Maya Arad is a leading author of Israeli fiction, but she doesn’t live in Israel. Arad, who grew up in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, has been living in California for the last twenty years. The Hebrew Teacher, her collection of three novellas−the first of her books to be translated into English−won the National Jewish Book Award for Hebrew Fiction in Translation in January 2025. Now readers have the opportunity to read one of her novels in English.
The annual mail starts with a recap of the episodes
mentioned in the letter dated the year before, to remind both recipients and
the novel’s readers of their importance in Leah’s life. An update on these
milestones in Leah’s life follows, and then there is her news. Leah informs her
friends of developments in her love life, stories of her children growing up,
and accounts of her career changes.
Her best friend, Mira, is the recipient of postscripts with
further insights into Leah’s true feelings about where her life has taken her,
complete with apologies and confessions. “To you I can write what is truly in
my heart, with no masks and guises,” Leah notes.
“I came to America on an educational mission, to teach
Jewish children who, one day, may themselves make Aliyah,” Leah writes in her
1970 message. “I am living in the United States for now, and who knows what the
future will bring?” Two years later, Leah mentions that she and her husband are
considering Aliyah. “The circumstances are finally ripe for making a
significant change in our lives.” Yet her Aliyah plans fall through. “I’ve
built a life for myself here that I’m unwilling and unable to walk away from,”
she writes in 1986.
The yearly Rosh Hashana messages recount Leah’s ups and
downs, and one can see how she matures through the years. This epistolary novel
succeeds in telling her story, and readers are compelled to turn the pages to
learn whether she will find true love or successfully handle the challenges she
faces.
Still, there are parts of what Leah writes in the narrative
that will frustrate readers. Detailed reports of what it was like to fly in an
airplane for the first time, an explanation of why Chicago is called ‘the Windy
City’, how daily life in America is easier because of dishwashers, and the
advantages of working with a computer–these elements show the passage of time but
not things anyone would naturally include in a Rosh Hashana letter.
Still, this is a minor observation as the overall format of
the novel succeeds in telling a story of a woman’s life; her struggles, loves,
and growth; the friendships she makes and the friendships she loses; and how
one can still be an Israeli even while keeping a permanent residency overseas.
Leah ends each mail with a message marking her unwavering
optimism about the Jewish New Year. “May it be a year full of dreams!” she
writes. “May it be a wonderful year, a magical year, a year of change and
growth!” Readers will share Leah’s positive outlook on life with eager
anticipation of her next Happy New Year letter.
Maya Arad is the author of twelve books of Hebrew
fiction, as well as studies in literary criticism and linguistics. Born in
Israel in 1971, she received a PhD in linguistics from University College
London and for the past twenty years has lived in California where she is
writer in residence at Stanford University’s Taube Center for Jewish Studies.
