FEBRUARY 18 • 2021 | 39
ARTS&LIFE
BOOKS
S
ome years ago, at an age
close to 90, Constance
Harris felt bored.
“What can I do with the rest
of my life?” the Californian and
former Michigander asked her
son, Stephen.
“Write another book,
” he
suggested, and she did just that,
dedicating it to him and his wife,
Ruth.
The Many Ways Jews Loved: A
History from Printed Words and
Images (McFarland) came out
this year and follows her two
other books also published by
McFarland — The Way Jews
Lived: Five Hundred Years of
Printed Words and Images (2009)
and Portraiture in Prints (1987).
The new book explores types
of love with varying ethnic out-
looks — toward God, people,
country, food, traditions, artistry
and humor.
“Because I had finished
the book on how Jews lived
throughout history, I was trying
to take some other angle, and
I thought about relationships,
”
said Harris, 95, whose studies
and research might touch upon
her experiences as an English lit-
erature major at Hunter College
in New York City.
“There are so many versions
of relationships, and there are
so many versions of Jewish life.
I tried to suggest interpretations
of them.
”
In the process of develop-
ing her latest text, Harris went
through the Bible and across
centuries of writings to find
diverse examples described by
Jewish authors addressing loving
relationships, from love associ-
ated with fun to love associated
with tragedy.
“I was always interested in the
collective identity of Jews,
” said
Harris, who practices Orthodoxy
but also has had membership
in a Conservative synagogue,
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield, and a Reform
congregation, Temple Isaiah in
Lafayette, Calif.
“I’ve tried to look at the histo-
ry of Jews with slightly different
interpretations and create cultur-
al understandings.
”
When she finished the man-
uscript and before submitting
it for publication, Harris asked
for the impressions of Howard
Lupovitch, associate profes-
sor of history at Wayne State
University and director of the
Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic
Studies.
“There’s a real
scholar at work in
this book, but her
writing is very acces-
sible,
” Lupovitch
said. “She’s writing
for a lay audience,
and there’s a trans-
parency to the way
she writes. Her anal-
ysis is sophisticated, but it’s not
done in a way that’s opaque.
“She’s using familiar characters
and familiar themes, and she
does a good job of connecting
older sources and how they
made their way into more recent
literature. For example, she [calls
attention to] Portnoy’s Complaint,
a book many people have read.
“She’s not confining herself to
a narrow definition of romantic
love or love of God. It’s a feeling
and a state of mind that she
understands as broadly as pos-
sible.
”
Love for Judaism has been
shown by the author in ways
beyond writing. She has held
memberships in traditional orga-
nizations that include Hadassah
and the Jewish Federation of Los
Angeles, and she started a group
in California to introduce mem-
bers of different faiths to each
other. Launched in 1970, the
Women’s Interfaith Committee
continues.
JEWISH ARTIFACTS
Throughout her life, Harris has
had a love for Jewish artifacts,
amassing a large collection with
her late husband, Theodore.
It was given to the Special
Collections Library at the
University of Michigan, and that
artistic interest made its way
across the pages of her book,
which contains many noted
images, such as an 1860 engrav-
ing of a Jewish family shown in
the Illustrated News of the World.
Arranged as The Jewish
Heritage Collection at the
library, the collection holds some
3,000 items — ritual objects, art-
works and books. Sections of the
collection have been borrowed
by other universities for tempo-
rary displays, and she recently
found and added a rare Ladino
Haggadah.
As Harris worked on her third
book, she seems to have adhered
to the advice of the late Jewish
comedian Milton Berle, who
starred in the stage production
Always Leave Them Laughing. The
book, which includes favorite tra-
ditional recipes, from kreplach to
rugelach, ends with Jewish jokes.
“I’m grateful for good health,
friends and family that includes
two adult grandsons living in the
East and calling their grandma
regularly,
” Harris said.
As author, Harris could add
gratitude for many good reviews,
such as the one by Deborah
Lipstadt, renowned history
professor at Emory University
in Atlanta. Lipstadt defined the
book as “interesting, illuminat-
ing and engaging.
”
History buff, 95, writes a 200-page
“love letter” to the Jewish people.
Her Lifelong
Love Affair
with Judaism
Howard
Lupovitch
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DETAILS
The Many Ways
Jews Have Loved
is available on Amazon.
Constance Harris