Israel In Translation

On this episode, we continue our focus on the new “Crisis” issue of The Ilanot Review, which came out this month, and which was edited by guest editor Adriana X. Jacobs, and our very own Marcela Shulak. Marcela features some of her favorite poems, which listeners can read along—or explore other poems—at Ilanotreview.com Text: “Banruptcy Series” by Ron Dahan, translated by Nadavi Noked “On the day of the blood” and “Unveiling the Metaphor” by Sharron Hass, translated by Tsipi Keller

On this episode, Marcela features some of her favorite poems from the recent poetry issue of The Ilanot Review, which has just gone live this week. Listeners can read along—or explore other poems—at Ilanotreview.com Text: “All Our Planes,” by Moshe Ben Yakir, translated by Joanna Chen “The Anteaters” by Roy Chicky Arad, translated by Yavni Bar Yam “Bread” by Yudit Shahar, translated by Aviya Kushner

This week, the podcast widens its focus and steps beyond our boundaries for a moment to acknowledge the civil war in Syria through the Arabic writings of Golan Haji, translated by Stephen Watts. Haji is originally from the Kurdish town of Amouda, on the border of Turkey. The excerpted essay was written five and a half years ago, when the Syrian war was well into its second year. Text: A Note on Syrian Poetry & Autumn here is magical and vast, Golan Haji, translated by Stephen Watts. Words Without Borders. A Tree Whose Name I don’t Know, by Golan Haji, translated by Stephen Watts. A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2017.

This podcast is not for the faint of heart — we’re featuring the poetry of Noam Partom this week, and this poetry calls out sexual predators and chides the poet for allowing men to define her sense of worth. Partom isn’t afraid to say what is largely left unsaid, out of politeness, out of the distasteful thing it is to name what we know exists but which we leave unsaid. Text: Noam Partom, “Chaim Nachman Bialik” translated by Danny Neyman & “Women’s Talk” translated by David Lockard and Danny Neyman Music: Songs from A Winter Funeral Soundtrack by Yonatan Canaan

This podcast is the second in our two-part long-good-bye to the extraordinary writer, Amos Oz, who passed away on Friday, Dec. 28. Marcela provides a long excerpt from Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land, translated by Jessica Cohen. The excerpt comes from the essay “Many Lights, Not one Light.” Text: Amos Oz, Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land. Translated by Jessica Cohen. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018.

When Nadia Adina Rose describes her art, she might also be describing her poetry. In her artist statement section of her website, she notes the importance of memory and childhood imagination in her work: Reality is also the space of memory, which takes us back to our childhood – when we used to be free of the banal, limiting experience; when imagination and the feeling of surprise evoked by objects formed the basis of our perception. In childhood, everything is “as if”: the picture on the blanket cover comes alive; the bedsheet flows down like a waterfall; the pillows turn into a snowy mountain; the spiral of an electric cable becomes the reflection of the sun in water. These transformations presuppose a certain duality in the world of things, which exists simultaneously on the mundane, everyday level – and on a playful, fanciful level, which corresponds to the structure of a fairy tale. Text: Nadia Adina Rose Website, artist statement and poems translated by Linda Zisquite and Irit Sela Haaretz Review by S

This episode is dedicated to Amos Oz, who passed away on Friday, Dec. 28, after a short battle of cancer at the age of 79. We’ll feature his latest book, Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land, which was published in November in Jessica Cohen’s English translation. Text: Amos Oz, Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land. Translated by Jessica Cohen. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018.

Hedva Harechavi is an early feminist voice in contemporary Hebrew poetry, and, as you will hear, her work often combines the language of prayer and biblical texts with contemporary daily realities. Her first book, Because He Is King, won the Rachel Newman Poetry Award and established her as a poet. Harechavi's eight subsequent poetry collections have won all the major Israeli prizes. She was born on the kibbutz Degania, and lives in Jerusalem. Text: Hedva Harechavi, “A Very Cheerful Girl” translated by Tsipi Keller in Poets on the Edge. An Anthology of Contemporary Hebrew Poetry, SUNY 2008. Hedva Harechavi, “All of Reality to Me” translated by Tsipi Keller, Asymptote Journal

This podcast is dedicated to anyone who has trouble finding shoes that fit—especially boots, during the Israeli rainy season! On this episode, Marcela reads an excerpt from Raquel Chalfi’s poem German Boot, translated by Tsipi Keller. Text: German Boot” by Raquel Chalfi. Poets on the Edge. An Anthology of Contemporary Hebrew Poetry. Selected and translated by Tsipi Keller. SUNY Press, 2008. Previous Chalfi podcast

Tonight is the fourth night of Hanukkah, and to celebrate, Marcela reads an abridgement from Mendele Mokher Serforim’s short story, “What is Chanukah?” It features two speakers, Shmuel, for whom a Hanukkah miracle occurred, and his friend Ignatz. Text: Mendele Mokher Serforim, “What is Chanukah?” translated by Herbert J. Levine and Reena Spicehandler in Jewish Fiction Yitzi Hurwitz, “To Make the Darkness Itself Shine” Music: Maoz Tzur by Yosef Karduner Al Hanissim by Yonina

Here’s a little love poem for you, by Ory Bernstein, who is responsible for some of the loveliest love poetry written in Hebrew. It’s from A One and Only Love, which was translated by Bernstein himself. Text: Ory Bernstein, A One and Only Love, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2002. Raquel Chalfi, Ory Bernstein, Shimon Adaf, Kaleidoscope: Three Poets from Israel, Mosaic Press 2014.

Last week we heard the first part of this two-part podcast featuring Shimon Adaf in his and Lavie Tidhar’s 2016 multigenre collaboration Art & War: Poetry, Pulp and Politics in Israeli Fiction. This week we feature Lavie Tidhar. The book is a dialogue about Adaf and Tidhar's approach to writing the fantastic, writing about Israel and Palestine, about Judaism, about the Holocaust, about childhoods and their end. What is especially exciting is that this book extends the conversation even into their own fiction--and the book ends with two new short stories – Tutim by Tidhar, and Third Attribute by Adaf – in which each appears as a character in the other’s tale. Text: Tidhar, Lavie & Shimon Adaf. Art & War: Poetry, Pulp and Politics in Israeli Fiction. Repeater Press, 2016.

Shimon Adaf and Lavie Tidhar's new book, Art & War: Poetry, Pulp and Politics in Israeli Fiction, is a dialogue about their approach to writing the fantastic, writing about Israel and Palestine, about Judaism, about the Holocaust, about childhoods and their end. What is especially exciting is that this book extends the conversation even into their own fiction--and the book ends with two new short stories – Tutim by Tidhar, and Third Attribute by Adaf – in which each appears as a character in the other’s tale. This week and next, Marcela reads selections from each of their dialogues and then their fiction. Text: Tidhar, Lavie & Shimon Adaf. Art & War: Poetry, Pulp and Politics in Israeli Fiction. Repeater Press, 2016. Previous Episode (featuring Shimon Adaf) Music: Quetev Meriri - Shel Bney Tmuta האצולה - צורך האצולה - אהובתי

“Sabina Messeg is a rare nature poet”, writes author and literary scholar Ariel Hirshfeld. “The existence of streams, boulders and plants are fateful for her, which differentiates her from most Jewish poets writing in Hebrew. Messeg truly sees nature as the great Other in her life. Her poetry cautions us about its tremendous beauty, complete innocence and terrible fragility.” Messeg is a particular kind of “nature poet,” though—in fact, she is considered the founder of Israeli eco-poetry. Marcela shares her love for the way Messeg’s flora act as main characters of her poems. Text: Poems from Sabine Messeg, Clil – a farm in Galilee in Mediterranean Poetry On the Extraordinary Beauty of the Ordinary, in Poetry International Rotterdam

On this episode, Marcela reads poetry by Israeli-Arab poet Dareen Tatour, who was recently released after a nearly three and a half year legal battle resulting from her incarceration for incitement to violence and supporting terrorist organizations in social media posts. The incitement was specifically located in her poems, which were used as evidence in Tatour’s trials and hearings. Text: Poetry by Dareen Tatour, translated by Andrew Leber in Brooklyn Rail  Jack Khoury, Haaretz,  (second poem)

Born in 1971 in St. Petersburg,  Alex Epstein moved to the Israeli city of Lod when he was eight years old. His short stories are sometimes as short as a single sentence, and have been described as examples of the “philosophical, or allegorical short-short story.” He has published three novels and eight collections of stories in Hebrew. Text: Blue Has No South by Alex Epstein, translated by Becka mara McKay, Clockroot Books, 2010. Lunar Savings Time by Alex Epstein, translated by Becka Mara McKay, Clockroot Books, 2011. A Children’s Story, An Almost Ordinary Love Story, and The Intelligent Mouse by Alex Epstein, translated by Yardenne Greenspan in The Guardian. Music: Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 2 “Little Russian”      

On this episode of Israel in Translation, Marcela reads three of the six parts of Sharron Hass’s long poem “Dinner With Joachim,” which appears in the most recent issue of the journal Two Lines. “Dinner with Joachim” is from the collection Daylight, which is a critical inquiry into light as the root of rational thought. Text: Sharron Hass, “Dinner with Joachim” translated by Marcela Sulak. Two Lines 29

Mordechai Geldman’s work is often informed by his career as a psychotherapist. “My poetry comes from the inner void that meditation creates,” Geldman writes in his preface to his collected works. Tsipi Keller, who translated Geldman's most recent collection, describes his poetic persona as “Routinely solitary, whether on foot or on his bike, Geldman is a tourist in his own town; Tel Aviv, especially his neighborhood near Kikar Milano, which plays an important role in the poems.” Text: Mordechai Geldman, Years I Walked at Your Side. Translated by Tsipi Keller. Excelsior Editions, 2018.

This episode originally aired Oct. 14th, 2015. In this episode, host Marcela Sulak reads an excerpt from Yitzhak Gormezano Goren's Alexandrian Summer, his first novel to be translated into English. In this semi-autobiographical work, Robby, aged ten and accompanied by his parents, leaves his home in Alexandria in 1951 to rejoin his two brothers who had already moved to Israel. In this extract, three generations of the family are sitting together in their home in Alexandria, reading a letter from Robby's brothers about what life is like in Israel. Robby's grandmother thinks it sounds a little primitive: “They say that people work in construction in Palestine. Yes, even educated boys. A grandson of mine, putting his hand inside the cemento? Wy-di-mi-no!” André Aciman says in his introduction to the novel, "Alexandrian Summer is a nostalgic, farewell portrait of a world that was fast expiring but still refused to see that history had written it off." Text: Alexandrian Summer, Yitzhak Gormezano Goren. Translate

It’s Sukkot—which lasts seven days in Israel and eight days outside of Israel. A sukkah is the temporary dwelling in which farmers would live during harvesting in ancient days. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and some choose to sleep there. During Sukkot, it is customary to read Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, to remind us how fleeting life is, and that we should seek a deeper meaning besides the fulfillment of material goods. No one knows for sure who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, but it has been traditionally attributed to King Solomon. Orit Gidali imagines king Solomon, Kohelet, as the author in the poem Kohelet. Text: Kohelet from Twenty Girls to Envy Me. New and Selected Poems of Orit Gidali. Translated Marcela Sulak. University of Texas Press, 2016. Six Songs for Tamar by Yehuda Amichai, translated by Harold Schimmel, in Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems. Sheep Meadow Press. Stop your sorrowing, suffering soul from Vulture in a Cage. Poems by Solomon Ibn Gavirol. translated by Raym