New Novel Explores Religious Youth's Inner Turmoil and Settler Ideology
Dr. Yaad Biran, a scholar and lecturer of Yiddish, has released his new novel, "Massekhet Kzavim" (Mask of Lies), published by Pardes. Written in the shadow of the October 7th attacks, the book revisits the turbulent 1990s through the lens of a fictional yeshiva in the West Bank.
The novel, described as "auto-fiction," centers on Elul, an 18-year-old protagonist who mirrors Biran's own experiences as a religious youth from Petah Tikva. Elul embarks on a desperate search for redemption, seeking an escape from his physical desires and the perceived banality of his parents' religious observance. This leads him to a more extreme form of religious devotion, a "holy rebellion" against the bourgeois religious culture he grew up in, characterized by strict adherence to religious laws and a rejection of secular pursuits.
Biran uses magical realism to depict the internal struggles of yeshiva students, particularly concerning repressed sexuality. The story features a blind crocodile in the courtyard of the study hall and small demons born from the sin of "preserving the covenant" (a euphemism for avoiding ejaculation). These elements symbolize the anxieties, repressed desires, and distorted experiences of "conquering the impulse" within a religious society where sexuality is taboo.
The novel also offers a sharp political and moral critique of the settlement movement and the treatment of Arab neighbors. Biran argues that the ideology of the Gush Emunim settlement movement, which emphasizes a fearless, conquering Jewish identity, is not authentically Jewish. He laments that rich Jewish culture has been reduced to sanctifying the state and perpetual warfare, ignoring the existence of another people living in the land. Biran believes true Jewish values lie in solidarity with the oppressed and weak, a lesson learned from Jewish history in the diaspora.
Biran, now a doctor of Yiddish studies, sees parallels between the questions explored in Yiddish literature, identity, class struggle, and the universal versus the particular, and contemporary Israeli society. He aims to reintroduce this modern Yiddish culture, which he considers an integral part of Jewish heritage, contrasting it with the Zionist movement's forceful erasure of diaspora history.
