5 book club questions about Ayelet Tsabari’s The Art of Leaving

On February 20th, MJF and Bet Shalom will welcome award-winning author Ayelet Tsabari for a night of conversation about Ayelet’s memoir, The Art of Leaving. (There are still some tickets left!) Candid, smart, and at times gut-wrenching, Tsabari's memoir follows the author as she travels the world in search herself and a sense of home while grappling with her identity as an Israeli of Yemeni descent.

Haven’t had a chance to check it out yet? There’s still time to read it—and to discuss it with your friends so that you’re ready for the 20th! Here’s 5 questions about The Art of Leaving for you and your book clubbers to get the discussion rolling.

1.    Why does a younger Ayelet so vehemently distance herself from the figure of the freha girl in the essay “A Simple Girl”? How Does this essay highlight the stereotypes that Mizrahi Jews—particularly women—face in Israel?

2.    The epigraph to Part III, Return, states that “not-belonging, also, can be a kind of belonging.” How does this quote fit with Ayelet’s journey of self-discovery? When have you belonged by not-belonging?

3.    In “Soldiers,” Ayelet writes that Arabic, “the language of my grandparents, who had emigrated from Yemen to Israel, [was] a language I resisted studying school, learning to associate it with the enemy rather than with my own heritage.” In what other ways does a younger Ayelet deny or rebel against her heritage? Why do think she has internalized these prejudices?

4.    How does Ayelet define “home” over the course of her memoir? Does the definition change? Is it different from your definition of home?

5.    Towards the end of “Yemeni Soup and Other Recipes,” Ayelet writes, “When I stand by my electric stove and pour hawayij into the pot, I’m a Jewish Yemeni woman making soup. I forget I live in a cold and strange city, ten time zones away from my family. I’m home.” What does this quote and essay tell you about Ayelet’s journey of self-discovery?

(Want to know Ayelet’s answers to some similar questions? Check out our interview with her here!)