A caravan of Jews wanders through pre-World War II Eastern Europe on a heartbreaking quest, in this latest novel from the award-winning writer. Among the group is Laish, a 15-year-old orphan, who narrates the story of this against-all-odds journey.
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A caravan of Jews wanders through pre-World War II Eastern Europe on a heartbreaking quest, in this latest novel from the award-winning writer. Among the group is Laish, a 15-year-old orphan, who narrates the story of this against-all-odds journey.
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In his latest novel, Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld tells the story of a caravan of Jews on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The story is told through the voice of Laish, a fifteen year-old orphan. The only home that Laish has ever known is the caravan; his only "family" is the ragtag group of pilgrims. Laish tells his caravan's story with the innocence, vagueness and acceptance of a child. The story is often hard to follow, due to Laish's childlike simplicity. However, it is precisely Laish's simple and childlike perspective which makes the novel effective and intriguing.
Although Appelfeld provides no dates or timeframe in the novel, I gather that the story is set in the late 19th Century around the time when a group of Ukrainian Jews founded Rishon Lezion, one of the earliest Zionist settlements in Palestine. The caravan of this novel is also Ukrainian, having been started in Lemberg by a rabbi whom Laish refers to only as the Holy Man. The Holy Man issues a directive that the group is to accept and look after the downtrodden, the sick and insane, and the widows and orphans. As a result, the caravan is composed of outcasts. The strongest members of the group are the wagon-drivers who are all ex-convicts, and the dealers who buy and sell merchandise along the way. In the words of one member, the caravan is "a rabble of . . . godforsaken Jews".
The Holy Man dies before Laish's narrative begins; the reader only hears about him indirectly through Laish's offhand recollections of his orders and admonitions. Without their leader to keep them in line, a constant tension develops between the dealers who keep delaying the progress of the pilgrimage in order to sell their wares and the other pilgrims who want to ascend to Jerusalem.
There are parallels in this novel to the biblical Exodus story. Like the biblical children of Israel, the caravan wanders, taking many years to travel a distance that normally could be crossed in a matter of days or weeks. Like the children of Israel, the group suffers hunger, pestilence, and persecution. Like the biblical children of Israel, many members get discouraged and leave the group, are banished or sicken and die. The Holy Man is the group's Moses, Old Avraham is their Aaron, Tzilla (a mute but nurturing old woman who silently works to keep everyone clothed and fed) is their Miriam, and Sruel (a ex-convict of great kindness, strength and faith) is their Joshua.
There is much sadness in this novel. The pilgrims behave like a dysfunctional family, at one point brutally beating Ephraim, a young man who is troubled by dreams and visions, then caring for him and carrying him through the rest of the journey. At another point, in violation of the Holy Man's directive, they banish Mamshe, a deranged young woman, then search for her in the marsh and the riverbank.
This is a story of hope, human frailty, despair and, ultimately, survival. Until reading this novel, I had no knowledge or understanding of early Zionism. Aharon Appelfeld's sparse and vague portrayal of this early aliyah has incited a desire on my part to learn more of the history of Zionism.
