Title: Culture Shock
Author: C. Rosenberg
Publisher: Israel Bookshop
Culture Shock is a historical novel authored by C. Rosenberg, a popular author whose work appears in several leading frum magazines and newspapers.
Set against the backdrop of the newly established State of Israel, Culture Shock’s storyline follows two religious families who struggle to find direction amidst the turmoil the State’s establishment has created.
Faced with enormous hostility in their hometown, the Behagoli family is forced to leave their native country, Yemen. From a pogram to a refugee camp to Operation Magic Carpet and beyond, readers follow the Behagoli’s travails, whereupon little known facts about Yemenite Jewish life comes alive in form of their struggles.
In addition to the enormous upheaval a move from Yemen engenders, coming face to face with a new value system it is difficult for immigrants to differentiate from right, wrong, and different. Following the Behagoli’s journey, readers come to realize how much pain and sacrifice acclimatization to the State of Israel demanded of its immigrants.
In Culture Shock, readers will also come to identify with a culture from the other end of Orthodox Jewry’s spectrum.
As is typical of families in the Meah Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, the Braver family is a close knit family. Readers observe how three generations of Jerusalemites react to their personal struggles and the vicissitudes of the times.
The Bravers have lost young Mordche’la to an Arab sniper, and Yitzchak to an ideology they do not trust in. Teenaged Gittel is in the limelight, now. Her family holds their breath as she travels an emotionally charged journey in which she will find that compromising her family’s traditions do not lead to a resolution of social ills.
Zeidah, Shimke the shadchan, Muhme (Aunt) Perel and Fetter (Uncle) Dovid, the childless couple, Leichu a yeled Tehran, and a host of other colorful characters further draw readers into the storyline. As they recognize bits of themselves and society in Culture Shock’s set of dynamic characters, readers laugh and cry along with Culture Shock’s heroes.
Emotionally charged, with a compelling storyline, Culture Shock promises more than just an entertaining read; it provides a fascinating and authentic view of the cultural and societal norms of Jerusalem circa 1950 along with vignettes and acquaintanceship of famous personalities of the time.
Reading Culture Shock is inviting oneself to an exquisite and realistic portrayal of Jewish life in the Holy Land during a most turbulent era in recent history.