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By Root 667 0

were written in touching, second-language Hebrew by my mother, Aviva Ravel, when I was born. I have reproduced the entries in the order in which they appear and without any omissions or redaction; only the names have been changed.

Excerpts from Thy Neck with Chains of Gold are from a play written by my mother in 1967. The suicide at the end of the play does not appear in the copy held by the Toronto Research Library, but was included in a 1969 performance in Montreal.

Comments on the article about the kibbutz boys were found on the internet.

John Snarey and Indiana University Press kindly allowed me to quote from Snarey’s study of Kibbutz Sasa.

Articles attributed to the trade union newspaper Davar (now defunct) are authentic, as is the letter to the editor; translations are mine. Terrorists were commonly referred to at that time as “infiltrators.” In the letter to the editor, only the title of the novel in question has been changed. I am grateful to the Lavon Institute of the New Histadrut for permission to reproduce these texts.

Naftali’s unpublished war memoir was written by my father.

Professor Yuval Dror has generously allowed me to quote from his informative book, The History of Kibbutz Education.

Many thanks to Givat Haviva Jewish-Arab Centre for Peace for sending me Kibbutz Sasa’s first Hagadda and allowing me to quote from it.

I am grateful to Maariv Newspapers for permission to reproduce Dimitri Berman’s recollections of his trip to Petra.

I came across excerpts from Takh.i’s diary in One Palestine, United, Tom Segev’s wonderful book about British-mandated Palestine (1923–1948). The diary was published in its entirety by Am Oved and edited by Yehuda Erez. I have fused and rearranged some of the entries.

The Israeli writer Rakefet Zohar graciously responded to my queries about the kibbutz siḥa, and allowed me to include her letter in my notes. I hope her important novel about teenagers on a kibbutz will be translated into English.

Stuart Davis’s Landscape with Garage Lights (1931–1932) was copied by my father, upon my request, over a period of many days. As he had no tracing paper, he used a ruler to determine proportions. I was six at the time, and I watched his progress with awe and delight. I assumed the drawing was irretrievably lost until my mother, searching for her Baby Diary so that I could include it in this novel, came across the yellowed sheet of paper and mailed it to me. I am grateful to VAGA, New York, NY, and the Estate of Stuart Davis for permission to reproduce the derived image.

Warm thanks to Semitic scholar Mark Marshall for his translation of the archival Jish report card.

The ballistic protection industry article is based on information found at www.plasansasa.com/news/news/kibbutz-saving-american-soldiers-lives.

For unparalleled editing and true friendship, I am indebted to Joan Deitch and Ken Sparling. I am grateful to Shimon Levy, who translated a short, early version of this novel into Hebrew. John Detre has been helpful, as ever, in ways too numerous to mention. I’d like to thank the Ontario Arts Council for its generous support. To the superb Penguin team I give my inadequate thanks: Nicole Winstanley, Nick Garrison, Karen Alliston, Rachel Brown, David Ross, Lisa Rundle, Justin Stoller, and the devoted crew behind the scenes. David Davidar’s commitment to my work was a gift from the good angels. Above all and as always, my daughter Larissa continues to inspire me daily and hourly.

No one here is leaving

So we had better start loving

(FOOLS OF PROPHECY)

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

I. Utopia

II. The World Below

III. The Last Rain

Notes

Acknowledgement