Growing Up Below Sea Level: A Conversation with Author Rachel Biale

Rachel Biale discusses her memoir “Growing Up Below Sea Level,” her journey with Jewish Israeli American identities. Free.

Rachel Biale

“Growing Up Below Sea Level” (Mandel Vilar Press, 2020) invites readers to join the adventures and challenges of growing up in the Israeli kibbutz Kfar Ruppin during the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the short stories portray the funny and sometimes frightening moments of kibbutz childhood and adolescence, as the echoes of the Holocaust reverberate through the narratives. Biale earned a Master of Arts in Jewish history at UCLA and a Master of Social Work at Yeshiva University. She lives in Berkeley, where she is a practicing psychotherapist. Biale is also the author of “Women and Jewish Law” (Schocken, 1984) and several illustrated children’s books.