Israel in Translation

Today we explore Yom Kippur through the poetry of Yehuda Amichai and Shelley Elkayam, and the music of Leonard Cohen and Chayim Moshe. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, when God seals the verdict on each person's fate for the coming year in the Book of Life. Amichai's poem refers to the 'Ne'ila' - the closing prayer, shortly before sunset, when heaven’s 'gates of prayer' will be closed for the year. The subject has a moving encounter with an "Arab’s hole-in-the-wall shop" near Jerusalem's Damascus Gate, which reminds him of his father's shop that was burned down. Shelley Elkayam is an eighth-generation native of Haifa, from a bilingual Ladino-/Hebrew-speaking family. The excerpt from her poem 'Yes Indeed I’ll Answer God' is written from the point of view of God. It ends: "Enough. / This is judgment. / And I take the verdict upon myself / at its word." Texts: 'Keys to the Garden: New Israeli Writing.' Edited and translated by Ammiel Alcalay. City Lights Books, 1996. 'The Selected Poetry of…

Born in Tel Aviv in 1923, Haim Gouri is a poet, novelist, documentary film maker, journalist, and the author of a book on the Jerusalem trial of Adolf Eichmann. During World War II, Gouri joined the elite strike force of the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary force operating during Mandate Palestine, called the 'Palmach.' He was sent to Hungary to help holocaust survivors come to Palestine. This experience inspired Gouri’s documentary film The 81st Blow, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1974. Gouri's first book of poetry, published in 1949, is heavily influenced by his experience in the Palmach during the war of 1948. His later books become more abstract. Today Marcela Sulak reads from his poems 'Current Account' and 'Piyyut for Rosh Hashanah,' which both deal with themes of justice and repentance at Jewish new year. Here are the final lines from 'Current Account': "And again, as always in the Land of Israel, / the stones remember. / The earth does not cover. / Justice cuts through the mountains."…

We're now in the month of Elul, the last month in the Jewish calendar, which leads up to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur festivals. We explore Elul's themes of creation and forgiveness through two poems by Rivka Miriam. Rivka Miriam was a Jerusalem-born child prodigy, who has gone on to publish 12 collections of poetry, two collections of short stories, and several children’s books. According to her mother, her parents were among the 20 out of a population of 6,000 from their home town in Poland to survive the Holocaust. Rivka Miriam’s poetry is touched by both gratitude and loss. Writer David Grossman says, “Her Hebrew is a singular combination of all the levels of the language, ancient as well as new.” Here are the last lines of her poem about Elul: "Only forgiveness itself / blurred as the line between dusk and sunset / fell on its knees before itself." Text: These Mountains: Selected Poems of Rivka Miriam. Translated by Linda Stern Zisquit. Toby Press, 2009. Music: Arik Einstein - Jewish Autum Rali…

Yehuda Amichai is probably the most widely translated Hebrew poet since King David. He says, “I grew up in a very religious household... So the prayers, the language of prayer itself became a kind of natural language for me.” But Amichai revised the national, Biblical narrative into a personal love story, making space for individual agency and narrative freedom. Born Ludwig Pfueffer in Wurzburg, Germany, Amichai immigrated to Israel with his family in 1935, aged 11. He fought in the 1956 Sinai War and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, between and after which he began to publish novels and poetry, under the name Yehuda Amichai, which means “my people lives.” His poetic series Jerusalem 1967 shows the marks these wars left on him and on the country. Host Marcela Sulak recites the poem 'Wildpeace,' translated by Amichai along with British poet Ted Hughes, whose last stanza reads: "Let it come / like wildflowers, / suddenly, because the field / must have it: wildpeace. Text: Yehuda Amichai: Poems of Jerusalem and Love…

Born in Haifa in 1922, Emile Habibi worked in the city's oil refinery before moving to the Palestinian broadcasting station in Jerusalem. Habibi was a lone voice calling for the acceptance of the UN plan for the division of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. Soon after the creation of Israel, he became a political activist, serving in the Knesset for 20 years. After the shock of the six-day war of 1967, Habibi’s writing turned to satire and bitter humor. In 1974 he published The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist. Acknowledging a debt to Lawrence Sterne and Voltaire, the heavily-footnoted novel tells the story of Palestinians in Israel to date. Marcela reads a passage in which the protagonist describes a 'pessoptimist.' In 1990, Habibi received the Al-Quds Prize from the PLO. In 1992, he received the Israel Prize for Arabic literature. His willingness to accept both prizes reflected his belief in coexistence; he said, "A dialogue of prizes is better than a dialogue of stones and bullets." Emile…

Naomi Shemer is “The first lady of Israeli song and poetry.” She wroteJeruslaem of Gold” in 1967 and it became the unofficial second anthem of Israel after the Six-Day War and the reunification of Jerusalem. Text: Jerusalem of Gold. Translated by Chaya Galai Music: Ishtar, The Eucalyptus GroveYossi Banai, For all these things”Shuli Nata, Jerusalem of Gold,Ofra Haza, Jerusalem of Gold

Having grown up in a shtetl near Kiev, Sholem Aleichem wrote about the extreme poverty, pettiness and greatness of shtetl life, as well as the threat of conscription into the Russian army, pogroms and intermarriage. But, like the American author Mark Twain, he addressed dark subject-matter in such a light-hearted manner that the reader often did not realize their attention was being fixed on great suffering and injustice. When Mark Twain heard of the writer called 'the Jewish Mark Twain,' he replied, "Please tell him that I am the American Sholem Aleichem." Among Sholem Aleichem's quirks was a fear of the number 13; he gave his manuscripts a page '12a' instead of a '13,' and perhaps with good reason - he died on May '12a' 1916 at the age of 57. And it appears to be a genuine coincidence that this show should air on August '12a' 2014. We think he would see the funny side. 100,000 mourners attended his funeral at Old Mount Carmel cemetery in Queens, New York, in the largest funeral to date in the history of…

The grandfather of Yiddish literature, and one of the founders of “modern” Jewish literature, Mendele Mocher Sforim. He "wanted to be useful to his people rather than gain literary laurels,” and his satirical, critical stories got him chased from town. Text: Of Bygone Days - translated by Rayomond P. Scheindlin. In A Shtetle and Other Yiddish Novellas” ed. Ruth Wisse. Wayne State University Press, 1986. Music: Avraimi der Marvicher, performed by Chava AlbersteinDi Goldene Pave by Ana Margolin, performed by The Klezmatics & Chava Alberstein

'Ruth' is a little street in Tel Aviv, nested near Dizengoff Square and off the other little streets named after Biblical heroines such as 'Esther HaMalka.' Both Ruth and Esther were immigrants, and so it's appropriate that the Ministry of Absorbtion for new immigrants should be located here. While Esther was a covert Jew, Ruth was the most famous convert to Judaism in history. As a Moabite, she was explicitly forbidden to marry an Israelite, but nevertheless she became the great-grandmother of King David. Jews read the Book of Ruth during the holiday of Shavuot. Today we hear Linda Zisquit’s lively translation of the first chapter, which for at least two years was placed on banners over Chen Boulevard in Tel Aviv between Passover and Shavuot. Text: The Book of Ruth - Introduction and free translation by Linda Zisquit Music: Michael Levy – King David’s Lyre, Echoes of Ancient IsraelAyelet Ori Benita – Cycles

Called 'Lashonsky' for his comic wit, linguistic innovations and irrepressible puns, every child in Israel knows Avraham Shlonsky's version of the German Rumpelstiltskin fairytale: Utzli Gutzli. His upbringing was one of religion and agricultural labor, which is evident in his work; host Marcela Sulak reads from his exquisite poem 'Toil,' which compares working the land to prayer. Despite the fact that his poetry wasn't taught in Israeli schools because of his rebellion against Bialik's generation, together with Natan Alterman and Leah Goldberg, he influenced and aided many of the younger generation of poets and writers. Text: The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself, Ed. Burnshaw, Carmi, etc. al.Poems Found in Translation, A.Z. Foreman Music: Arik Lavie – Boker Tov (from Utzli Gutzli)Yaffa Yarkoni – No Caravan Of CamelsArik Einstein – Blue Handkerchief

Some know Natan Alterman as an Israeli poet, playwright, journalist and translator who deeply influenced socialist zionist politics. Others might know that his song "Kalaniot" served as a code to warn against British forces during the Mandate Period. But few know he brought the seeds of the marmande tomato to Israel, where it was the main species cultivated in the country until the 1960s. Host Marcela Sulak reads his poem, The Silver Platter, inspired by Chaim Weizmann's 1947 claim: "A state is not handed to a people on a silver platter." Text: The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself, Ed. Burnshaw, Carmi, etc. al. Music: Kalanyot – sung by Shoshana Damari, composed by Moshe Valensky The Never-ending Rendezvous – sung by Arik Einstein, composed by Neomi Shemer

Yocheved Bat Miriam is unique among Hebrew language poets for holding the land of her birth and the land of her life in equal esteem. Born in Russia in 1901, she published her first book of poetry, Merahok ("From a distance"), in Palestine in 1929. A critic has said of her work, "One always feels a vibrant tension between daring syntax and astonishing metaphorical leaps on the one hand, and artful, conservative prosody on the other." Perhaps because her work is challenging only two of her poems have been translated into English, including this from Cranes from the Threshold. She stopped writing poetry after she lost her only son in the 1948 War of Independence, but later went on to be awarded the Brenner, Bialik and Israel prizes. Text: The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself, Ed. Burnshaw, Carmi, etc. al. Poems Found in Translation (blog), A.Z. Foreman Music: The Same Streets Again – Tzila Daga Cranes – written by Rasul Gamzatov, translated into Russian by Naum Grebnyov

Manger Street is a 'crook' of a street in North Tel Aviv, the kind of street you find only when you're looking for something else – perfect for our Yiddish-speaking prankster Itzik Manger.Born in Chernovitz in 1901, Itzik Manger was kicked out of school and into Yiddish theater. He reset the Bible story of Esther in contemporary Eastern Europe, casting a tailor (his father's profession) as the hero, in his most scandalous and popular literary work: The Songs of the Megillah. Manger claimed of his story, "When a tailor tells it, it's told as it ought to be told." In 1938 Manger left Warsaw, where he had spent a happy ten years at the epicenter of Yiddish culture, for Paris. From there he went to Marseilles, to Nice, then Liverpool and finally London. After 11 years in London Manger had become a British citizen, but in 1959 he made aliyah and spent the rest of his life in Israel. Manger managed to break through Israel's pro-Hebrew bias into the mainstream with his Yiddish tales, and counted Golda Meir among…

Yud Lamed Peretz Street lies in the Southern Tel Aviv neighborhood of Florentine. Although now bearing the fruits of gentrification, the area still retains the mix of residential and industrial with which it was founded. I.L.Peretz failed at distilling whiskey and had his law license revoked by the Imperial Russian Authorities, before he became the most influential Yiddish language writer of his time.He believed in the inevitability of progress through enlightenment, and 100,000 mourners attended his funeral in Warsaw in 1915. Book: The I. L. Peretz Reader, edited and introduced by Ruth R. Wisse, Yale University Press, 2002. Music: A Night in the Old Marketplace (Frank London & Glen Berger)

Ahad Ha'am Street occupies the heart of Tel Aviv; it's full of grand Bauhaus buildings and artistic cafes, with Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue on the corner. Ahad Ha'am means "one of the people" in Hebrew, and is the pen name of Asher Zvi Ginzberg, the founder of Cultural Zionism. Lauded by such greats as Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first President, and Hayim Nahman Bialik, Israel's national poet, as an inspiration, Ahad Ha'am foresaw both the Israel/Palestine conflict AND the solution as early as 1891. Book: Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Ginzberg), At the Crossroads (Selected Essays), February 2009 Music: I Live On Sheinkin (Gara Beshenkin) – Mango Here, In Our Fathers' Land (Po Beeretz Hemdat Avot) – IDF band and Orchestra Titina – Yona Atari, Yossi Banai and Avner Khizkiyahu

Passing by Anne Frank St in Tel Aviv has inspired us to take a fresh look at the young diarist whose words inspired the world. Before she died in Bergen Belsen, Anne Frank said, "Despite everything, I believe that people are, at heart, really good." The English edition of her diary was introduced by Eleanor Roosevelt, and it was read by Nelson Mandela in prison for inspiration. Book: The Diary of a Young Girl. The Definitive Edition. By Anne Frank. Edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler. Translated by Susan Massotty. Bantam Books. Music: The Whole Story Soundtrack. Epilogue Composed by Graeme Revell and Orchestrated by Tim Simonec

Shaul Tchernihovsky was a physician, linguist, naturalist, and poet who translated from 15 different literatures into Hebrew. Music: Shlomo Artzi - You don’t know Yarden Bar Kochva -They say there is a land Arik Lavie -I believe Book: The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself. Edited Burnshaw, Carmi, Glassman, Hirschfeld and Spicehandler. (Wayne State University 2003)

How two Israeli women defeated a few ancient armies and saved the day — and then wrote a little poem about it. Today we explore the life and poetry of that force to be reckoned with, Deborah the Prophet. With sounds from: The Bible, narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier Composition for Vocal and Frame Drum by Ayalet Ori Benita

Discover Yaakov Shabtai’s single-paragraph novel, Past Continuous, the first truly vernacular work in the Hebrew language. Find out how to build community housing out of shipping crates. Books: Past Continuous. A Novel. Translated Dalya Bilu. Tusk Ivories, 2002. Uncle Peretz Takes off. Short stories. Translated by Dalya Bilu. Overlook Books, 2004. Music: Arik Einstein - My White-throated Love Lior Eyney - Song of the Vineyard

The poet Zelda Schneersohn Mishkovsky was Amos Oz's first love, first cousin to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and beloved by all Israelis, religious or secular. Book: The Spectacular Difference: Selected Poems. Trans. Marcia Falk. Cincinnati, Hebrew Union College Press, 2004. Music: Chava Albertstein - Free time Chava Albertstein - Everyone has a name

Remembering Israel’s Nobel Laureate in Literature, Shai Agnon, and his masterpiece, Only Yesterday (Tmol Shilshom), which describes the founding of Tel Aviv and the first building outside the Old City of Jerusalem.Playlist: Rita - Take me Under Your WingVarious artists - Sleepy Jaffa (Nama Yafo Nama)

A teenaged spice-shop owner and professional scribe, Shmuel Hanagid wrote such scintillating and literary love letters that a client hired him for bigger and better things. His work was lost for nearly 1,000 years and rediscovered only in the 1930s. Book: The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492 Music: Zahava Seewald and Zohara Abulafia - I would lay down my life

Hannah Szenes was only 23 years old when she was executed before a firing squad in Nazi-occupied Budapest. She was attempting to rescue Jews who were about to be deported to Auschwitz. In her short life, she became a poet, farmer, and paratrooper. Book: Hannah Szenesh, Her Life and Diary, Translated Marta Cohn (Jewish LightsPublishing, 2007). Music: "Eli Eli" [My God, My God] performed by Ofra Haza "Zog nit kaynmol" performed by Chava Albertstein

A teenaged spice-shop owner and professional scribe, Shmuel Hanagid wrote such scintillating and literary love letters that a client hired him for bigger and better things. His work was lost for nearly 1,000 years and rediscovered only in the 1930s. Book: The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492 Music: Zahava Seewald and Zohara Abulafia - I would lay down my life

The Founder of Hebrew Spanish Poetry, Dunash ben Labrat, also made your ulpan studies possible. He was the first to distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs in Hebrew, and to catalog verbs by the 3-letter roots. His smart, talented wife produced the only Hebrew language poem we have by an Andalusian woman. Book: The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492. Music: "Dror Yikra” [“He Will Proclaim Freedom”]--performed by Maimon Cohen "Dror Yikra" performed by DiVahn

Lea Goldberg is the best-selling poet in the history of Israel. Many of her poems express both a love of the land of Israel, as well as nostalgia for her abandoned home in the diaspora. Do you know which university department she founded and chaired? And which Russian classics she translated into Hebrew? Book: "With this Night," translated by Annie Kantar. (University of Texas Press, 2011). Music: Achinoam Nini (Noa) - Ilanot (Pines) Shlomo Yidov - White Days

Moshe Ben Ezra was a fine Andalusian poet, as well as the chief of the Granada police. Listen to a couple of poems from the guy who made complaining a form of art. Book: The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492. Music: "Let Man Remember," composed and performed by Avi Belleli "Castille," composed and performed by Avi Belleli

Hayyim Nahman Bialik was one of the pioneers of Hebrew poetry. Hear the National Poet of Israel sung by Arik Einstein, who created the"Soundtrack of Israel." Find out about the fascinating Bialik house, and his songs and activities for children. Music: Nad-Ned [See-saw], performed by Shula Chen Take me Under your Wing, performed by Arik Einstein Take Me Under Your Wing Take me under your wing,be my mother, my sister.Take my head to your breast,my banished prayers to your nest. One merciful twilight hour,hear my pain, bend your head.They say there is youth in the world.Where has my youth fled? Listen! another secret:I have been seared by a flame.They say there is love in the world.How do we know love’s name? I was deceived by the stars.There was a dream; it passed.I have nothing at all in the world,nothing but a vast waste. Take me under your wing,be my mother, my sister.Take my head to your breast,my banished prayers to your nest.

The mother of Hebrew Poetry, and one of the first women poet's in theHebrew language since the Biblical Deborah. She switched from paining artand playing music to painting with the soil and playing with the hoe. Book: Flowers of Perhaps. A Bilingual edition of selected poems translatedby Robert Friend. Toby Press, 2008.Music: "And Maybe," performed by Arik Einstein"Sing, you must," performed by Idan Raichal and Din Din Aviv "To MyCountry," performed by Netanela,

It's great to be living in a city whose streets are named for so many poets and writers, but who are these people and what exactly did they write? In this segment we'll learn about the main north-south street of Tel Aviv, Ibn Gavirol, and the brilliant Golden-Age poet described as "the spectacular fly in the ointment of the refined eleventh century Andalusian-Jewish elite." Book: "The Dream of the Poem. Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain 950-1492. Translated by Peter Cole. Princeton University Press. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8349.html Song: Sha'ar Petach Dodi, written by Ibn Gavirol, performed by Berry Sakharof

In his essay, "The Desire to be Gisella," Grossman ponders the root of our fear of the "other" in ourselves and in those we love, and he thinks of authorship as a mad rebellion against this fear. Text David Grossman, "The Desire to be Gisella." Writing in the Dark, Essays on Politics and Literature. Translated by Jessica Cohen. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.

This week, Marcela takes a step back from the literature itself to look at the language of the words we use. The idea of the podcast, Israel in Translation, is that the works discussed were written originally in a language other than English—indeed, in the writer's native language. But one of the realities of our age—or rather—one of the realities of literature—is that often poets and writers do not write in their first language. Or, if they do, this first language is not the language of the culture in which they find themselves. Marcela revisits the Granta Hebrew issue of the Ilanot Review to talk about Dory Manor's The Language Beneath the Skin: A Meditation on Poetry and Mother Tongues. Text Dory Manor. "The Language Beneath the Skin: A Meditation on Poetry and Mother Tongues" translated by Mitch Ginsburg. The Ilanot Review.

In 2014, historian Fania Salzberger Oz, and her father, the late writer Amos Oz, paired up to write a book which is "a nonfiction, speculative, raw, and occasionally playful attempt to say something a bit new on a topic of immense pedigree... the relationship of Jews with words."

Set in a rural village prior to the creation of the state of Israel, The Blue Mountain describes a community of eastern European immigrants as they pioneer life in a new land. Narrated by Baruch, a grandson of one of the founding fathers of the village, the novel offers not only a fascinating account of the hardships experienced by the Jewish pioneers, but is also extremely funny and imaginative. It is arranged as a series of vignettes, narrated by Baruch, a mortician, who reflects on the many people he has buried in a remote village. Text The Blue Mountain. By Meir shalev. Translated by Hillel Halkin. Cannongate Books, 2001.

On this episode, Marcela features the poems of a fascinating writer whose pen name was Avot Yeshurun. He published his first book of poems in 1942, and his last book appeared in 1992, on the day before he died. Text "Memories are a House" by Avot Yeshurun. Translated by Leon Weiseltier, Poetry Magazine "The Son of the Wall" by Avot Yeshurun. Translated by Leon Weiseltier, Poetry Magazine "The Collection" by Avot Yeshurun. Translated by Harold Schimel, Poetry International Rotterdam "A Day Shall Come" by Avot Yeshurun, translated by A. Z. Foreman in Poems Found in Translation

Marcela shares the second installment of a three-part podcast on Ayalet Tsabari's important and beautiful memoir, The Art of Leaving. Although it was written in English, Tsabari's native language is Hebrew. This episode gives us a glimpse of Israelis from Yemen, whose stories are so rarely told. Text Ayelet Tsabari, The Art of Leaving. Harper Collins, 2019.

On this episode, Marcela highlights The Lover, the first novel by A. B. Yehoshua, which he wrote in 1977. Yehoshua has been called the Israeli Faulkner, perhaps because of this novel. It is narrated from the point of view of each of its six main characters. Text The Lover by A. B. Yehoshua. Translated by Philip Simpson. Doubleday & Co., 1978. https://tlv1.fm/arts-culture/2015/07/22/a-b-yehoshuas-green-seas-and-yellow-continents/ https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2020/08/12/the-tunnel/

Meir Shalev has been featured on two previous episodes. Four Meals is his third of eight novels. He's also published 7 works of nonfiction and 13 children's books. Four Meals is the story of Zayde, his enigmatic mother Judith, and her three lovers. When Judith arrives in a small, rural village in Palestine in the early 1930s, three men compete for her. Globerman, the cunning, coarse cattle dealer who loves women, money, and flesh Jacob, owner of hundreds of canaries and host to the four meals which lends the book its narrative structure, and Moshe, a widowed farmer, who gives Zayde his home. During the four meals, which take place over several decades, Zayde slowly comes to understand why these three men consider him their son and why all three participate in raising him. Text Four Meals, by Meir Shalev. Translated by Barbara Harshav, 2000. https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2020/07/29/meir-shalevs-my-wild-garden/…

On this episode, Marcela revisits Batya Gur, who introduced the murder mystery into Hebrew literature. Gur's highbrow mysteries are often set in closed communities that mirror issues in the greater Israeli society. You can hear a previous podcast on her life and literary influence, as well as an excerpt from, Murder in Jerusalem, by following the link below. Text Murder on a Kibbutz. A communal Case. by Batya Gur. Translated by Dalya Bilu. Harper Perennial, 1994. Previous Episode on Batya Gur https://tlv1.fm/arts-culture/2014/10/29/the-israeli-detective-novel-israel-in-translation/

This book catapulted Ari Shavit into the international spotlight. The book was a New York Times best seller and listed by the Times in its "100 Notable Books of 2013." The Economist named it as one of the best books of 2013 and it received the Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award in History from the Jewish Book Council. It also won the Natan Book Award. Text My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit. Spiegel & Grau, 2013.

On this episode, Marcela reads an excerpt from Yaniv Iczkovits's novel The Slaughterman's Daughter: The Avenging of Mende Speismann by the Hand of her Sister Fanny. It is translated from the Hebrew by Orr Sharf. The protagonist of this book is the titular character, Fanny Keismann, who leaves her home and her wonderful husband, a cheesemaker, and their beloved children, to find her sister's husband. Adventures and misadventures ensue. Text The Slaughterman's Daughter, by Yaniv Iczkovits. Translated by Orr Sharf. Maclehose Press. Quercus, 2020.

Today, Marcela finishes the three-part series on Ayalet Tsabari's wonderful memoir, The Art of Leaving, with her favorite thing: cooking! This episode unveils the secrets of Tsabari's family kitchen. You're going to want to take notes for this one! Text Ayelet Tsabari, The Art of Leaving. Harper Collins, 2019

In her introduction to Vaan Nguyen's collection, Adriana X. Jacobs writes, "Nguyen's poetry may circulate in the Anglophone literary market as part of an increasingly visible Vietnamese literary diaspora… And yet, introducing Nguyen's poetry to the Anglophone reader needs to account for the particularities of the Vietnamese experience in Israel without letting it entirely overshadow her work." Between 1977 and 1979, approximately 360 Vietnamese refugees entered Israel, and of that number, about half left for the United States or Europe. Those who stayed were able to apply for Israeli citizenship, take on jobs, start families, and continue with their lives. Nguyen's parents were among these refugees. She was born in Ashkelon, Israel in 1982, one of five daughters. The family moved around and eventually settled in Jaffa Dalet, a working-class—and largely immigrant and Arab—neighborhood that is part of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, "not the pastoral tourist part, but the section that is far from the sea,"…

Have you seen the Crazy House on HaYarkon Street in Tel Aviv? It's a highrise that looks like pink cement, with some metallic puffed cream lobbed at the front of it? Or at least that's how it seems to Marcela. It used to look that way to the poet Lali Tsipi Michaeli, as well. Michaeli says "fear is what I felt as a child every time I drove with my parents in a car on Hayarkon Street. As the car was about to reach the "crazy house" (I called it the "scary"), I hid on the back seat floor and closed my eyes tightly. The house troubled the girl I was. Over the years it has become a Tel Aviv landscape and I have always had a certain aversion to it, a kind of traumatic childhood memory." Text The Mad House by Lali Tsipi Michaeli, translated by Michael Simkin. Adelaide Books, 2020. Previous Episode with Lali Tsipi Michaeli

Yishai Sarid's The Memory Monster takes the form of a report by the narrator, a young Israeli Holocaust scholar, written to his superior from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, and raises ethical questions about the struggle to cope with the memory of the Holocaust. Text Yishai Sarid. The Memory Monster. Translated by Yardenne Greenspan. Restless Books, Sept. 2020.

School has begun, and once again children are learning how to read, encountering the alphabet for the first time. Hopefully it is a pleasant and magical time, but here is a story of a boy who feared his teacher, although he loved the alphabet. It's a chapter called The Alphabet and What Lies between the Lines, from Hayim Nahman Bialik's unfinished Novella, Random Harvest. Text Random Harvest and other Novellas by Haim Nachman Bialik. Translated by David Patterson & Ezra Spicehandler. Toby Press, 2005.

As we labor under unbelievable pressures and uncertainties of the pandemic, especially women who have children at home, it might make us feel a little better to see that the writer Tehila Hakimi already envisioned what work in 2020 would be like back in 2018. Here are some excerpts of her experimental, fragmentary text, COMPANY. It is addressed to a nameless "woman in a workspace"—that describes, head-on, the corporate work experience, its gendered dimensions, and its operative, emptied-out language. The piece is translated by Maayan Eitan. Text: Company, by Tehila Hakimi (Resling Publishing House: The Lab Series for Contemporary Literature, 2018). English translation copyright 2019 by Maayan Eitan.

It's Sukkot again! Over the years in this podcast we've focused on various aspects of this holiday — inviting guests, selecting an etrog, the transitory nature of our existence on earth. This time, Marcela focuses on the agricultural aspects — the festival was originally connected to the harvest. And to help us along is Rachel Bluwstein, Israel's farmer-poet. Text: Flowers of Perhaps by Ra'hel. Translated by Robert Friend with Shimon Sandbank. Toby Press, 2008. Sad Melody by Ra'hel translated by Chana Shuvaly Previous Episode Featuring Rachel Bluwstein

This week, amidst the holidays, Marcela celebrates by reading an excerpt from Ayelet Tsabari's newly published memoir, The Art of Leaving. Text: Ayelet Tsabari, The Art of Leaving. Harper Collins, 2019. Previous Episode Featuring Ayelet Tsabari

On this episode, Marcela features Yochi Brandes' ninth book, The Orchard. It is the second to be translated into English, this time by Daniel Libenson. The Orchard tells the story of the venerated yet enigmatic Rabbi Akiva, placing him in the context of his contemporaries, the Sages of Jewish tradition and of early Christianity. Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Ishmael, Rabban Gamaliel, Paul of Tarsus, and many others. Get your discounted hardcopy through israbook@gefenpublishing.com Text: The Orchard, by Yochi Brandes, translated by Daniel Libenson. Gefen Publishing House (2018).