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Raising Sparks
Malka grows up in the Old City of Jerusalem in the confines of the Ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Meandering through the narrow streets she finds herself at the door of one of the city's most renowned and reclusive mystics and discovers her father's top rabbinical student, Russian immigrant Moshe studying forbidden Kabbalistic texts. She has a disturbing vision of a tree of prayers growing up inside the house, and the prayers all seem to be talking to her. The prayers become a giant bird, and chase her from the house. Malka has unwittingly uncovered a great mystical gift. Kabbalists believe that since the world was spoken into existence, if they can hear and understand that original Divine language, they can use it themselves, to shape and manipulate reality. Once in a millennia, a kabbalist is born with this ability. It turns out that Malka is one of them. After a disastrous first date with Moshe, Malka flees Jerusalem for Safed where she is drawn into a cult called Mystical Encounters, run by charismatic cult leader Avner Marcus. Avner is unsettled by Malka's authenticity, and she is not allowed to attend classes. Her only friends are former night club singer Shira, and traumatised ex-soldier Evven. Malka sets up her own mystical retreat in the woods, at an abandoned construction site. When she reveals this to Avner, he forces her to take him there and tries to rape her. Malka manages to evade him, and then burns down the cult after manipulating the Modern Hebrew word for Electricity, Chashmal Malka heads for Tel Avi, and sleeps rough on the beaches of the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Jaffa. Here she is discovered by legendary Arab chef Rukh Baraka, who is seeking to rekindle his career by training Arab and Israeli street children to create extraordinary food for his new restaurant, the Leviathan. Malka bonds with fellow runaway Mahmoud, who is escaping the wrath of his Imam father at his "deviant" sexuality. Mahmoud reveals the city behind the city, the hidden Palestinian history of which Malka has been ignorant. Moshe has been trying to find Malka and is forced to confront some of his own demons, including the disappearance of his younger sister when she was in his care. Moshe swears that he will not lose another girl he loves.
290 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2018
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254 people want to read
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October 15, 2018
Winner of the public vote and a close runner up on the 2018 Guardian Not The Booker shortlist for which I was delighted to have been picked as a judge.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
Interestingly like another book on the Not The Booker longlist (Sealed by Naomi Booth) – the epigraph is taken from The Book of Job. Job plays an important role in this book I think as representing those who question God, particularly through times of darkness, while never losing their ultimate faith.
The epigraph is from Job 5:7 – “Humanity is born for trouble - as the sparks fly upwards” and building on that theme the book draws on an idea from the Safed Kabbelists which one character – Moshe – explains to another – Malke,
“that there is a spark hidden inside everything and everyone in the world – every encounter, every experience, and every sensation. If you can be really present in the moment, you can set a spark free and return it to its source”
Malka and Moshe are the two central characters of the book.
Malka Sabatto (literally - Sabbeth Queen) is the middle, teenage daughter of a Rosh yeshiva (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_ye...) in the Jerusalem Haredi community (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredi_...). Despite his apparent orthodoxy, from the age of 5 her father taught her daily, in secret, from his books – suddenly breaking off when she was 12 and leaving Malka both hurt at his apparent rejection and frustrated at the restrictions of her strict-Orthodox upbringing.
At the book’s start, pursuing, on a whim, a cat through the Christian quarters near her house she finds herself in the house of a recently deceased Kabbalist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah) where she meets Moshe (Moses) – a student of Malka’s father, who has been studying the Kabbalah in secret.
Moshe is a Russian immigrant – and hence something of an outsider. He is still haunted by a family tragedy in which he unwittingly played a part as a child, and which ended up breaking up his family. He is a student of Malka’s father and has secretly been obsessed with Malke for some time.
At the book’s opening in the Kabbalist’s house - Malka has a mystical but vivid experience of a terrifying tree - which Moshe decodes as related to the Tree of Life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of...) and to the divine animating spirit Chashmal (http://onthemainline.blogspot.com/201...).
After an unexpected meeting with her father (when she understand what drove his earlier behavior), Malka decides to head for Safed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safed) – a Kabbalist centre, followed by Moshe who has been expelled by Malka’s father, after his studies are discovered but is later asked by Malka’s family to help find her.
The book itself and Malka’s journey is structured around the stages of creation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luriani...) as described by Isaac Luria (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_L...) in 16th Century Safed.
The journey takes her first to Safed – where she falls in with Mystical Encounters, a cult-life Kabbalists group, whose members operate a bakery. She is befriended by the secular singer Shira and begins to shed her religious restraints. The group’s leader Avnew (Abner) encourages her further visions and Kabbalist studies - and suggests that she may have a crucial role to play in resorting the presence of God by reuniting its Divine Feminine aspects Shekhinah (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah).
In a small but important part of the book - Malka goes out of her way to befriend a group of Hasidic children (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasidic...) by offering them leftovers from the bakery. This action is symbolic I feel for much of Malka’s role in the book – reuniting past divisions (here East versus West, Orthodox against mysticism); it also reflects something of the author’s own past actions (when, working in a London restaurant, he pioneered the sharing leftover food with a local homeless community). And later, Malka’s kindness helps, in a crucial plot detail, with her ultimate redemption.
After she channels the power of Chashmal to avenge a betrayal, she flees to Tel Aviv/Jaffa – pursued at distance by Moshe. There she finds work in a new major restaurant – Leviathan which has a Palestinian chef and an Israeli backer – an inversion of Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, and one which employs street kids as in its kitchens - the idea inspired by a restaurant Lilith in Tel Aviv (https://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Te...). There she is befriended by Mahmoud (nicknamed Shelag) an albino, gay, muslim.
Again I feel there is a lot of important symbolism to unpack in this restaurant. Leviathan is, for those with biblical knowledge, the sea monster featured in a number of books including Job (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan). Water plays a crucial and complex role in the book: the owner of the restaurant, like Moshe, has his identity largely defined by a water-based family tragedy, however water also plays a crucial redemptive part for Moshe (in an incident with echoes of Moses leading the Israelites on their crossing of the Red Sea) and Malka (who during her water explorations encounters a group of fishermen in an incident which for a Christian reader has clear New Testament overtones). Lilith is also important https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith – particularly in the different interpretations of the legend over time and links back to the idea of Shekhinah. And the nature of the restaurant and Malka’s friendship with Mahmoud again brings out the idea of reconciliation and the power of food to draw different communities together and heal past divisions.
At the book’s end this concept of healing through reconciliation of differences culminates in a mystical action Malka performs for her family, drawing on her friendship with Moshe, Shira and Mahmoud – each being asked to reach deep inside themselves to uncover past hurt in their life and bring those broken places into the light.
Overall this is a complex but uplifting novel – one which draws heavily on Jewish traditions (I have given a number of references in the review – but in the book much of the heavy lifting here is done by the characters in exposition) and on magic realism, but one which ultimately celebrates love, the type of love which reaches across divides to set free the spark inside us all.
The book is published by Bluemoose Books - an independent publisher based in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, a “‘family’ of readers and writers, passionate about the written word and stories, [who] delight in finding great new talent.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
Interestingly like another book on the Not The Booker longlist (Sealed by Naomi Booth) – the epigraph is taken from The Book of Job. Job plays an important role in this book I think as representing those who question God, particularly through times of darkness, while never losing their ultimate faith.
The epigraph is from Job 5:7 – “Humanity is born for trouble - as the sparks fly upwards” and building on that theme the book draws on an idea from the Safed Kabbelists which one character – Moshe – explains to another – Malke,
“that there is a spark hidden inside everything and everyone in the world – every encounter, every experience, and every sensation. If you can be really present in the moment, you can set a spark free and return it to its source”
Malka and Moshe are the two central characters of the book.
Malka Sabatto (literally - Sabbeth Queen) is the middle, teenage daughter of a Rosh yeshiva (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_ye...) in the Jerusalem Haredi community (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredi_...). Despite his apparent orthodoxy, from the age of 5 her father taught her daily, in secret, from his books – suddenly breaking off when she was 12 and leaving Malka both hurt at his apparent rejection and frustrated at the restrictions of her strict-Orthodox upbringing.
At the book’s start, pursuing, on a whim, a cat through the Christian quarters near her house she finds herself in the house of a recently deceased Kabbalist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah) where she meets Moshe (Moses) – a student of Malka’s father, who has been studying the Kabbalah in secret.
Moshe is a Russian immigrant – and hence something of an outsider. He is still haunted by a family tragedy in which he unwittingly played a part as a child, and which ended up breaking up his family. He is a student of Malka’s father and has secretly been obsessed with Malke for some time.
At the book’s opening in the Kabbalist’s house - Malka has a mystical but vivid experience of a terrifying tree - which Moshe decodes as related to the Tree of Life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of...) and to the divine animating spirit Chashmal (http://onthemainline.blogspot.com/201...).
After an unexpected meeting with her father (when she understand what drove his earlier behavior), Malka decides to head for Safed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safed) – a Kabbalist centre, followed by Moshe who has been expelled by Malka’s father, after his studies are discovered but is later asked by Malka’s family to help find her.
The book itself and Malka’s journey is structured around the stages of creation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luriani...) as described by Isaac Luria (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_L...) in 16th Century Safed.
The journey takes her first to Safed – where she falls in with Mystical Encounters, a cult-life Kabbalists group, whose members operate a bakery. She is befriended by the secular singer Shira and begins to shed her religious restraints. The group’s leader Avnew (Abner) encourages her further visions and Kabbalist studies - and suggests that she may have a crucial role to play in resorting the presence of God by reuniting its Divine Feminine aspects Shekhinah (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhinah).
In a small but important part of the book - Malka goes out of her way to befriend a group of Hasidic children (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasidic...) by offering them leftovers from the bakery. This action is symbolic I feel for much of Malka’s role in the book – reuniting past divisions (here East versus West, Orthodox against mysticism); it also reflects something of the author’s own past actions (when, working in a London restaurant, he pioneered the sharing leftover food with a local homeless community). And later, Malka’s kindness helps, in a crucial plot detail, with her ultimate redemption.
After she channels the power of Chashmal to avenge a betrayal, she flees to Tel Aviv/Jaffa – pursued at distance by Moshe. There she finds work in a new major restaurant – Leviathan which has a Palestinian chef and an Israeli backer – an inversion of Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, and one which employs street kids as in its kitchens - the idea inspired by a restaurant Lilith in Tel Aviv (https://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Te...). There she is befriended by Mahmoud (nicknamed Shelag) an albino, gay, muslim.
Again I feel there is a lot of important symbolism to unpack in this restaurant. Leviathan is, for those with biblical knowledge, the sea monster featured in a number of books including Job (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan). Water plays a crucial and complex role in the book: the owner of the restaurant, like Moshe, has his identity largely defined by a water-based family tragedy, however water also plays a crucial redemptive part for Moshe (in an incident with echoes of Moses leading the Israelites on their crossing of the Red Sea) and Malka (who during her water explorations encounters a group of fishermen in an incident which for a Christian reader has clear New Testament overtones). Lilith is also important https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith – particularly in the different interpretations of the legend over time and links back to the idea of Shekhinah. And the nature of the restaurant and Malka’s friendship with Mahmoud again brings out the idea of reconciliation and the power of food to draw different communities together and heal past divisions.
At the book’s end this concept of healing through reconciliation of differences culminates in a mystical action Malka performs for her family, drawing on her friendship with Moshe, Shira and Mahmoud – each being asked to reach deep inside themselves to uncover past hurt in their life and bring those broken places into the light.
Overall this is a complex but uplifting novel – one which draws heavily on Jewish traditions (I have given a number of references in the review – but in the book much of the heavy lifting here is done by the characters in exposition) and on magic realism, but one which ultimately celebrates love, the type of love which reaches across divides to set free the spark inside us all.
The book is published by Bluemoose Books - an independent publisher based in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, a “‘family’ of readers and writers, passionate about the written word and stories, [who] delight in finding great new talent.”
August 12, 2018
Visit the locations in the novel
This is unlike any book I’ve ever read to be honest. It seems so raw and insightful and really immerses you into the ways and culture of the characters within.
Don’t let the themes of religion and Kabbalah put you off as this is much more than that. It follows the story of Malka, a girl in a man’s world, and one who wants to break from her family’s religious ways and to find her own path in life. For a woman in a highly religious country this is dangerous on so many levels.
As we follow Malka and see how she fights with her thoughts, explores them and explores those of others, it’s almost as if you as the reader goes on some kind of spiritual journey with her. And that is no bad thing. I know very little about religion and nothing at all about Kabbalah apart from what the celebrities in the news would have us believe. This changed my way of thinking and of understanding in many ways. This is a heartfelt read and a world I would never have explore or experienced without going on this journey with Malka.
The prose is beautiful and that cover exquisite. A good book for bookclubs as there is a lot to think about, look up, discuss that you could be there for quite some time. What about having a discussion group with the food of that region too? Now that would be the entire experience in one evening. But it won’t be one evening as this book will linger long after the chatter has gone quiet.
July 5, 2018
If you appreciate magic realism, this is a gripping and uplifting story.
First I thought that the story was a bit too obvious and I stopped after first couple of chapters, but then I was proven wrong and the book was unputdownable. Spiritual and educational, about kindness and trust, betrayal and loyalty, running away and finding yourself, hope and disappointment, heritage, its beauty and challenges....about how to find your way in life. And about Kabbalah as spiritual power. But you need to like magic realism to appreciate this book.
I mostly like the theme of kindness and trust and of hidden beauty everywhere.
First I thought that the story was a bit too obvious and I stopped after first couple of chapters, but then I was proven wrong and the book was unputdownable. Spiritual and educational, about kindness and trust, betrayal and loyalty, running away and finding yourself, hope and disappointment, heritage, its beauty and challenges....about how to find your way in life. And about Kabbalah as spiritual power. But you need to like magic realism to appreciate this book.
I mostly like the theme of kindness and trust and of hidden beauty everywhere.
July 13, 2018
This a cinematic and erudite novel about two young Israelis who flee the strictures of religious tradition to reinvent themselves and their spirituality.
The novel is built around vivid and sensory depictions of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Safed, with several meditations on mystical Jewish spirituality, family and food. It captures very well the perspective of two young people who struggle to outgrow the naivety of their strict religious upbringing, without leaving their personal connection to their faith behind. In their travels they encounter new people from a variety of backgrounds, who are similarly disconnected to their pasts but to whom the main characters share a philosophical kinship.
There is a strong storytelling element to the novel, with a classic timelessness to the narrative voice. That said, there is a very contemporary resonance to the way the central spine of the story builds around the coming of age of a young Jewish woman in a very conservative environment.
There is a strong influence of magical realism in some of the more memorable scenes, where extraordinary events take place in everyday life, but they are handled carefully with relevant links to the plot and mysticism of the book.
It's hard to compare Raising Sparks to other works, as it refuses to sit neatly into any one genre. In its matching of narrative force with erudition, it stand with Compass by Mathias Enard; in its magical realism, there are traces of the great south American tradition; and in its telling of a contemporary coming of age story about someone who loses their innocence but not their purity, there is an almost fable-like feel.
In summary, this book is a beautiful answer to the request I make of every book/author I read: to tell me a story I don't know.
(Declaration of interest: I am a writer and share a publisher with Ariel Kahn, though we have never met and I am writing this review purely as a reader who was fascinated by this book.)
The novel is built around vivid and sensory depictions of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Safed, with several meditations on mystical Jewish spirituality, family and food. It captures very well the perspective of two young people who struggle to outgrow the naivety of their strict religious upbringing, without leaving their personal connection to their faith behind. In their travels they encounter new people from a variety of backgrounds, who are similarly disconnected to their pasts but to whom the main characters share a philosophical kinship.
There is a strong storytelling element to the novel, with a classic timelessness to the narrative voice. That said, there is a very contemporary resonance to the way the central spine of the story builds around the coming of age of a young Jewish woman in a very conservative environment.
There is a strong influence of magical realism in some of the more memorable scenes, where extraordinary events take place in everyday life, but they are handled carefully with relevant links to the plot and mysticism of the book.
It's hard to compare Raising Sparks to other works, as it refuses to sit neatly into any one genre. In its matching of narrative force with erudition, it stand with Compass by Mathias Enard; in its magical realism, there are traces of the great south American tradition; and in its telling of a contemporary coming of age story about someone who loses their innocence but not their purity, there is an almost fable-like feel.
In summary, this book is a beautiful answer to the request I make of every book/author I read: to tell me a story I don't know.
(Declaration of interest: I am a writer and share a publisher with Ariel Kahn, though we have never met and I am writing this review purely as a reader who was fascinated by this book.)
July 2, 2018
Breathtaking in its beauty, compelling in its pace and characterisation. Kahn is a master storyteller, weaving the threads of Malka's unravelling and eventual coming of age into a moving, emotional and exceptionally satisfying read. He provides a window into a world I know very little about in way that brings its complex, rich history and modern challenges into clear, compassionate focus. Stunning. I found myself standing in the road to finish the final page, as I couldn't bear to stop reading when I arrived at my destination until I'd devoured every last morsel. A triumph!
October 20, 2018
This is quite simply a beautiful book. A coming of age story set in modern day Israil. These young people cross cultural devides and defy conversion.
My only word of caution is that I was quite glad of my GCSE in RE to get me through the Jewish customs mentioned particularly during the early part of the book. However this knowledge only served to further enhance my enjoyment of this fabulous novel and is in no way meant to discourage the gentile reader from picking it up. In fact quite the opposite you might learn something!
My only word of caution is that I was quite glad of my GCSE in RE to get me through the Jewish customs mentioned particularly during the early part of the book. However this knowledge only served to further enhance my enjoyment of this fabulous novel and is in no way meant to discourage the gentile reader from picking it up. In fact quite the opposite you might learn something!
July 25, 2018
This book is so, so, so, so beautiful. It reads like a fairy tale with the most awesome heroine. Malka is insanely likeable and relatable - she feels 90% human and just that little 10% fictional that gives this book its beautiful, magical aura. Ariel's writing just flows off the pages and shows that a book doesn't need to be a thriller to be unputdownable. And the imagery... Just gorgeous. Read it.
October 14, 2018
3.5. Fascinating to discover the 'doctrine' of Kabbalah, hitherto unknown to me. However the dialogue, the way in which the characters speak is so unbelievable, it really jarred by the end of the book, and made me care less about them. I understand the author has a message to spread, but nobody, especially teenagers amongst themselves, talks like that.
February 25, 2024
I found the start of this story gripping and was interested in the family dynamic and the journey of discovery of Malka,the lead character.
However at book group we agreed that although it was a page-turner in some respects, the writing was not that good and felt like a translation.
Malka ostensibly is growing on her discovery journey but really she is hopping from one sect to another.
The Kabbalah story was quite interesting as I didn’t know much about it, but it felt like the author had forced some of their research into the plot.
The Kabbalah cult she joined was obvious that the leader Avner was going to turn out to be a fraud and the attempted rape scene was not a surprise.
There were some very cliched areas and the ending was very poor and convenient - the magical stuff was dubious at best and the characters were stereotypes.
So while I wanted to like this book, and aspects of it were good, it felt like the creative writing project that it was.
Less telling and more showing would have improved it considerably along with not necessarily neatly plotting everything in advance which meant some of the natural flow was lost.
However at book group we agreed that although it was a page-turner in some respects, the writing was not that good and felt like a translation.
Malka ostensibly is growing on her discovery journey but really she is hopping from one sect to another.
The Kabbalah story was quite interesting as I didn’t know much about it, but it felt like the author had forced some of their research into the plot.
The Kabbalah cult she joined was obvious that the leader Avner was going to turn out to be a fraud and the attempted rape scene was not a surprise.
There were some very cliched areas and the ending was very poor and convenient - the magical stuff was dubious at best and the characters were stereotypes.
So while I wanted to like this book, and aspects of it were good, it felt like the creative writing project that it was.
Less telling and more showing would have improved it considerably along with not necessarily neatly plotting everything in advance which meant some of the natural flow was lost.
September 9, 2018
I liked this beautifully written book from one perspective in particular - I know so little about ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities and it's a really interesting insight into beliefs and lives. The characters are wonderfully written and believable, but the story relied a bit too much on coincidence for me. On one hand, themes revolve around how everything fits together, but even with that the narrative and events are a bit too perfectly arranged and I had to rely on suspension of disbelief quite a bit. Despite that, I enjoyed this book a lot.
December 10, 2018
Read & reviewed for Whichbook.net
A story of an Orthodox Jewish girl leaving home to investigate the mysteries of Kabbalah, the story slips between evocative portayals of local culture and moments of magical realism in a way that is beautiful, charming and surprising. The characters made it, and I was utterly caught up in the lives of Malka, and also Moshe. Not one for cynics, those with an interest in the spiritual side of life will find it a moving and uplifting story.
A story of an Orthodox Jewish girl leaving home to investigate the mysteries of Kabbalah, the story slips between evocative portayals of local culture and moments of magical realism in a way that is beautiful, charming and surprising. The characters made it, and I was utterly caught up in the lives of Malka, and also Moshe. Not one for cynics, those with an interest in the spiritual side of life will find it a moving and uplifting story.
September 23, 2022
well written and captivating
This is a journey of a young woman’s path growing up in a strict traditional
Orthodox family to leaving that world and finding herself while facing judgement on who she should be. I appreciate her character in that she stayed true to herself and listened to and trusted her inner voice. The only thing I wished was that the story played out a little more with her father. He seemed like a broken, fearful man. He seemed to be cast off near the end.
This is a journey of a young woman’s path growing up in a strict traditional
Orthodox family to leaving that world and finding herself while facing judgement on who she should be. I appreciate her character in that she stayed true to herself and listened to and trusted her inner voice. The only thing I wished was that the story played out a little more with her father. He seemed like a broken, fearful man. He seemed to be cast off near the end.
March 6, 2019
I found this to be a beautifully written book. I know very little about the orthodox Jewish faith, and even less about the Kabbalah, and at times the Hebrew and Yiddish words and Jewish customs were confusing, but the story of a young girl's escape from the restrictions of an ultra orthodox family to 'find herself' is very compelling.
February 1, 2019
3.5
Very promising first effort that encompasses Kabbalah, mysticism, Jewish Orthodoxy, Islam, modern Israel and the melting pot of cultures, magical realism, and growing up. It starts out really strong, but tries too hard to mash all of these things together and dilutes the magic, IMO.
Very promising first effort that encompasses Kabbalah, mysticism, Jewish Orthodoxy, Islam, modern Israel and the melting pot of cultures, magical realism, and growing up. It starts out really strong, but tries too hard to mash all of these things together and dilutes the magic, IMO.
December 21, 2025
Some may say Ariel’s a dreamer, but he’s not the only one.
Beautiful, uplifting and unique. There is not any other book that fully compares to this one and that alone should make you want to read it.
4.5 only because some of the dialogue did not feel quite natural to me.
Beautiful, uplifting and unique. There is not any other book that fully compares to this one and that alone should make you want to read it.
4.5 only because some of the dialogue did not feel quite natural to me.
February 3, 2019
Interesting
Bringing together Israeli and Palestinian girls and boys working together for a brighter future ..... if only ........ ... ...
Bringing together Israeli and Palestinian girls and boys working together for a brighter future ..... if only ........ ... ...
August 27, 2018
Had some issues with this book but enjoyed the setting and insight into modern Israel. Shame that the blurb on the back of the book pretty much provided a synopsis of the whole thing!
April 28, 2019
A cornie and cliched childlike attempt at a Chaim Potek novel. Instead we are left with the authors disdain for men and Orthodox Judaism, which fizzles out by way of a pathetic ending.
August 19, 2020
Really haunted. Made me think, and continues to.
February 5, 2020
It just didn't work for me . Great to learn more about Israel and Judaism but I thought the writing was poor , dialogue terrible and the plot predictable . Kept on to the end as better than looking out if the train window and I'm an optimist .
July 5, 2021
I chose this book because I wanted to read a bit more of contemporary Israeli literature, and at the same time learn more about Jewish mythology. While I did enjoy the book I wouldn't consider it to be extraordinary, and the ending could have been handled a bit better in my opinion.
October 10, 2021
This book had such promise, but ultimately felt unsatisfying
March 8, 2024
I could not finish this book. The language was just too simple, it was full of stereotypes and the plot was contrived and did not interest me at all.
August 22, 2018
This book's heart was in the right place, but I was expecting something a little edgier.
July 20, 2018
Novel set in ISRAEL
“gone off the path”
First of all, the cover has to get a mention! Simple and eye catching. Enough said.
Raising Sparks opens in the Charedi world of the Sabbatto family living in Jerusalem, who are bound by the traditional values of their ultra Orthodox faith. Malka is one of three daughters, who is a spirited young teenage woman who yearns for a freedom that she cannot find within her community. Her father is a supremely religious man, who, going against religious tradition, is very inclusive of Malka in his reading and teaching, although it is not usual practise to extend deep religious learning to a female. But one day he stops. He then reveals a secret to Malka that undermines the ethos of his position and religion and puts her world into a spin.
Kabbalah is an esoteric, mystical tradition that evolved within Judaism. It now has a more New Age feel, it has been a popular choice amongst celebrities, and allegiance to this ‘faith’ is symbolised by a simple red band, worn on the wrist, a sign of the holy fellowship. And it is to this community that Malka is serendipitously drawn; she sets off on her travels in search of spiritual richness. She has indeed “gone of the path“.
Moshe has arrived in Israel from Russia and finds the ways of his adoptive society quite alienating in some ways. Yet he is an intelligent young man and he finds himself studying religion amongst the best… until things turn sour. He is already on the edge of the community when he steps out of line to spend just a few unchaperoned hours with Malka. Once she is on her spiritual path, he must decide where his own destiny lies.
This is a beautifully written novel that initiates the reader into a virtually closed world. And a world of different cultures struggling to co-exist. The novel is not a judgement of lifestyle but a rich exploration of character and destiny that allows the reader to be involved in a world beyond normal experience. It won’t be a novel for everyone, but will be a good choice for someone who is looking for a deeper understanding of religion and culture.
On our blog you can also catch the author's #TalkingLocationWith... feature, where he offers top tips for Jerusalem and Jaffa, he says: "teaser trailer for two cities I love"
“gone off the path”
First of all, the cover has to get a mention! Simple and eye catching. Enough said.
Raising Sparks opens in the Charedi world of the Sabbatto family living in Jerusalem, who are bound by the traditional values of their ultra Orthodox faith. Malka is one of three daughters, who is a spirited young teenage woman who yearns for a freedom that she cannot find within her community. Her father is a supremely religious man, who, going against religious tradition, is very inclusive of Malka in his reading and teaching, although it is not usual practise to extend deep religious learning to a female. But one day he stops. He then reveals a secret to Malka that undermines the ethos of his position and religion and puts her world into a spin.
Kabbalah is an esoteric, mystical tradition that evolved within Judaism. It now has a more New Age feel, it has been a popular choice amongst celebrities, and allegiance to this ‘faith’ is symbolised by a simple red band, worn on the wrist, a sign of the holy fellowship. And it is to this community that Malka is serendipitously drawn; she sets off on her travels in search of spiritual richness. She has indeed “gone of the path“.
Moshe has arrived in Israel from Russia and finds the ways of his adoptive society quite alienating in some ways. Yet he is an intelligent young man and he finds himself studying religion amongst the best… until things turn sour. He is already on the edge of the community when he steps out of line to spend just a few unchaperoned hours with Malka. Once she is on her spiritual path, he must decide where his own destiny lies.
This is a beautifully written novel that initiates the reader into a virtually closed world. And a world of different cultures struggling to co-exist. The novel is not a judgement of lifestyle but a rich exploration of character and destiny that allows the reader to be involved in a world beyond normal experience. It won’t be a novel for everyone, but will be a good choice for someone who is looking for a deeper understanding of religion and culture.
On our blog you can also catch the author's #TalkingLocationWith... feature, where he offers top tips for Jerusalem and Jaffa, he says: "teaser trailer for two cities I love"
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