ISRAEL

 

READ

 

I know it’s been months since I last posted. The problem was that I started reading a book for Israel many months ago, but I just hated the main character (and I wasn’t too fond of some of the other characters, either). I’d read a bit, and then put the book down, and it just became harder and harder to pick it back up again. I finally decided I needed a different book, so I asked Meytal Radzinski, founder of Women in Translation Month, for some suggestions. Among other options, she recommended Ronit Matalon’s And the Bride Closed the Door.

 

The book opens on the day of the wedding between Margie and Matti, with five hundred guests expected in the wedding hall in four hours. The problem is that Margie has locked herself in the bedroom in her mother’s small apartment in Tel Aviv and refuses to come out. Trying to reason with her outside the bedroom door are Matti, Margie’s mother Nadia, her senile grandmother, whom everyone refers to as Gramsy, and her cousin Ilan. The only thing they hear her say, however, is “Not getting married. Not getting married. Not getting married.” Matti asks everyone to leave so he can talk to her alone, as he does throughout the book, but she won’t respond to him. During these moments, Matti reflects on his relationship with Margie, and it seems clear that she holds the power.

 

Matti finds himself wishing that rather than having Margie open the door and come out, he’d prefer that she open the door and let him come in. Margie does eventually slide a piece of paper under the door, on which she has copied out a poem called “The Prodigal Daughter,” but the poem does nothing to help Matti or the rest of the family understand her state of mind.

 

Soon, Matti’s parents, Arieh and Peninit, show up. They suggest calling a locksmith to break down the door, but Matti is adamantly opposed to that idea. At some point, they call a psychologist who is trained to deal with these situations, Dr. Julia from a business called “Regretful Brides.” She comes to the house but says she can’t talk to Margie if she can’t see her. Ilan suggests bringing in a truck with a ladder that can take Dr. Julia up to the third-floor window to talk to Margie.

 

The ladder truck Arieh is able to hire belongs to the Palestinian Authority’s electrical company and is driven by a Palestinian man named Adnan, who owes a favor to one of Arieh’s friends. All the neighbors come out to see what’s going on, and having a Palestinian truck driver involved adds a whole new dimension to the story. One neighbor asks, “But why did you bring Arabs to rescue her? Why Arabs? Don’t we have our own rescue forces?” The police are called, adding to the confusion.

 

Woven throughout the story are references to Natalie, Margie’s younger sister who disappeared from school ten years earlier and has never been seen again. There is some discussion about whether that tragedy is playing a role in Margie’s behavior.

 

This short novel was full of interesting characters and comical moments. The author, who died shortly after the book was published, was awarded the Brenner Prize by the Hebrew Writers Association the day before her death. The book was praised for exposing “the deep inner structures of Israeli society, the existential tensions of being Israeli, and questions pertaining to the definition of individual identity.” All in all, it was a good book to read for this project.

 

COOK

 

The only Israeli dishes mentioned in And the Bride Closed the Door were eggplant dip and fried eggplant. (No word on what the caterers were planning for the five hundred wedding guests.) I wanted to make something with a little more pizzazz, so I looked for recipes on the International Vegetarian Union website. Israeli couscous risotto with shiitakes sounded wonderful, so I decided to give it a try. It was very good, although it required a lot of chopping and hands-on cooking time. I haven’t had anything with tarragon in it for a long time, and hadn’t realized what a strong taste it had, so if you aren’t a huge tarragon fan, you may want to decrease the amount you use.

 

 

GIVE

 

GlobalGiving lists numerous projects for Israel on their website. Since COVID-19 is on my mind these days, as I’m sure it is for most people in the world, I opted to donate to a project to keep an Israeli special needs village free from the coronavirus. According to the project description, “Beit Uri is an inclusive residential community for youth and adults with special needs from different religious and cultural backgrounds from all over Israel. In normal times our devoted staff and numerous volunteers from around the world strive to keep every resident healthy and engaged no matter how severe their disability. The Corona virus has made this all the more challenging.” Funding for this project will provide “sanitizing equipment to clean each of the residential buildings, masks and full sterile body suits for all staff and visiting parents.” It will also provide arts and crafts materials and other therapeutic equipment to help staff offer a variety of activities to fill the long days. More information about this project is available at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/support-special-needs-adults-working-in-israel/.

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