Vox Tablet

In ‘The Store,’ the Arrival of a Second-Hand Shop Unhinges an Israeli Village

Short fiction by David Ehrlich, the owner of Jerusalem’s beloved bookstore café Tmol Shilshom, and read for us by novelist John Haskell

July 29, 2013

David Ehrlich is best known as the founder of Tmol Shilshom, a bookstore café in the heart of Jerusalem that has long been a popular gathering place for writers and artists. It’s named after the novel by S. Y. Agnon and has hosted readings by the leading lights of Israeli literature, from Yehuda Amichai to David Grossman, as well as renowned writers from abroad.

Ehrlich is himself a writer, primarily of essays and short stories. Now Syracuse University Press has published Who Will Die Last: Stories of Life in Israel, the first collection of his stories to be translated into English. In today’s podcast, we invited Brooklyn novelist and performer John Haskell to read Ehrlich’s “The Store,” an eerily calm accounting of a horrific chapter in the life of an insular Israeli village. “The Store” was first published in English by Whereabouts Press, in a collection titled Israel: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. [Running time: 15:13.]

Vox Tablet is Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast, hosted by Sara Ivry and produced by Julie Subrin. You can listen to individual episodes here or subscribe on iTunes.

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