Bethlehem Road: Stories of Immigration and Exile

Bethlehem Road: Stories of Immigration and Exile

For fans of André Aciman, Omer Friedlander, and Ayelet Tsabari, these twelve stories convey the power, magic, and pain of place—one iconic street in Jerusalem where immigrants young and old struggle to find themselves between the years 1967 and 1999. Leaving one country for another, even if it is an immigrant’s choice, is never easy. The stories in this collection—often emotional, sometimes funny—examine this truth as they render the experiences of twelve characters, most of whom immigrate to Jerusalem in the three decades following the 1967 Six-Day War. All of them come to create new lives in an old homeland. Some succeed, but for most the present and past collide, confounding and challenging attempts to create stability—like the Dutch Holocaust survivor struggling with her love of a Nazi, or the young American Reform Jew craving an observant Orthodox lifestyle. Each of the characters in these layered stories, from the pregnant Canadian woman who imagines giving birth to a savior to the American chiropractor who takes his kids to watch the Passover slaughter of a lamb, comes to find that after the initial excitement of falling in love with a new country, difficulties emerge. Being an immigrant is a perpetual mode; you are always aware of loss and difference. In addition to this shared experience, iconic Bethlehem Road, with its ethnic mosaic and vibrant urban setting, is the great connecting thread in these tales—giving readers a chance to peek beyond its stone fences and glimpse the people who live there. “Each of these spectacularly drawn characters is searching for their people, their tribe. Like those first Israelites who entered after crossing the desert for forty years, they have entered the land fueled by the biblical legal and ethical code they inherited. Lev grants us the privilege of bearing witness to their challenges, their grace, and their full humanity as first-generation immigrants.” —Jewish Book Council “On page after page of this delightfully multivocal collection, lives and histories and dreams and fantasies collide—sometimes resolving, sometimes modulating to entirely unexpected keys. Judy Lev’s Bethlehem Road is a chorus of wonders.” —Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink “These remarkable stories, breathtakingly generous and beautifully written, will absolutely break your heart.” —Eileen Pollack, author of A Perfect Life “If you want to know what it’s like in (late-twentieth-century) Israel . . . in the soul, this is a book you should read.” —Max Apple, author of The Jews of Home Depot and Other Stories “It’s an understatement to say that Judy Lev’s Bethlehem Road captures the essence of life in modern Jerusalem. These stories not only embody the heart and soul of that life, but also the kishkes and the funny bone. A rare entertainment and a constant delight!” —Steve Stern, author of A Fool’s Kabbalah “Sharp, invigorating stories, bristling with insight into the complicated world of immigrants to Jerusalem after the 1967 Six-Day War. Judy Lev has a laser-like gift for zeroing in on the truth of her characters’ lives, whether that truth be harsh or funny or absurd. A stunning blend of emotional intensity, wit, and gimlet-eyed observation.” —Joan Leegant, author of Displaced Persons: Stories Judy Lev ’s short stories and essays appear in leading literary journals, anthologies, and popular magazines. She is a writing teacher, mentor, and Pushcart Prize nominee. Her memoir, Our Names Do Not Appear , was published by Lioness Books in 2023; Bethlehem Road is her second book. A former Clevelander, Lev has lived in Israel since 1967, where she is mother to three and grandmother to five.