Nataly Shohat

Blogging to Anne Nataly Shohat

With wisdom and sensitivity, "Blogging to Anne" weaves a connection between the horrors of the Holocaust as experienced by the Jewish people, and contemporary youth, by imagining are relationship between two girls who write diaries: Anne Frank, who today would have been in her late eighties if she had survived, and Ye'ara Levi, who writes a blog in 2017, during her bat mitzvah year. In this book, Nataly Shohat addresses the fact that a few years from today, no survivors will remain to tell the story of the Holocaust first-hand. Shohat responds to the need to bridge the growing gap between the incomprehensible disaster that befell the Jewish people and subsequent generations who are increasingly distant from the historical event. With this story, the author has chosen to create a new layer that will enable young people to approach the topic and sharpen their memory and commemoration of the Holocaust. Without emphasizing the extreme atrocities, this story illuminates Anne's well-known heroic attempt at survival through the eyes of a girl in the 21st century. Calling herself "Anne's Friend," Ye'ara records her daily life during her bat mitzvah year: friends, school, after-school activities. In modern, flowing language, Ye'ara creates a dialogue with Anne's diary and with the character of Anne herself. Through her blog, Ye'ara grapples with the issue of coping with the Holocaust and its implications - as individuals, as a nation, and as human beings. This book integrates an informal, everyday writing style with an innocently curious, yet serious attempt to grasp the incomprehensible - how to address unknown horror and unanswerable questions. What you'll find here: - Understanding the Holocaust through a contemporary girl's viewpoint and in relation to the familiar story of Anne Frank. - Creating a connection between past and present generations through "correspondence" between two diaries and two girls. - Raising awareness of the Holocaust among youth in Israel and around the world - a tool to combat Holocaust denial. - Knowledge about the lives of contemporary youth in Israel through modern tools - social media publishing. - A universal message: despite geographical, temporal and national differences, we all have the same truths, dreams and fears. Nataly Shohat is married and a mother of two. She is an archivist, database manager, author and editor. She has published two children's books, Party in Circle City and Animal Mix-Up, and a collection of short stories for adults entitled Barren - Tales of the Longing for Motherhood. She has also published articles in the internet journal Megaphone, on the tiyulim.net website, the IDF archives website, and various blogs.