Double-Take: Haim Sabato’s Books Make Waves on Israel’s Cultural Scene By Shira Leibowitz Schmidt and Jessica Setbon

ultural critics in Israel have been television movie.2 Professor Robert J. their luminous literary technique, com- startled by an interesting phenome- Aumann received the Nobel Prize in pared by some to the writings of Nobel Cnon—exceptional creativity by economics.3 Shuli Rand, a Breslov literature prizewinner S. Y. Agnon.5 observant Jews in areas that were once Chassid, won the Best Actor award at Rabbi Sabato confronts the deepest the province of the secular. The granting the 2004 Israeli Film Academy (the questions of faith in a sophisticated lan- of Israel’s most prestigious literary prize Israeli equivalent of an Oscar) for the guage that appeals to the discerning to the novel Adjusting Sights by Haim film Ushipizin.4 modern reader. Sabato rather than to other more well- These works have all been warmly Recently, his three novels have known nominees, took the literary received by the Israeli public, yet unlike been translated into English. Full disclo- establishment by surprise and even the usual Israeli cultural buffet that sure: his non-fiction work on parashat caused some controversy.1 While we serves up the values and concerns of sec- hashavua, entitled Rest for the Dove, is in should be wary of the danger of ular society, this new menu offers a mes- the process of being translated by the Orthodox triumphalism, we can note sage based on Torah values. To get their authors of this book review. the fact that in three areas religious points across, these works employ Israelis reached the pinnacle of their “kosher” themes, language and dress. Adjusting Sights respective fields. Rabbi Sabato received But this frum cultural fare is far You are the gunner of an Israeli the Sapir Award for the best book of from pareve. While most frum literature tank, taking heavy fire from Syrian 2000, and subsequently the Yitzhak on the market today contents itself with enemy tanks surrounding you on all Sadeh Prize for Military Literature in content but stints on style, Rabbi sides. You have to fire, but you can’t see 2002, and the book was made into a Sabato’s novels have earned praise for a thing. What do you do? “Gunner,

34 JEWISH ACTION Fall 5767/2006 pray!” orders your tank commander. the hardships of war. One soldier insists his troops to safety? Haim is similarly And pray is exactly what Haim, on searching for hot water to bathe in bewildered by the philosophical mean- the main character in Adjusting Sights, to greet the Sabbath, and saves cans of ing of the war. Yet somehow he blun- does with fervor in this fictionalized sardines and stale chocolates for a ders through, recalling a snatch of autobiographical novel. Haim, a young melaveh malkah feast. Several tell of prayer here, a story about a tzaddik yeshivah student, rushes from the study grabbing their along with rifles there, finding God. hall to fight on the Golan Heights dur- and ammunition as they abandon Rabbi Sabato tells the story of the ing the Yom Kippur War. He has nei- destroyed tanks. Rabbi Sabato’s war turning point in the war on the Golan, ther the precious seconds nor the story brings home the realization that the battle of Nafah quarry, within the calipers needed to adjust the sights of without the dedication of these soldiers framework of a post-war interview of his tank. But faith in God he has plenty as well as that of their secular compan- battalion members by an army debrief- of, and this is what enables him to ions, the Syrians would have driven ing team. This device allows him to nar- adjust his sights on life while con- their tanks all the way to Tiberias, plac- rate freely, to take the reader on a tour fronting the harsh realities of battle. inside his mind, where he is searching Tium kavanot, the Hebrew title of While most frum literature on for Dov and for a way to make sense of this book, is a double entendre: tium the war. His vocabulary is simple, the means adjusting, while kavanot can the market today contents itself sentences succinct and clear. But the mean both gun sights and intentions in with content but stints on style, picture the soldiers paint is one of the prayer and mitzvot. In the 1973 war, total confusion that characterized this Haim serves in a tank battalion together Rabbi Sabato’s novels have war. Even the psychologist interviewing with Dov, his childhood friend from an earned praise for their luminous one of Haim’s fellow soldiers stops tak- immigrant neighborhood in Jerusalem. ing notes while he narrates, as if he Haim enters a field of battle that, like literary technique, compared by thinks the young soldier’s story, which the title of this novel, proves to have reveals how unprepared the army was, is more than one level of meaning. One some to the writings of Nobel too unbelievable or embarrassing to month later, Haim returns to the old literature prizewinner S. Y. report. For example, the soldier reports neighborhood on his first leave, alone. his total ignorance about the Sagger, a Where is Dov? His friend’s absence trig- Agnon. new type of weapon the Syrians used. gers within Haim a battle to reconcile Another recounts attempting to advance his spiritual world with the chaos and ing Israel’s future in serious jeopardy across a field of battle in a tank whose visceral fear of imminent death sur- and redrawing its map. gears are constantly jamming. And rounding him. Throughout the book, Rabbi amidst the turmoil, moments of This book is largely a journey Sabato uses the image of obstructed serendipity: a newlywed soldier picks up within the mind. The plot winds back sight to recreate the tense confusion of a phone in an abandoned army camp and forth like a shuttle on a loom, the war. We see through the eyes of a (this was decades before the invention weaving an intricate tapestry of emo- tank gunner blinded by sunlight and of the cell phone) and manages to call tions and midrash, snatches of prayer ordered by his commander to fire on his bride of just one month. amid bullets striking helmets, bewilder- what he perceives to be enemy Syrian Through the soldiers’ tales of their ment alongside belief. Along the way, tanks, only later to discover that the experiences, the story of the war gradu- we meet the characters and relive the tanks he spared were actually friendly ally becomes coherent. And for Haim, experiences of Haim’s childhood. forces. The image of obstructed vision the story of what happened to Dov Although the book is written from symbolizes Haim’s bewilderment, both becomes clear, along with the meaning the point of view of an eighteen-year- literal and figurative: As a soldier, he of his faith. As Haim is sanctifying the old soldier, Haim’s vocabulary is infused often cannot see where he is going, and new moon, he hears the gruesome tale with material from traditional texts. A as a religious soldier to boot he has of one shell-shocked soldier, who keeps paragraph of Maimonides’ Mishneh trouble seeing the why of going there. to himself and refuses to speak after wit- Torah colors his bus ride as he rejoins At one point, the periscope of the nessing the slaughter of his entire tank his battalion after a twenty-four-hour machine gun bashes his eye, and he crew. His story forces Haim to probe leave. Verses from Psalms pepper his tale can’t figure out what is going on. He God’s reasoning. Why was this soldier, as he recounts the height of the battle at grabs a strapless Uzi and follows the and Haim himself, spared, but Dov Nafah quarry to a committee of army commander’s orders to abandon the taken? In Rabbi Sabato’s eloquent officers. He writes often of the dedica- tank. Then we find out that the com- metaphor, why does the Owner of the tion of the religious soldiers to perform- mander himself is having trouble with fig tree pick certain figs, leaving others ing even the smallest despite his eyesight. How can he possibly lead to ripen? The faith of the naive yeshivah

Fall 5767/2006 JEWISH ACTION 35 boy is tempered by the realities of war, in the Louvre drives the story. and awarded a scholarship for the but not abandoned. At the beginning of Max felt drawn toward this meno- Sorbonne. the book, Haim sanctifies the new rah and he examined it closely. He saw it His wife was also deeply rooted in moon of the month of Tishrei with was engraved with worn Hebrew letters the two worlds. Dov, and intends to tell him that who- and the motif of a ship. He made an Rachel was well schooled in Bible, ever sanctifies the moon in joy will effort to read the script and fit the letters and was an intellectual and an avid read- come to no harm in the month ahead. together, until he had it: Sapporta. Max’s er. [Fleeing to Paris on the eve of the war] By the end of the book, Haim sanctifies face turned pale, his heart pounded, and they expected to feel at home in France. the moon in Cheshvan, a month later, he thought he was losing his mind. How Yet on their arrival they saw that the with a much-altered temperament. He did this meno- mountains of France in Aleppo were not cannot be joyous, yet he is rah come to be the same as the mountains of France in grateful that God has chosen in Paris? And France, and the things that imagination to keep him alive. how did shows to man are not the same things that This book is not for the his eyes show him. casual reader. The narrative Exposed to the skips and jumps around within magnet of modernity, Haim’s mind, taking the reader how long would the from the heat of battle to Haim’s couple remain stead- childhood and back again. This fast to , holi- works well to recreate the sense days, regular study and of confusion in battle, but in kosher cuisine? The order to follow the narrative, the most enticing tempta- reader must maintain a high tions were intellectual degree of concentration. rather than material. Never had he Aleppo Tales heard such ideas before. Much of modern fiction, sec- These ideas ... were des- ular as well as religious, is charac- tined to shake the world terized by the “sledgehammer he come to to its foundations, and approach,” i.e., a lack of subtlety and see it? Max took it captivate the hearts of the nuance. In contrast, Rabbi Sabato’s upon himself to find young. Little did Jacques works, especially the three novellas in out.... know then that this out- the collection Aleppo Tales, delicately While the reader is finding out look on the world would one day hold his describe what transpires in traditional how this peripatetic menorah got to the own son’s heart in thrall. Jewish families and communities by lift- Louvre, he is swept along with an even This theme resonates with the ing a veil on a kehillah the author more engaging mystery that accompa- struggle of Modern Orthodoxy today— knows intimately: that of the rabbis and nies the menorah plot, and which res- the struggle to incorporate the best of Jewish merchants of Syria. With his onates with American Jews today: Will the outside world while remaining nuanced writing, he practices what he the younger generation of Aleppo Jews deeply committed to tradition. preaches in the novel, for the Jews of remain a link in the chain of piety and As the two subplots work them- Aleppo “converse only in hints, as if say- scholarship? What will happen when selves out, the denouement unfortu- ing, if you have taken the hint you have Jacob, who had been the star student in nately appears somewhat contrived and taken it, and if you haven’t taken it, you Aleppo, changes his name to Jacques treacly. This is not so surprising as have no right to know.” and goes to Paris with its intellectual, Rabbi Sabato readily admits, “I’m less The first tale revolves around the sensual and aesthetic enticements? interested in plot than in melody, mystery of a banned book of hymns [At the start of World War I] Jacob rhythm, atmosphere, choosing the right and , while the second follows found that all kinds of spiritual challenges word.” the disappearance of a rare Chanukah were placed before him, and he passed And choose the right word he menorah. Designed in accordance with them all. The story is told of the examina- does, on every page. While those unfa- Aleppo tradition, the special menorah tion paper [for an international French miliar with Jewish sources have no had the usual auxiliary shamash plus award] he even refused to write on a day problem reading the novels (a glossary is nine branches for candles, rather than of Hol Hamo’ed. [Nevertheless], when he provided), the hints and echoes from the customary eight. The mystery of the concluded his studies, scoring outstanding tradition will delight those well versed Aleppo menorah and why it resurfaces success, he was sent a medal from Paris in Torah sources.

36 JEWISH ACTION Fall 5767/2006 Rabbi Sabato’s Other Works English readers can now enter the enchanted world of old Jerusalem neighborhoods in Rabbi Sabato’s latest novel, which was just translated. The Dawning of the Day (in Hebrew, Ke’afapei Shachar) is a mystery, but not in the usual sense. On the surface, the hero, Ezra Siman Tov, is a pious and poetic laundry presser who rises at dawn and leads a life of prayer, work, study, family and chesed. But there is a streak of shame and tragedy hinted at throughout the novel. We are kept puzzling until the end about the secret suffering that never leaves him free and overshadows his wonderful family life. There is beauty and even gentle humor in Ezra’s daily routine. In Rabbi Sabato’s words, this protagonist “has been through so much that his soul has grown serene.” Rabbi Sabato’s non-fiction works include Ahavat Torah, essays on each of the weekly Torah readings, and published by Toby Press as Rest for the Dove.6 This book on parashat hashavua is unlike any other on the topic because each essay is accompanied by a piyyut, or traditional poem, related to the theme of the particular Torah portion. While most of us are familiar with the piyyutim for the holidays, few realize that over the centuries piyyutim were composed for each weekly reading! This book marks the first time these piyyutim will be available in English.7 Whether he is writing about forgotten memories, secret worlds or the weekly , Rabbi Sabato has intro- duced a new and different voice into the world of Israeli fic- tion and non-fiction. JA

Notes 1. A. Becker, “Out of Sight,” Haaretz Magazine, 24 October 2003. 2. The movie Adjusting Sights is in Hebrew and has been shown on Israeli television and in schools, yeshivot and community centers in Israel. It is available through United King Productions in Israel; the movie is in Hebrew, but English subtitles can be provided. For information, contact Lilach Adler at 972-3-517-7101 or at [email protected]. 3. Shira Leibowitz Schmidt, “Memorable Moments of the Nobel Prize Ceremony, Jewish Action (spring 2006): 12- 14. 4. See “A Conversation with Shuli and Michal Rand” in this issue of Jewish Action. Information about Ushpizin is available at www.ushpizin.com. 5. D. Elbaum, “Ma’aseh Beshnei Agnonim Shehayu Be’ireinu,” Haaretz book supplement, 6 April 2005. Elbaum criticizes Rabbi Sabato for his Agnonesque style. 6. From the Shabbat zemirah “Yona Matza Manoah.” 7. Rabbi Haim Sabato also has a book of derashot on the High Holidays, Ani Ledodi, and a collection of essays on Talmudic topics, Be’or Panaiyich, both of which are available only in Hebrew. Visit birkatmoshe.org.il to listen to his shi- urim in Hebrew.

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