Mourning for Papa. A Story of a Syrian-Jewish Family in Mexico (review)

Not often does one get invited into the sometimes uproarious, other times uncomfortable world of another's painfully personal family experiences. But Jacobo Sefamí's Mourning for Papa, skillfully translated from the Spanish by Kay S. García, does just this. In its absorbing 239 pages, the novel invites readers into a complicated web of woes. A family is torn by the loss of its affable patriarch, and individual family members and friends struggle with the clash of tradition and modernity regarding everything from how to bathe, eat, and pray. Despite the gravity of its context, and the intense weeklong shiva period that delimits the plot's timeframe in which the book's actions take place (which is actually prolonged and made worse because the patriarch's death occurs exactly on the eve of the Jewish New Year, and ends by Yom Kippur), Mourning for Papa dispels any possible doubt one might have for its ability to thoroughly humanize and even find humor in what are very quickly revealed to be convoluted and simultaneously hilarious and poignant family tensions. It contains discussions about conflicted marriage arrangements, failed joint family business ventures, obliged good behavior with disliked relatives, and even 'haraam' [religiously prohibited] sexual liaisons. Fleeting flashbacks, exacerbated family discord, and rehashed failures and triumphs often punctuate what begins as a very personal perspective on what should be a somber week of reflection and mourning. Such domestic drama reflects how large family gatherings, celebratory or mournful, often bring out the many layers of complexity that families often ignore in favor of socially acceptable outward appearances.

Such is the world of indecision and confusion to which Sefamí introduces us. Cleverly placed headers at the beginning of each chapter remind us of the multiple worlds that either collide or coexist in his novel. Each one begins with the day's date from the Jewish calendar, the Western calendar, and special information and instructions meant for the immediate family of the deceased. As readers advance through the days, they are challenged by the restrictions placed upon the bereaved family members and other mourners—as if they were mourners themselves. Readers can grieve, but also enjoy the all- too descriptive flashbacks that effortlessly connect past and present.

However, the novel also successfully introduces us to the world of Mexico City's Syrian Jewish population, a place that will no doubt be rather unfamiliar to at least some percentage of its readers. By virtue of this invitation, we are quickly plunged into a context that at once challenges many common perceptions about Jews, Hispanic or not. It may be intriguing enough for many readers to 'discover' a world of Sephardic Jews in Mexico, but then to additionally lead them to realize that these are Spanish- and Arabic-speaking Jews from Syria, or their first- and second-generation descendants, is yet another edifying displacement the readers must endure. They are then able to immerse themselves in a place impregnated with the sound of Arabic blessings and terms of endearment, the dulcit tones of Arabic music, the pungent smell of culinary delicacies that we learn are as 'Jewish' to these children of Abraham as gefilte fish, blintzes, and bagels to their Ashkenazi brethren. Furthermore, the members of the Galante family, the principal mourners, are as comfortable eating kibbe, pita bread and hummus, as they are savoring chilaquiles, roscas, and tacos. Both cuisines 'nourish' the Galante family; both represent them as Syrian-Jewish-Mexicans.

Don Simón Galante, the deceased, has left behind a large family: a beleaguered wife, Rebeca, seven sons, their past and present spouses, their children, and myriad aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins-in-law, religious acquaintances, non-Jewish friends ex-girlfriends, and even a number of paid and unsolicited mourners. Missing from this list of the living is Raquel, the Galantes' little girl who was killed tragically in a pedestrian accident while in...