The liquid Nature of the Jewish Narrative

Image: Alex Livac

Yoram Kaniuk has published 17 novels, a memoir, seven collections of short stories, two books of essays and five books for children and youth. His books have been published in 25 languages and he has won numerous literary prizes.was born in . His father, Moshe Kaniuk, born in , Galicia (Central Europe), was the first curator of . His grandfather was a Hebrew teacher who wrote his own textbooks. Kaniuk's mother, born in Odessa, was also a teacher. Her family immigrated to Palestine in 1909, the year Tel Aviv was founded, and settled there.

At the age of 17, Kaniuk joined the . In 1948, during the War of Independence, he was shot in the legs by an Englishman in a kaffiyeh.

Kaniuk married Miranda, a Christian woman.

In May 2011, Kaniuk petitioned the Israeli Interior Ministry to change his religion status from "Jewish" to "no religion." He cited the fact that his child and infant grandson, because they are descended from a mixed marriage, are legally of no religion, and his desire not to belong to a "Jewish " or "what is today called the religion of Israel." In October 2011, a district court judge approved his petition, meaning that Kaniuk is now considered a Jew by nationality, but not by religion. A new verb, lehitkaniuk (to Kaniuk oneself) was coined to refer to this process.

1 Prayer A poem by Admiel Kosman

English Transliteration Hebrew

ְחִָה Prayer T'khina אדמיאל קוסמ Admiel Kosman Admiel Kosman

דֶלִיט מִי ְלִיז, ,Delete me please, Delete me please דֶלִיט מִי ְסלטְלִי Delete me absolutely Delete me absolutely פְר דֶ' ה לִיסְט, ,From the list, From the list

נ מר יִזְרְאֶל , ,No more Israel, No more Israel נ מר ג' אִי ְלָאד , ,No more Jewish blood, No more Jewish blood נ מר הִ יסְטרִי, ,No more history, No more history

'גַ אסְט נָאתִ ' ינְג , ,Just nothing, Just nothing קְוָואֵייט , ,Quiet, Quiet ִיס , ,Peace, Peace

דֶלִיט מִי , ,Delete me, Delete me 'גַ אסְט דֶלִיט , ,Just delete, Just delete יי ֶג י . ְלִיז, .I beg you, please. I beg you, please

• What do you notice about the translation of this song? ? • What is the poet trying to say? • Why do you think the poet wrote in "English"?

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Swald Rufeisen (1922–1998), known popularly as Brother Daniel, was born to a [1] Jewish family in Zadziele near Oświęcim, Poland. During his youth, Rufeisen belonged to Bnei Akiva, a religious Zionist youth movement.

To escape Nazi persecution, he hid in a monastery for over a year; during this time he decided to convert to Catholicism. He helped to save hundreds of Jews in the town of Mir, Belarus from deportation to concentration camps. In 1945, after the war, Rufeisen returned to Poland, converted, studied for the priesthood, and became a Carmelite monk.

In the 1950s, Rufeisen applied for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, which provides Jews with Israeli citizenship through a streamlined process (e.g. without the requirement of several years residency). He claimed that although he was not a religious Jew, his Jewish ancestry and cultural identity was a significant aspect of his overall personhood, and he was considered Jewish according to some Jewish sects (but not others).

The Israeli government denied his request, on the grounds that he had converted to Christianity. Rufeisen appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Israel, and in 1962 the Court upheld the government's decision: any Jew converting to another religion would lose their preferential access to Israeli citizenship. (Rufeisen v Minister of the Interior, (1962) 16 PD 2428)

Nevertheless, Rufeisen was able to immigrate to Israel, acquired Israeli citizenship through naturalization, and lived the rest of his life at the Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery in Haifa.

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