{"id":2951,"date":"2008-05-13T17:47:28","date_gmt":"2008-05-14T01:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=2951"},"modified":"2008-05-14T07:54:42","modified_gmt":"2008-05-14T15:54:42","slug":"feast-your-eyes-upon-orit-arfas-literary-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=2951","title":{"rendered":"Feast Your Eyes Upon Orit Arfa’s Literary Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tishu B’Av 2001, Orit Arfa came to my hovel and gave me a bracha.<\/p>\n

She told me she was working on a book on Genesis.<\/p>\n

I was fascinated. I wanted to learn more about her views on the first book of the Torah.<\/p>\n

I wanted to study it with her.<\/p>\n

I wanted to make her my rebbe.<\/p>\n

Unlike most men, I was far more interested in Orit’s mind than her body.<\/p>\n

The vessel will decay and fade away but her soul will live forever.<\/p>\n

As part of my preparation for the Sabbath, I was just checking out OritArfa.net and found these inspirational messages<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Orit Arfa was born and raised in Los Angeles. She immigrated to Israel in 1999. She has lived in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Orit is now based in Jerusalem where she works as a journalist covering travel, lifestyle, nightlife, arts and entertainment and politics. In addition to writing, Orit paints large scale Biblical portraits.<\/font><\/p>\n

Orit is a regular correspondent for The Jerusalem Post<\/em> and The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles<\/em>. Her articles and columns have also appeared in Israel Insider, Israel21.com, Israel National News, The Forward, New Jersey Jewish News,<\/em> and The Jewish Chronicle<\/em>. Orit has already developed a respectable legion of loyal readers and fans.<\/font><\/p>\n

In the past Orit has worked as a publicist for The Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem, The Israel Museum and Muzik School of Creation and Production in Tel Aviv. <\/font><\/p>\n

She holds an M.A. in Bible and Jewish Thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary and is an independent scholar of the work and ideas of Ayn Rand. She has studied art at Mission Renaissance, UCLA, and Yeshiva University.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Orit’s Debut Novel: The Dance of Dawn<\/h2>\n

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Orit’s debut novel, The Dance of Dawn<\/em>, tells the story of <\/font>Sarah “Shachar” Dakar, a 21-year old resident of Gush Katif, an agricultural settlement bloc in Gaza, who is forcefully evacuated with her family from her home as part of Israel’s Disengagment from Gaza in 2005. The evacuation creates within Sarah a crisis of faith– in her country and in God—for how could the Jewish State and her God destroy a vibrant Jewish community?<\/font><\/p>\n

Sarah discovers Atlantis, the hottest Tel Aviv nightclub—a perfect place for her to actualize her rebellion and escape the pain of her loss. To enter this new, liberal world of freedom, music, sexuality, and style, she suppresses her settler past and develops a romance with the “king of nightlife”, Ziv Harel, owner of Atlantis. A series of tragedies hit Atlantis that force both Sarah and Harel to examine their choices and deep-seated values. <\/font><\/p>\n

Dael Mark, Sarah’s cousin and talented musician, encourages Sarah to develop her voice and never to hide who she is. DJ Elman, the resident DJ of Atlantis, encourages Harel to be the father of a new, vanguard culture in Tel Aviv in which Jewish values and Zionism play no part. <\/font><\/p>\n

What happens when the world of Gush Katif and the world of Tel Aviv nightlife collide? <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n

About The Dance of Dawn<\/h3>\n
The Dance of Dawn<\/em> was first conceived in 2002 as a modernization of The Book of Esther<\/em>. Since then it has undergone many incarnations and revisions. In addition to drawing from The Book of Esther<\/em>, the novel has also been inspired by a more modern classic, The Fountainhead<\/em> by Ayn Rand. <\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"\" <\/a> <\/span><\/div>\n

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Orit’s Future Works<\/h3>\n
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Currently Orit is working on a literary comparison of The Book of Esther<\/em> and The Fountainhead<\/em> as well as a futuristic novel set in Israel inspired by Atlas Shrugged<\/em>. Her long-range works include a philosophical exegesis of the Book of Genesis and central passages of the Book of Deuteronomy that formulate a systematic, individualistic interpretation of Judaism.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n