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Biography & True StoriesJanuary 2014Beyond Writing
by Ibrahim Abdelmeguid
One of Egypt’s leading literary voices offers a first-hand look at political, social, cultural events of the last 40 years and how they influenced his writing. Ibrahim Abdelmeguid, called “the quintessential writer about Alexandria” by The National newspaper, looks back over his decades-long writing career this book, which what he calls a “literary autobiography.” In it, he reflects on the social, political, and cultural influences in Egypt and elsewhere that have shaped him as a writer. He shares his views on major political events, such as the 1967 defeat after the Six-Day War, and explanations of their profound impact on his personal life and works of fiction. Abdelmeguid devotes a portion of his work to discussing the development of his views on Egypt’s second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, over the course of his turbulent tenure in office. The book is divided into a brief introduction and four chapters. Abdelmeguid guides the reader through his literary career, moving masterfully between the factual and the meditative. He explores how each of his novels and many of his short stories was conceived. He also describes cultural, political, and social contexts in which his writing evolved and was received by literary critics and casual readers. He spends considerable time describing the creative process behind his Alexandria trilogy— No One Sleeps in Alexandria, Birds of Amber, and Clouds Over Alexandria. The first book, No One Sleeps in Alexandria, is set during World War II. Abdelmeguid visited numerous key sites in Alexandria and surrounding areas and read every newspaper he could get his hands on. The result of his devotion to research is a vibrant portrayal of Alexandria that shines throughout the epic novel. Of particular note is his successful communication of the cultural and religious diversity of the city and the impact of that on the promotion of a culture of tolerance. Beyond Writing is a rare and important addition to the modern Arabic literary map. Few Arab authors are willing to so transparently share their writing process, preferring to highlight the polished final product while concealing the hard work that brought it into existence. Readers are lucky that it is a writer as prominent, thoughtful, and engaging as Abdelmeguid is willing to draw back the curtain.
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July 2019Abraham trifft Ibrahîm
Streifzüge durch Bibel und Koran
by Sibylle Lewitscharoff, Najem Wali, Christine Battermann
Eine hochdramatische Szene: Der Vater beugt sich über den wehrlosen Jungen, das Messer blitzt in seiner Hand – da befiehlt ihm im letzten Moment ein Engel, statt des eigenen Sohnes einen Widder zu opfern. Die Geschichte von Abraham und Isaak ist bekannt. Dass sie dem Philosophen Kierkegaard eine schlaflose Nacht am Berliner Gendarmenmarkt bescherte, in deren Verlauf ihm eine göttliche Maus erschien, um Fragen der Barmherzigkeit zu erörtern – das weiß nur Sibylle Lewitscharoff. Was wiederum der Koran aus diesem Stoff macht, davon erzählt uns Najem Wali. Von Eva bis Maria, von Moses bis Satan: Neun Figuren aus Bibel und Koran haben die sprachmächtige Religionswissenschaftlerin Sibylle Lewitscharoff und der irakisch-deutsche Autor Najem Wali ausgewählt. Deren Geschichten gehen die beiden aus ihrer je eigenen Sicht nach, temperamentvoll, engagiert, auch augenzwinkernd. Mit dem geplagten Hiob fragen sie nach der göttlichen Gerechtigkeit, mit Jona, dem ängstlichen Wal-Reisenden, nach Mut und Toleranz und berühren mit ihrem Dialog zwischen den Weltreligionen die Krisen unserer Zeit.
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May 2018Abraham trifft Ibrahîm. Streifzüge durch Bibel und Koran
by Sibylle Lewitscharoff, Najem Wali, Christine Battermann
Eine hochdramatische Szene: Der Vater beugt sich über den wehrlosen Jungen, das Messer blitzt in seiner Hand – da befiehlt ihm im letzten Moment ein Engel, statt des eigenen Sohnes einen Widder zu opfern. Die Geschichte von Abraham und Isaak ist bekannt. Dass sie dem Philosophen Kierkegaard eine schlaflose Nacht am Berliner Gendarmenmarkt bescherte, in deren Verlauf ihm eine göttliche Maus erschien, um Fragen der Barmherzigkeit zu erörtern – das weiß nur Sibylle Lewitscharoff. Was wiederum der Koran aus diesem Stoff macht, davon erzählt uns Najem Wali. Von Eva bis Maria, von Moses bis Satan: Neun Figuren aus Bibel und Koran haben die sprachmächtige Religionswissenschaftlerin Sibylle Lewitscharoff und der irakisch-deutsche Autor Najem Wali ausgewählt. Deren Geschichten gehen die beiden aus ihrer je eigenen Sicht nach, temperamentvoll, engagiert, auch augenzwinkernd. Mit dem geplagten Hiob fragen sie nach der göttlichen Gerechtigkeit, mit Jona, dem ängstlichen Wal-Reisenden, nach Mut und Toleranz und berühren mit ihrem Dialog zwischen den Weltreligionen die Krisen unserer Zeit.
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February 2017Abraham – Ibrahim
Interreligiöses Grundschulmaterial zum Stammvater von Juden, Christen und Muslimen
by Hubka, Christine; Demir, Ramazan
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Children's & YAJanuary 2015Hatless
by Lateefa Buti / Illustrated by Doha Al Khteeb
Kuwaiti children’s book author Lateefa Buti’s well-crafted and beautifully illustrated children’s book, Hatless, encourages children (ages 6-9) to think independently and challenge rigid traditions and fixed rituals with innovation and creativity. The main character is a young girl named Hatless who lives in the City of Hats. Here, all of the people are born with hats that cover their heads and faces. The world inside of their hats is dark, silent, and odorless. Hatless feels trapped underneath her own hat. She wants to take off her hat, but she is afraid, until she realizes that whatever frightening things exist in the world around her are there whether or not she takes off her hat to see them. So Hatless removes her hat. As Hatless takes in the beauty of her surroundings, she cannot help but talk about what she sees, hears, and smells. The other inhabitants of the city ostracize her because she has become different from them. It is not long before they ask her to leave the City of Hats. Rather than giving up or getting angry, Hatless feels sad for her friends and neighbors who are afraid to experience the world outside of their hats. She comes up with an ingenious solution: if given another chance, she will wear a hat as long it is one she makes herself. The people of the City of Hats agree, so Hatless weaves a hat that covers her head and face but does not prevent her from seeing the outside world. She offers to loan the hat to the other inhabitants of the city. One by one, they try it on and are enchanted by the beautiful world around them. Since then, no child has been born wearing a hat. The people celebrate by tossing their old hats in the air. By bravely embracing these values, Hatless improves her own life and the lives of her fellow citizens. Buti’s language is eloquent and clear. She strikes a skilled narrative balance between revealing Hatless’s inner thoughts and letting the story unfold through her interactions with other characters. Careful descriptions are accompanied by beautiful illustrations that reward multiple readings of the book.
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January 2013The Madmen of Bethlehem
by Osama Alaysa
Adopting the story-within-a-story structure of Arabian Nights, author Osama Alaysa weaves together a collection of stories portraying centuries of oppression endured by the Palestinian people. This remarkable novel eloquently brings together fictional characters alongside real-life historical figures in a complex portrayal of Bethlehem and the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the West Bank. The common thread connecting each tale is madness, in all its manifestations. Psychological madness, in the sense of clinical mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, finds expression alongside acts of social and political madness. Together, these accounts of individuals and communities provide a gateway into the histories of the city of Bethlehem and Palestine. They paint a picture of the centuries of political oppression that the Palestinian people have endured, from the days of the Ottoman Empire to the years following the Oslo Accords, and all the way to 2012 (when the novel was written). The novel is divided into three sections, each containing multiple narratives. The first section, “The Book of a Genesis,” describes the physical spaces and origins of Bethlehem and Dheisheh Refugee Camp. These stories span the 19th and 20th centuries, transitioning smoothly from one tale to another to offer an intricate interpretation of the identity of these places. The second section, “The Book of the People Without a Book”, follows parallel narratives of the lives of the patients in a psychiatric hospital in Bethlehem, the mad men and women roaming the streets of the city, and those imprisoned by the Israeli authorities. All suffer abuse, but they also reaffirm their humanity through the relationships, romantic and otherwise, that they form. The third and final section, “An Ephemeral Book,” follows individuals—Palestinian and non-Palestinian—who are afflicted by madness following the Oslo Accords in 1993. These stories give voice to the perspectives of the long-marginalized Palestinian population, narrating the loss of land and the accompanying loss of sanity in the decades of despair and violence that followed the Nakba, the 1948 eviction of some 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. The novel’s mad characters—politicians, presidents, doctors, intellectuals, ordinary people and, yes, Dheisheh and Bethlehem themselves—burst out of their narrative threads, flowing from one story into the next. Alaysa’s crisp, lucid prose and deft storytelling chart a clear path through the chaos with dark humor and wit. The result is an important contribution to fiction on the Palestinian crisis that approaches the Palestinians, madness, and Palestinian spaces with compassion and depth.
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Children's & YAJanuary 2011The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air
by Abdo Wazen
In his first YA novel, cultural journalist and author Abdo Wazen writes about a blind teenager in Lebanon who finds strength and friendship among an unlikely group. Growing up in a small Lebanese village, Bassim’s blindness limits his engagement with the materials taught in his schools. Despite his family’s love and support, his opportunities seem limited. So at thirteen years old, Bassim leaves his village to join the Institute for the Blind in a Beirut suburb. There, he comes alive. He learns Braille and discovers talents he didn’t know he had. Bassim is empowered by his newfound abilities to read and write. Thanks to his newly developed self-confidence, Bassim decides to take a risk and submit a short story to a competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. After winning the competition, he is hired to work at the Institute for the Blind. At the Institute, Bassim, a Sunni Muslim, forms a strong friendship with George, a Christian. Cooperation and collective support are central to the success of each student at the Institute, a principle that overcomes religious differences. In the book, the Institute comes to symbolize the positive changes that tolerance can bring to the country and society at large. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is also a book about Lebanon and its treatment of people with disabilities. It offers insight into the vital role of strong family support in individual success, the internal functioning of institutions like the Institute, as well as the unique religious and cultural environment of Beirut. Wazen’s lucid language and the linear structure he employs result in a coherent and easy-to-read narrative. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is an important contribution to a literature in which people with disabilities are underrepresented. In addition to offering a story of empowerment and friendship, this book also aims to educate readers about people with disabilities and shed light on the indispensable roles played by institutions like the Institute.
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Picture booksThe Lilac Girl
by Ibtisam Barakat (author), Sinan Hallak (illustrator)
Inspired by the life story of Palestinian artist, Tamam Al-Akhal, The Lilac Girl is the sixth book for younger readers by award-winning author, Ibtisam Barakat. The Lilac Girl is a beautifully illustrated short story relating the departure of Palestinian artist and educator, Tamam Al-Akhal, from her homeland, Jaffa. It portrays Tamam as a young girl who dreams about returning to her home, which she has been away from for 70 years, since the Palestinian exodus. Tamam discovers that she is talented in drawing, so she uses her imagination to draw her house in her mind. She decides one night to visit it, only to find another girl there, who won’t allow her inside and shuts the door in her face. Engulfed in sadness, Tamam sits outside and starts drawing her house on a piece of paper. As she does so, she notices that the colors of her house have escaped and followed her; the girl attempts to return the colors but in vain. Soon the house becomes pale and dull, like the nondescript hues of bare trees in the winter. Upon Tamam’s departure, she leaves the entire place drenched in the color of lilac. As a children’s story, The Lilac Girl works on multiple levels, educating with its heart-rending narrative but without preaching, accurately expressing the way Palestinians must have felt by not being allowed to return to their homeland. As the story’s central character, Tamam succeeds on certain levels in defeating the occupying forces and intruders through her yearning, which is made manifest through the power of imaginary artistic expression. In her mind she draws and paints a picture of hope, with colors escaping the physical realm of her former family abode, showing that they belong, not to the invaders, but the rightful occupiers of that dwelling. Far from being the only person to have lost their home and endured tremendous suffering, Tamam’s plight is representative of millions of people both then and now, emphasizing the notion that memories of our homeland live with us for eternity, no matter how far we are from them in a physical sense. The yearning to return home never subsides, never lessens with the passing of time but, with artistic expression, it is possible to find freedom and create beauty out of pain.
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Children's & YAThe Dinoraf
by Hessa Al Muhairi
An egg has hatched, and what comes out of it? A chicken? No. A turtle? No. It’s a dinosaur. But where is his family? The little dinosaur searches the animal kingdom for someone who looks like him and settles on the giraffe. In this picture book by educator and author Hessa Al Muhairi, with illustrations by Sura Ghazwan, a dinosaur sets out in search of animals like him. He finds plenty of animals, but none that look the same...until he meets the giraffe. This story explores identity and belonging and teaches children about accepting differences in carefully crafted language.
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In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat
by Iman Mersal
‘In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat’ is a book that traces the life of an unknown Egyptian writer who died in 1963, four years before the release of her only novel. The book does not follow a traditional style to present the biography of Al-Zayyat, or to restore consideration for a writer who was denied her rights. Mersal refuses to present a single story as if it is the truth and refuses to speak on behalf of the heroine or deal with her as a victim, but rather takes us on a journey to search for the individuality that is often marginalised in Arab societies. The book searches for a young woman whose family burned all her personal documents, including the draft of her second novel, and was completely absent in the collective archives. The narration derives its uniqueness from its ability to combine different literary genres such as fictional narration, academic research, investigation, readings, interviews, fiction, and fragments of the autobiography of the author of the novel. The book deals with the differences between the individuality of Enayat, who was born into an aristocratic family, graduated from a German school and wrote her narration during the domination of the speeches of the Nasserism period, and that of Mersal, a middle-class woman who formed her consciousness in the 1990s and achieved some of what Enayat dreamed of achieving but remained haunted by her tragedy. The book deals with important political, social and cultural issues, as we read the history of psychiatry in modern Egypt through the pills that Enayat swallowed to end her life on 3 January 1963, while her divorce summarises the continuing suffering of women with the Personal Status Law. We also see how the disappearance of a small square from her neighbourhood reveals the relationship between modernity and bureaucracy, and how the geography of Cairo changes, obliterated as the result of changes in political regimes. In the library of the German Archaeological Institute, where Enayat worked, we find an unwritten history of World War II and, in her unpublished second novel, we see unknown stories of German scientists fleeing Nazism to Cairo. We also see how Enayat’s neglected tomb reveals the life story of her great-grandfather, Ahmed Rashid Pasha, and the disasters buried in the genealogy tree.
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Fiction2022The End of the Desert
by Said Khatibi
On a nice fall day of 1988, Zakiya Zaghwani was found lying dead at the edge of the desert, giving way to a quest to discover the circumstances surrounding her death. While looking for whoever was involved in the death of the young singer, nearby residents discover bit by bit their involvement in many things other than the crime itself. ///The story takes place in a town near the desert. And as with Khatibi’s previous novels, this one is also marked by a tight plot, revolving around the murder of a singer who works in a hotel. This sets off a series of complex investigations that defy easy conclusions and invite doubt about the involvement of more than one character. /// Through the narrators of the novel, who also happen to be its protagonists, the author delves into the history of colonialism and the Algerian War of Independence and its successors, describing the circumstances of the story whose events unfold throughout the month. As such, the characters suspected of killing the singer are not only accused of a criminal offense, but are also concerned, as it appears, with the great legacy that the War of Independence left, from different aspects.///The novel looks back at a critical period in the modern history of Algeria that witnessed the largest socio-political crisis following its independence in 1988. While the story avoids the immediate circumstances of the war, it rather invokes the events leading up to it and tracks its impact on the social life, while capturing the daily life of vulnerable and marginalized groups. /// Nonetheless, those residents’ vulnerability does not necessarily mean they are innocent. As it appears, they are all involved in a crime that is laden with symbolism and hints at the status of women in a society shackled by a heavy legacy of a violent, wounded masculinity. This approach to addressing social issues reflects a longing to break loose from the stereotypical discourse that sets heroism in a pre-defined mold and reduces the truth to only one of its dimensions.
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January 1980Karl Abraham
Sein Leben für die Psychoanalyse
by Abraham, Hilda / Englisch Henschen, Hans H
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August 2023Die Träumenden von Madras
Roman | Ein bildgewaltiges Epos, eine Familiensaga in Südindien | Vom Autor des internationalen Bestsellers „Rückkehr nach Missing“
by Abraham Verghese
„Eines der besten Bücher, die ich je gelesen habe – und ich lese, seit ich drei bin.« Oprah Winfrey Die bewegende Geschichte einer Familie starker Frauen, die ein besonderes Geheimnis birgt … Kerala, um 1900: Mariamma ist zwölf, als sie ihr Zuhause verlässt, um bei ihrem neuen Mann in Parambil zu leben, inmitten von Flüssen und Kanälen, Palmen und Jackfruchtbäumen. Sie vermisst ihre Mutter, und ihr Mann scheint sich kaum für sie zu interessieren. Doch bald findet sie in ihrem fünfjährigen Stiefsohn Jojo einen Gefährten, der nicht von ihrer Seite weicht. Als er, der stets das Wasser gescheut hat, bei einem Unfall ertrinkt, kommt sie einem Geheimnis ihrer neuen Familie auf die Spur: Seit Generationen gibt es immer wieder Familienmitglieder, die unerklärliche Angst vor dem Wasser haben; viele von ihnen sind ertrunken. Doch was dahintersteckt, bleibt ein Rätsel.In den folgenden Jahrzehnten wächst Mariammas Familie und sie wird zur glücklichen Mutter, Großmutter und Matriarchin »Big Ammacchi«. Und auch der Fortschritt hält Einzug in Parambil. Während in der Welt Kriege toben und Indien der Befreiung zustrebt, werden in Parambil Straßen und Schulen gebaut, die Häuser mit Elektrizität versorgt und die Menschen endlich medizinisch betreut– und schließlich kann auch das Rätsel um den »Fluch des Wassers« aufgeklärt werden. Abraham Verghese schlägt in seinem lang erwarteten, bewegenden und bildgewaltigen neuen Roman einen epischen Bogen durch fast ein ganzes Jahrhundert indischer Geschichte. Er erzählt anhand des Schicksals einer Familie vom Sieg des Wissens und der modernen Medizin, von der Überwindung von Klassen und Kasten – und von den ganz großen Dingen: von Liebe und Tod, Schuld und Erlösung.
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September 2013Spanische Barmherzigkeit
Roman
by Abraham B. Jehoschua, Markus Lemke
Abraham B. Jehoschua erzählt in seinem meisterhaft komponierten Roman von einem erfolgreichen Leben und von dem Preis, der dafür gezahlt werden muss. Als der Regisseur Jair Moses zu einer Retrospektive seiner Filme nach Santiago de Compostela eingeladen wird, will er die Reise nach Spanien in Begleitung von Ruth, seiner langjährigen Weggefährtin, genießen. Aber dann ruft ein verstörendes Bild in seinem Hotelzimmer vergessen geglaubte Erinnerungen wach: Eine Filmszene, in der Ruth als junge Frau einem Bettler am Straßenrand die Brust geben sollte, führte zum Zerwürfnis mit dem Drehbuchautor, seinem engsten Freund. Wie konnte es so weit kommen? Die Konfrontation mit seinen alten Filmen, noch dazu in der fremden Sprache, lässt Moses tief in seine Vergangenheit eintauchen und ihn die Ereignisse von damals in einem neuen Licht sehen. Der überwältigende Wunsch nach Versöhnung wird für ihn zum Auslöser für die Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen Geschichte.
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May 1987Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It introduced Count Dracula, and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and a woman led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
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Experimente Su Potencial
by Abraham Shoshani
Experimente Su Potencial: Tras las Huellas de Feldenkrais por Abraham Shoshani Experimente su potencial se inspira en la obra del Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais y del renombrado filósofo israelí Prof. Yeshaiahu Leibovich, celebrados maestros y mentores del autor. La lectura del libro es una experiencia única, la de un viaje al mundo espiritual del hombre. Este mundo es complejo y complicado, pero siempre atractivo e interesante. Experimente su potencial ofrece desafíos de pensamiento al lector interesado e inspiración y guía a toda persona involucrada en la educación para rendimiento académico. Los conocimientos del Dr. Shoshani son vastos, increíblemente profundos y desprovistos de rigidez académica. Es realmente impresionante el trabajo intelectual que se ha invertido para escribir este libro, a la vez conciso y exhaustivo. El apasionante encuentro entre los mundos de la psicología y de la educación le otorga una calidad especial y representa un desafío intelectual. El autor es un artista que integra conocimientos sobre culturas orientales y occidentales y crea una nueva perspectiva en la educación para rendimiento académico. Su camino innovador goza de reconocimiento internacional: el Dr. Shoshani ha dado conferencias en instituciones académicas en todo el mundo, entre otras la Real Academia de Música y Drama de Glasgow, el Departamento de Drama de la Universidad Carnegie de Pittsburgh, así como en el Actors Studio y el Ithaca College de Nueva York. Dr. Shoshani es el director del Centro de Culturas Orientales en Jerusalén. El Ministerio de Educación y Cultura de Israel ha adoptado la versión hebrea de este libro para su uso en centros de enseñanza magisterial.
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Experimente Su Potencial
by Abraham Shoshani
Experimente Su Potencial: Tras las Huellas de Feldenkrais por Abraham Shoshani Experimente su potencial se inspira en la obra del Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais y del renombrado filósofo israelí Prof. Yeshaiahu Leibovich, celebrados maestros y mentores del autor. La lectura del libro es una experiencia única, la de un viaje al mundo espiritual del hombre. Este mundo es complejo y complicado, pero siempre atractivo e interesante. Experimente su potencial ofrece desafíos de pensamiento al lector interesado e inspiración y guía a toda persona involucrada en la educación para rendimiento académico. Los conocimientos del Dr. Shoshani son vastos, increíblemente profundos y desprovistos de rigidez académica. Es realmente impresionante el trabajo intelectual que se ha invertido para escribir este libro, a la vez conciso y exhaustivo. El apasionante encuentro entre los mundos de la psicología y de la educación le otorga una calidad especial y representa un desafío intelectual. El autor es un artista que integra conocimientos sobre culturas orientales y occidentales y crea una nueva perspectiva en la educación para rendimiento académico. Su camino innovador goza de reconocimiento internacional: el Dr. Shoshani ha dado conferencias en instituciones académicas en todo el mundo, entre otras la Real Academia de Música y Drama de Glasgow, el Departamento de Drama de la Universidad Carnegie de Pittsburgh, así como en el Actors Studio y el Ithaca College de Nueva York. Dr. Shoshani es el director del Centro de Culturas Orientales en Jerusalén. El Ministerio de Educación y Cultura de Israel ha adoptado la versión hebrea de este libro para su uso en centros de enseñanza magisterial.
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