World Jewish News
“Magical Meet Cute” – new novel imbues age-old “golem” theme with romance…and mystery
Review by BERNIE BELLAN I’d never read what would be considered a romance novel before, so when I received an email from a publicist for Harper Collins inviting me to read what was described as a new “rom-com,” I admit I was somewhat hesitant to accept the offer.
But – the premise of the novel, as described in that email was somewhat enticing. Here’s what it said:
“Ettel Resnick is a proud Jewitch woman. After being dumped by her fiancé of seven years, she recreated herself, selling her successful legal practice in Manhattan to open Magic Mud Pottery in Woodstock, New York. But everything changes on the fateful night Ettel returns from yet another singles event at the synagogue—and finds her town papered with antisemitic flyers.
“Desperate for comfort, she turns to the only thing guaranteed to soothe her Jewitch soul. Pottery. Heading to her studio, she gets super drunk, and crafts a golem. Ettel pours her heart into that little clay creature. She gives it everything she’s ever wanted in a partner, etching words onto his body—some sensible, some esoteric—before getting totally naked and burying that golem doll in her backyard.
“But when her ideal man turns up the very next day—and checks every detail inscribed on her clay man’s belly, including loving to play Scrabble and reading her books—she’s left wondering if she’s falling in love with the real deal, or if she’s truly summoned a golem.
“This laugh out loud romantic comedy explores witchcraft from a Jewish angle, fighting back against the anti-Semitic way Jewish witches have been portrayed throughout history. It also features a woman dealing with anti-semitism in her town and turning to the ancient Jewish protector—the golem.”
There are several things wrong with what that publicist wrote, however: First, the main character’s name was not Ettel Resnick, it’s Faye Kaplan. (That mistake alone made me wonder where the publicist got her information. Obviously, she hadn’t read the book.)
But second – and perhaps this is more important, to describe “Magical Meet Cute” as a rom-com is a disservice to a book that is far more than a rom-com.
Yes, it contains some of the elements of a romance novel and it does have some good laughs, but as the book develops it takes on a far more serious tone – and turns into a rollicking good mystery.
After reading something about the author, Jean Meltzer, I discovered that she had just about completed writing the book, but then October 7 happened and it cast a giant shadow over what she had mostly written. As a result, she now says that there is a much more serious overtone to her book than what she had anticipated in writing it.
A good part of “Magical Meet Cute” has to do with antisemitism and how completely shocked so many Jews are when it comes to having to deal with overt displays of antisemitism. In the book, Faye fights back, but others in the Jewish community are less willing to confront the threat posed by a group known as “the Paperboys.”
As the press release noted, the action in the book takes place in the very real town of Woodstock, New York (although I have no idea whether the Woodstock described here bears much resemblance to the real town.)
As for the reference to “witchcraft,” I admit that threw me off somewhat. I have encountered the notion of Jewish witches previously, especially in Alice Hoffman’s brilliant “The Dovekeepers,” but as I read “Magical Meet Cute,” I became much more aware of the notion of “Jewitches” which, in this book, is treated in a positive manner.
But, add to that the introduction of the theme of the “golem” in this novel, and you get something quite a bit more complex than what many readers might expect to find in a typical “rom-com.”
Yes, Faye Kaplan does drunkenly fashion a golem out of clay early on in the novel – and then the very next day a character appears who certainly does seem to tick off all the right boxes as a real golem. But, that’s where this book takes a very interesting turn, as the author explores the notion of the golem in Jewish history.
The theme of antisemitism and how ordinary Jews – just leading their everyday lives, are taken so completely by surprise when they encounter direct – and often vicious antisemitism, is especially hard hitting in “Magical Meet Cute.” And, because the notion of the golem as a magical defender of Jews has been around for centuries (as the author explains), it serves as a very convenient – and enticing device around which to develop a modern-day novel, especially in a time of rampant antisemitism.
That’s also where the book veers from romance to thriller – and Jean Meltzer does a fabulous job of injecting tremendous suspense – and trepidation, into the latter part of what is actually quite a long novel (over 480 pages).
In fact, I could have done with less of the romance and more of the thriller. When Faye Kaplan does meet – and fall in love with the character, who we come to know as “Greg” – who may or not be a real golem, I suppose it would have ruined the story for the two of them to go to bed right off the hop. But Meltzer describes Faye as quite beautiful, while Greg is what I would think would be almost any woman’s fantasy of a perfect male.
Not only is he gorgeous, he’s absolutely devoted to Faye. I won’t let you know whether they consummate their relationship, but there is an entire subplot revolving around Faye’s abandonment issues which prevents her from trusting Greg that is really quite sad, although totally credible.
As I made my way through “Magical Meet Cute,” I kept asking myself: Would someone who isn’t Jewish enjoy this book quite as much as someone who is? After all, there are so many references that, if you weren’t Jewish, you’d be wondering just what the heck they mean?
One that comes to mind off the top though – and it’s one I’ve never encountered previously, is Faye’s repeated use of the expression “Haman’s hat,” which she says whenever she’s quite surprised by something. I did a bit of reading on the subject but I simply couldn’t find an explanation why someone would say “Haman’s hat” as say, a substitute for something like “holy s_it.” (Maybe someone will enlighten me.)
Something else that intrigued me was Faye’s predilection for “hard kosher salami.” I realized early on it was her go-to comfort food, but aside from how unhealthy it is to eat, I couldn’t help but think of its phallic overtones. (By the way, Meltzer does enjoy using the term “shvantz” as a term of endearment in describing a certain part of Greg’s anatomy. I would have thought she might have resorted to the more commonly used “schmeckle.”)
When Meltzer introduces the group terrifying the Jews of Woodstock as “the Paperboys,” it’s obviously a not-too-thinly veiled reference to one of Donald Trump’s favourite white supremacist groups, “the Proudboys.” (I apologize if I’ve offended any Trump lovers. After all, there were “many good people on both sides,” as Trump suggested, during the white supremacist march through Charlottesville in 2017, weren’t there?)
“Magical Meet Cute” does have so much more to offer than simply a romance, but if I do have one qualm about the book it is that it so very long. It could have been cut down to no more than 300 pages but, having said that, I applaud the author for combining two quite different genres into quite the good read.
By the way, the book is slated for release August 27, but it’s available online right now from Amazon.
World Jewish News
The Religious Composition of the World’s Migrants…. Christians are the largest migrant group, but Jews are most likely to have migrated
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 19, 2024) – More than 280 million people, or 3.6% of the world’s population, are international migrants – meaning they live outside their country or territory of birth.
Religion and migration are closely connected. Religious affiliation can influence whether people leave home, where they move and how they’re received when they arrive. The religious composition of incoming and outgoing migrants impacts the overall religious makeup of countries around the world.
A new Pew Research Center analysis of United Nations migration data and 270 censuses and surveys estimates the religious composition of the world’s migrants as of 2020, the latest year for which global figures are available. Here are some of our main findings:
• Christians make up a larger share of migrants (47%) than they do of the world’s population (30%). Mexico is the most common origin country for Christian migrants, and the United States is their most common destination.
• Jews form a much larger share of migrants (1%) than of the world’s population (0.2%). Israel is the most frequent origin country for Jewish migrants and also their top destination. Of the major religious groups, Jews are by far the likeliest to have migrated. One-in-five Jews reside outside of their country of birth.
• Muslims account for a slightly larger share of migrants (29%) than of the world’s population (25%). Syria is the most common origin country for Muslim migrants, and Muslims often move to places in the Middle East-North Africa region.
• The religiously unaffiliated – those who say they have no religion, or who identify as atheist or agnostic – make up a smaller share of migrants (13%) than of the global population (23%). China is the most common origin country for religiously unaffiliated migrants, and the U.S. is their most common destination.
• Hindus are starkly underrepresented among international migrants (5%) compared with their share of the global population (15%). India is both the most common country of origin and the top destination for Hindu migrants.
• The religious makeup of all international migrants has remained relatively stable since 1990. Migration during this timespan increased by 83%, outpacing global population growth of 47%.
While the migration patterns of religious groups differ, the groups in this analysis also have a lot in common. For example, migrants frequently go to countries where their religious identity is already prevalent.
World Jewish News
Tim Walz Praised, Met With Muslim Cleric Who Promoted ‘Pro-Hitler’ Film, Defended Hamas’ Oct. 7 Massacre
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for US vice president, has praised and hosted several times a controversial Muslim cleric who promoted a pro-Adolf Hitler film and later expressed support for Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, according to new reports.
Walz hosted Asad Zaman, the imam of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, on at least five occasions as governor of Minnesota, the Washington Examiner reported. Zaman has a lengthy history of issuing public support for violence against Jews and Israel, leading to questions about the extent of Walz’s relationship with him.
The Minnesota governor invited Zaman, alongside other leaders in the Muslim community, to attend a May 2023 meeting about mosque security, according to the Examiner. In May 2020, Zaman spoke at an event to call for non-violent protests in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. One year earlier, the Muslim cleric attended a Ramadan event hosted by Walz’s office.
The revelations of Walz’s ties to Zaman come as the campaign of US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has insisted that her running mate has no “personal relationship” with the imam. However, according to footage unearthed by the Examiner, Walz called Zaman a “master teacher” at an event hosted by Minnesota’s Muslim American Society on Feb. 16, 2018, at the South Metro Islamic Center in Rosemount, Minnesota.
“I would like to first of all say thank you to the imam,” Walz said at the 2018 event. “I am a teacher, so when I see a master teacher, I know it. Over the time we’ve spent together, one of the things I’ve had the privilege of is seeing the things in life through the eye of a master teacher, to try and get the understanding.”
In 2015, Zaman encouraged his social media followers to watch an infamously pro-Hitler film titled “The Greatest Story Never Told.” The 2013 film is popular with neo-Nazis and considered to be revisionist history which depicts Hitler as a hero.
Years later, Zaman signaled support for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ murder of 1,200 people and kidnapping of some 250 hostages during its rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7 of last year. The onslaught was the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
On the day of the surprise invasion, Zaman posted on Facebook that he “stands in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli attacks.” That same day, he shared a social media post that stated, “Palestine has every right to have its freedom from the Zionists who [invaded] its land from many countries mostly Eastern Europe.”
Zaman has also shared links to Hamas press releases “mourning” the death of terrorists.
On Oct. 8, 2023, the cleric lambasted US Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) on X/Twitter for condemning the Hamas atrocities, asking the lawmaker if she will “also condemn Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians and children?”
“Do you also stand with the Palestinian people? Do you also reaffirm the right of Palestinians to defend themselves?” Zaman asked Porter.
Two days later, Zaman targeted Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin on X/Twitter, writing that Martin’s group “cannot be joined at the hip to apartheid Israel and still hope to court the Muslim vote” after the political leader said he was “beyond heartbroken” to learn Israelis he knew were “brutally killed or kidnapped” on Oct. 7.
Zaman also criticized Martin for expressing sympathy toward civilians killed in the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. The Muslim cleric chastised Martin for not condemning the Jewish state.
“So Ken. You can easily condemn Hamas for killing civilians, but you can’t muster the courage to condemn Israel for killing civilians? Shame on you,” Zaman posted on X/Twitter.
Independent studies and Western intelligence agencies have found that the explosion at Al Ahli hospital was caused by a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in Gaza, not Israel.
Zaman previously attempted to equate the Hamas terrorist group to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, questioning why Israeli civilians are not “punished” for installing a so-called “genocidal” leader.
“If Palestinians are punished for electing Hamas, why is Israel not punished for electing this genocidal maniac as its leader?” Zaman posted to X/Twitter in May 2021.
An investigation by US federal prosecutors described the Muslim American Society of Minnesota as “the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” The Muslim Brotherhood is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization.
The post Tim Walz Praised, Met With Muslim Cleric Who Promoted ‘Pro-Hitler’ Film, Defended Hamas’ Oct. 7 Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
World Jewish News
Report from Israel: What Is Normality?
By ORLY DREMAN (Jerusalem, August 12, 2024) When the media tell us to prepare lots of water and where the locations for distribution of water will be, it reminds me of my parents’ stories about austerity rations during the long War of Independence. If there is no electricity – there will be no water because the water pumps are connected to electricity. We are living with uncertainty and with existential apprehension.
It is like what we wend through during Covid times when we used to stock up on products. Today we are buying three times more; it gives us a feeling that we can control our destinies. It reduces the pressure. The waiting feels worse… let it happen and it will be over with. Our normality is that I rehearse with my husband how far from the car we have to lie down on the street when the siren sounds. Normal is having stomachaches, headaches, back pain and lack of sleep due to stress. Our normality is bringing water bottles into the shelter, canned food, transistors, batteries, flash lights and more. We go out less and order take out way more.
When our grandchildren come they always ask us to remind them where to hide in case “the bad people” come. Friends call each other to wish good luck – kind of end of the world conversations.
Children do not understand the reality; it depends on how much stress they see in the home. Their survival is being together. They ask what will happen if the siren sounds during their birthday party. We sit down and talk to them. We hug, we eat comforting food and listen to music. We worry when someone says they feel “excellent.”
People walk in the street and look at the sky for unmanned aerial vehicles. They hold their phones in their hands to hear messages from the home front command. They also look behind their shoulders for a terrorist with a knife. We are awaiting the worst.
At the end of July the JNF Canada Resilience Task Force arrived in Israel… good people, like our friend Larry Vickar from Winnipeg, who came to support and contribute. They managed to visit the kibbutzim in the south, learn what security challenges they faced, and about their strength and bravery. They saw the Nova festival sight and heard the plans how to revive the communities devastated on Oct. 7th. They were at hospitals and heard lectures from doctors and mental health professionals. They met survivors and hostages who were freed. They met evacuees from the north and heard speeches by generals. Unfortunately, they only managed to be in Israel half a week when all foreign flights were cancelled and they had to leave the country on whatever flight was possible.
Tonight is Tishah B’ Av – many more Jews will fast today. This day feels more real this year. It is a day with bad tragedies. This is the day when both our temples were destroyed; the Jews from England, France and Spain were deported; WW1 began.
When we think things cannot get worse, they get worse.
Commercials abroad are about advertising clothing, cosmetics, sports goods. Here they are about how to treat anxiety, how to deal with children…
Our four-year-old granddaughter saw an ad on a tree in Tel Aviv about a lost cat. She turned to her mother and said: “This cat is kidnapped in Gaza.”
Every realityshow deals with the subject of the hostages – be it “Big Brother,” “Survival,” or just cooking shows – the text, the songs, the missions, the yellow clothes, all have to do with talking and reminding us of the present situation in the country. The hostages who returned more than eight months ago are opening up and telling of their horror experiences. They want to make Bibi understand not to let the remaining 115 hostages die. The beatings, the sexual assaults, the starving, the terrible sanitary conditions – one toilet for dozens of people, freezing in the winter, sleeping on the floor, the stress that they threaten to kill you all the time, no air in the tunnels, darkness. Some of them were alone so they did not speak for 53 days. No windows, no light – like a grave. The legs feeling stiff. The terrorists dragging the women on the floor by the hair while pointing their rifles and hand grenades at them. The women used to faint, regain consciousness , cry and vomit and faint again. The terrorists used to tell them, “You are going to make me babies.” They felt desperate and scared. Every minute was eternity. One sees the parents here at the demonstrations – with black bags under their eyes that get bigger and bigger. Some young women and men who returned need hearing aids because they were beaten so severely on the head and ears. Now they cannot sleep at night, they cry a lot, suffer from migraines, nightmares and feel dead inside.
In this abnormal country we had some escapism: the Olympics. Each one of our seven medalists dedicated their victories to the hostages, the murdered, the fighting soldiers, and the evacuees.
Remember – a few months ago I wrote that we still had 11 people missing. It took ten months, but all of them were identified – the last one a few days ago. A woman whose house was burned to the ground – only now were they able to confirm she was killed in her home with her husband on Oct 7.
I usually listen to the radio when I drive. Every time one opens the radio there are thousands of personal tragic stories… like stories of grandparents telling how their son/daughter protected their children with their bodies and the children survived to be raised by the grandparents.
When people ask each other: “How are you?” you do not hear “Fine, thank you.” The answer is: ”Sad – like everyone.”
I would like to honor young Jewish adults who come to Israel to volunteer… like our friend Mikaila Levine from California, a 19–year-old medical student who came to volunteer with Magen David Adom – even in these dangerous times. We are very proud of her. She did not think of leaving. She took the example from her grandfather, Dr. Gerry Levine, who came from North America to volunteer in the Yom Kippur War.
In conclusion, pray for us that it will be comfortable living here again. We want our lives back. We are a country that desires life and we shall overcome – like always.
I will conclude the same way we end every conversation- “May we hear good news! Amen”!
Orly Dreman is a 10th generation Israeli. Her cousin, Ruvi Rivlin, was a former president of Israel. Orly’s father was a diplomat who served both in North America and in Europe.
By profession Orly is an English teacher. She has dealt with children suffering from ADD.
Since childhood, Orly has been involved in voluntary work with the disabled, the challenged, new immigrants, the elderly and others.
Orly is married to former Winnipeger, Solly Dreman who made Aliya.
He’s a professor of clinical Psychology at BGU and treated victims of terrorism and war.
He was Brigade psychologist in the Yom Kippur War.
To read previous posts from Orly since October 7, go to:
from-darkness-to-light-december/
life-in-israel-four-months-after-october-seventh
a-complicated-pesach
message-from-israel-a-different-planet