As I am often inclined to do, joyful celebrations such as commemorating Israel’s independence compel me to read or reread books by Israeli authors. Imagine Israeli funnyman Edgar Karet meeting philosopher Albert Camus and both joining Star Wars filmmaker, George Lucas for lunch. Only then can you begin to feel the ‘je ne sais quoi’ sense within the collection of thirteen short stories penned by the inimitable Iddo Gefen incongruously titled, Jerusalem Beach.
Set in Israel, the titular story speaks with unparalleled tenderness of love battling fading memories. It’s a warm summer day, sixty years married, Sammy and Lillian take the bus to see “the snow on the beach in Jerusalem.” This will be the last time they will travel together “before he would turn her in to a residential facility. Sammy can no longer take care of his wife’s progressing dementia. Today, at her behest, he will indulge Lillian’s memory. “I can smell the sea can you”? she asks him. Sammy knows her memory is failing; there is no sea in Jerusalem. But today he will soothe her feelings, comfort her fears, and lie down with her “across the sand fashioning elderly angels on the snow of Jerusalem’s beach.”
Funny but not a joke, A Girl Who Lived Near the Sun tells of an intergalactic traveler on board a space shuttle to visit a girl he recently met. En route, he dutifully calls his Bubby on his holograph device. As is his Bubby’s habit, she kvetches, “you’ve been traveling all over the solar system without popping by to visit.” But why return to earth to study “psychological engineering” when he can spend his time with Ayela on her very own planet?
When Ayela bought the planet it was “cheaper than a two bedroom apartment in Petah Tikvah”. Resourceful, Ayela renovated and cooled her residence to a comfortable 51 degrees with aid from the “atmospheric system” on sale at Space Depot. Her planet however has no communication signal. How does she maintain her sanity? Moreover, how does he manage without her when he returns to earth?
Whether we read about a madcap adventures of an eighty-year-old grandfather who joins the Golani infantry, or a girl who lives in her dreams, or the videographer who exhibits his exciting life in Berlin on the internet, all the while residing in nothing-ever-happens Hadera, each story teems with intimacy and distinctive portrayal of the human condition.
Neither a licensed psychologist nor a professional mental health provider, author Iddo Gefen works with Parkinson’s patients at a neurocognitive research facility in Tel Aviv. He explores “how storytelling can improve our understanding of the seemingly impenetrable human mind.” Gefen delves into private intangible elements of human experience with stories that become “the tools to explain what is going on inside”
Beautifully wrought in gorgeous prose Jerusalem Beach is a dazzling debut of talent and insight far beyond the author’s years.