A column about Jewish books and authors
By Dr. Steve Rubin
Dear Readers,
This month I would like to recommend two important works by Israeli writers. The first, Hostage, by Eli Sharabi is a searing first-person account of Sharabi’s captivity at the hands of Hamas. The second is a book of essays by one of Israel’s leading novelists and intellectual figures, David Grossman.
Published in 2025 in Hebrew and in English (translated by Elyon Levy), Hostage was an immediate best-seller in Israel, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a harrowing account of seizure and captivity, told by its author, Eli Sharabi—a 53-year-old husband and father of two young girls—in gripping detail. We learn of Hamas’ attack of October 7, 2023 on Sharabi’s kibbutz, his family’s attempts to hide in their safe room, and his eventual kidnapping. But the bulk of the book describes Sharabi’s personal nightmare, his 491 days of captivity: the filth and dirt in the tunnels where he was held, the lack of nourishment or toilet facilities, and the occasional beating by his captors. A few of the Gazans watching over him and his fellow prisoners demonstrate some compassion. But most were uncaring or cruel. All hated the very idea of Israel’s existence. Hostage is not easy reading, as Sharabi spares none of the particulars. But it is also the story of how one man manages to maintain his dignity and to emerge, not exactly unscathed, but alive.
David Grossman is one of Israel’s best-known and most decorated novelists. (A Horse Walked in a Bar was recommended in this column some months back.) He is also a perceptive observer of Israeli politics and does not hesitate to speak out. The Thinking Heart: Essays on Israel and Palestine (English translation by Jessica Cohen), published both here and in Israel in 2024, contains a dozen essays and a poem dating from 2017 to 2024. Grossman is critical of Israel’s present government, as one can tell from such titles as “Dictatorship Threatens Israel” (March 2023). And he blames Netanyahu’s regime for Israel’s failure to protect its citizens. But Grossman’s last essay, “After the War” (March 1, 2024), originally published in the New York Times, is cautiously optimistic. Although he acknowledges that the Israelis and Palestinians and two people “incapable of viewing each other’s tragedy,” Grossman still believes in the possibility of two-states which, he states, “is still the only feasible” solution. “This is the time to be a nation or not to be,” Grossman writes in his poem, “Suddenly a cry flew,” which concludes the book, “To be a human or not to be.” Amen to that!
Steve Rubin, Ph.D. is professor emeritus and former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Adelphi University, Garden City, NY. His op-eds and opinion essays have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Berkshire Eagle, Tampa Bay Times, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, and The Hartford Courant, among others. Starting on Thursday, June 11 at 10:45 a.m., Dr. Rubin will once again moderate his Current Events Seminar at Knesset Israel, part of Federation's Connecting With Community programming.