In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist (38 page)
Read In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist Online
Authors: Ruchama King Feuerman
Tags: #Fiction, #Jewish, #Contemporary Women, #Religious, #Political
Isaac gently touched his fingers to Mustafa’s broken neck, now straight.
By the time an ambulance arrived, Mustafa had been gathered to his people.
He was buried in his village cemetery. Miles away, Isaac grieved and chanted the Song of Ascents for Mustafa.
What is man that thou dost consider him? Is he not like the dust that scatters, a shadow that passes, a dream that fades? And yet man is granted grace and sweeps for awhile … until he too is swept. We are left to hope for another world when all we have in our hands is this fleeting one.
A fragment of a stone vessel with two birds carved in it was found in excavations at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, dating from the Second Temple period. The fragment bears the inscribed Hebrew word
Korban—
sacrifice.
I am deeply grateful to my fabulous agent, Anna Olswanger, who inspired, encouraged, edited and midwifed this novel into the world. Anna is a saint.
Much thanks to Sue Halpern for selecting my novel and for being such a brilliant editor and extraordinary person. I’m glad to be in the capable hands of Linda Hollick, the publisher of NYRB Lit, and Nick During, who have done a superb job in publicizing my novel. My thanks, also, to Evan Johnston, NYRB’s production manager, who did a wonderful job on my book.
It takes a village to write a novel. I’m deeply indebted to the following people whose assistance was invaluable:
For help with Arabic culture and Islamic practices: Nasser Rahlal, Waleed, Adam Sweidan, and my dear mother, Lily Bran, who answered my food and Arabic slang questions at all hours of the day.
For details about prison life in Israel: Shmuel Sackett and Tomer Einat.
For guidance in criminal and judicial matters in Israel: Ilan Benhaim, Advocate.
For people’s stories about meeting kabbalists, wonder rabbis and rebbetzins, and various teachers: Elana Friedman, Mindy Ribner, Ira Berkowitz, Julian Barnett, Yoni Gershan, Rabbi Chaim Feuerman, Miriam Kalchstein, Rizel Hubert, Bracha Goetz, Rabbi Tzvi Mandel and Gila Manolson.
For the talented writers who read this novel at various stages: Sherri Mandell, Charlotte Forbes, Yitta Halberstam Mandelbaum, Sharon Friedman, Leslie Ruder, Eve Grubin, Yisrael Feuerman, Susan Dalsimer, Fran Schumer, Sharona Shapiro, Rebecca Shapiro, and Nama Frenkel
Schabb—may her memory be for a blessing.
To my wonderful peer writing group, the NJ5, now in its fifth year: Heather Newman, Caprice Garvin, Julie Randolph, and Fran Schumer.
To the Christopher Isherwood Foundation and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The generous funding they provided me was critical, and the vote of confidence in my novel even more so.
Finally, I want to express my deepest thanks to my husband, Simon Yisrael Feuerman. Without him, this novel would have just been a conversation, a cloud, a prayer.
1. In a way this novel is about numb people who wake up. What role can religion and culture play in sedating you, and what role can they play in waking you up?
2. Why could Isaac only find relief from his woes in Israel? What was there that he could not find in the vibrant Jewish community of New York?
3. If such a thing were possible, would you seek out the kabbalist or his wife, Shaindel Bracha, for advice?
4. Does Shaindel Bracha’s stance toward her spiritual gifts reveal a feminism or an anti-feminism?
5. How does the Jerusalem portrayed in the novel differ from the Jerusalem of your own perceptions?
6. Do you see Mustafa as a betrayer of his people or as loyal to himself and to the true principles of his religion?
7. What is Isaac’s view of manhood? Does it change?
8. To whom does an ancient artifact belong—the one who unearthed it or the people whose story it tells?
9. Would you call this novel a political book? Or perhaps an anti-political book?
10. What lessons can we take for our owns lives from the relationship of the Rebbi and Rebbetizin to each other and to those who come to the courtyard?
RUCHAMA KING FEUERMAN was born in Nashville, grew up in Virginia and Maryland, and when she was seventeen, bought a one-way ticket to Israel to seek her spiritual fortune. Her first novel, the highly acclaimed
Seven Blessings
(St Martin’s Press), praised by the
New York Times
and other publications, was a Hadassah Book Club selection. Dubbed the “Jewish Jane Austen” by
Kirkus Reviews
, Feuerman has had stories and essays in many publications, and is a winner of the 2012
Moment Magazine
Short Fiction Prize, selected by Walter Mosley. She lives with her family in New Jersey.