Amzaleg
Published in Issue #27 Translated from Hebrew by Ilana Kurshan(Excerpt from a Novel)
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What’s the matter with you, he chided himself in the early afternoon hours, shortly before he drove to his parents’ home to relay the news to them. Is it more complicated to tell one’s parents than one’s children? At least with my children, I know what to say, but with my parents I’m drawing a total blank, he thought rather childishly. He was reminded of the way his son David would sometimes fly into a rage when he got stuck on a homework assignment. On his way to Givat Shmuel, he passed the sign that indicated the entrance to his parents’ street, Kibbutz Galuyot. The Ingathering of the Exiles, he muttered to himself angrily. As if. Ingathering of the Exiles my butt. The phrase, used to describe a melting pot of all the new immigrants who came to Israel from the four corners of the earth, infuriated him. He was even more irate that there were still so many people who believed that myth. He saw things very differently. Consider his father, who came to Israel from Meknes in 1957, or his mother, who came from Benghazi that same year. Was their experience as immigrants anything like that of his European in-laws? There was no comparison.
Amzaleg tried to silence his thoughts – it was enough already. It was as if his mind enjoyed the opportunity to roam free. His thoughts continued to ramble on, and as he drew closer to his parents’ home, the forces clashing in his...
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