{"id":98091,"date":"2026-05-05T01:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T01:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/98091\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T01:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T01:51:18","slug":"berlin-based-hebrew-press-builds-global-literary-home-beyond-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/98091\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin-based Hebrew press builds global literary home beyond Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Berlin<\/a>-based Hebrew publishing house founded by two Israeli expatriates is aiming to build a global home for Hebrew and Jewish literature, positioning itself beyond national frameworks and outside Israeli state funding.<\/p>\n

Dory Manor and Moshe Sakal, partners in life and publishing, launched Altneuland in 2024 after years of living in Berlin and Paris. Though both are Israeli, they say their press is neither Israeli nor European, but instead a platform for Hebrew literature from around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that the Hebrew language is not only a national language,\u201d said Manor, the editor-in-chief. \u201cHebrew has always been a global language, and even modern Hebrew has been an international language, mostly European but not only, before the creation of the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

A global home for Hebrew literature<\/p>\n

Altneuland is the first non-religious Hebrew publishing house established outside Israel since the country\u2019s founding. The press has expanded beyond Hebrew literature to include Jewish authors writing in German, French, Russian, and Yiddish.<\/p>\n

The company is set to launch in the United States<\/a> this fall, with an English-language book by Ruth Margalit and translations of Hebrew works by Noa Yedlin and Itamar Orlev.<\/p>\n

It is also the German publisher of \u201cThe Future is Peace,\u201d a New York Times bestseller by Israeli Maoz Inon and Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah.<\/p>\n

\"\"Positioning beyond Israeli state funding<\/p>\n

At a time when some authors and publishers have called for boycotts of Israeli institutions, Manor and Sakal say Altneuland is not part of that movement. They continue to work with writers in Israel and sell to Israeli bookstores.<\/p>\n

Establishing the publishing house in Berlin made them ineligible for Israeli public funding, allowing them to avoid questions surrounding government support.<\/p>\n

Sakal said Israel remains a central hub for Hebrew and Jewish literature, but not the only one. \u201cWe are not replacing it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are doing something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altneuland allows the founders to work with writers<\/a> while remaining separate from the Israeli Ministry of Culture, which supports the publishing industry through prizes and funding.<\/p>\n

In January, the ministry canceled its annual culture prizes, with Culture Minister Miki Zohar citing concerns over political bias. The move highlighted broader tensions between the government and the arts sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis government is, for me, an enemy of Israel and not Israel itself,\u201d said Manor. \u201cSo no, I\u2019m not boycotting anyone, but I don\u2019t want to deal with the current Israeli government. I do want to deal with Israeli readers, with Israeli writers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writers, readers, and a borderless literary space<\/p>\n

The founders say their goal is to create a home for Jewish authors with a liberal outlook, particularly those navigating rising nationalism in Israel and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Margalit, a Tel Aviv-based journalist, will publish a collection of her political and cultural profiles, \u201cIn the Belly of the Whale: Portraits from a Fractured Israel,\u201d in September through a collaboration with Pushkin Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when so many people are quick to jump to labels or cancellations, it was bracing to find thoughtful partners,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Israeli-born author Michal Arad, who has lived in California for over two decades, will see her Hebrew novel published in German by Altneuland. Her work reflects a broader trend in Hebrew literature that explores life outside Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been thrilled to see that Israeli readers are willing, even eager, to read stories about Israeli expatriates,\u201d Arad said.<\/p>\n

Altneuland takes its name from Theodor Herzl\u2019s 1902 novel, meaning \u201cold new land,\u201d reflecting what Manor described as a literary space not bound by territory. \u201cIt is the Hebrew language,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Berlin, home to a large Israeli expatriate community, provides both a practical and symbolic base. The founders also see their work as continuing the legacy of Schocken Verlag, a Jewish publishing house that operated in Berlin until it was shut down under Nazi rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we find is the possibility of a Jewish cultural space that is cosmopolitan, multilingual, humanist, non-national, and not dependent on a single territory,\u201d said Sakal.<\/p>\n

While some critics question whether a Hebrew-language press can succeed outside Israel, the founders say demand remains strong, particularly among Israeli readers, while also growing abroad.<\/p>\n

Naomi Firestone-Teeter, CEO of the Jewish Book Council<\/a>, said the initiative comes at a time of increased pressure on Jewish authors globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this moment, we see their effort as a meaningful contribution to the Jewish literary landscape,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Altneuland\u2019s books in German and English are produced through collaborations with international publishers. Despite concerns about potential boycotts, the founders said their outreach has largely been met with openness.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually we had interesting talks with people who understood the nuances between our being a Hebrew publishing house and Israel as a state,\u201d said Manor. \u201cThis is something that we could not predict when we created Altneuland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Berlin-based Hebrew publishing house founded by two Israeli expatriates is aiming to build a global home for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[536,537,21734,37,2751,34380,18428],"class_list":{"0":"post-98091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-germany","10":"tag-hebrew","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-journalism","13":"tag-publishing","14":"tag-reading"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116519467993463650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}