The Beggar's Cup

Learning a little something is always a plus in a book, and THE BEGGAR'S CUP, by Eric Blau gave me a little bit of something I didn't know before. I knew nothing about the making of Israel - except that it is a made country. And Herzl was all new to me - although I am still not sure I learned too much about him. The circle of Moe Cohen leaving Kolkowicz and coming to the US - believing he was the only survivor and then Zach and Kalia joining the Burnside Synagogue and meeting Horowitz - who is from the same town in Poland. Was he one of the boys that left with Cohen? I re-read the early part of the book but not many names were listed. The book was all over the place - and Moe bowing out of the story and becoming a side shadow was disappointing to me. He was the story... Zach's half-this half-that dilemna, and Kalia insane craving to be Jewish were distracting. Even at the end, I am still not sure what they accomplished for themselves. Are they happy because they have returned to their "people"? Or because they have found a way to relate to God? This book brings this question up very nicely - and it was something that I kept reading to see if they answered this (Zach & Kalia) but they never quite addressed it. It seemed to be mostly about the trappings for them. The constant dilemna that Herzl faces between his real human side and his urge to create a homeland and people placing him on a pedestal. And the way he seems to have wanted that pedestal status. The unfortunate deception and persecution that Jewish people have been subjected to over and over throughout history. The struggle to keep Israel alive in its infancy, which is a struggle that persists as we speak. That Israel is at all is amazing - well, it has help, but still... An excellent read.

Having recently focused my personal reading on various aspects of Jewish culture, I found Beggar's Cup to be a unique treatment of this particular facet of history. Told from the viewpoint of a Gentile screen writer who learns that his father was a Jew, Beggar's Cup takes the reader on the journey with the writer as he struggles to understand his paternity, his own views of God and religion, and the Jewish hero, Theodor Herzl, whose story he becomes obsessed with telling on screen. The story is told half in the present tense and half as the screenplay of Herzl's life. Tells something of human nature in the process. Most enjoyable to those who acquaint themselves a bit with Jewish history, particularly the role of Theodor Herzl, beforehand.