2025 Theses Bachelor's

The Politics of Love as National Identity: Hitbolelut as a Literary Trope in Gader Chaya (2014)

Kux, Mira Simone

Published in May 2014, Gader Chaya, a romance novel by Persian-Jewish Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan, sparked national controversy when it was banned from Israel’s high school curriculum for allegedly promoting hitbolelut—inter-ethnic romance between Jews and gentiles, especially between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs. The novel tells the tragic love story of Liat, a Persian-Jewish Israeli, and Hilmi, a Palestinian, set in post-9/11 New York against the backdrop of the Second Intifada and the building of the Israeli separation wall. The title, meaning both “hedge” and metaphorically a “living fence,” underscores the emotional and political boundaries between the lovers. Framed by Liat’s liberal Zionist perspective, the novel explores themes of national betrayal and diasporic freedom. Rooted in Rabinyan’s real-life relationship with Palestinian artist Hassan Hourani, the novel’s censorship and acclaim reflect Israel’s deep anxieties around assimilation. This thesis traces hitbolelut through five essays: its biblical and linguistic origins; its paradox within a Jewish-majority state; its role in post-Zionist identity; its literary function in Gader Chaya; and its social reception. The Epilogue revisits how hitbolelut both defines and divides Jewish Israeli society.