Upon a Certain Place: On the Dialectics of Transmitting Tradition in the Work of Haim Be'er

Haim Be'er is recognized by Hebrew literary criticism as a writer who conducts a profound dialogue between ancient Jewish texts and modern Jewish-Israeli culture. This article offers a critical appraisal of this view. Through a reading of Be'er's novel Lifnei ha-makom (Upon a Certain Place, 2007), the article offers a new way of looking at how Be'er sees the relation between old and new. Instead of mediating between tradition and modernity and translating the old for a generation that has partly severed ties with it, Lifnei ha-makom undermines the very mediation that is so much identified with Be'er's work. Be'er's novel boldly examines what it means to live a Jewish life almost devoid of books. The role of tradition, in this scheme, is to be present in the world of the new generation without undergoing interpretation. The article links between this attitude and deep processes in contemporary Israeli culture.