A Wall of Light - Edeet Ravel [77]
sentimental but it’s really just the ordinary
fear of feeling.
Nissim73:
Well if we felt everything here, the streets
would empty out, we’d all be locked up in
psychiatric wards. Apart from Baruch Marzel,
he’s indestructible.
Novelist55:
Trauma as a way of life?
Nissim73:
Exactly. I don’t mean victim trauma. I mean
watching the country fall apart trauma. Listen,
don’t worry about including everything.
Novelist55:
It’s not that I’m worried. It’s that I have so
much I want to say but at the same time I like
to be spare. I like to leave rabbit holes for the
reader to fall into. By the way, thanks for pick-
ing up the permission slip from Maariv.
Nissim73:
You’re welcome.
Novelist55:
You know one book club I went to, there was
this Jewish woman there, around my age or a
bit older
Novelist55:
and she was so upset that in my first novel
there are negative references to the kibbutz.
Novelist55:
I mean, she really has this vision, even though
it goes against all logic and reason, of the
barefoot soldier dancing in the sand with her
braid flying
Novelist55:
of a perfect place with perfect people
Novelist55:
a kind of paradise, or even if people aren’t
perfect, they’re all noble and moral and one
must think well of them
Novelist55:
even though life must have taught her that
humans are the same everywhere, that the
entire species is fucked up. But not on Eldar …
Nissim73:
I think you still believe that yourself. You’re still
a Zionist.
Novelist55:
Well even Chomsky is a Zionist if you define
the word properly. To quote him.
Nissim73:
Here’s what I think
Nissim73:
politically, Jabotinsky won
Nissim73:
politically, Jabotinsky was a pacifist next to
today’s lot. But
Nissim73:
on the non-political level that whole dichot-
omy, left and right, it’s not relevant.
Novelist55:
It is relevant. It’s everything.
Nissim73:
Listen
Novelist55:
yes
Nissim73:
You don’t want to tell me what you’re wearing?
Nissim73:
apart from your jeans, that is …
Novelist55:
I meant to ask you, can I include our conversa-
tions in my novel?
Nissim73:
If you want.
Novelist55:
Do you know the book Nissim and Niflaot?
Nissim73:
no.
Novelist55:
How is that possible? Lea Goldberg … about a
boy and his monkey. The boy is called Nissim
and the monkey is called Niflaot. Miracles and
Wonders.
Nissim73:
Right now the miracle I’m waiting for is for my
air-conditioning to start working again. Guess
I’ll go to sleep, I’ve had a long day.
Novelist55:
Don’t forget to keep the light on.
Nissim73:
If the world ends, at least I’ll be able to see it.
Novelist55:
leila tov matok
Nissim73:
leila tov metuka
56. Literally, a piece of something; commonly used in Modern Hebrew to refer to the segment of a citrus fruit.
57. Tarzan and the Amazons, with Johnny Weissmuller (1945); available on YouTube. For the sweeping boy, see part one at 3 minutes, 20 seconds.
58. Credentials were easy to fabricate in the early days of the State, especially in professions where genuine qualifications were in short supply.
59. Snarey, 1982/83.
60. The Hebrew zefet means “tar” or “pitch” (see Exodus 2:3— ”And when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes and covered it with wet earth and pitch”). The Arabic cognate is zift and means both “tar” and “trash”; the latter is used as an interjection expressing cursory dismissal or disapproval. Modern Hebrew borrowed both senses of zift but also retained the Hebrew zefet, hence Dori’s confusion.
61.
A Herd of 120 Goats Was Returned Yesterday to Lebanon
The goats were led by two shepherds from Lebanon who entered Israel a few days ago, north-west of Eldar. Border Guards came across the shepherds and the goats and took the goats into custody. The shepherds succeeded in fleeing.
—Davar, 7 April, 1960
Lebanese Shepherd Arrested, His Friend Manages to Escape
Border Guards arrested yesterday at 10:00 A.M. a shepherd