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Why I like Writing about Older Singles, Failed Men & Other Stuff
Journalist Michael Orbach asked me a few questions for "Jewish Action" and I thought I'd share the Q&A:
Q: Was it difficult leaving Israel?
A: I remember my last day there, I felt like my stomach was getting ripped out of me. I�ll put it this way: In Israel whenever I got in someone�s daled amos, their four cubits of space, I could almost hear a song under the breath. There was this uplift, this musicality that was thrumming through Israeli life. When I came to America it felt a lot saner but there was just so much less beauty. I didn�t feel that underlying spiritual bass rhythm.
Q: Both your main characters seem flawed. What is it that attracted you to write about them?
A: I think that, if I�m honest, I�m very attracted to writing about failed men. Men who are on the verge; Isaac is the almost person: he almost became a rabbi; he almost married the woman of his dreams; he almost started a yeshiva. [I�m interested in] people who strive but are not quite there. People who are successful don�t always strike me as interesting. They�re not in a state of yearning because often a person who is successful has already arrived, at least in his or her own mind, and so they�re just boring to me, fairly or not.
That�s why I�m also attracted to singles, especially older singles. They�re in limbo, not there yet, whatever �there� means.
Q: Was it difficult leaving Israel?
A: I remember my last day there, I felt like my stomach was getting ripped out of me. I�ll put it this way: In Israel whenever I got in someone�s daled amos, their four cubits of space, I could almost hear a song under the breath. There was this uplift, this musicality that was thrumming through Israeli life. When I came to America it felt a lot saner but there was just so much less beauty. I didn�t feel that underlying spiritual bass rhythm.
Q: Both your main characters seem flawed. What is it that attracted you to write about them?
A: I think that, if I�m honest, I�m very attracted to writing about failed men. Men who are on the verge; Isaac is the almost person: he almost became a rabbi; he almost married the woman of his dreams; he almost started a yeshiva. [I�m interested in] people who strive but are not quite there. People who are successful don�t always strike me as interesting. They�re not in a state of yearning because often a person who is successful has already arrived, at least in his or her own mind, and so they�re just boring to me, fairly or not.
That�s why I�m also attracted to singles, especially older singles. They�re in limbo, not there yet, whatever �there� means.
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