Dear readers,
I lied when I sent you my first Substack newsletter at the beginning of May. Not intentionally, though. I told you that about my annual meditation on grieving for my younger son Niot, which I wrote this year, for the first time, in Hebrew. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to place it in a publication on such short notice,” I reported, and asked you to scroll down to see the piece in its Hebrew original and in English translation. It was the eve of Israel’s Memorial Day for its fallen soldier. Niot was serving in the army when we lost him, and I wanted to get it out before that painful day began that evening.
A few hours later I received a WhatsApp message from one of my other children with a screen shot of the “Ten Most Read Stories” page on the website of Israel’s daily newspaper Ha’aretz. My piece, “On the Watershed Line,” was on the list, though with a different title. I’d sent the piece to the editor of the newspaper’s weekly literary supplement, but had not received any reply, so I assumed that he didn’t intend to print it. Then, the next morning, it also appeared in the print edition, with the original title.
I was happy to see it there and comforted by the comments that readers wrote. But I still haven’t heard from the editor.
What I’m Writing
When I made the decision to live in Israel, some forty years ago, I set myself the goal of becoming a Hebrew writer. But back then I was still learning the language, and my efforts were not successful, as I chronicled in my story “What Would Brenner Say?” Then children were born, and I had to make a living, and freelancing in English paid a lot more and was a lot easier than freelancing in Hebrew. So that dream was set aside. But writing “On the Watershed Line” made me think that the time has come to try again. So my next two projects are to write a short story in Hebrew and to start working on another play in my adopted language (while continuing my efforts to produce The Chair).
Not that I haven’t written in Hebrew at all over the years. I write an essay on the weekly Torah portion twice a year, once for the Pesach holiday in memory of Niot, and another in the summer in memory of my father. These pieces appear in Shabbat Shalom, the weekly Torah leaflet published by Oz Veshalom, the religious peace movement. The new one in memory of my father, “The Girls from Syracuse,” appears in this week’s edition. I’ve posted an English translation on my website (there’s also a link at the top there to the original Hebrew version, if that’s what you prefer).
What I’m Reading
I’ve read Olga Tukarczuk’s The Books of Jacob twice, once in Miriam Borenstein’s Hebrew translation and more recently in the new English translation by Jennifer Croft. That I’ve read such a gargantuan work twice should be enough to convince you that I think it’s one of the finest novels I’ve read in years. And last month I had the pleasure of participating in a Zoom seminar on the book organized by Michael Weingrad, an authority on both Hebrew and fantasy literature at Portland State University. You can watch a recording of the presentations here. My contribution can be found at about 17:00, with a response at about 46:00, but of course the talks by the other presenters are also worthwhile.
I’m always reading Hebrew and English books in parallel, generally more than one in each language. Right now my main Hebrew book is a harrowing and touching memoir by Danny Adeno Abebe, an Ethiopian Israel journalist. Don’t worry if you don’t read in Hebrew—it’s out in English translation and it was a finalist for this year’s Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. I met Danny at this summer’s Sami Rohr Institute and hope to get to know him better.
Elsewhere on Substack
One of my fellow participants in the talk on The Books of Jacob was Ruth Franklin, a critic and biographer whose work I have long admired and who has since become a friend. Her biography of Shirley Jackson, A Rather Haunted Life, is a riveting portrayal of the author of works such as “The Lottery” and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but also of what it was like to be a talented woman in postwar America, when gender roles were rigid and sexism rampant. Ruth’s monthly Substack newsletter is well worth subscribing to for her insights and updates—she’s now finishing up a biography of Anne Frank.
Regards,
Haim
Hi Haim,
I am hoping you might direct me to your written comments on Olga Tokarczuk's "The Book's of Jacob." I wanted to ponder the gap you note between her lyrical description of life in Iwanie or the life in the Besht's Yeshiva without any sense of Shabbatot or Yontif. One of the remarkable achievements of the book is her ability to give voice to so many in the book but not to Rappaport & company. I am intrigued by your double reading... in English and Hebrew. I am doing the same. I would love to hear about your experience.
Haim Beliak haimbeliak@gmail.com