"Intensely readable and beautifully observed . . . full of wisdom, generosity, humor, and sharp insights."—Elif Batuman, author of Either/Or and The Idiot
Three Israeli women, their lives altered by immigration to the United States, seek to overcome crises. Ilana is a veteran Hebrew instructor at a Midwestern college who has built her life around her career. When a young Hebrew literature professor joins the faculty, she finds his post-Zionist politics pose a threat to her life’s work. Miriam, whose son left Israel to make his fortune in Silicon Valley, pays an unwanted visit to meet her new grandson and discovers cracks in the family’s perfect façade. Efrat, another Israeli in California, is determined to help her daughter navigate the challenges of middle school, and crosses forbidden lines when she follows her into the minefield of social media. In these three stirring novellas—comedies of manners with an ambitious blend of irony and sensitivity—celebrated Israeli author Maya Arad probes the demise of idealism and the generation gap that her heroines must confront.
Reading group guide to The Hebrew Teacher is available for download free of charge at newvesselpress.com.
"Three Israeli women adjust to life in the United States. In the title story of Arad's latest book, an older Israeli woman reflects on nearly half a century spent in the American Midwest, where she teaches Hebrew at the local (unnamed) university. It's been a quiet life spent scrupulously building up an academic program in Hebrew and Jewish studies. Lately, however, enrollment in Ilana's classes has fallen: "What will happen," she wonders, "if Hebrew ends up like Hindi or Polish, with just a beginners' class offered every two or three years?" Just then, a flashy young professor--also Israeli--is hired, and Ilana is caught off guard: Yoad, with his complicated critiques of Israeli politics, seems intent on undermining not just Ilana's work, but also the comfortable assumptions on which she's based her life. It's a quiet, novella-length story, meticulously observed, with remarkable shades of subtlety and nuance. What could have easily become a political screed is, instead, a gentle inquiry into aging, what it means to be relevant, academic ambition, and, most particularly, the morality of Zionist politics. The other two novellas that make up this volume are just as intricately realized. In A Visit (Scenes), Miriam visits her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in Silicon Valley, where she quickly discovers fault lines in her son's apparently stable family. Make New Friends tackles the insipid--and occasionally insidious--world of social media when Efrat tries to help her daughter adjust to middle school life. Each story is marked by the meticulousness of Arad's observations and the depth of her insights. While her stories follow traditional forms, unmuddied by narrative experimentation, the wisdom she culls from them is tremendous. The quiet subtlety of Arad's prose only pulls the strength of her insights into higher relief."--Provided by publisher.
