Dear friends,
It’s been a roller coaster since I sent out my “regular” newsletter at the beginning of June.
Shortly after I sent out my newsletter, the IDF announced the deaths of four hostages, in captivity: Amiram Cooper, 84, a poet from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was killed in Hamas captivity, along with Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, and Nadav Popplewell, 51. A little while before that, the body of Dolev Yehud, 35, presumed a hostage, also from Nir Oz, was identified in Israel, and it is now thought that he was killed on October 7th, after he left his home to help (he was a volunteer medic). Each announcement is like a punch in the gut. May all of their memories be a blessing.
And then on Shabbat, we heard the wonderful, miraculous news, of the rescue of four hostages - Andrey Kozlov, Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, and Shlomi Ziv. Andrey was an intern in my department at my last job; we sat in the same room and worked on projects together, so his rescue was especially welcome news. We are all overjoyed for Andrey, Noa, Almog, Shlomi and their families. It took a few more hours before we heard the tragic news about Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, z”l, the head of one of the rescue teams. When Shabbat was over we turned on our phones for more details. The whatsapp group with my former coworkers - most of us no longer with that company - was going crazy (“I can’t believe it. It happened! I’m breathless.” “I thought for certain he wasn’t alive.” “God!!!!”). For much of the next day, I poured over the reports, tears in my eyes, watching the reunions.
We knew, of course, that their time in captivity was horrific, but now, as we hear more and more about their experiences (here is a bit about what Andrey went through), we can only pray that they will heal and rebuild and go on to live long and happy lives.
I can’t even contemplate how complex, how risky, this operation was. On the Call Me Back podcast, Dan Senor interviewed Nadav Eyal, one of Israel’s leading journalists, about the operation. It’s a great episode if you want to give it a listen.
Several days later, on erev Shavuot, we heard the sad news of four more soldiers killed, including Eitan Karlsbrun, 20, from Modiin, along with Almog Shalom, 19, Yair Levin, 19, and Tal Pshebilski Shaulov, 24. That morning I was in the supermarket across the street from Eitan’s high school and overheard: “My daughter was good friends with him” “We awoke to screams this morning from my daughter [when she heard the news].” May their memories be a blessing.
And then two days ago, Hezbollah sent huge barrage of 215 rockets and missiles to the north, exactly where we were on Shabbat (by the Kinneret / the Sea of Galilee). Fires are raging, and every day there is speculation on when we’ll go into a full-blown war in the north. (For those following - my daughter’s reserve duty - in the north - was postponed until July 31).
So it goes on. I wish desperately for an end to all of this, for our 120 hostages to return home. I’m writing this from the airport in Marseille, where I am en route to a family vacation in Corsica. Hoping to disconnect a bit…
In the meantime, here are some additional resources and reading:
Jessica Steinberg’s latest dispatch: Four hostages are home, and a funeral
Vivian Cohen-Leisorek’s Day 244: Connect/Disconnect
My friend Sarah Sassoon has a new Substack - please subscribe! Picking Lemons She writes to “spark complex joy, sharing what I can as an Australian born daughter of an Iraqi Jewish refugee, and a married mother of four boys living in Jerusalem.” (Sarah hosted me for an amazing Tu B’shvat seder earlier this year, and has appeared at Literary Modiin).
Literary Matters
On Shavuot, we had our first-ever Tikun Leil Shavuot just with our kids and our friends visiting from America. My husband did most of the teaching, and I brought this poem, “A Prayer for the Farmer on Shavuot” by Iris Ben Zvi which we read in English and in Hebrew. It felt particularly relevant for me this year after my volunteering.
The "History, Prophecy and Art" Conference of the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar Ilan University in early June was amazing! What a pleasure to be in the company of brilliant writers including Ruth Franklin, Iddo Gefen, and Joshua Cohen, who were visiting from abroad, as well as dozens of my writing friends and mentors from Israel. Joshua Cohen and Evan Fallenberg had a terrific session about fiction writing - check out my report here.
The June 9th Literary Modiin event with Joan Leegant, Don Futterman, and Dawn Promislow was also amazing - here’s the recording if you missed it.
I’m thrilled to announce the next two Literary Modiin events:
July 14 with Marcela Sulak (THE FAULT), Maya Arad (THE HEBREW TEACHER), and Mimi Zieman (TAP DANCING ON EVEREST) - Register here
August 4 with Ellis Shuman (RAKIYA), Maxim D. Shrayer (KINSHIP), and Danila Botha (THINGS THAT CAUSE INAPPROPRIATE HAPPINESS) - Register here
What I’m reading: Just finished Hila Blum’s HOW TO LOVE YOUR DAUGHTER, which we discussed last night in my book club. Listening to: Taylor Jenkin Reid’s MALIBU RISING. Brought with me to read in Corsica: Gila Green’s WITH A GOOD EYE, and Curtis Sittenfeld’s RODHAM.
That’s all for now. I’ll leave you with a few pictures from the last few weeks.
Comments