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.
https://msipressblog.blogspot.com/search?q=Schaffer
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.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Memoriam: Carl Don Leaver

Image
  1948-2021 It is with great sadness that MSI Press notes the death of Carl Leaver, CEO of the Press and typesetter and graphic designer par excellence . Many authors have expressed not only condolences but also a sense of legacy from covers he designed that they love.  Here is his obituary: On August 16, 2021, Carl Don Leaver of San Juan Bautista passed into eternal rest. A forester with the US Forest Service in Idaho and Montana, he turned to nature photography while working in the Bitterroot National Forest. His photographs graced national magazine covers and on a weekly basis the local paper of Hamilton, MT, the Ravalli Republican. He later worked on photography projects for the US Army (AFEES) and taught photography at the New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan. His final career change led him to computer graphics and publishing as co-owner of MSI Press LLC; his many typeset books and book covers have helped MSI Press authors win a large number of awards over t...
Read more

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Book Marketing vs Book Promotion

Image
It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  Today's post looks at the difference between book marketing and book promotion, two terms that are frequently confused. Leading to the confusion is that some of the same activities are needed for both. In fact, good marketing is dependent upon good promotion. Perhaps the essential difference is that marketing focuses on sales, and promotion focuses on awareness --  noting that without awareness, sales generally do not happen. Book Marketing Book marketing includes promotion, sales, and increasing awareness of the availability of the book. It generally starts with a marketing plan that identifies the target audiences and selects marketing ...
Read more