Out of Palestine: The Making of Modern Israel, by Hadara Lazar, Atlas & Co., 320 pages, $25.95

Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER

Haifa-born Hadara Lazar calls Britain’s Palestine Mandate a period of great expectations, “central to the Israeli myth,” but for her, both real and undefined.
So over a quarter-century, she interviewed people who lived through it [...]

Ravid Kahalani and his musical comrades in Yemen Blues meld disparate influences into a compelling smörgåsbord of sounds
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
Ravid Kahalani, the vocalist for the group Yemen Blues, is from Tel Aviv — and lives part of the year in Finland. I can’t recall ever interviewing any Israelis in Finland, but Kahalani talked [...]

A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism, by Phyllis Goldstein, Facing History and Ourselves, 432 pages, $17.95
Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER
What do you say when the young son you’ve just put to bed looks up at you and says: “Daddy, why does everybody hate us?”
I gave the usual answers, starting with “not everybody hates [...]

Hanuka cover art by Levi Feller, winner of the 2011/5772 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest.

Keep reading for more on the artist and artworks by the runners-up.

Park Square Theatre brings back Gershwin show written by local musician Joe Vass
By ERIN ELLIOTT BRYAN / Community News Editor
Joe Vass has always loved the music of composer George Gershwin, and other songwriters from the early to mid-20th century — music from what is known as the Great American Songbook. But when [...]

The Anatomy of Israel’s Survival, by Hirsh Goodman, Public Affairs, 288 pages, $26.99.
Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER
Hirsh Goodman used to be infuriated by the question of whether Israel can survive; of what other country is such a question asked?
But now, he says, “there is much merit to the question, for both Israel and its [...]

Novelist Eshkol Nevo achieved international fame with his ‘polyphonic’ novel, Homesick
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
The weather in Ra’anana, Israel, is in the upper 60s this week, as Minnesota thaws out from the weekend snowstorm and treacherous icy roads.
Eshkol Nevo was at home in Ra’anana on Sunday, and asked for advice about what to wear when [...]

German Autumn, by Stig Dagerman, University of Minnesota Press, 136 pages, $17.95
Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER
Although the Torah frowns on joy at other people’s suffering, perhaps Jews may be permitted, if not Schadenfreude, at least some lack of sympathy at the postwar hardship of millions of Germans.
In German Autumn, Stig Dagerman paints an unremittingly [...]

The St. Paul JCC continues to host the 2011 Twin Cities Jewish Book Fair, which “celebrates the significant contributions of today’s finest authors.”
Tonight, Wednesday, Nov. 16, Susan Orlean will speak at 7 p.m. at the JCC, 1375 St. Paul Ave. Orlean, a staff writer at the New Yorker, is the author of Rin Tin Tin: The Life [...]

Sharon: The Life of a Leader, by Gilad Sharon, Harper, 640 pages, $29.99.
Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER
An adoring biography by a famous and controversial man’s son hardly is a surprise, yet Gilad Sharon’s large book contains interesting insights into the life of one of Israel’s most famous military leaders turned politician.
The book may not [...]