Dancing on Tisha b'Av [Hardcover]

Lev Raphael (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tisha B'Av (the Ninth of the Hebrew month of Ab), which commemorates the destruction of both Jerusalem temples, is observed by fasting and public mourning. In the title story of Raphael's first collection, a gay student has been publicly humiliated in a university synagogue. Furious and frustrated, he lashes out at God and his own commitment to Judaism by dancing on the holiday. Raphael's characters, struggling to find identities as Jews, gays or children of Holocaust survivors, are angry, humorless and largely self-absorbed. Although message dominates plot in most of the tales, when the author permits personalities and events to play themselves out, he creates a more natural and sympathetic setting for his themes. In "War Stories," a remote, morose New York cab driver believes he is his family's sole survivor. When a cousin long thought dead enters his cab, he is transformed; he can finally break down and express his emotions. In "Abominations , " on the other hand, in which the characters in the title story are reencountered, Raphael errs into overemphasis: the torching of the gay student's dormitory room is compared by his sister to the Holocaust's conflagrations. Here as in other stories, Raphael forgets that people's lives can be interesting, instructive and important without the explicit ascription of cosmic significance.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The 19 short stories in this first collection give the reader a glimpse of what it's like to be gay and Jewish, probing the problems encountered when trying to reconcile seemingly incompatible sensibilities. The author draws interesting parallels between the treatment of Jews in Europe before and during the World War II; several stories include concentration camp survivors parenting gay children, with each generation painfully aware of the discrimination and suffering experienced by the other. The title story begins with a sister admiring her brother's devotion to Orthodoxy, while refusing to confront his homosexuality; it concludes with his expulsion from his religious minyan, the torching of his dorm room by bigots, and her new understanding and sensitivity to another potential holocaust. Recommended.
- Kevin M. Roddy, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312048629
• ISBN-13: 978-0312048624
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,953,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lev Raphael has wanted to be an author since he was in second grade, and he's not only achieved his dream, he's published 19 books in genres from memoir to mystery; had his books translated into nearly a dozen languages; appeared in two documentaries; won various prizes; done hundreds of invited talks and readings on three different continents; recently sold his literary papers (92 boxes!) to the Michigan State University Libraries (MSUL); been the subject of scholarly articles, papers and book chapters; and seen his work taught at colleges and universities around the country. Which means he's become homework. Who knew?

Born and raised in New York, he got over it and has spent half his life in Michigan. He's a pioneer in writing about children of Holocaust survivors, which he's been doing since 1978, longer than almost any other American author. He frequently tours with his books (check http://www.levraphael.com for his current schedule) and is currently touring with My Germany, a memoir/travelogue exploring the role Germany has played in his family, his life, and his career. After he escaped academe to write full-time, he reviewed extensively for over a decade for the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Radio, The Washington Post, Jerusalem Report, The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Forward, Boston Review, and Lambda Book Report. He now reviews for Bibliobuffet.com and WKAR 90.5 FM/East Lansing Public Radio, and when he's not busy, he sometimes imagines some graduate student years from now in the MSUL archives puzzling over his handwriting.

A seasoned reader of his own work, with a background in theater and teaching, he loves the performance aspect of touring, as well as meeting people he'd never meet back home. And the sightseeing. And the foreign foods. German fans in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hannover, Magdeburg, Dessau and Halle will get to hear him next fall. Stay tuned to this page or check his web site for details of his next German book tour. For photos and description of previous sones, go to http://www.levraphael.com/europe_photos.html.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving and so close to the truth, April 2, 2003

By 

E (Sandhausen, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dancing on Tisha B'av (Paperback)

As a fellow gay Jew, I was very interested in reading these short stories. And I was not disappointed. Each story was so well-written and really hit home. The impact of the Holocaust on our generation is not to be underestimated and as a gay Jewish man, this seems all that more powerful. The most moving story was that of Great Aunt Rose (ironically I also had a Great Aunt Rose). That reallz made me think, espeiallz how Raphael says that Americans always want to analyze. I really thought that the story written for class was so wonderful. Imagine my surprise when Rose is just devastated.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories from being Gay & Jewish, March 20, 2000

By 

Liam Sauer-wooden "curmudgeon" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dancing on Tisha B'av (Paperback)

Snippets of day to day life, told from the viewpoint of being both Gay & Jewish, with which any Gay man can identify regardless of his religion. Enlightening for anyone Jewish who believes Gays must be different from straights; comforting in its affirmaton that we are not unique in our feelings.

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Short Stories, Mediocre Collection, February 18, 2009

By 

Robert D. Shull "shullrd" (Fairfield, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dancing on Tisha B'av (Paperback)

Lev Raphael is a talented author. The book, Dancing on Tisha B'Av, brings together nineteen short stories. Throughout his writing, Raphael interweaves his own life story into the stories of his characters. In many of the stories, Raphael's characters explore the intersection and interplays of their Gay and Jewish identities.

This collection was compiled in 1990. Throughout, you can feel the alienation and exclusion of the characters, but also the tremendous sense of happiness and peace that comes from a knowledge of self and personal integrity. The stories offer lessons to all readers, Gay or Straight, Jewish or non-Jewish.

The strength of Dancing on Tisha B'Av comes from the short-story format. Each of the stories is a relatively quick read, so readers with limited time will be able to progress through the book with ease. While themes are repeated throughout the book, each story is self-contained. The reader will be able to put the book down and come back to it later without feeling compelled to re-read.

This collection does suffer from monotony after a while. Each story places the characters in similar circumstances that begin to seem rote and uninteresting. For example, in nearly every story the main character is either a graduate English student or on the English faculty at one of a handful of universities. After a while, a sense of re-reading the same story over and over begins to develop.

Perhaps the most powerful story in this collection was "Abomination" which tells the story of a temporary Professor of English whose reactions to homophobia on campus are influenced by her parent's experience in the Holocaust and her gay brother. This story is unique in that it explores the emotions and feelings of those around the gay person, rather than the gay person themself. This theme is also explored in the story "Dancing on Tisha B'Av" for which the book gets its name.

Raphael's Dancing on Tisha B'Av is worth a read, particularly for gay Jews and those around them who are struggling to reconcile their Gay and Jewish identities. As individual stories the writings are wonderful reflections on identity and the reactions of others to those identities. As a collection, however, the stories become repetitious and lose some of their power. Take your time and enjoy each story for its own contributions and merits.