A Sweet Film About Bat Mitzva and A Bit More

 

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah available since the end of August on Netflix is a sweet coming-of-age comedy featuring Adam Sandler, his wife Jackie (as Gabi Rodriguez Katz) and their daughters Sadie (as Ronnie) and Sunny (Stacy, the girl who is looking forward to her bat mitzvah party). Sunny´s preparations for the bat mitzvah party may involve more than preparing for an epic event, as the world seems to crush: her best friend is dating her crush, she is constantly fighting with her parents and otherwise the preparation of reading her Haftorah seems to be going nowhere. But what about taking the mitzvah from the party seriously and trying instead of throwing an expensive party to fix somehow the world, starting with repairing her friendship.

The movie is based on a 2005 book by Fiona Rosenbloom that I haven´t read by now.

The movie is entertaining, relatable to both teenagers and their parents, with topics that are generally common to such age-related issues. However, the subject as well as the framework of the movie is fundamentally Jewish and definitely proudly outlined. The teenagers and their parents featured in the movie are proud to be Jewish, wearing their Magen David and kippot, attending the Sunday school in the ´Temple´ held by a hippy rabba who loves to be on the threadmill while teaching having her consulting hours. They are diverse children of all possible appearances and names, all of them sharing the same identity and - again - being very proud of it. 

For an American audience, it makes a lot of sense and it´s pretty common, but for the more traditional realms, including in Israel, it´s hardly heard of. Luxurious bat mitzvah parties, where girls are reading their portion in the ´Temple´ during the week and party as crazy in the weekend, are rarely heard of. And so is the idea sometimes that there is a vibrant non-Orthodox/non-traditional Judaism, happy and unproblematically own. Which is obviously wrong.

Therefore, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is a both a movie for children and their parents, more or less traditional, funny but equally a reminder that Jewish life in general is beautiful and a blessing and enjoying it in the many ways it´s experienced is equally a mitzvah.

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Austrian Jews Family Story

Netsuke are Japanese miniature sculptures, who became very popular in the 18th-19th century Europe, at a time when Japonaiseries were entering the houses of European bourgeoisie. Took out of their original cultural and narrative context they became part of a different cultural register and story. 

That´s the story of objects sometimes, able to co-exist in two different stories and family narratives. 

The Hare with Amber Eyes, Winner of 2010 Costa Award, by pottery artist and writer Edmund de Waal retraces minutiously his family story through 264 netsuke inherited from his late uncle in Japan. From Paris to Austria, Odessa, Englad and Tokyo, the small figures is the red thread bringing together the more or less known episodes from her family, the once European famous Ephrussi. 

When one revisits the past, there are present-day fragments that are actually re-written with the words and eyesight of the present. It is an essay in re-imagining other people past, but although it may reproduce the stories, it misses the real feelings and the excitement of the moment. 

But a netsuke is ´hard to break: each one is made to be knocked around the world´. His documentary journey through centuries of family history De Waal keeps discovering hidden things and memories. 

When the book was published and documented, there were scarce news about the situation of looted Jewish art from the Austrian Nazi authorities. As in many other countries when it comes to Jewish properties, it looked like the laws were made having in mind the prospect that one day, those works of art would be requested back. The situation is far from being solved, although one step at a time may be victoriously announced in the media. The dramas of the sudden changes of fate and often, dramatic fatal encounters, are for ever encrypted in the DNA of so many Jewish families.

I particularly loved the tone of the story, curious yet careful in bringing up the facts and permanently confronting the unexpected results to the already known/confirmed memories. A delicate work, as delicate as the making of pottery.

Rating: 5 stars  

The Extraordinary Life of Ruth Blau

 

A controversial character having played a main role in the denuement of the infamous Yossele Schumacher affair, but with much lesser known involvement in trying to save Jews held captive in the Middle East or endangered by Iran´s mullahs, Ruth Blau had a life bigger than life itself. The biography dedicated to her by researcher of religious extremism Motti Inbari reveals the paradoxes but also the (blind) dedication to the Jewish life she chose as a convert from Catholicism.

Resistance fighter in a France under German occupation, spy - for the French intelligence and occasionally Mossad - Ruth Blau acted guided by religious belief and dedication to her understanding of the Jewish ideals. With the fanaticism of someone who feels his or her religion needs to be showed off, she embraced the extreme views of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta, although the marriage with the leader of the organisation, Amram Blau, ended his leadership of the organisation.

Based on interviews and unique documents from her personal archives, with the patience for detail of the detective, Inbari drew not only the portrait of a rebbetzin but also an unique destiny of a strong and determined personality. Trying to avoid the fully negative portrayal of her - for some, due to her implication in helping for years the religious relatives of Yossele Schumacher to keep the kidnapped child out of his nonreligious parents; for others, due to her status of convert with aims of leadership within the very male conservative Haredi establishment - he is trying to analyse intentions and aims, personality features and psychological challenges.

This book is an important source of inspiration and information on several topics, such as women leadership in Haredi world, Jewish recent history, psychological profile of religious converts and many more. 

Although I really enjoyed the information and its treatment, I struggled sometimes with the style of the argumentation. For instance, before explaining in detail her role in the Schumacher affair, there are way too many references of what is supposed to come and how although she was, for instance, sincere in her commitment to Judaism, she never apologized for the pain made to another Jew while being part of the plot of kidnapping Yossele. And many more.

I wish someone will make a movie about her life.

Rating: 4.5 stars

My Road to Remembrance by Fred Katz

 

A black-and-white photographic memoir of Holocaust memorials around the world, My Road to Remembrance by Fred Katz is a visual testimony of the painful history of European Jewry. The tragedy of 6 Million people systematicaly murdered in cold blood has no precedent in history. The power of the images collected by Katz through travels from all over the world - USA, Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Latvia, Holland, Greece, Cuba, Uruguay, Chile, Italy, Hungary, Canada, Israel - is to bring a tribute to the victims and keep the world awake of the tragic events. A testimony against forgetfullness and a warning. 

Rating: 5 stars

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

´Impossible Takes Longer´

 

There is hardly right now in Israel a more balanced and lucid public intellectual than Daniel Gordis, an author I was given the chance to review in other post a couple of years back.  His newest book Impossible Takes Longer is dedicated to analysing at what extent Israel has fulfilled its ´founders´ dreams´, 75 years after the creation of the state.

Quoting documents alternatively with various episodes, more or less known, from the latest seven decades and a bit from the creation of the state, he is asking questions regarding the ups and downs in the life of an extraordinary people and country. If one may have some doubts about the many reasons Israel shall exist, or do have some doubts about the exceptional character - even non-religious people may acknowledge the miracle of a country and especially people that were able to conquer their own trauma.

Gordis analyses the intellectual basis of the state and of its statemen and women, without ignoring the people who built the history: the soldiers, the victims, the children running to the bomb shelter. 

The author offers a balanced, neutral view, with the pros and cons, shedding light into the shadows of misunderstanding. Without being complacent, he is severe and do not obliterate the context, but at the same time it also instills a feeling of pride for all the successes of this small yet fierce people.

Impossible Takes Longer is a book to read for anyone interested in the recent history of the Land and people of Israel. If you are rather on the Israel critique side, or just skeptical about the state of Israel, at least for a few minutes you may be proud of everything this country did - for itself and for the others.

Rating: 4.5 stars

´Free as a Jew´

 

Prof. Ruth R. Wisse belongs to a generation of Jews that seen and experienced too much to accept any pressure to change their opinions, no matter how controversial. The direct contact with realities of the last century, filtered through a knowledge acquired using the classical literary and religious sources leaves no space to compromise.

Born in Czernowitz, she and her family escaped to Canada via Romania, fearing the Stalinist repression. This early life experience will deepen her understanding of communism, particularly during Cold War. As a Canadian Jew, she witnessed the birth of a new post-WWII diaspora, as well as the multicultural local policies, making friendship with Leonard Cohen. Further more, on the educational level, she experienced directly the birth of Jewish studies in the North American realm, and was directly involved in the rebirth of interest for Yiddish literature. A staunch supporter of the state of Israel, she seized the right directions that may lead to the new forms of Jew-hate - like anti-Zionism. 

She assumed her opinions of being against the ´affirmative action´, criticized the Oslo Agreements and remained a clear supporter of what would be later called ´neo-conservative´ political directions. 

And when the world was over and over again took by troubles, she found comfort in the old tales of Yiddish writers, that she promoted and taught over the years. Besides the strong memorialistic perspective, the book is also a reminder of the timeless value of Yiddish literature and its importance for the Jewish intellectual history.

Testimonies like the ones generously shared by Prof. Ruth R. Wisse are very important from the intellectual point of view. No matter what we may disagree with, she fully assumes her values and beliefs. Making and defending an intellectual choice should be no shame. Accepting someone else´s different standpoint is the beginning of a conversation that may not bring us to changing someone else´s mind, but at least will benefit in terms of understanding the difference and the diversity of ideas, without taking personal offense and directly attacking the opponent.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Bring Back the Babka!

 

Shortly before Shabbes, the freshly baked babka disappeared. Sol and Sammy, followed by the dog Mazel, are helping their mother to find it, hoping that they will be lucky enough before the guests are coming for dinner. On their way, they are welcomed with delicious Jewish foods - cholent, gefilte fish, compote - and although the babka seems to have vanished without a trace, they are bringing back home kind foodie gifts for their evening meal. 

Bring back the Babka! by Marilyn Wolpin with colourful illustrations by Madison Safer, to be published this October by Barefoot Books, is many things at once: a funny foodie mystery - wait until the end for a smart hint -, a book about Jewish foods and traditions, a refreshing story about solidarity and friendship. 

As I consider myself a skilled creator of babka, and a hungry consumer as well, I couldn´t resist a story created around one of my favorite Jewish treats. At the end of the story, there is a short glossary - with photos - of the foods introduced and a recipe of babka I can´t wait to test it.

The book is recommended for pre-school and primary school little readers and their parents. It teaches in a joyful funny way about traditions while inspiring the children to be kind and empathic. A recommended read to both parents, their children and Jewish educators and babka lovers too.

Rating: 4 stars

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