The Hebrew Teacher

De: Maya Arad, Jessica Cohen - translator

Narrado por: Robin Siegerman

Three Israeli women, their lives altered by immigration to the United States, seek to overcome crises.

Ilana is a veteran Hebrew instructor at a Midwestern college who has built her life around her career. When a young Hebrew literature professor joins the faculty, she finds his post-Zionist politics pose a threat to her life’s work. Miriam, whose son left Israel to make his fortune in Silicon Valley, pays an unwanted visit to meet her new grandson and discovers cracks in the family’s perfect façade. Efrat, another Israeli in California, is determined to help her daughter navigate the challenges of middle school and crosses forbidden lines when she follows her into the minefield of social media.

In these three stirring novellas—comedies of manners with an ambitious blend of irony and sensitivity—celebrated Israeli author Maya Arad probes the demise of idealism and the generation gap that her heroines must confront.

©2024 Maya Arad (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

This Listner Missed The Point

Guess I Did Not Understand Where The Writer/Author Was Going With These Stories -
Nothing More Than a Conversation One Woud Hear At The Makolet

Three wonderful novellas

The story about the Hebrew teacher portrayed well the life of a university adjunct. The story was anchored in the effects on the younger members of American campuses of the previous Gaza war and anticipates the anti-zionism sparked by the current Gaza war. I found the Hebrew teacher’s nemesis, the new hire, more satirical than realistic. The second story I found interesting in its highlight of Israelis who settle in Silicon Valley to form a start-up, a risky endeavor. The third story about the nastiness of teenagers in the age of the smart phone was elucidating, but my least favorite of the three. There’s a lot of depth in the characters portrayed in all three stories.

A mixed reaction

The stories hit close to home and were quite painful.
While I began listening to the audio book, I ended up reading the book myself. I did not like the audio reader at all. Her Israeli accents and the voices she assumed for different characters were unconvincing.