Summer in Galilee

If ever there was an immediate affection from me to an author, I found it here. Juliette has a singular voice that is recognizable and appealing. I wish I had known her.I have no way of knowing how well or how badly her original words were edited and changed, but I do know that the ones I read were examples of smooth clarity. Her descriptions filled one's mind with plentiful pictures that resonated. Her loving heart came through in every sentence.I found the book to be an interesting history of her time, a peek back (and yet not so far back!) to how things were done before our highly technological age. Her authority is believable as she explains, describes and explores the land and its people and animals. Not a hugely important work, this book, but a charming nugget of golden memories and knowledge that one can learn from and appreciate.

Lorraine N. Mackler writes: the book is a fine introduction to the area. I do think, however, that believing Christians would be able to embrace it more than I did.

This beautifully-written description of ancient and modern Tiberias on Lake Galilee is a joy to read. Not only does the author provide us with a fascinating mix of the old and new, she intersperses her stories with accounts of the natural healing properties of herbs:"Herbs,pure and always marvelous in their deep and unchanging healing powers, have never failed me."  Summer in GALILEE  I was filled with a sense of wonder as I followed this brave and humble woman, accompanied by her two young children, along a journey miraculous in its simplicity. No author has touched me in quite the same way as Juliette de Bairacli Levy has in this book.

When Juliette de Baïracli Levy wrote Summer in Galilee in 1959, she was already a well known published author and poet. Her fluid and lovely narrative is rich and vivid in its descriptions of the people, places and animals she came to know during her remarkable life's journey. The original work is a wonderful book. This re-issue is not. For inexplicable reasons - arrogance and ignorance on the part of Susan Weed and the editors of Ash Tree, I suspect - this wonderful book been extensively edited and re-worked, with alterations, revisions and deletions throughout. The extent of the editing is so great that there is a paragraph (warning) at the top of page 1 stating "This new edition of Juliette's memoir has been edited for accuracy and clarity.....making it SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT (emphasis mine) from the earlier work of the same name...." There was absolutely no reason to tamper with Juliette's book and what was done to her original writing is really awful. Don't buy this book. Save your money and get the original book through interlibrary loan and treat yourself to the authentic writing of this remarkable woman.

I enjoyed this book. It's not a huge book but you find yourself immersed in the writer's world, imagining what it was like back in the day.

Readers should be aware that the author is a Christian. Around one third of the way through, she talks about her faith and the rejection of Jesus by the Jews in a way that is to her honest. I am a devout Jew who had read this book thinking it would be interesting background to my upcoming trip to the Galilee. It is interesting background, but perhaps because of many initial references to her Jewish upbringing and even her attendance at Yom Kippur services, I was shocked to learn that she had embraced Jesus. I was also thinking that her name "Levy" suggested that she was Jewish. I, unlike the author, believe that being a Jew and believing in Jesus are mutually exclusive. The bottom line is, as long as you know this, the book is a fine introduction to the area. I do think, however, that believing Christians would be able to embrace it more than I did. Amazon should take it out of their "Jewish books" category!

"Always I have tried to live close to water, by seas or lakes or rivers." With this sentence Juliette de Bairacli levy begins her memoir Summer in Galilee. She weaves her words around the ancient region surrounding the 600 feet below sea level Lake of Galilee, also called the Sea of Galilee, Sea of Genossar, Sea of Taricheal The Jewel, The Silver Woman, The Blue Harp, and The Sacred lake.And as many names as are given to the Lake of Galilee, in just so many ways does she describes it, through all its many guises, "that water calm, and smooth as new cloth one hour, then wave-possessed and seething the next" (22).I came away from the book feeling an intimate connection with the lake and the area. Her extraordinary writing style brings the rocks, the earth, the plants, the insects, the animals and the people into clear sharp-edged relief, as bright as the sun in the blazing summer of her tale.Her description of the colors of this region is remarkable. "The lakes waters, when I saw them and swam in them from the beginning of summer to past its ending, were rarely the turquoise for which the lake (Sea) of Galilee is famous. The heat was too white over the water most days, and the sky often almost colorless also . . . I recall mostly the grays and faint blues and the milky whites, like opals, and the rays of color striping the waters, rose, coral, amethyst, flax blue, fern green, or saffron" (26).Do not mistake this book as a travel memoir, for it is much more than that. The insights she shares about the sacred places and the people of the region comes from one who lived with and is of the people, not one who merely visited. She and her two children, son Rafik and daughter Luz, and her noble Afghan Hound Fuego, go on many fascinating adventures within the various cultures surrounding the Sea of Galilee.She found antiquities in the lake while living in the old town of Tiberias, worked as a farmer and as a shepherd in a Turkish kibbutz, camped out in a destroyed Arab house in Galilee, even managing a forbidden visit to the Toobah Bedouins. And that's only a narrow sampling of her exploits.If your geographical knowledge is extensive, unlike mine, you won't need this tip, but if not, get a good map of the area to hold close to you as you read--like you do when reading a National Geographic article. Those who have a familiarity with the history of the region will surely find their knowledge enhanced. Those without will be gifted with an understanding particular and personal that brings to both ancient and contemporary history awareness and appreciation.Anyone who has ever read Juliette must have this book. In my opinion, it is one of her best. And if you haven't read her before, don't wait any longer for the very fulfilling experience of a Summer in Galilee.Jan Calloway-Baxter

Another beautiful and inspiring book by Juliette. Highly recommend any of her books. She is an inspiration to all women.