Journeys & Arrivals: On Being Gay and Jewish [Hardcover]

Lev Raphael (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In his nonfiction, as in the stories of Dancing on Tisha B'Av (1990) and the novel Winter Eyes (1992), the dual identity of being gay and Jewish is Raphael's grand theme. No one excels him at writing the stories and considering the issues of that twin self-realization. This collection reprints his autobiographical contributions to Wrestling with the Angel and Hometowns (1991) and 11 fugitive pieces, including two letters reporting progress and setbacks for gays in Israel, four more autobiographical writings, an extended reply to letters in Raphael's hometown newspaper objecting to comparisons between anti-Semitism and homophobia, and a superb response to criticisms of the classic modern gay novel Dancer from the Dance (1978) by Andrew Holleran. Any of these essays may well become a future anthology piece, for each is that perspicacious and artful, whatever the particular subject. Perhaps, though, the best of them is the last, "Empty Memory? Gays in Holocaust Literature" ; anyone concerned with bringing genuine discernment to discourse about gays and the Holocaust simply must read it. Ray Olson

From Kirkus Reviews

Raphael's ``greatest hits'': This collection of 13 essays offers remixes and reprises of some of his better-known material. Raphael's struggle to claim both his religious and sexual identities, and the happiness he subsequently found, form the basis of the journeys and arrivals he recounts. Until the author reached his mid-20s, he felt alienated from other Jews, ambivalent about his homosexuality, ``twice strange . . . in each [community], different, lesser, ashamed.'' A son of Holocaust survivors, novelist Raphael (Dancing on Tisha B'Av, 1990; Winter Eyes, 1992) grew up in an unmistakably Jewish but nonreligious home. However, as an adult he initiated his own affiliations with Judaism: He had a bar mitzvah at age 30, went to Israel twice, and fell in love with a Jewish man. It was ``coming out as a Jew,'' he writes, that ``ultimately made it possible for me to come out as a gay man and then work at uniting the two identities.'' Attesting to his journey is the contrast between his confused childhood and the joyful domestic life he now shares with his lover, Gersh, and with Gersh's two sons. Raphael's arrival is marked by such confidently argued essays as ``Dangerous Men'' (on antigay Republicans) and ``Why Are They Bashing Dancer from the Dance?,'' a passionate defense of Andrew Holleran's much-maligned gay novel. Raphael's unique vantage point informs and enriches every essay--from his brief history of homosexuals in the Holocaust and in the literature of the Holocaust to an overview of contemporary gay life in Israel. However, the collection's two finest pieces, ``To Be a Jew'' and ``Okemos, Michigan,'' have already appeared in anthologies that readers interested in Raphael's subject matter are likely to have encountered. Worthwhile if you haven't journeyed with Raphael before. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 166 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; 1St Edition edition (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571198821
• ISBN-13: 978-0571198825
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,693,975 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

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coming out - twice, November 28, 2004

By 

mojosmom (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Journeys & Arrivals: On Being Gay and Jewish (Hardcover)

This collection of essays by the author of Dancing on Tisha B'av, Winter Eyes, not to mention the Nick Hoffman mystery series, focuses on his twin comings-out, as a Jew and as a gay man. The child of Holocaust survivors, Raphael was raised in a secular Jewish household, and it was not until he was an adult that he began to explore and embrace his religion. In the process, he met Gersh, whom he would also explore and embrace ;-)) (sorry, irresistable!).

In an excellent essay, "Empty Memory? Gays in Holocaust Literature", Raphael addresses the question of gays in Nazi Germany, and has it right, I think, when he says that it is wrong to ignore or belittle the persecution of gays, but that it is also wrong, and historically inaccurate, to not understand the difference between the treatment of gays and the treatment of Jews, and the policy differences between them.
He does not allow himself, however, to separate his Jewishness and his gayness. He mentions speaking at a Jewish community center, along with a lesbian who is also the child of survivors, and being asked by other children of survivors why they "had to be gay" that evening! They could not understand his and Beck's "multiple identities as Jews, children of survivors, and homosexuals".

Here he says something important for all communities of faith, who ground their hatred of gays in the phrase, "It's religion". "Lies are lies. Hatred is hatred. As Jews we know what it sounds and feels and smells and tastes like. " When, at Yad Vashem's Hall of Remembrance, a ceremony to remember the gay and lesbian Jews who died in the Holocaust is interrupted by right-wing demonstrators calling the group "evil" and accusing them of blasphemy, this is no less hatred than the the demonization of Jews as Christ-killers, and the anti-Semitism of the Pat Buchanans of the world.

Not everything is this book is so intense, though. "Okemos, Michigan" is a heart-warming essay, describing how he and Gersh bought a house together, and how the house became a home. A humorous essay, "Selling Was Never My Line", will be appreciated by any author who has ever done a book tour.