Jerusalem Maiden (38 page)

In the living room hangs the scene of Me'ah She'arim preparing for the Shabbat, the one my mother was to bring to Esther's Parisian exhibition. I glance at Sharon next to me, a secular Sabra whose young generation won one of the greatest military victories in modern times. She is examining the meticulous details in the flounce of the women's skirts as they rush about, and the prayer book carried by a black-clad Haredi man. Can she conjure the girl who once lived there, burdened by the impossible mission of saving the world's Jewry? Uncertain whether God even listened to her prayers, that girl trembled at His omniscient presence as He crouched inside her head and held against her not only what her eyes glimpsed, but also her dreams.

God is gone. Nothing comes between us now other than wasted years and lives. My throat is tight with pain over the romantic love that is still vivid in me. Wildly, I pick up the receiver and dial a number. Air France.

“Book me on a flight to Israel,” I say.

Haredi, “those who tremble in awe of God,” also known as ultra-Orthodox, consider themselves the Jewish people's emissaries to the Holy City and devote their lives to worshipping God. They maintain strict codes of behavior to guard against secular influences and reject all other streams of Judaism. Particularly, they reject Jewish nationalism, which believes in Jews' right for cultural and political independence in the land of their forefathers—a concept known as Zionism—since such independence can only be obtained with the coming of the Messiah. Today, one small Haredi group, Neturei Karta, actually aligns itself with the Arabs in calling for the dismantling of the State of Israel.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the Haredi helped build new neighborhoods outside Jerusalem's city walls to alleviate overcrowding in the Old City. In one of them, Me'ah She'arim, the story of
Jerusalem Maiden
begins.

The time of the novel, starting in 1911, is the end of the four-hundred-year rule of the Ottoman Empire (1517–1917). The decline of the Ottoman rule manifested itself in widespread governance disintegration, corruption and neglect. Much of the land was owned by absentee landlords, and taxation was crippling and capricious. Forests were denuded of trees, while spreading swamp and desert encroached on dwindling agricultural land.

At the height of its power (the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), the Ottoman Empire spanned three continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. Starting in the mid- to late nineteenth century, various Western powers jockeyed for position, often through missionary activities. They opened consulates in Jerusalem and brought progress. They established their own postal services and steamship lines between the Holy Land and Europe. They built the first railroad from Jaffa to Jerusalem and opened the Suez Canal as a crossroads for commerce among three continents. Consequently, in the late eighteen hundreds, the condition of the country's Jews improved and their numbers increased substantially. They purchased land for farming throughout the country, established new Jewish rural settlements, and revived the Hebrew language, long restricted to liturgy and literature. In 1910, Jerusalem's population reached 73,600, of whom 47,400 were Jews, 16,400 were Christians and 9,800 were Muslims.

The outbreak of World War I found the frayed Ottoman Empire battling on its many fronts. Arabia rose against the Turkish rule, and British forces occupied Baghdad and Jerusalem. In 1918, the Ottoman Empire came to an end. Forty countries were formed by its collapse. In 1922, following the British Balfour Declaration of 1917, the League of Nations entrusted Great Britain with the mandate to establish in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people.

My first thanks are to Dr. Simcha Mandelbaum, who in 1994 documented my family's ten generations in Jerusalem. His two-tome report framed the stories my grandmother Esther Yanovsky Lederberg told me and tales recounted by my Israeli artist mother, Reviva Yoffe, and her sister Daniela Erem, as well as by the founder of the Old Yishuv Court Museum, Rivka Weingarten. Historian Margalit Shilo offered a trove of knowledge, as did the staff of Yad Ben-Zvi library in Jerusalem, who gave me access to rare documents. In Paris, I found valuable resources in the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme and the Société de l'Histoire de Paris.

Special thanks to architect Uri Kaplan and historian Gadi Wexler for the long days of exploring Jerusalem's old neighborhoods and the studying of its churches.

Besides Rabbi Irwin Kula and Rabbi Carlos Tapiero, I apologize for not listing the dozen other rabbis and several art historians who patiently answered questions that arose during the long process of shaping the vast material into a novel.

Of the many details dropped in conversations, the ones made by art historian Ofira Saks and the late Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg added surprising fictional twists.

In the years it took me to write and revise
Jerusalem Maiden
, I relied upon the support of my writing group and feedback from readers, including Linda Davies, Annie Blachley, Wendy Lestina, Roderick Kalberer, Emily White, Judy Segal, Deb Dawson, Leonard Suskin, Mary Grosso and Professor Shulamit Reinharz as well as editors Rebecca Stowe and Caryl McAdoo.

Yet, it took the vision of my agent
extraordinaire
, Marly Rusoff, and of the talented, insightful editor Katherine Nintzel to bring
Jerusalem Maiden
to the light of day—and the commitment of the team at William Morrow: Carrie Kania, Cal Morgan, Jennifer Hart, Maggie Oberrender, Alberto Rojas and Julia O'Halloran.

And as always, there is Ron, who nurtures and believes and loves like no other.

1. The “Greenwald girl” represents a concept of a young woman who follows her heart—and her non-Jewish lover—and brings a chain of disasters upon her family. Discuss Esther's actions in light of this concept. Does she become a “Greenwald girl”?

2. Girls' innocence and purity are sacred in the ultra-Orthodox world of
Jerusalem Maiden
. Even today, many women in religious societies—Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Islamic—live in even more oppressive enclaves both in the West and in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. What are the tools used to control them in various places? Do these women share responsibility for their own insulation? Can they change their fate? Should we interfere in their cultural or religious practices?

3. In Esther's ultra-Orthodox society, adherence to all Commandments and decrees is paramount. Discuss the difference with what you know of today's Jewish Orthodox societies in the United States, particularly their child-rearing practices, education, and the status of women.

4. Esther does not desert her faith; she only rebels against the religious establishment. Have you experienced that gap?

5. What kind of medical practices were available at the time of the story? Discuss the role of the midwife as a medical practitioner.

6. Discuss the relationship between Esther and her mother during Esther's adolescence—and her view of that relationship as an adult. What were her mother's expectations, and what were Esther's?

7. When Aba recites “Woman of Valor” from the Book of Proverbs, Esther finds the expectations unattainable. What expectations exist today that reflect an unfeasibility similar to that of the Woman of Valor?

8. Esther feels she never belonged in her world—neither in Me'ah She'arim, nor in Jaffa. Was there anything she should have done differently? Was it “her or them,” as Nathan asks?

9. Twice in the novel Esther physically emerges from a dark place where she has connected with her ancestors—at Rachel's Tomb and at Hezekiah's tunnel. Discuss the physical and spiritual illumination. Have you had similar experiences?

10. Was Mlle Thibaux an early feminist, or was she just a “back-street mistress”? Discuss her character and her life choices. Would she have been a different person had she been married?

11. Esther's marriage to Nathan was not a bad one. She was comfortable and safe. Yet she was willing to throw it all away. Discuss her character and her dissatisfaction with what would have been many women's dream.

12. Esther's relationship with guilt fluctuates as she ages, accompanying rebellion, acquiescence, indignation, and impetuousness. Throughout her life, how do her desires produce guilt, and how does she reconcile them at each step?

13. Cha'im Soutine is the one real-life character in this novel. Read about him and check out his art—and if possible, visit the Philadelphia-based Barnes Collection.

14. Esther's sojourn in Paris is supposed to be a vacation. Discuss the point at which it turns to abandonment of her children. Also, is her settling in Paris a betrayal of the Holy Land?

15. Even in today's open, free society, many women do not follow their hearts or their dreams to discover the Primordial Light. Why? Discuss what it takes for a woman to focus and fully develop her talents.

16. Relationships between sisters can be complex. Discuss Esther and Hanna's relationship, starting in their childhood, and how their different personalities and choices play a role in it.

17. In the end, Esther gives up the only two things she loves and which let her be who she is. Discuss her double sacrifice. What kind of a woman will she be in Jaffa, and what life will she have back there?

TALIA CARNER
is the former publisher of
Savvy Woman
magazine and a lecturer at international women's economic forums.

www.taliacarner.com

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“Esther Kaminsky is a true heroine—talented, passionate, opinionated—and I wanted her to succeed on every page of this novel. But for me the truly marvelous thing about
Jerusalem Maiden
is how deeply Talia Carner is able to evoke Esther's faith and the complexity of the choices she faces. A beautiful and timely novel.” —Margot Livesey, author of

The House on Fortune Street
and
Eva Moves the Furniture

“Exquisitely told, with details so vivid you can almost taste the food and hear the voices,
Jerusalem Maiden
is a coming-of-age story set in a time and place that few of us know. Talia Carner has written a moving and utterly captivating novel that I will be thinking about for a long, long time.”

—Tess Gerritsen,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Silent Girl

“Talia Carner's
Jerusalem Maiden
is an exquisitely explosive journey back to the final days of the Ottoman Empire in Jerusalem. She creates a portrait of a brilliant young artist trapped in the body and soul of an Orthodox Jewish girl. Carner's descriptions of life in Palestine and Paris convey the bleakness of thwarted ambition, the narrow mindset of fundamentalism, and the struggle between self-fulfillment and community expectation. It immerses us in a provocative and astonishingly realized world filled with evil spirits, arranged marriages, prayer, poverty, and the pain of breaking free.”

—Michelle Cameron, author of
The Fruit of Her Hands

“
Jerusalem Maiden
is a page-turning and thought-provoking novel. Extraordinary sensory detail vividly conjures another time and place; heroine Esther Kaminsky's poignant struggle transcends time and place. The ultimate revelation here: for many women, if not most, 2011 is no different than 1911, but triumph is nonetheless possible.”

—Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of
The Scenic Route

“
Jerusalem Maiden
is a novel, but the reader feels that she has entered living, lost history. Once engaged, you cannot put this book down. Suddenly, you are in Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Paris in the years spanning 1911–1924. The details are so real, in terms of crowded living conditions, the harshness of Jewish life under the Ottoman Empire, the rising tide of Zionist politics—but the book also tells us how people dressed, what they ate, and about Sabbath joys and Torah discussions. . . . Will Talia Carner's heroine, Esther, a preternaturally talented young artist born into an impoverished but ultra-religious Jewish family, dare to choose her own destiny—a life of art, passion, and personal happiness—or will she instead fulfill her obligations both to God and to the family that forced her into an arranged marriage? Will Esther allow herself the right to love, something women today take for granted, but a hard-won right for religious women of previous generations? Will she honor her talent—she is on the threshold of fame in Paris—or give it up, submit to the demands of family? . . . Carner renders these issues heartbreakingly real.”

—Phyllis Chesler, author of
Women and Madness
and
Women of the Wall

“Talia Carner is a skillful and heartfelt storyteller who takes the reader on a journey of the senses, into a world long forgotten. Her story of a woman who struggles and seeks the light is universal and inspiring. Read this book and savor.”

—Jennifer Lauck, author of the
New York Times
bestseller
Blackbird
and
Found: A Memoir

“
Jerusalem Maiden
won me over from the first moment I began reading it. . . . The novel literally forced me to identify with the protagonist, and relive the tribulations of the young woman, torn between her commitment to the religious precepts of the ultra-Orthodox community in which she is raised and her passion for self-fulfillment through art. . . . The exceptionally gifted author, Talia Carner, crafted a novel rich with poetic yet authentic descriptions. It is meticulously researched, and steeped in thorough knowledge, no less than deep understanding, of both this community and of the world of art in Paris, at the beginning of the twentieth century. . . . The detailed descriptions make you feel as if you were actually there, seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, and smelling the scents of these settings. . . . Its plot, too, is utterly enthralling. As soon as I opened
Jerusalem Maiden
, the pages seemed to turn of their own accord, and I could not put it down until I reached its dramatic, surprising, yet totally convincing end.”

—Eva Etzioni-Halevy, author of
The Triumph of Deborah
,
The Song of Hannah
, and
The Garden of Ruth