What a Loveless World...

After reading a book like Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa you got the feeling that in fact, no matter what there should not be peace in the Middle East. It´s a deep feeling of despair that do not gives any chance for a future for young Palestinians other than got beaten by the ´colonizers´ and blow themselves up. It is a narrative embraced by some academics too, just another proof that sometimes academic research is not only ideologically biased and hate-fuelled but equally inadequate. But when it is ideologically biased it is clear that searching for truth it´s the last concern of the research. Instead it serves a narrative enslaved to various political plots.

Those who put their pen and intelligence - the writing of Susan Abulhawa who also wrote Mornings in Jenin is so good sometimes until you are brought back to the ideological message when one of the (Palestinian) characters is from the buttom of her heart ´destroy the Jews´ -  enjoy their victim status. And they got their credentials from insisting that the people they supposedly represent - the Palestinians - should continue to maintain this status because otherwise they will not win any popular contest of world victimization any more. It sounds so fancy to keep telling that there is the world - including the Muslim world - against the Palestinians. There should be no way out and the Palestinians themselves are against themselves as they suspect the traitors and the informers - the ´birds´ - among themselves.

The narrative of ´resistance´ carries the self-fulfilled profecy of a land where only one people live. The others, the ´colonizers´ should probably go to those countries who tried to destroy them. No answer to the question from where, historically, those Jews came from? Therefore, it is justiciable to poison the water in a settlement, and to kill other humans by individuals whose only vital energy is given by the pathetic frustration of not considering themselves worth of a better life. 

This is the message of the story of Nahr - river in Arabic - born in Kuwait, in a Palestinian family displaced from Haifa - after the European Jews stole everything, including their books...From Kuwait, where she also worked as a sex worker to support his brother´s medical dreams she lands in Amman, following the Emirate´s offensive against the Palestinians accused of collaboration with Saddam´s Iraq during the invasion of the country. As she decided to get divorced by a husband that actually was gay and in love with an Israeli soldier, she meets her brother-in-law who will lately marry her and introduce her to the ´resistance´. She ends up in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison - The Cube - but will be freed after a couple of years in a prisoners´ exchange.  

The book is indeed heavy of symbolisms and carrying an ideological message that outlines several times that there is no way out of this. But this is what a discourse of hate wants you to hear. It wants you to hate everyone because the whole world doesn´t care about you, as an individual whose destiny can develop outside the political and ideological patterns. And what a loveless world it is... 

Jewish Movie Review: Fill the Void

With what excitement I was waiting for years to watch Fill the Void, directed by the Israeli-based Orthodox film director Rama Burshtein. The movie, set in the Orthodox community of the un-orthodox city of Tel Aviv, won several Israeli Academy Awards and the main actress, Hadas Yaron, who also played in Shtisel, among other roles, won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.

Personally, I am very cross about this movie. 

First and foremost, there are so many aspects I´ve loved about the movie. The game of the actors is natural, non-affected, their scripts are simple yet tensed by the weight of the choices they have to make and the responsibilities they have. There is not a ´we´ - the religious - against ´them´ - the non-religious - narrative although at least in one moment, during the Purim festival, when the old rabbi wants to learn Torah while the outside world is loudly celebrating, he requested with a mild irritated voice to close the windows. But it is a normal behavior and the decision is made without further discussion about who´s the best. 

I also deeply loved the artistic effects, with the long focus of the camera on the light and shadows reflected on the tensed faces of the actors. The silence while the camera stays focused tells more than the whole script sometimes. Especially for the case of people belonging to the religious realm, it reflects the unique interior life and the conflicts that often arise between what you want and you can´t say for reasons that pertain to religious obligations. The eyes and the more or less open exchange of sights - in line with the modesty requirements - are a world in themselves with their own grammar and expressivity rules.

On the other side, there are those things that I was not so happy about. Which is, the story itself: after her sister died during the later stages of pregnancy, Shira the youngest daughter of a respectable religious family, is tormented by the difficult choice she is faced with: marrying the husband of her late sister and thus the little baby born will not leave or follow her shidduchim plans. The movie starts with Shira and her mother, bursting out of innocent joy, spying on a funny bochur in a supermarket, that she would fancy to date. This, before the family is struck by misfortune. What can one do against misfortune? Especially if you are a religious person? Will Shira marry her brother-in-law?

There is not the ending I wanted, but it has to do with my own rebelious/selfish nature of rather doing what I think it is good for myself, instead of thinking at a macro-, larger level, which involves obligations and less feelings and emotions. 

The movie is relatiely short - 1h27 - and although I did not enjoy the story, I appreciated the play of the actors and the artistic effects. And this was a big won of my last movie evening.

Changing the Narrative: ´Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran´

In an effort to challenge the usual historiographical narrative about the Jewish diaspora, Lior B. Sternfeld researched alternative histories based on the experience of Iranian Jews. Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran helps better understand the complexities of the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel. 

´The intense relationships between Iran and Israel since 1979 have given proeminence to the false dichotomies and wrong assumptions that dominate the discourse instead of facts´. Indeed, at the level of the everyday political and international fight, it looks like Iran and Israel and the Jews in general are separate and antagonistic topics. The histories - I love so much this plural of honesty because it modestly outlines and acknowledges the epistemological limits of history - told by Sternfeld are being told in a larger context of Iranian communities part of the Iranian society. Which means that there are Jews living in Iran as part of the society, bearing Muslim-sounding names, marrying non-Jews, taking part to events such as the Islamic Revolution or the Iran-Iraq war.

His main challenger is the usual Zionist-oriented historiography, which denies to the Jews the possibility of living anywhere else but in Israel, therefore their diaspora histories must be affected by benign anti-Semitism. Which anti-Semitism actually exists, including in Iran, but Sternfeld is looking for different kind of stories - although it is a bit of denial to not introduce the murdering of Habib Elghanian a proeminent leader of the Tehrani Jews condemned to death by a revolutionary tribunal. Which challenges the narrative that mostly the poor Iranian Jews were actually affected by anti-Semitism and made aliyah - although many of them were deeply disappointed by the unfriendly political attitudes towards non-European Jews and left for America or even returned to Iran. But this is rather a political than an academic debate and what the reader is left with are a couple of good histories not told too often about the complex community which can trace its genealogy from the Babylonian Exile.  

Complex and preferably unbiased approached is the main approach that needs to be used when trying to understand the life of Jewish communities. Having in mind all those aspects is essential for a further acknowledgment of the diverse communities living in Israel, especially those originally from the Middle East. When the assumptions are eliminated from the historical research there are interesting realities revealing.

In the case of the Iranian Jews analysed in the book, it is worth mentioning the intellectual contributions of their representatives to the ideological construction of the Tudeh Party - which further developed as well individual contacts with members of the MAPAM, the Israeli United Workers´ Party active in Iran - as well as to the journalistic landscape during the Shah. Another historical chapter is represented by the support that members of the Jewish community offered to the prime-minister Mosaddeq, despite his partnership with the arguably anti-Semitic Ayatollah Kashani and his decision to severe ties with Israel. It would be interesting to read more (preferably) ideology-free contributions of the relationship between Iran and Israel - described off the record by the Shah himself as an ´extramarital affair´ - as well as of anti-Semitism during the Shah years. Another less known fact involves the Jewish presence during the protests that helped to install the Islamic Revolution, such as the fact that the Sapir Jewish Hospital in Tehran was used to treat wounded protesters protecting them from the long arm of SAVAK - the Shah´s internal security services with a reputation of no-mercy attitude towards political dissent. And there is even more: late in 1978, a delegation of the Jewish community visited to Paris the Ayatollah Khomeini himself in order to ensure that ´Jews would not be regarded as enemies of the revolution but rather as its supporters´. 

The distinction between Jews and Zionists or rather between religious and political Zionism persists today and permeates the public discourse and personal attitudes in Iran. The role of micro-histories is to take the wise distance from the political and ideological stamps and look into the personal testimonies and human contacts. One day, those contacts will be more than mediated by words, but hopefully by the strength of human intellect and direct contacts between humans who can communicate beyond the brainswashing language of ideology. It´s worth waiting for those times.

Rating: 4 stars

Book Review: An Unorthodox Match by Naomi Ragen

 

For me, Naomi Ragen is one of the Jewish authors writing Jewish stories that I can hardly put down. What I love about her books is how she is creating stories that sound so close from home, populated with authentic characters with deep and complex psychologies.

An Unorthodox Match - which I had in audiobook format - contrary to the literary and movie trends, is about a young woman, Lola/Leah, who decides to become religious and move to Borough Park and live, work and marry within a religious community. There is drama, but not that kind of drama the fans of Unorthodox - the book and the Netflix movie - are expecting. Of course, when you leave your secular life, everyone - especially your parents - are in shock. Of course that on the other side, the grass is not green and in addition to being suspicious, there is always the risk of being considered a second class Jew - even this is so anti-halachic and contrary to the very basis of our religion (what about Avraham avinu who was himself a idol worshipper, or Ruth the Moabite the great-greatmother of King David from whose lineage Mashiah will descend. A baal teshuva - BT - needs help and support and have to be half-deaf to not hear all the lashon hara that is said on his or her back.

Lola/Leah is going through her personal Gehenom as she is set on dates with people with serious mental disabilities or with other physical and personal issues. A kind woman with a golden heart she is helping in the house of Yaakov, a widower with five children who is pushed to have a new start by his energetic mother-in-law. His intention to marry Lola/Leah are welcomed with shock by the community and Yaakov´s own daughter, who is afraid that such an alliance will damage her chances of finding a good Torah scholar.

As in other book by Naomi Ragen I had the chance to read, the characters are going through complex personal transformations and choices. They unfairness of the shidduchim process and its incumbent crisis, the unfairness of the judgmental attitudes of the community, the pressure for role conformity and the unwelcoming attitude towards difference and deviants, as well as the terrific stigma of mental health are topics the people in the book - that can be easily identified with real people in any small or big Orthodox Jewish community - are reflexive about. 

Without taking stances, the book shows the complexity of people and issues affecting religious Jews, but also the need to search for a meaning, no matter your religious orientation, but a meaning which does not exclude the other and especially those who are not following your own interpretation of things.

A lot to think about for this Shabbes or for the rest of the holy month of Ellul. The King is in the fields and the yom ha´din of Yom Kippur is coming soon...

Rating: 4 stars

Life ´In the Neighborhood of True´

Life ´In the neighborhood of true´ is a double-faced game of incertitudes and fears. In exchange for a temporary acceptance, one can agree to give up or hide his or her identity, but this game cannot played for ever. Or if you do on long term, it may damage irremediably your soul. Sometimes though, there are external factors that may put an end to this precarious double game. 

Based on the true story of the 1958 Atlanta synagogue bombing, In the Neighborbood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton is the story about a young teenage Jewish girl, Ruth, moving from NYC to his mother town of Atlanta following the sudden death of her father. Converted to journalism, Ruth´s mother belonged to the white elites, with his father the owner of a local newspaper and her mother, Fontaine, a respected socialite with social anti-semitic views on Jews (´Jews are well accepted at the banks or the law offices, or the hospital or what not. But after dinner? After five o´clock, people like to socialize with their kind´). 

Ruth starts her new life in a private - Christian - school, where she is hiding her Jewishness, and is getting busy making new friends among the popular girls. She is easily accepted, given her pedigree. Her bibliography is intense, as she is trying to follow the social requirements for young ladies. She is also falling in love with Davis, an attractive and popular young man, from whom she is hiding her Jewish origin. Meanwhile, she keeps going to the synagogue on Saturday and become acquainted with Max, a young local activist. 

At the same time though she is observing her environment, with active KuKluxKlan attacks and the segregation. Somehow, Ruth´s secret is out in the air, but not yet completely but it will be only a matter of time until everyone will find out. At this age, when the self-esteem is still a work in process, it happens to prefer not being open about your identity, especially when it involves social and political risks. Once upon a time, I´ve been myself for one year in a very high-end high school where half of the students were Jewish bearing Jewish names, at least the given names, but still they prefer to keep their identity hidden, some of them by fear that the other half of the students will turn against them. 

But there are moments when one cannot stay silent and hiding who you really are it is more than cowardice. The attack against the synagogue in Atlanta, whose rabbi was against the segregation, woke Ruth up. There were no victims, but the view of the destroyed place of worship raised questions about her own choices, including her boyfriend. Whose brother, she will discover, was directly involved in the terrorist attack.

In the real story. in October 1958, KuKluxKlan bombed the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, as a message against the political engagement of Rabbi Jacob Rotschild, who was an advocate of integration, civil rights and the end of the segregation. After several trials, no one was ever convincted.

As a story, In the Neighborhood of True is slow paced and raises interesting questions about identity and being true to oneself, especially for young/teenage readers. The ´white American´ part of Ruth´s life comes with many details and insights, while her Jewish identity is rarely explained. Indeed, she is going to the synagogue and cheers the memory of her Jewish father, but all the Jewish characters in the book do not have an outstanding genuine Jewish connection. I´ve personally found a bit curious that one of the perpetrators of the synagogue bombing is called Oren, which is a Jewish/Israeli name. 

Despite its shortcomings, this is a book that I will recommend for reading and a lengthy discussion for Jewish families and young adults living in predominant non-Jewish areas. It makes you think twice what to stand for and what it is important to keep being who you are, no matter the risks.

Rating: 3 stars 

Book Review: The Drive by Yair Assulin

The Drive by Yair Assulin is NOT a book against the compulsory military service in Israel. Is NOT a book written from a leftist perspective - although the author is a regular contributor to the Haaretz, the fanion of the left in Israel. The Drive is instead a book about chronical depression and masculinity misunderstood.

An unnamed young man is driving with his father to the WHO (Mental Health Office) at Tal Hashomer in Ramat Gan. He is a non-combat unit after being discovered that he has asthma. His family, especially his father, although is fully supporting him, cannot understand what is happening to him and keep outlining the risks of leaving the army altogether. The further integration into civil life in Israel depends at a great extent of the evaluations one got durin the military service. Being officially stamped as mentally unfit means not only a stigma for life, but also a very limited chance of professional achievement and for finding a partner as well (especially in the religious circles, as the narrator of the story is religious too).

But he cannot ignore for ever what is happening to him. ´(...) I knew that someone looking from the outside could not even begin to comprehend the suffocation that filled me each time I took the train to the base, the insurmontable pain I felt when I walked through those gates, the fear of something I cannot describe or define, the horribly cramped sensation that was unrelated to anything, certaninly not to a particular place or space´.

As the story evolves, so it is the story of the chronical depression, through the eyes from his family and people he is in touch with at the military base. ´I looked at Dad. He saw my look and put his hand on mine. I told him I was sorry, and he said that was nothing to sorry about, that he knew I was telling the truth, but all he was saying, again, was that he could not understand what was so bad for me than, and that he throught or feared I wasn´t telling him everything, because if I was then he simply could not understand what it was so bad´. 

He is banging his head against the wall, he is crying, he is about to jump in the front of a car. His interest in politics and the surrounded reality is disappearing. There is no more ´us´, it is only him and his pain and anguist. He feels trapped inside himself. Meanwhile, he is surrounded by arrogant and self-important people, keen to humiliate the others. He is turning madder and madder from a day to another, but it is not enough for the other people to notice the pain. ´(...) that betrayal of words, the capacity of people to say things without really meaning them, or to say things or take them back, or even to say them and deny they´d ever said them - that betrayel drives me mad´. ´My soul was genuinely threatening to explore at any moment. I really wanted to die. Every morning I wanted to die when I woke up and saw that miserable gray room with its four bunk beds, and the other soldiers getting dressed and polishing their boots, and I realized that another horribly normal day was about to begin´.

The emotional pain and restlesness are described in the smallest details and it is written depression all over the pages. The torments of the mind and of the heart are heartbreaking.

The army system in itself, with sometimes false gratifications doesn´t satisfy him, it deepens his pains and alienation. ´I repeated that the army was suffocating me. I said that all around the world, this was the age when a person shone by flourishing and I felt as if I were dying in the army. Why did we Israelis have to do that? I said I was dying, that I couldn´t breathe in that place´. They say in Israel that army is the school of life, that it makes you grow up fast and mature faster, For many, the friendships made in the Army lasts a lifetime. Everyone knows from an early age how their life will be after finishing high-school: the psychometric tests, the medical evaluations, the army service. This is the duty as it is the miluim, the reserve duty. Those few who actually skipped for different reasons the army service do not share it. But unless one has rich parents to set up a company for them, applying for work without the army service is a recipe for long time unemployment. The very religious who are not going to the army by principle do not deal with such issues, as they are supposed to spend time learning Torah in the kollel anyway. 

It is a complex issue, but this is not the aim of the book. Depression is a lifelong companion and its fights are by far harder than the ones fought in the army. The Drive is a testimony of the terrible true of this disease, no matter where and what context.

At first, I was a bit disappointed how abruptly the book ends. But, after all, the book it is called The Drive and it ends when the drive is over and the military psychiatrist put him on extended leave. 

I´ve read the book, that was awardede Sapir in the English translation by the excellent Jessica Cohen, the artisan of all the good Hebrew books translations.

Rating: 4 stars

The Story of Queen Vashti still waits to be told

You know that feeling when everyone is elated about something - in this case a book - and all the reviews in the publications that matter are enthusiastic and you are the only one who seems to not get the point. Not that your opinion will change the world, but still, you feel frustrated that it seems you´ve read something wrong or you misunderstood the book and you have no idea what you are talking about or what you are talked about.

Those are the kind of feelings during and after reading The Book of V. by Anna Solomon. I wanted from the bottom of my heart to find time to read this book, as it seemed to make a great point: making justice to Queen Vashti, the first wife of King Ahasverus in the book of Esther who was banished from the court after refusing to show herself naked in the front of the guests of the banquet, as per request of her husband. The midrashic sources - the Biblical exegesis - do have a variety of interpretations about Vashti. In any context, it is Queen Esther who is a winner, the hero and the savior. 

The Book of V. - V from Vashti - tells the stories of three women, at three different periods of time. Vee, the rich wife of a rising senator in the 1970s- which happens to be Jewish - who refused to show herself naked to a party, as per the request of her husband. Lily, from Brooklyn, a writer in waiting, Jewish, who is preparing for the festival of Purim - when the Book of Esther is read. And Queen Esther herself.

The stories of the two women intertwin, while the story of the Queen Esther serves as a background screen for their narratives. But I think the stakes were too high for the two women. Lily´s bland, the usual Lululemon confused NYC woman. Her mother, Ruth, who is dying during the story, a convert to Judaism, seems by far more interesting and with a good literary potential, but she is killed by the author way too fast. 

There is a very big risk took by an author when it plans to re-write such a complex story like the one displayed in the Book of Esther. You are either come with some outstanding new story, or not. A stay-at-home mom from Brooklyn is in any way out of this league. Trying to make everything sound cool and hip involves a high risk of failure. I suppose the story of Vashti still waits to be told. At least for me.

But justice to be done when it´s due: the writing is good and it compensates when the story is less good. 

I had access to the audio variant of the book.

Rating: 2.5 stars