One Day Some Schlemiel Will Marry Me, Pay the Bills, and Hug Me: Parents & Children Kvetch on Arab & Jewish Intermarriage, by Anne Hart , paperback 168 pages, published Oct 2003, iUniverse, Inc., ISBN: 0-595-29826-5. This book is about Arab & Jewish Intermarriage: Parents and Children of Polish American Jewish Mothers and Arab (Syrian) American Moslem Fathers Speak Out on their children's intermarriage and large, happy families, grandchildren, marriages, and interfaith peaceful coexistence, education, goals, and
family life in various American suburbs.
What do 21-year old single women want in a future, in their goals? What do they want at 45 and at 70? What do married women in interfaith marriages want? What are their
goals and what do their memoirs say?
Children speak out—children with an Arab father and Jewish mother, and their parents talk about what culture meetings and discussions are really like in the home and in private. The
dialogue reveals a voice of resilience and confidence contrasting with a desire to recover the lost history of both their ancestors. Cooperation versus competition. Grandparents with no formal education and minimum wage jobs face grandchildren with graduate degrees and I.Q.s over 140. And parents are in the middle. Yiddish culture faces Syrian culture in Brooklyn.
Goals on both sides are for serenity and security. The mistress of dialogue reveals real people talking as in these quotes from mother and daughter conversations, mother and children, and family and children, grandchildren and parents discussing each one’s personal view of what he or she thinks that golden goal of peace of mind is that leads to “what every mother wants…”
“Someday some schlemiel out there will marry me, pay all the bills, and hug me every morning. Isn’t that what every mother wants and passes on to her daughters—especially when paid jobs and other income are scarce?” “What does it feel like to live disguised as an Arab housewife for seven years in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn?” It feels like by doing something differently, I could inspire someone to change the world in a positive way for all sides.
“I wish I had a close, loving, warm, joy-filled family. Don’t we all? It takes work, but it can be done. That’s why my favorite
movie was
My Big, Fat Greek Wedding. I look towards the characters in that movie as role models for how families with a core identity could interact with joy of life.”
In the 20 chapters of
One Day Some Schlemiel Will Marry Me, Pay the Bills, And Hug Me, you’ll find one family’s role in Arab & Jewish Intermarriage: Parents and Children of Jewish Mothers and Arab Moslem Fathers Speak Out.
Browse the book at the publisher’s Web site at: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-29826-5.
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