It’s July—school and university are out for the summer; it’s hot. This month is often a strange mix of the ecstatic and the supremely boring. It’s a month that does not usually receive much praise or fanfare. It’s the perfect month to focus on poetry—that intensifier that makes the joy more joyful and the pain more painful, and the days just a little more delightfully strange and ripe. Kicking off this month of poems will be Haya Esther, a woman born into an ultra orthodox household in Jerusalem...
Jul 03, 2019•8 min
Ayat Abou Shmeiss is an Arab-speaker who writes in Hebrew in part because she was educated in that language, and in French, at a Christian school in Jaffa, and has been writing since she was a teen. In her second book, her subjects include an examination of her life as the mother of one child, and as a student at the Open University, where she is now finishing a degree in political science. The poet has a clear grasp of her position. “I’m this and that” she said. Text: “My Identity Has Nothing t...
Jun 26, 2019•7 min
We continue what we began in last week's episode, discussing the historian Flavius Josephus, focusing on his biography, “The Life.” In terms of his future career and authorship, Flavius Josephus could not have arrived in this world at a better time or place. In the year 37—four years after Jesus was crucified—Josephus was born in Jerusalem as Yosef bar Mattathyahu in Aramaic or ben mattathias in Hebrew, the son of a priestly family on both sides. His mother could trace her ancestry to the royal ...
Jun 19, 2019•7 min
To mark the completion of the Shavuot holiday, this week Marcela reads from Josephus’s account of the giving of the Torah, in his volume “Jewish Antiquities.” Text: This edition of Josephus’s works was translated from the Greek original by William Whiston (1667-1752).
Jun 12, 2019•10 min
Arab Israeli women are one of the most underrepresented groups of writers in Israel and the world. It’s very difficult to find such work that's been translated into English. And so today, we spotlight the poetry of three such women. I’m using Nathalie Handal’s anthology “The Poetry of Arab Women.” Text: “The Path of Affection” by Laila Allush, translated by Abdelwahab M Elmessiri. “I Love in White Ink” by Siham Da’oud, translated by Helen Knox and Smadar Lavie. “Interlaced Lines for the Same Mom...
Jun 05, 2019•6 min
The fast of Ramadan ends next week. Here in Israel, lights are strung up all over the cities of Jerusalem, Haifa, Akko, Jaffa, and many smaller towns and villages. Festive lanterns with beautiful designs in a variety of colors throw their light around. It is a season of heightened charity and prayer as well. To mark the Eid Al Fitr holiday, we read poems by Sumaiya El-Sousy. Sumaiya El-Sousy was born in Gaza City and works in a research center in Gaza. She’s published multiple collections of poe...
May 29, 2019•7 min
Today we excerpt from the short story “The Plague” by Nurit Zarchi, translated by Yael Lotan, and found in the anthology Fifty Stories from Israel. The story is set during the time of the 14th century great plague in Jerusalem, which killed a quarter of the city’s population. In this story, the monks who lived on the mountain, at a distance of an hour and a half outside of the city, would take turns, by drawing lots, to go into the city to help. The monk who was then sent to the city would retur...
May 22, 2019•7 min
Today we read an excerpt from Aharon Appelfeld’s novel, The Age of Wonders , published in Israel in 1978 and translated by Dalya Bilu in 1981. A holocaust survivor himself, this novel is remarkable in that it skips over the war, and does not even use the word holocaust, as it chronicles the dissolution of an assimilated Austrian family, in a petit-bourgeois Jewish world, and the anti-semitism leading up to the war. Told in two parts, the first part ends with a scene in the town’s synagogue, wher...
May 15, 2019•7 min
Yesterday and today we commemorate Yom Hazikaron —Memorial Day— in Israel. In 1948 the poet Haim Gouri fought as a deputy company commander in the Palmach Negev Brigade and wrote a poem commemorating the fighters who accompanied the convoys and fell at Bab el Wad. We read from it on today's episode. Text: Haim Gouri, “Bab El Wad,” translated by Vivian Eden Music: “Bab El Wad,” Haim Gouri, sung by Shoshana Damari, music by Shmuel Fershko “Bab El Wad,” Haim Gouri, sung by Yafa Yarkoni...
May 08, 2019•9 min
Before she died in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, Anne Frank said: “Despite everything, I believe that people are, at heart, really good.” In honor of Holocaust Memorial Day, host Marcela Sulak takes a fresh look at the young diarist whose words inspired the world. Texts : The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition . By Anne Frank. Edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler. Translated by Susan Massotty. Bantam Books. Music : The Whole Story Soundtrack: Epilogue. Composed by Graem...
May 01, 2019•7 min
This week we continue exploring Robert Alter’s translation of the Bible and sacred poetry by looking at The Song of Songs , which is traditionally read on the Shabbat of the intermediate days of Passover before the morning Torah reading, or on the morning of the seventh day. Robert Alter’s historic one-man translation of the entire Hebrew Bible is like two worlds at once, the heavens and the earth, with the translation above and the commentary below. One can spend a lifetime in either of these w...
Apr 24, 2019•12 min
This week and next, during Passover, we’ll be exploring Robert Alter's translation of the beginning of Exodus, the basis for the Passover story. Next week we’ll approach the Song of Songs, which is traditionally recited during the days of Passover. Robert Alter’s historic one-man translation of the entire Hebrew Bible is like two worlds at once, the heavens and the earth, with the translation above and the commentary below. One can spend a lifetime in either of these worlds. Text: Robert Alter’s...
Apr 17, 2019•9 min
Bracha Serri was born in 1942 in San’a, Yemen, and brought to Israel in a mass exodus of Jews from Yemen soon after the State was established. She often adopts the first person voice of a Yemenite woman, crushed between an oppressive patriarchal background and the discriminatory nature of her everyday life, as in the poem “Dish.” Serri studied linguistics and Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In addition to her writing, Sari established her own publishing house, the Or HaG...
Apr 10, 2019•8 min
Born in Umm Al-Fahm, Ayman Agbaria is a researcher, poet, playwright, social activist, and a senior lecturer in the department of leadership and policy in education at the University of Haifa. Several of Agbaria's poems, written in Arabic, have been translated into Hebrew, and have been well received. Among the themes found in his poetry are the extreme alienation from the self that of living as a religious and linguistic minority in Israel can produce. Text: Ayman Agbaria, various poems at Poet...
Apr 03, 2019•7 min
Today we commemorate the life of Ella Bat Tsion, who passed away a month ago. We begin the episode with the poem, “I waited with Endless Patience,” translated by Lisa Katz. It comes from her last book, After , which was published in 2000. Text: Ella Bat Tsion, “I waited with Endless Patience.” Translated by Lisa Katz. After published in 2000.
Mar 27, 2019•6 min
On this Purim, we turn to Robert Alter’s excellent new translation, Strong as Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel . Robert Alter writes that the Book of Esther, unlike any other book of the Bible, seems to have been written primarily for entertainment. Alter notes: “It has variously been described as a farce, a burlesque, a satire, a fairy tale, and a carnivalesque narrative, and it is often quite funny, with sly sexual comedy playing a significant role. The portrai...
Mar 20, 2019•9 min
This week we feature an excerpt from Shani Boianjiu’s novel, “The People of Forever Are Not Afraid,” published in 2012 in English. The novel is told in a series of vignettes narrated by three young Israeli women – Lea, Avishag and Yael – following their high school years in a small northern village, through their enlistment in the Israeli Defence Force where they train marksmen, guard a border and man a checkpoint. The novel follows them into their twenties. Text: Shani Boianjiu, The People of F...
Mar 13, 2019•11 min
In this week’s episode, we will consider Israeli Love poetry through the lens of Barbara Goldberg’s new book, Transformation: The Poetry of Translation , which has just come out this year, after winning the Valentin Krustev Award for Translation. Goldberg calls her volume “a small anthology of Israeli poets writing on love and war.” Among the 62 poets represented, nearly all are alive and currently writing today. She says of them, that they “are men and women, old and young, natives of Israel an...
Mar 06, 2019•7 min
This week’s episode introduces a genre called “Auto-reality,” a term coined by Rana Werbin to describe her first book, Life Is Good . This book is a collection of excerpts from the author’s real-life journal, which she disassembled and reorganized to create a narrative of her choice. Rana Werbin is an Israeli writer, editor, actor, and translator. The book is translated by Yardenne Greenspan and Maya Klein. Text: Rana Werbin, Life is Good . Translated by Yardenne Greenspan and Maya Klein. Amazon...
Feb 27, 2019•9 min
Aharon Appelfeld passed away just over a year ago. He was one of Israel’s most well known authors abroad, and one of the generation that came of age around the same time as the founding of the State of Israel. Appelfeld would say that in order to be a serious writer you need to have a routine. For years his routine had been to write with a Biro pen on sheets of ordinary white paper in the café at Ticho House, in Jerusalem. It was there that Alain Elkann interviewed him for The Paris Review in 20...
Feb 20, 2019•9 min
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...
Feb 13, 2019•8 min
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...
Feb 07, 2019•7 min
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 W...
Jan 30, 2019•8 min
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...
Jan 23, 2019•9 min
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....
Jan 16, 2019•9 min
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 blanke...
Jan 09, 2019•9 min
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.
Jan 03, 2019•11 min
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” trans...
Dec 19, 2018•10 min
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...
Dec 12, 2018•9 min
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...
Dec 05, 2018•12 min
