By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

There is something wonderful about watching an author’s work blossom and grow. In my review* of Iddo Gefen’s “Jerusalem Beach: Stories,” I noted that the stories “prove Gefen is a talent to watch.” There is, of course, always a danger that a work will not live up to one’s expectation. In fact, when reading the opening chapters of “Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory” (Astra House), I worried that the author was not going to be able to pull together the disparate pieces of his puzzle. I am happy to say that, not only did he successfully manage to do that, but his witty and quirky novel ultimately proved to be a moving piece of literature. 
Although Sarai Lilienblum’s disappearance seems at first to be the focus of the novel, it is her son, Eli, whose point of view informs the work. Unlike many soldiers, Eli chose not to travel after his Israeli Army service, but rather to return to his parents’ house and work in the lodge his father, Boaz, runs. That lodge is a rather unsuccessful tourist destination in Israel located on a cliff, but it feels like home. Eli is not there just to help his father, but himself: “His military discharge had left him feeling adrift, and the work at the lodge gave him something to hold onto. Over the past year, he had rarely seen his friends, most of whom were long plane rides away, sending him photos from Himalayan mountain peaks or Aztec temples he knew he would never see with his own eyes, photos that only made him burrow deeper into the familiar cliff. The outside world loomed dark and muffled, and the thought of venturing out there made his chest constrict.” His sister, Naomi, on the other hand, so could not wait to leave home that she enrolled herself in a boarding school when she was 14 and returns as infrequently as possible.
Sarai, who is an inventor of sorts, is discovered in the desert drinking a cold martini by a hitchhiker after she had gone missing for three days. What is even odder is that she seems to have invented a machine – which looks like the family vacuum cleaner – that vacuums up sand and somehow turns it into clouds and rain. In a country that seeks to turn desert into fertile land, this feels miraculous. A video of her using the machine goes viral and Naomi, who works for tech companies, returns home to form a start-up company, which will produce the seemingly magical machine. Eli soon finds himself working for Cloudies, with his sister running the financial aspects of the company and his very impractical mother running the technological aspects. However, his mother has no practical experience in anything other than science and teaching, leaving Eli worried about not only the number of people his mother hires, but the amount of money spent on impractical and expensive extras for the staff. 
Eli’s life becomes even more complicated when a new visitor, Tamara, arrives at the lodge due to her interest in the legend of McMurphy, an Irish hiker who disappeared into the desert. That mystery brings many visitors to the area because not only was no body ever found, but sightings of McMurphy continue and periodically an artifact connected to him is discovered by a hiker. As Eli spends more time with Tamara, he, too, becomes interested in what happened to McMurphy, especially after he realizes that solving the mystery might make him better understand his parents.
The best sections in the novel include philosophical discussions, which add, rather than detract, from the plot. For example, when helping his sister run Cloudies, Eli learns just how much of the business world is show: he now sees it as “a world of inflated professional jargon meant to disguise the inherent unknowingness that existed in the lives of all those roaming the third planet from the sun. But even those who asserted with complete confidence that life was devoid of meaning didn’t know it with absolute certainty. They were just as single-minded and ignorant as everyone else. Perhaps, Eli pondered, the only way not to err was to believe that life was meaningful, yes, but also meaningless. To wholeheartedly embrace these two contradictory beliefs.” He realizes that everything can be both of utmost importance, while, at the same time, of little importance. This contradiction works not only in terms of Eli’s life, but explains his mother’s erratic behavior. 
There is an absolutely beautiful section that describes the kabbalistic idea that our world was built by the breaking of vessels. It is normally thought that humanity’s task is to reassemble these shards and bring order to chaos. Sarai notes, though, that a very young Eli had a different interpretation of the story, suggesting that our purpose is not to return the world to what it was before the shards broke. Saria says that instead “he suggested the takeaway should be the opposite: everything in this world, no matter how beautiful, was constructed from shards – intrinsically imperfect. Even the most exquisite flowers, or gorgeous cities.” That leads her to advise her listeners to “make it your mission to gather the vessels’ shards and spark of light and build new things. And not beautiful, pristine, whole things, but fractured, unconventional, crazy things. Because the way to build the world isn’t through replication, but creation.”
This might make it sound as if “Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory” doesn’t have much plot, but rather it features several different plot lines that are difficult to discuss without giving away the surprises Gefen offers. Those surprises includes a few “oh, that is not what I expected to happen” moments toward the end of the novel. His wizard-like ability to enchant and surprise is amazing.
“Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory” ranks as one of the best novels I’ve read this year. I found it charming and sweet, and I mean those adjectives in the most positive way. According to the author’s biographical note, he is working on his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. I imagine his studies leave him little free time, but I hope he uses what time he can find to write more fiction.
*The full review of “Jerusalem Beach” can be found at www.thereportergroup.org/features/off-the-shelf-two-israeli-authors-393288.