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.
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.
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