Embedded Files
by Haviva New-David
by Haviva New-David
Set against the backdrop of the Galilee in Northern Israel right before the 2nd Intifada in the year 2000, Hope Valley is the story of two women, one Jewish-Israeli and one Palestinian-Israeli, who come together to form the unlikeliest of friendships. Tikvah, a fifty-two-year old artist originally from Long Island, is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and was raised in a loveless and lifeless household. Ruby, a world-renowned Palestinian-Israeli artist, has come home to her childhood village from a life abroad to be treated for her worsening cancer.
While the valley itself separates the segregated villages in which the two women live, this physical divide is symbolic of something much greater—the political enmity that has defined the history of two nations in this troubled land and which has led to parallel cultures with little meaningful interaction between them.
Tikvah’s and Ruby’s stories are about both the strength and fragility of family ties, the power that trauma and fear has in shaping our lives, the vicissitudes of marriage and the glorious meaning of friendship. Their lives tap into the primal need for connection, as well as the rich and transformative bonds that can be formed from serendipitous encounters.
"This is a brave book. Brave, for looking squarely at a subject that most Israelis and Zionist Jews around the world would rather avoid: The destruction of Arab villages and the expulsion and transfer of large parts of the local Arab population that accompanied Israel's War of Independence in the late 1940s. Brave, for its observation that many of us Israelis have built flourishing lives upon the ruins of the homes of others. But brave, too, for presenting that painful reality without judgment or condemnation, and for concluding with an offering of hope for a future in which Arabs and Jews can live together with their eyes open and use that opening to build lives of beauty . . . Women who are willing to cross boundaries, hints Ner-David, may have a special role to play in healing the violence in which their men seemingly have no choice but to take part." — Deborah Greniman, Review, Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues
“If you’re an Israeli or Palestinian, I recommend the book because perhaps a little bit of the hope will rub off on you too. If you don’t directly have a stake in
this particular struggle, I recommend the book both because it’s a good story, and because it can help you gain insight into the complexities surrounding the
seemingly intractable struggle between Israelis and Palestinians.” — Review, The Neshamah Center
“Ner David reveals the passionate perspectives of two female artists caught up in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Beautifully written and deeply moving, this
work of fiction reveals the truths underlying the facts and gives us hope.” — Patricia Averbach, author of Resurrecting Rain
“I loved these driven, restless, flawed, ever-changing women, and you will too. In Ner-David’s beautiful story, beautifully told, their full and real lives interlock in a grown-up fairy tale that will leave you full of hope.” — Dara Horn, author of Eternal Life
Details
Details
Bink Books
249 pp. ● 6×9
$16.95 (pb) ● $9.99 (eb)
ISBN 978-1-949290-59-2 (pb)
FICTION / Jewish
FICTION / Muslim
FICTION / Religious
FICTION / World Literature / Middle East / Israel
Publication date: April 2021
“Looking for Hope: A writer finds inspiration in Jewish-Palestinian friendship, especially now” by Dina Kraft, Forward
“Hope Valley” — The Wisdom Daily
“Memoirist turns to fiction with tale of Arab, Jewish women’s unlikely friendship” — The Times of Israel
Haviva Ner-David is an ordained rabbi and interfaith-interspiritual minister, with a doctorate in philosophy and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. She runs Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body and Soul, where she officiates ritual immersion ceremonies and offers group workshops. A certified spiritual companion with a specialty and dreamwork, she works with individuals and couples. Rabbi Ner-David is the author of two previous spiritual journey memoirs (Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination; and Chanah’s Voice: A Rabbi Wrestles with Gender, Commandment and the Women’s Rituals of Baking, Bathing and Brightening). Dreaming Against the Current: A Rabbi’s Soul Journey is her third. She is also the author of a novel, Hope Valley, and a guidebook for engaged couples, Getting (and Staying) Married Jewishly: Preparing for your Life Together with Ancient and Modern Wisdom (due to be published in 2022). Rabbi Ner-David is involved in peace work, promoting a shared society for Jews, Christians and Muslims in Galilee, where she lives with Jacob, her life partner of thirty-two years, their seven children, and their dog and cat. She also lives with a genetic muscular disease called FSHD, which has been one of her greatest teachers.
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