All the different ways to be Jewish
'we need to be more tolerant and understanding of the choices people make. Everyone decides for themselves.'
How do you make a life for yourself when you belong to a group that exists outside the mainstream?
That’s the question Tamar Hodes tries to answer with her new novel, Mixed, offering a nuanced exploration of Jewish identity in contemporary Britain, drawing from the author’s own rich and nomadic childhood experiences.
Hodes was born in Israel in 1961 to South African parents who had moved to a kibbutz, but spent her early years on the Greek island of Hydra among an artistic community that included Leonard Cohen.
The family was there so that Hodes’ father could write and her mother could paint. She described her childhood as “rather nomadic”, but also incredibly stimulating.
Mixed is about being Jewish in a society where Jews are very clearly in the minority. Hodes drew from her own experience.
“The school I went to had 40 per cent Jewish girls and that experience, combined with my childhood and growing up and meeting many people, have shown me different ways of being Jewish,” she said. “This issue – of how, as a member of a minority, you make a life for yourself – has always fascinated me.”
The author explained that she sees three basic choices, all presented through different characters in the book – you stick to your own tribe, you try to retain your identity while also trying to fit in with society or you totally assimilate. Importantly, while Hodes writes about the Jewish community, it’s not an issue that only impacts the Jews.
“This dilemma could apply to people of any faith or sexual minority too,” she said, pointing out that at a reading she gave, a Hindu woman approached her and said that the book could be describing her own family as well.
As Hodes notes as well, the novel relates to almost every kind of Jewish family – no matter where they are or how they practise.
“For Jewish readers, I hope they can relate to the characters and the themes explored. Most Jews – be they in the UK, US or Australia – will have members of their family who have chosen different paths. How does that affect family life?” Hodes asked, saying for non-Jews, the novel will hopefully help them learn about being Jewish.
“This not only involves the friction but also great joy: family seders, music, food, humour. That is why the novel is called Mixed; being Jewish is about experiencing all of this. The structure of the novel is deliberately mixed too: narrative, character monologues and funny takes on familiar recipes.”
For example, the tongue-in-cheek chopped herring recipe: “Get some herring. Chop it. Fumigate the house.”
Ultimately, the book promotes acceptance. “I suppose my feeling is that we need to be more tolerant and understanding of the choices people make. Everyone decides for themselves.
“It is not easy to be a member of a minority and, although it is sometimes hard to accept the decisions people make, if you don’t, it leads to the friction we see in the novel.”
Mixed is published by Legend Press.
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