Culture Shock

When the very heartbeat of life turns unfamiliarly hazy and gray, how does one distinguish between what is right, what is wrong, and what is simply “different”? In the seething political cauldron of Eretz Yisrael post-1948, religious individuals struggle against the winds of the time…and culture shocks they are not prepared for. Gittel: The daughter of a staunch Yerushalmi family who already suffered the loss of two sons — one to death and the other to patriotism — Gittel searches for acceptance among her peers in a setting where modern customs seem to have penetrated even the most guarded of enclaves. Tzachi: Having broken off contact with his family years ago, Tzachi lately finds himself overcome by pangs of homesickness and longing for his old home. Will he forever remain trapped in the shadows of his slain brother? Can he ever return to the Itche of his youth? Is that really what he wants? And if so…will his family agree to take him back into the fold? Ezra: Interned in a transit camp in Yemen and then airlifted with his family to Eretz Yisrael during Operation Magic Carpet, Ezra finds himself caught in the storm blowing across the land he has waited so long to call home. In addition to coping with the enormous upheaval his family’s move engenders, Ezra is dismayed to discover a new value system existing in the Jewish homeland. Yemima: An unusually bright, sensitive, and perceptive girl, Yemima has endured much suffering in her young life. Will she ever be given the chance to spread her own wings and begin anew in Eretz Yisrael, or does the instability of the times dictate a different reality? Beautifully crafted and written by C. Rosenberg, Culture Shock is an exquisite and realistic portrayal of Jewish life in the Holy Land during a most turbulent era in recent history. It is a historical novel you will always cherish.