Excerpt from Good Blood (Irit Schaffer): 1961 (The Shema)


1961


The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. 
It is the source of all true art and science. 
Albert Einstein 


As soon as I looked into his blue eyes, every cell in my body bubbled with joy. Yes, this must be love. I am in love for the first time. His are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. They are like the deep blue of the ocean on a clear and sunny day. My mom is sitting to my left, my sister, Edna, to my right, and I am falling in love.

Ari Ben Canaan is his name. He is in charge of taking a boatload of people to Palestine. The boat, Exodus, is filled with Jewish Europeans planning to make their home in the soon to be independent State of Israel. Unfortunately, the British authorities have detained the boat in Cyprus. They are not allowing Exodus to complete its voyage to Palestine, and Ari has to take charge.

His confidence is portrayed in his thin and muscular 5’9” frame. “We can go back, or we can go on a hunger strike,” he says, “but before we vote, we must reflect in our hearts.”

I close my eyes and can hear everyone starting the most important prayer there is in the Jewish religion, the first prayer that we are taught in first grade, the Shema, the holiest prayer, the holiest song: “Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohanu Adonai Echad.” Even Jews who don’t speak Hebrew typically know these words. The first six words of the Shema are all I can remember by heart. We learn the whole prayer, but most people typically only remember the first six words. The rest of the prayer does not seem as important, especially to me, because I know about this prayer in ways no one else does, except my sister, of course. The first six words of the Shema saved my dad’s life.
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My eyes go back to Ari’s face on the screen. Before I know it, the credits are rolling, and Exodus has become my new favorite movie. This must be what love is, I think again, but, of course, I decide to keep that thought a secret from everyone. Love is not something I am supposed to talk about because I am only nine years old.




For more information by and about Irit Schaffer and her book, take a look HERE.






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