writings to consider that money is coming rather from Gd and earning a livelihood should not be a topic of preoccupation for the believers. Apparently, Rav Pinto had a more bold, modernist reading of his writings. Among his services count the offer of financial advices with a pinch of Kabbala, and during his stay in USA in 2008, he tried his hand advicing - not for free and through translator, as he does not speak any English - the basketball player LeBron James.

There are even more stories about Rav Pinto's experiences and achievements, that will be maybe for another time. The question is, how does it help Moroccan Jews - around 2,500 - his nomination? Among the Jews living there, there are also a couple of Israelis from the category of Yossi Harari. As between Morocco and Israel there is no extradition treaty, some of them are living in Morocco without the fear of being taken back to their country of origin prisons. Among them, a couple of years ago, it was another 'famous' Rabbi: Rav Eliezer Berland and his followers set tent here for a while, while trying to escape serious criminal allegations, especially of sexual nature.