Nineteen-year-old Yefim Shulman was a simple guy. He loved good times, wicked women, and strong vodka. Nothing, however, paralleled Yefim’s adoration for the USSR. In 1941, Yefim proudly served in the Red Army’s artillery unit. He dreamed, returning a war hero. When his unit was…
On Her Own, a new novel by Lihi Lapid is, in part, a love letter to Israel and an exposé of the country’s social problems. Its author is a formidable woman, a former news photographer with the IDF, an advocate of Shekel, an organization that supports people with special needs,…
Historical fiction, Street Corner Dreams, by author Florence Reiss Kraut begins with a nightmare. Disembarking in America after an ill-fated, "Gehenna” (hellish) voyage from Europe, Golda shares tragic news with her brother-in-law, Ben Feinstein. Esther, Ben’s eighteen-year-old wife,…
Shortly before the commemorative events for Israel’s day of Independence, I re-read Adjusting Sights by author Haim Sabato. Published in 1999, it chronicles Sabato’s role as an Israeli soldier. The work won the Israeli Sapir Prize for Literature in 2002. There are many indelible…
Russian in origin, stacked one inside the other, the brightly- painted, wooden Matryoshka dolls carry hidden messages. Their “schmaltzy” bodies may be interpreted as a symbol of fertility, a memory of simple past times, an image of a beloved “babushka,” a grandmother, wearing a…
