Posted on August 30, 2020

Take a look at Amos Oz’ A Tale of Love and Darkness (amzn.to/3fpn8mc). Step out of the current cultural and political wars in Israel and get real insight into what life was like just before and the War of Independence. The stories he tells place you in the heart of Jerusalem, where you can practically smell the food and listen to the people in the streets. It’s another era. He writes beautifully. There’s a lot of pain and sadness that goes with the Love but isn’t that true of most of our lives? A joy to read. I’ve spent a lot of time in Israel (56 trips) and can tell you that he captures the essence of the Ashkenazic community. Now, of course, the Mizrachi and Sephardic populations are, to the best of my knowledge, more than 50% of the population and are growing in terms of the demographics. If anyone has a recommendation of a (non-political) book from either of those groups in Israel, please pass it along.