A compelling speaker

Editorial

Insightful and confused. Funny and solemn. Influential and ignored. Alienated and at home. Parent and child. Hopeful and hopeless. Israeli and Arab. This is Jerusalem-based writer Sayed Kashua in broad strokes. So, when the Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival offered the Jewish Independent a chance to be the presenting sponsor of Kashua’s March 9 talk, it was a very easy decision.

From his weekly columns in Haaretz, his three novels – Dancing Arabs, Let it be Morning and Second Person Singular – and his television series, Arab Labor, it is obvious that Kashua is conflicted, that he’s thoughtful and that he’s compassionate. As much as he makes fun, it’s not at anyone’s expense, except perhaps his own. He uses humor to express much-needed social and political criticism, which he delivers from the heart – after all, he is living the reality about which he writes. And writing is his main method of trying to make sense of the world – and to make it a better place.

Kashua is one of Israel’s leading writers in any genre and by any measure. The power of his writing comes in part from his use of humor. Wit has an ability to undermine defences and illuminate issues, often unexpectedly. Kashua’s Arab Labor, for example, has been compared with All in the Family, if one can imagine the social translation that would be required for that analogy. He also writes satirical articles for Haaretz, but his humor should not detract from the serious issues he addresses, the greatest truths so often being spoken in jest.

Kashua articulates in his columns and novels the between-worlds experiences of a professionally successful Arab Israeli and, according to critics and readers in Hebrew, Arabic and English, captures that particular zeitgeist as perhaps no other writer has succeeded in doing. The fact that Kashua writes primarily in Hebrew is significant – his audience, it must be noted – are his fellow Israelis who are Jewish (and, according to his foreign rights agent, Deborah Harris, in a 2010 interview with Words Without Borders, it’s American “middle-aged, high-powered, successful Jewish women who love Sayed”).

All of this is to draw attention to Kashua’s visit here next weekend (in conversation with the Globe and Mail’s Marsha Lederman). As presenting sponsor of this event, the Independent clearly has an interest in promoting attendance at his presentation. More importantly, we are sponsoring his visit because we believe that, just as Kashua’s voice is important and appreciated by Israelis, we believe his is a voice that needs to be heard by our community here.

Kashua regularly criticizes, implicitly and explicitly, Israeli and Arab society. He doesn’t do so gratuitously, and his comments come from a place of knowledge, of experience, often carrying an undertone of regret that life is this way, when it could be so much more. He struggles with the choices he and his wife make for their three children, he worries about his parents and siblings in Tira, Israel, where he was born, he stresses out about work and money, he is scared of what the future might hold – in effect, he’s just a person trying to get through the day.

We are used to visitors from Israel being toured around in order to reinforce our preconceived positive ideals of Israel as a multicultural, pluralist success story, and there is a place for that, absolutely. Unfortunately, on at least a few occasions, we have also welcomed speakers who have attempted to reinforce our negative stereotypes of (Israeli) Arab society. As engaged and informed Zionists, we are presented with an opportunity, in Kashua’s visit, to open our eyes to a vital component of Israel that may be significantly different – and much more complex – than we understand.

It is interesting to note that, just last week, the Jewish Federation Annual High School Debates took place. The topics were whether Jerusalem should be shared by Jewish and Palestinian states (Grade 8), whether military service in Israel should remain compulsory (grades 9/10) and “whether the reporting of false, inaccurate or incomplete information by the media about Israel be considered a fraudulent offence under Canadian law” (grades 11/12). Approximately 100 students competed, putting forth compelling arguments on both the pro and con sides of these issues. Federation – who is sponsoring in part the Kashua event – notes in their report on the debates the dedication of teacher Eleanor Braude, who is about to retire. As a team coach for 15 years, “she has inspired students to develop their self-confidence and to direct their love of Israel into critical thought about the various facets of very real issues facing the country, its citizens and its leadership.”

We invite you – and your debaters – to join us to hear a speaker and writer who is having a powerful impact on Israeli society and who seems destined to continue playing a role as entertainer and provocateur. Kashua’s is a voice we should hear. Since he is also a renowned humorist, we can be assured that what is good for us is also fun.

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