Avoiding the reality of the mess we’re in is not like “the banality of evil”. it’s hard work. As each avenue of opposition disappears, and we are more and more helpless, it becomes more and more apparent that we can fall apart or ignore the situation.
happy holidays – 9.24.25 Read Post »
From every moment I spent in the kitchen with my mother, I cannot recall seeing a single written recipe. But when this card fell out of a bunch of old photographs, I saw my memory must have failed me. .
I had a problem with the translation because she uses a word of measuring that doesn’t exist in the dictionary. I assume ‘tepl’ means cup.
Lokshen kugel
2 eggs
4tbsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 teacup of shredded apple
½ teacup of raisins
4 cups wide lockshen
3 tbsp fat or margarine
Bake at 400 for 40 minutes
This sharing of a recipe reminded me that my mother was separated from her family when she married, and there was probably no chance for her to cook in the years they were escaping, or they were refugees, or they were under fire. How could she have remembered recipes? And yet she managed a good facsimile – good enough to be considered a wonderful cook by all the guests she fed with joy.
I’ll be around NY in October, so if you’re interested in inviting me to talk about my books, let me know. Here’s my press kit.
and my address is gut22@tau.ac.il
Ezi spends a lots of time thinking about how Gaza will be renewed -he’s thinking about the logistic and the complications. and he is looking for solutions that will allow the residentsto rebuild and our neighbor is going down south every day to help the people of Nir Oz rebuild. All this gives me the feeling that the desire for life might be stronger than the threat of death.
Karen Alkalay-Gut – Press Kit
Bridging histories, voices, and languages
Karen Alkalay-Gut is an award-winning poet, translator, and Professor Emerita of English Literature at Tel Aviv University. Her work spans over four decades, weaving personal history, Jewish identity, feminist insight, and political witness into a unique poetic voice. She has published more than twenty volumes of poetry in English and Hebrew, alongside biography, translation, and critical essays.
Survivors (2025)
A powerful new collection giving voice to Holocaust survivors — exploring resilience, memory, and the inheritance of trauma.
Inheritance (2021)
A Yiddish/English journey through family history, spanning generations and lands.
Egypt: An Israelite Returns (2021)
Poems of travel, ancestry, and confrontation with history — returning to Egypt as both outsider and descendant of the Exodus.
A Word in Edgewise (2020)
Women tell their stories un the Bible through humor, irony, and deeply human reflection
“Her wit, honesty, and compassion make every poem an invitation to look more deeply at the world.” — Alicia Ostriker
“God created women but Karen Alkalay-Gut created the poems that define them. … I love her humor as much as her seriousness.” — Erica Jong
a voice which is lyrical even when most direct –Elaine Feinstein
As things go speedily from worse to worse, it is only poetry that will sustain us. And what better place to find it than in the poetry of Karen Alkalay-Gut who, with good humor and warmth, has brought and taught literature and poetry in Israel for decades, through many wars and difficult times. For Alkalay-Gut poetry endures and therefore for us too. – Rachel Neve Midbar
The poetry we were looking for was right there under our noses but familiarity made us blind to it. Fortunately we have the visionary playfulness of Karen Alkalay-Gut to reveal and label for us.– Robert Priest
🌐 Website: https://karenalkalay-gut.com
📧 Email: gut22@tauex.tau.ac.il
Karen Alkalay-Gut – Press Kit
Bridging histories, voices, and languages
Karen Alkalay-Gut is an award-winning poet, translator, and Professor Emerita of English Literature at Tel Aviv University. Her work spans over four decades, weaving personal history, Jewish identity, feminist insight, and political witness into a unique poetic voice. She has published more than twenty volumes of poetry in English and Hebrew, alongside biography, translation, and critical essays.
Survivors (2025)
A powerful new collection giving voice to Holocaust survivors — exploring resilience, memory, and the inheritance of trauma.
Inheritance (2021)
A Yiddish/English journey through family history, spanning generations and lands.
Egypt: An Israelite Returns (2021)
Poems of travel, ancestry, and confrontation with history — returning to Egypt as both outsider and descendant of the Exodus.
A Word in Edgewise (2020)
Women tell their stories un the Bible through humor, irony, and deeply human reflection
“Her wit, honesty, and compassion make every poem an invitation to look more deeply at the world.” — Alicia Ostriker
“God created women but Karen Alkalay-Gut created the poems that define them. … I love her humor as much as her seriousness.” — Erica Jong
a voice which is lyrical even when most direct –Elaine Feinstein
As things go speedily from worse to worse, it is only poetry that will sustain us. And what better place to find it than in the poetry of Karen Alkalay-Gut who, with good humor and warmth, has brought and taught literature and poetry in Israel for decades, through many wars and difficult times. For Alkalay-Gut poetry endures and therefore for us too. – Rachel Neve Midbar
The poetry we were looking for was right there under our noses but familiarity made us blind to it. Fortunately we have the visionary playfulness of Karen Alkalay-Gut to reveal and label for us.– Robert Priest
🌐 Website: https://karenalkalay-gut.com
📧 Email: gut22@tauex.tau.ac.il
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Last night we were stunned by the Gesher theater production of Hanoch Levin’s play, Krum. I have translated three plays of the beloved playwright Levin z”l, but never could hope to reproduce the amazing experience of the absurdity of the operatic production Gesher managed to pull together – the story of a man who ruins who ruins every opportunity given to him, causing pain to his loved ones and helping his rivals to achieve what could have given him fulfillment.
The grotesque comedy of Krum reminded me of our government – with all kinds of absurd events today – remember one third of the members of Netanyahu’s political party are under investigation – for a vast variety of crimes. It could be compared to a three ring circus. Here is the link
https://www.gesher-theatre.co.il/en/repertoire/a/view/?ContentID=2855&srsltid=AfmBOoqClKqU_8vhV9PQMxM3Ymm-2NvmWsjoNXj1I4LNQQ2zeRrxlft9
And of course you remember that the word ‘krum; in yiddish means crooked.
p.s. You have to know Hebrew or Russian to enjoy this play. But it’s worth the effort
For the past hour I’ve been trying to figure out how to upload a whatsapp I got of Miri Eisen explaing about the complex situation in Gaza on CNN. But I had a hard day and I can’t remember how to do it.
So I’ll give you another Miri Eisen video instead.
as we say in Yiddish “Yede vort a perl”
When I ask someone in Israel how they are, they always say, “Personally, I’m fine, but the situation is terrible.” To the rest of the Jewish world, it may well look like we’re coping and we don’t need help. But we do. Really. We have been fighting the leadership for three years at the cost of our health, wealth, society. Every month news comes of another criminal charge against a member of parliament, and we protest the ways their punishments are delayed or disappeared. We donate our time and our children’s time (of my five grandchildren in this country – one (21) is in the army, one (18) is volunteering for the year to help rebuild Metula, one (14) is collecting food for the hungry in Israel, and one (15) is volunteering on Ambulances for the Israeli Magen David. One is still too young. Almost 30% of the population is living under the poverty level.
And yet, we always tell each other we’re coping.
Today I received a link to an article . it has a different take on the subject, but it is worth reading.
https://thejewishindependent.com.au/as-an-israeli-jew-i-dont-want-to-be-resilient-anymore
Thw problem is neither of us provide a simple way out.
As a child, I helped my mother collect old clothes to send to Israel. I typed out tree certifications, and I bought bonds. But then I knew how much everything I did would be used to build a country with the ideals I valued. Now, we have much work to bring it back.
How can you help? one way is to realize that the population should not be suffering because the government has been hijacked. Show your resilience, your support. Ask for and buy Israeli products, encourage their sales, protest the boycotts, the prejudices, the violence. We can all recreate a country we can be proud of.
