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May 9, 2008
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Reverence, Yes; Worship, No
Mona Charen: Did Israel Drive Out the Arabs 60 Years Ago?
JWisdom:
Ultimate opportunities by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
May 8, 2008
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Israel at 3,500+
Jonathan Tobin: Still Fighting the Same War
Steven Plaut: How nakba proves the fiction of a Palestinian Nation
JWisdom:
Taking Israel for Granted? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
May 7, 2008
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Israel is irrelevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Dion Nissenbaum: Latest Olmert scandal could derail efforts to force Israel's compromises
JWisdom:
My Inner Ventriloquist by Sara Yoheved Rigler
May 6, 2008
Caroline B. Glick: Anti-Zionism at 60
The Kosher Gourmet
By Ethel G. Hofman: In honor of Israel's 60th anniversary, the former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with a smorgasbord featuring the taste and essence of the Jewish homeland
JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Jewish Deer in Nazi Headlights
May 5, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Busy work
Jonathan Mark: Remarkable half-century old Mike Wallace interview with Abba Eban puts current anti-Israel sentiment into perspective
May 2, 2008
Rabbi Berel Wein: Rote religiosity
Caroline B. Glick: Whitewashing Hamas
JWisdom: Parent trap?
May 1, 2008
David Zwiebel: Faith communities can learn from Orthodox Jews in stimulating private philanthropy for religious education
George Friedman and Peter Zeihan of Stratfor: The Shift Toward an Israeli-Syrian Agreement
JWisdom: It's time to wake up by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
April 30, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: Pennsylvania's Democratic slugfest may leave some Jewish votes up for grabs
The Kosher Gourmet
by Linda Gassenheimer: Fresh herbs, sauteed veal and tiny creamer potatoes makes a light spring dinner
JWisdom: How to Build a Mentch by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
April 29, 2008
Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama's Muslim Childhood
Joel Brinkley:
On human rights, the U.N. once again strikes out
JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: When The Truth is Unbelievable
April 28, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I'm often stuck in the doctor's waiting room for hours! Doesn't he owe me something for my wasted time?
Steven Emerson:
New U.S. government policy advises agencies to avoid using some of the very same words that make up terror groups' names
JWisdom: Why You & I Never Die: A Jewish View of Immortality, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron
April 25, 2008
Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg: Schadenfreude isn't kosher for Passover --- or at any other time
Rabbi Berel Wein:
The secret of how the data bank of memory is transferred from one generation to the next
JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part III
April 24, 2008
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The successful failure
Fred Burton and Scott Stewart of Stratfor: Placing the terrorist threat to the food supply in perspective
JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part II
April 23, 2008
Connie Ogle: An intricate game of a novel
Jonathan Tobin: Making Sense of the 'J Street' Jive
JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen
April 22, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Why Israel's 'Leaven law' matters
Caroline B. Glick:
Obama the Savior
April 18, 2008
Rabbi Harvey Belovski: Multimedia tool of antiquity
Caroline B. Glick: Revealed Truths vs. revealed lies
JWisdom: More than miracles by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
April 17, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Deconstructing Dayeinu
Rabbi Elazar Meisels: Is innovation at the Seder a slap at tradition?
JWisdom: Discovering Your Divine Mission, Part III by Rabbi David Aaron
April 16, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: A Prayer for Sderot's Children
Ethel G. Hofman: Sumptuous Seder
JWisdom: The Divine is in the details by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
April 15, 2008
Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Let Charlton Heston Go!
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Jimma, tyranny's enabler
JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part IV by Dr. Lisa Aiken
April 14, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: The Snitching Supervisor
Jonathan Tobin: Forget the Fun and Games!
JWisdom: Sincerity is Valued Most by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D.
April 11, 2008
Rabbi David Gutterman: A Mystery in the Middle East
Caroline B. Glick: Why Ahmadinejad smiles
JWisdom:
Elevated illness by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
April 10, 2008
Stratfor Intelligence Briefing by George Friedman: A Mystery in the Middle East
The Kosher Gourmet
By Steve Petusevsky: The spring elegance of asparagus
JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: The Power of Rational Lies
April 9, 2008
Michael Feldberg:
An all but forgotten Colonial doctor who put his Jewish values before his life
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's "Everything's Relative" gets philosophical
JWisdom: Four Rabbis in Bnei Brak by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
April 8, 2008
Caroline Glick: Covering for the enemy
Elliot B. Gertel: 'House' goes Hasidic
JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part III by Dr. Lisa Aiken
April 7, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I have a translating business. Recently someone asked me to translate some financial documents that are clearly forged. Should I agree?
Jonathan Rosenblum : Israel is unwittingly helping to fuel the international campaign of delegitimization against it
JWisdom: Matzah and leaven as a life philosophy by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D.
April 4, 2008
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The Mystery of Suffering
Caroline B. Glick: Fear of democracy
JWisdom: Dirty Jews by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
April 3, 2008
Rabbi Y. Y. Rubinstein: Parents --- and the children who would be them
The Kosher Gourmet
by Kathy Manweiler: Tempted by restaurant dressings? Don't be. Here are recipes that can be made at home, healthier!
JWisdom: The importance of retaining a 'slave mentality' by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
April 2, 2008
Mitch Albom: Child abuse, disguised as faith
Jonathan Tobin:
Unreasonable Accommodations
JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith with Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Eliminating Jewish Influence over Germans
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
June 28, 2004
/ 9 Tamuz 5764
New book looks at life and love in a Jerusalem few see
By Lisa Haddock
Meet the author of the critically acclaimed novel, one that makes for perfect summer reading
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
Passionate.
That word defines "Seven Blessings," the debut novel by Ruchama King.
The critically acclaimed book (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) set in 1980s,
pre-intifada Jerusalem is a love letter to the faith that King cherishes. That
passion fuels a compelling story about the search for love of G-d, of Torah,
of life, of soul mates in the land of Israel.
"Seven Blessings" tells the story of ordinary religious people in the
spiritually charged city of Jerusalem: matchmakers and singles, bus drivers,
grocers, lingerie merchants, rebbetzins, Torah scholars, and mystics.
"When we think of Jerusalem lately, the images that come up are of death
and despair. And yet the people I know living in Jerusalem family, friends
are going about their lives with a grace, a richness and even joy," says
the Passaic, N.J., resident.
"Of course we should be aware of the terrible things Israelis are going
through. They are fighting our battle the battle against Jew hatred for
all Jewish people, everywhere. But that battle doesn't have to eclipse who and
what Jerusalem is. Jerusalem is life," says King, whose background reflects
some of the diversity of Jewish life. She grew up in a religiously observant
home with a U.S.-born Ashkenazi father and a Morocco-born Sephardic mother.
Just as the Torah itself does not shy away from the flaws of its
characters, King points out, she also wanted to be realistic. She portrays the beauty
and the flaws of the community she loves with poignance and humor.
"People hear 'matchmaker' and their minds turn to farce caricature
Yenta, the local busybody. These are not 'Fiddler on the Roof' characters
from a distant nostalgic haze. These are flesh-and-blood people lovable,
hatable."
Back in the Eighties, King spent nine years in Jerusalem, where she
studied and taught Torah, volunteered with the disabled, and thrived on the
spiritual energy of the city regarded as the center of the world.
In fact, she gained much of the inside knowledge for her book during the
two years she lived in the home of a matchmaker.
"She told me her secrets of the trade. She critiqued Yeshiva scholars
their hair, their beards, their glasses, and they listened. She took young
women by the hand and decked them out so they looked nice.
"Sometimes I thought these couples continued dating each other just to
have this woman tinkering in their lives," says King.
The author describes matchmaking as a national obsession in Israel and
a natural extension of the belief that all Jews are responsible for one
another.
"You can't go 10 feet without bumping into a matchmaker. ... Bus drivers
and postal clerks get involved. Everyone does. After the Holocaust, every
couple that comes together, every family formed, is cause for national
celebration."
King's knowledge of Torah and matchmaking pay off. She uses her
characters' relationships with G-d and religion as a litmus test for the difficulties
they have in their intimate relationships.
Her matchmakers are well-drawn characters who face problems of their own.
Judy, the wife of a rabbi who now works as an exterminator, misses the
trappings and honors of being a rebbetzin. Tsippi, a Treblinka survivor who makes
matches as a way of getting even with the Nazis, yearns for a romantic
connection with her husband, who spends most of his time with his nose buried in the
Talmud. Yet both women lay aside these hurts to help make the all-important
match.
"I don't think people realize how much of a psychoanalyst a matchmaker
can or even must be," says King, a native of Nashville, Tenn., who grew u
p in Maryland and Virginia.
And the single Jews she portrays also have their problems. Beth, a
39-year-old American, is afraid to hope that she's met the man of her dreams even as
she struggles with religious questions. Akiva, a 41-year-old Canadian, is
plagued by wild spasms that frighten away prospective mates. Binyamin, a
42-year-old American artist, is so fixated on superficial physical perfection that
eventually, the matchmakers refuse to set him up until he grows up.
King says she also wants readers to go beyond the basic question: Will
these characters find true love?
"Matchmaking and romance are the perfect camouflage for thornier issues.
Along the way, you can slip in a little Torah, a little G0d, a little coming
to grips with the dark side of your own soul and self," says King, who has a
master of fine arts from Brooklyn College.
After her own struggles as a single in a Jewish world that so highly
values marriage and family, she's a happily married mother of four.
Her husband, Yisrael Feuerman, has been a big supporter of her ambitions.
"He is an excellent writer with a background in modern psychoanalysis.
.... I cannot imagine a husband who could be more supportive: on the both the
literary, emotional, and financial end."
For now, King is pleased that she's broken into the literary mainstream.
As for her future literary plans?
"I don't know what will be, but I'm growing more aware of what compels me
to write." She pauses as her dark eyes grow pensive.
"I grew up with a skeptical eye toward religion and spirituality, and at
the same time I was captivated by it. I was inside and outside at the same
time. That's why I write. I'm in touch with that tension."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washinton and the media consider must reading. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Lisa Haddock is the former Religion & Values editor at The Record in Hackensack, N.J. To comment, please click here.
© 2004, Lisa Haddock
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