Israel in Translation

On today's episode, resident storyteller Marcela Sulak reads from Yoram Kaniuk's story "The Beautiful Life of Clara Shiato," translated by Ruvik Danieli and found in the anthology 50 Stories from Israel. Clara raises three children in Greece with a man who escaped from persecutions in Turkey, suffers through the second world war in hiding, and finds passage to Israel after the war to live an impoverished life in Tel Aviv:

"She always remembered the hidden fear. When Clara Shiato was twelve years of age, she stood by the window and hung curtains. Before the clowns passed by, on their way to the circus, she saw Shmuel Abuman with his brother. He raised his eyes and saw Clara, and then a strange fear filled her, and her eyes, those bright eyes, grew dark, and she felt as if the blood had drained from her face."

Yoram Kaniuk was born in Tel Aviv in 1930, joined the Palmach at age 17, and published over thirty books. He married a Christian woman and successfully petitioned Israeli courts that his religion be changed from Jewish to no religion, making Kaniuk considered a Jew by nationality but not religion. The verb lehitkaniuk was coined thereafter in reference to this process.

Texts: Yoram Kaniuk, "The Beautiful Life of Clara Shiato," translated by Ruvik Danieli. 50 Stories from Israel. An Anthology. Edited by Zisi Stavi. Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books, 2007.

Music:Ravel Kaddisch - Yehudi Menuhin Beethoven - Yehudi Menuhin

On today's episode, resident storyteller Marcela Sulak reads from Yoram Kaniuk's story "The Beautiful Life of Clara Shiato," translated by Ruvik Danieli and found in the anthology 50 Stories from Israel. Clara raises three children in Greece with a man who escaped from persecutions in Turkey, suffers through the second world war in hiding, and finds passage to Israel after the war to live an impoverished life in Tel Aviv:

"She always remembered the hidden fear. When Clara Shiato was twelve years of age, she stood by the window and hung curtains. Before the clowns passed by, on their way to the circus, she saw Shmuel Abuman with his brother. He raised his eyes and saw Clara, and then a strange fear filled her, and her eyes, those bright eyes, grew dark, and she felt as if the blood had drained from her face."

Yoram Kaniuk was born in Tel Aviv in 1930, joined the Palmach at age 17, and published over thirty books. He married a Christian woman and successfully petitioned Israeli courts that his religion be changed from Jewish to no religion, making Kaniuk considered a Jew by nationality but not religion. The verb lehitkaniuk was coined thereafter in reference to this process.

Texts:
Yoram Kaniuk, "The Beautiful Life of Clara Shiato," translated by Ruvik Danieli. 50 Stories from Israel. An Anthology. Edited by Zisi Stavi. Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books, 2007.

Music:
Ravel Kaddisch - Yehudi Menuhin
Beethoven - Yehudi Menuhin

On today's episode, resident literature guru Marcela Sulak reads from the recently published novel Judas by Amos Oz, translated by Nicholas de Lange. Perhaps Israel's best-known author, Oz explores the titular apostle alongside Israeli historical narrative told through sensitive young student Shmuel Ash, an elderly man Gershom Wald, and his daughter-in-law Abravanel. Here is an excerpt from his novel:

"Perhaps it really was preferable for what you did here to happen—for tens of thousands to to to the slaughter and for hundreds of thousand to go into exile. The Jews here are actually a single big refugee camp, and so are the Arabs. And now the Arabs live day by day with the disaster of their defeat, and the Jews live night by night with the threat of their vengeance. That way apparently you're all much better off. Both peoples are consumed by hatred and poison, and they both emerged from the war obsessed with vengeance and soaked in self-righteousness."

Texts: Judas, by Amos Oz. Translated by Nicholas de Lange. Nov. 8, 2016

Music:Ruchi Tlifat - Daoud and Saleh al Kuwaiti Ezra Aharon - Taksim Oud Maqam Bayati

On today's episode, resident literature guru Marcela Sulak reads from the recently published novel Judas by Amos Oz, translated by Nicholas de Lange. Perhaps Israel's best-known author, Oz explores the titular apostle alongside Israeli historical narrative told through sensitive young student Shmuel Ash, an elderly man Gershom Wald, and his daughter-in-law Abravanel. Here is an excerpt from his novel:

"Perhaps it really was preferable for what you did here to happen—for tens of thousands to to to the slaughter and for hundreds of thousand to go into exile. The Jews here are actually a single big refugee camp, and so are the Arabs. And now the Arabs live day by day with the disaster of their defeat, and the Jews live night by night with the threat of their vengeance. That way apparently you’re all much better off. Both peoples are consumed by hatred and poison, and they  both emerged from the war obsessed with vengeance and soaked in self-righteousness."

Texts:
Judas, by Amos Oz. Translated by Nicholas de Lange. Nov. 8, 2016

Music:
Ruchi Tlifat - Daoud and Saleh al Kuwaiti
Ezra Aharon - Taksim Oud Maqam Bayati 

On today's episode, host Marcela Sulak reads the poetry of Yudit Shahar. Born and raised in the HaTikvah neighborhood of Tel Aviv, she is a special education teacher and mother of two children. She is best known for her concern with economic justice and now lives in Petach Tikvah, Israel. Here is an excerpt from her poem "Brightness":

"In the house which was really a shack, in the laundry room, on my fingertips, the sourish smell of work clothes as I look in your pocket for sweet dates that have been forgotten. Brightness, you wanted, and you used to raise the antenna the highest in the neighborhood so it could catch disappearing broadcasts from the expanse of the Mediterranean, as far as Izmir and Istanbul."

Texts: Waxwing. Translated by Aviya Kushner.

Music:From the album Meditations - C Lanzbom Erev shel shoshanim Neharot Neharot - Betty Olivero

On today's episode, host Marcela Sulak reads the poetry of Yudit Shahar. Born and raised in the HaTikvah neighborhood of Tel Aviv, she is a special education teacher and mother of two children. She is best known for her concern with economic justice and now lives in Petach Tikvah, Israel.  Here is an excerpt from her poem "Brightness":

"In the house which was really a shack, in the laundry room,
on my fingertips, the sourish smell of work clothes
as I look in your pocket for sweet dates that have been forgotten.
Brightness, you wanted, and you used to raise the antenna
the highest in the neighborhood so it could catch disappearing broadcasts from the expanse of the Mediterranean,
as far as Izmir and Istanbul."

Texts:
Waxwing. Translated by Aviya Kushner.

Music:
From the album Meditations - C Lanzbom
Erev shel shoshanim
Neharot Neharot - Betty Olivero

On today's episode, host Marcela Sulak reads the poetry of Samih al-Qasim. A Druze resident of the village of Rameh in northern Israel, al-Qasim was best known for his nationalist poetry, in which he passionately defended the rights and identity of Israel's Arab minority. Here is an excerpt from his poem "Regardless":

"We are equal—in bread, roses, love, and sin, in desiring the wheat stalk that begot a song. We are equal, the people of my land, And I love you without election, without ballot, without adjustment. I love you by consensus, without question, without argument."

This is part of a "flock poem" - a format in which a series of small poems is written around a theme. Marcela reads more of al-Qasim's flock poetry, and explains the format in more detail.

Texts: All Faces But Mine: The Poetry of Samih Al-Qasim. Translated by Abdulwahid Lu'lu'a. Syracuse University Press, 2015.

Music:Le Trio Joubran - L'Obstinée II; Majâz; Masar

On today's episode, host Marcela Sulak reads the poetry of Samih al-Qasim. A Druze resident of the village of Rameh in northern Israel, al-Qasim was best known for his nationalist poetry, in which he passionately defended the rights and identity of Israel's Arab minority. Here is an excerpt from his poem "Regardless":

"We are equal—in bread, roses, love, and sin,
in desiring the wheat stalk that begot a song.
We are equal, the people of my land,
And I love you without election,
without ballot, without adjustment.
I love you by consensus,
without question, without argument."

This is part of a "flock poem" - a format in which a series of small poems is written around a theme. Marcela reads more of al-Qasim's flock poetry, and explains the format in more detail.

Texts:
All Faces But Mine: The Poetry of Samih Al-Qasim. Translated by Abdulwahid Lu’lu’a. Syracuse University Press, 2015.

Music:
Le Trio Joubran - L'Obstinée II; Majâz; Masar

Host Marcela Sulak reads Hebrew poetry from Medieval Spain to mark the Jewish holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. The latter celebrates the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Thus the reading at the morning service for Simchat Torah is from "Genesis." Here is the end of Yosef Ibn Avitor's poem on the creation of the universe, "Hymn for the New year":

"Who hurls ruin upon the strong lest in cruelty they lash out? Who casts fright across the lion before the Ethiopian gnat? Who brings over the scorpion terror of the spider's poison? Who sends fear of swallows into the falcon's eyes? Who established the world's foundations and set them beneath the skies?"

Marcela also reads Yehuda Halevi's poem "Where Will I Find You," an ofan written for the Simchat Torah morning service. Halevi is considered to be one of the greatest Hebrew poets. He lived in both Muslim and Christian Spain before rejecting its culture of Jewish-Arab hybridization and leaving for the Holy Land in 1140.

Texts: The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain 950-1492. Translated, Edited, and Introduced by Peter Cole. Princeton University Press, 2007. "Where Will I Find You" by Yehuda Halevi.

Music:Etti Ankri - Mi Yitneni; Avdei Zman; Yefe Nof (all from the album Songs of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi)

Host Marcela Sulak reads Hebrew poetry from Medieval Spain to mark the Jewish holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. The latter celebrates the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Thus the reading at the morning service for Simchat Torah is from "Genesis." Here is the end of Yosef Ibn Avitor's poem on the creation of the universe, "Hymn for the New year":

"Who hurls ruin upon the strong
lest in cruelty they lash out?
Who casts fright across the lion
before the Ethiopian gnat?
Who brings over the scorpion
terror of the spider’s poison?
Who sends fear of swallows
into the falcon’s eyes?
Who established the world’s foundations
and set them beneath the skies?"

Marcela also reads Yehuda Halevi's poem "Where Will I Find You," an ofan written for the Simchat Torah morning service. Halevi is considered to be one of the greatest Hebrew poets. He lived in both Muslim and Christian Spain before rejecting its culture of Jewish-Arab hybridization and leaving for the Holy Land in 1140.

Texts:
The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain 950-1492. Translated, Edited, and Introduced by Peter Cole. Princeton University Press, 2007.
"Where Will I Find You" by Yehuda Halevi.

Music:
Etti Ankri - Mi Yitneni; Avdei Zman; Yefe Nof (all from the album Songs of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi)