Welcome to Litsy!

A woman moves to Israel as a young wife, but divorces soon after and ends up with a complete sense of insecurity, loneliness and fear that she‘ll never have another chance to become a wife and a mother. She rediscovers herself through a very structured religious practice - the study of Talmud. It‘s a personal and captivating narrative with links to Talmudic texts. #Hanukkahchallenge #imthatjew #told_by_a_woman

Today is the first candle of Hanukkah and I long planned to do again my #Hanukkahchallenge: one book by or about Jews for each of the eight candles of this holiday. Last year I‘ve brought books that are available in English, but this year I‘ll start with a Hebrew poet that might never be translated. This is for the souls lost today in Australia. May their memory be a blessing #imthatjew

Eighth & last candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge with a book that was published two weeks ago and is not translated into English yet: “Let Me Explain” by Yoseph Haddad. You can find the author on social media - Haddad is an Israeli social activist and journalist, and he‘s a Christian and an Arab. This is his life story and his outlook on the future of Israel - a kind and positive one, maybe too kind and without enough criticism towards our society

Seventh candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge & the stormy weather affected my choice. Agnon‘s short story is about a man who came to build a house in Talpiyot, a windy hill in Jerusalem. The story is less than three pages, but it‘s multilayered: it‘s a man vs nature, it‘s a autobiography in both the direct meaning of Agnon building his home and finding his way with G-d, but also about Jews and Arabs being neighbors. #reread #imthatjew

Fifth candle of the #Hanukkahchallenge: Two heroines move in some strange parallel four hundreds years apart and tell a story, reveal the history of people, history of Jews.
I cannot be objective judging these stories, because at some point of my life I have experienced some measure of it all: the awfulness of being addressed “you, the Jewess“, the heated discussion of rabbis and the scorching sun at Masada. #reread #imthatjew

Fourth candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge is a winter fairytale told in four different voices: the daughter of impoverished Jewish moneylender, a tzarina, her faithful servant and a peasant girl. The stories they tell bring to the forefront not the magic but the difficulties of women‘s lives in all walks of life. #reread #told_by_a_woman #imthatjew

For the third candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge I #reread another book about a Jewish moneylender: a fascinating retelling of the life of Court Jew for one of German dukes in 17 century - Joseph Süß Oppenheimer. A fast and very dramatic story that describes court intrigues, financial schemes and personal life of the duke, his entourage and his personal Jew that ends in tragedy for all involved. Feuchtwanger is a master of storytelling
#imthatjew

This is probably the most famous book about a Jew and recently it became rather controversial, so I had to pick it for my #Hanukkahchallenge.
Honestly, I don‘t even understand why it is considered a comedy: all the characters are unsympathetic and immoral, Shylock included. And this is a very antisemitic text: though Shylock is not a good person and not a good Jew, he‘s treated abominably, humiliated and robbed of possessions and faith #imthatjew

For the first candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge I‘ve picked a book that pushed me towards the idea of celebrating each Hanukkah day by writing about a book about a Jew or written by a Jew. I picked it because I hoped to find an answer to a question: why so many people tear down the portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza while respecting dead Holocaust victims. The book is well written, but I didn‘t like the answer #imthatjew

Tomorrow my family will light a first Hanukkah 🕎 candle. For us it is a holiday of light, but also of self determination and the right to choose who we are. Strangely enough many people I meet don‘t really know who we, the Jews, are, even though we‘re featured in the news almost daily. So here‘s my personal #Hanukkahchallenge: for each Hanukkah candle I‘ll post about a book written by a Jew or about a Jew. Because what are books if not light?