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Set in modern-day Israel, intriguing novel has as its
backdrop the struggle between Hebrew and Yiddish.
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MORTON I. TEICHER
Special to the Jewish News
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804140
he establishment of
Hebrew as the language of
the Jews in Palestine was
largely the result of obsti-
.
nate persistence by Eliezer Ben-
Yehudah, who settled in Jerusalem in
1881 and fought vigorously for the
acceptance of Hebrew as a spoken
language.
Because of his
efforts, Hebrew was
Ah
used exclusively in
the schools and, in
1948, it was declared
the official language
of Israel.
The revival of
Hebrew came at the
expense of Yiddish,
many of whose
speakers were killed
in the Holocaust. In
1987, a renowned
historian of Hebrew
M A
literature declared
Yiddish "a dead lan-
guage in Israel."
Israeli author
This is the backdrop
Aharon Megged's
for Israeli author Aharon
novel has been
Megged's award-winning
selected by Barnes
novel Foiglman (Toby
and Noble for its
Press; $19.95). It has
Winter 2004
been chosen by Barnes
Discover Great
and Noble for its Winter
Writers Program.
2004 Discover Great
Writers Program, which
ways, is a metaphor for the strained
began
in Feb. 1.
The title of the book is the name of a relationship between Hebrew and
Paris-based Yiddish poet and Holocaust Yiddish — the new world and the
old — in Israel.
survivor who believes that Hebrew has
Author Megged lives in Tel Aviv,
a severe and stern face," while Yiddish
where he came from Poland as a boy
has "a smiling, happy face.
of 6. He has written more than a
Leaving his home in France for
Israel, Shmuel Foiglman sends a book dozen novels, five plays and numer-
of his Yiddish poems to Zvi Arbel, an ous short stories. His work has won
many awards, and in May 2003 he
Israeli-born professor of Jewish histo-
was honored with the prestigious
ry at Tel Aviv University who has
Israel Prize for Literature.
mastered Yiddish to pursue his
This remarkable novel is beautifully
research on the history of Eastern
set forth and masterfully translated
European Jewry.
from its original Hebrew by Marganit
Arbel finds Foiglman's poems to be
Weinberger-Rotman. The French ver-
"melodious," unlike Hebrew poems,
sion won a prize in France, and this
although this quality does not neces-
English rendering deserves consider-
sarily appeal to him. In any case, he
able plaudits. ❑
eventually acknowledges receipt of
Ft,
Joh() Cs
PrIdoy,
pe bruory
13th
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the poems and, despite his wife's
appalled warnings, is almost mesmer-
ized into a relationship with
Foiglman.
Arbel alienates his wife by spending
money on getting Foiglman's poems
translated into Hebrew and under-
writing their publication. The rela-
tionship between the men drives a
wedge in Arbel's already tenuous mar-
riage and has disastrous results.
There is a satirical ele-
ment in Megged's writ-
ing as he uses his charac-
ters, including
Foiglman's actress wife,
his brother and Arbel's
son, to comment on
Israeli society in general.
Their tangled interac-
tions are complicated by
the strange association
between Foiglman and
Arbel that, in some