Ezekiel’s world by Michael kovner A GRAPHIC NOVEL
5
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The story takes place mostly in Jerusalem in the winter of 1991 during the First Gulf War. Scud missiles are landing on populated areas in Israel on a daily basis, causing extensive damage. Civilians have been issued gas masks in case the missiles are equipped with chemical warheads. People carry the masks, in brown cardboard boxes, wherever they go. Jerusalem, however, is not targeted and, as a result, becomes a «city of refuge» for many Israelis.
Text and Paintings – Michael Kovner Graphic Design – Anastasia Rubinstein Illustrations – pp. 201-210 – Noah Snir Translation from Hebrew to English – Jonathan Heinstein Language editor – Evelyn Abel Concept Development – Amikam Kovner All rights reserved to the artist Michael Kovner
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Amy Kovner Yuval Yavneh Abraham Feder Jessica Bonn Yair Assaf Daniella Fields Rachelle Yair Rami Fields Michael Yair Rachel Tzvia Back Avi Pnini Claire Gilead Joshua Waletzky Tamar and Menachem Ben Shalom Roy Etinger
Ezekiel’s world Part 1 February . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Jerusalem, 1991.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ...a few days later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
failed Ambush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 San Francisco, 1991.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Noni and Yvonne are coming.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Balcony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Vilna .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Alarm .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 The fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 16 th of July, 1943 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 AT Mount Zion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Part 2 March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 C’ella.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
The weekend Thursday.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Friday.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 San Francisco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 friday evening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Saturday.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 saturday evening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 The Ghetto is burning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 HISTORICAL NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 List of poems.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
o
FOREWORD
The figure of Ezekiel is based on the real and imaginary character of my father, Abba Kovner, who passed away in 1987, just short of the age of 70. We meet him here at the fictitious age of 75, alone, suffering from chronic arthritis, and requiring medical care. While set in the First Gulf War (1991), the book reveals Ezekiel’s true past in sequences of dreams and nightmares reflecting events documented in the historical footnotes at the end. The authentic voice of the poet, Abba Kovner, comes through in a number of his poems that appear at different junctures in the story. A resistance fighter and partisan in the Holocaust, a poet and historian, his multifaceted personality impacted strongly on all around him. This novel is my attempt to conduct a posthumous dialogue with him, a dialogue that regrettably remained incomplete in his lifetime. I have tried to confront some of the issues that continue to absorb me from the visual perspective of an artist (landscapes, wildlife, female form). I wrote and illustrated the book as a way of pursuing that dialogue. Each of us was preoccupied with our own inner worlds when he was alive, and the conversation we both sought never took place. To many people my father appeared strong, aloof, and inflexible: a quasi-prophet castigating the world; a man outside of normal society, larger than life, to whom people turned with respect and even reverence, and occasionally also disdain for what they perceived as his arrogance. Poised at the crossroads of Jewish history, he grappled with the basic Jewish dilemmas life had brought his way. His own traumas informed his vision, but he always tried to see the broader picture of Jewish history and its mission in the world. It was important to me to provide a more complete picture of the man. I knew him as someone full of life, humor, doubt, and love. He lived with contradictions, searching for meaning as he fearlessly walked over life’s “narrow bridge”. Ezekiel is a complex character, dragging the baggage of failures and broken dreams. He is torn by personal and national tragedies. The secret of his strength is his determination to live life fully – despite everything. He carefully tried to nurture and shield an optimism, which was expressed in his love for his son and his grandson, and in his attraction to beauty in the women who were part of his life. Beauty and pain merged in him to fend off surrender. The readings in the book are meant to help delineate the boundaries between inner and outer, between dream and reality. There are descriptions of each character and the dialogue of each appears in a different color. Apart from the historical portions of the novel (denoted by the letter H), any resemblance between the characters described in this book and real persons is purely coincidental. The historical footnotes may be useful in mapping dates and geography. The poems, unless otherwise stated, were all written by Abba Kovner.
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Ezekiel
Ezekiel is a lonely old man who lives on his own in a modest apartment in Jerusalem. His wife died a few years earlier, his son lives abroad, and his daughter committed suicide at the age of 26. Ezekiel was an important historical figure as a resistance commander in World War II and a political leader. He was also a respected poet and writer. These days, however, his poems, as well as his ideas, are less popular. To some extent, society has forgotten him. Ezekiel’s character is based on my father, Abba Kovner
Na’ama
Amos
Na’ama is a 25-year-old art student, who also works as a physiotherapist. She treats Ezekiel, who suffers from chronic arthritis.
Yvonne
Ezekiel’s son, an architect. After a traumatic experience during army duty in the West Bank, he left Israel. He lives with his family in San Francisco.
Amos’ wife, a schoolteacher.
1 p.282
Noni Amos and Yvonne’s only son. He’s about six years old.
Shlomo
- Historical notes *
- Outer
- Translations
- Inner
- Explanation
- Flashback
- The angel’s voice - Inner voice
- Dream
Yvonne’s father. He lives in Ramat Gan, a small city near Tel Aviv.
Michal Ezekiel’s daughter. She appears only in his dreams and memories.
C’ella Ezekiel’s neighbor. She sees to his daily needs.
222
Do we need anything else?
I think we have more than enough. Sit down, please.
No, no. I just couldn’t fall asleep.
I heard you talking with Amos last night.
You were eavesdropping.
Don’t worry, it wasn’t private
Whenever I talk to him I get so upset. Why is that?
223
Yvonne what’s the matter?
It’s complicated.
You know, it’s strange, we never talk about the important things.
About love. About love?
What exactly are you referring to?
Yes, what is love?
224 Love doesn’t have a general definition. Everyone finds their own definition of “love.”
Every relationship has its own kind of love. No two ways of love are alike. Even if someone has a number of loves, each is unique.
What may strike you as a loveless relationship – between Amos and myself, is perhaps profound love, an opportunity for me to work on it. To repair, not to destroy.
225
For me, love comes from fullness, not from breakage. That’s why repairs don’t work.
Maybe you’re right, but maybe not. Who knows what love is?
Na’ama, I’m sorry, I have to finish this letter to Amos. It won’t take long.
226
What’s love?
227
Did you bring sugar? Sure. A little sweetness won’t hurt us.
228 Wow, Matisse! I’m crazy about him.
I also really like him. His appreciation of beauty is unmatched.
They look just like us.
Why do you always have to compare? Aren’t we fine as we are?
229
230
saturday evening
Now we are going to organize the hardest scene. The Actzia and the rebellion. To make it easier to understand the situation, we have to arrange the Lego people in groups. German = black, Jews = yellow, The underground fighters = blue. But there is also another group. The Judenraat, the Jewish police
What is that?
Jewish police helped organize the life of the Jewish communities under the Germans.
Why did they help them?
How should we color them?
I will paint them yellow and black.
Why did they help Germans?
I don’t like them. I’m going to make them ugly.
Some of them thought they could make things better for the Jews. But they ended up working together with the German enemy in a cruel situation that they didn’t even understand.
231 Do you remember you asked me what Actzia is?
Yes
Here it comes
232
The Jews are forced out of their hiding places.
Why were they so cruel and mean? Doing this to their own people? Yes, you are right. But they were victims, too.
233
Where were you, Grandpa?
This was position No. 1
This was position No. 2. The command position. I was the commander.
Why didn’t you call other Jews to help you fight?
They still believed the Germans were taking them to a better place to live and work. All we had to offer them was an honorable death. Nobody wants to hear that. We were rejected by our own community.
We saw everything. It was terrible to see it all and do nothing. I ordered our fighters to hold their fire and wait until the Germans entered the ghetto.
234
At the same time, the Germans moved their troops around the ghetto.
How did you know about that?? We had a lookout. Also, people on the Judenrat told us. The Germans started coming in. We had so waited for that moment! It’s terrible to say that we wanted the ghetto liquidated ended. But we were prepared for that. We took out our weapons. I wanted to wait as long as we could, and then open fire with guns and grenades from a short distance, especially from behind, which would have been more effective.
235
Yasha was on the porch in the advance
Wow...
position when he saw the German commander. He fired. The commander dropped down, dead.
Yasha was a hero
He could have been if he hadn’t disobeyed my order to hold his fire. But he killed the commander. The gate watchman shot Yasha in the head and killed him.
The Germans started to burn down the building from which the shots had been fired. Our fighters managed to escape and join us. Then something unexpected happened. The Germans retreated and left the ghetto.
The Germans left the ghetto
236 They forced the Jewish police to finish the ghetto’s liquidation.
Why did they agree? What choice did they have?
237 The Jewish police started shouting and routing Jews out of their hiding places with shouts and blows. How did they know where the hiding places were? There were a lot of informers – people who told on others. The ghetto began to burn – house by house.
The Ghetto began burning house by house.
What did you do? I summoned our people to our main position.
We argued about what to do next. Some wanted to stop the hunt at once even if it meant killing the Jewish policemen. Some wanted to break through the gate and kill as many Germans as possible.
They would have been killed. The Germans had tanks.
Yes, you are right.
We had an escape plan and I gave the order to carry it out.
238 The ghetto continued to burn as one section after another went up in flame.
Grandpa, what was your plan? To leave the ghetto through the sewage tunnels. Yuck... Why through the sewage? It was the only way to avoid capture.
The fighters arrived at the sewage entrance one by one. Meanwhile, rumor of our plan had spread and more and more people began gathering around, demanding that we take them with us. Fighting broke out. I gave an order that we would not take anyone with us who had no weapon, including parents or siblings. It was the worst moment of my life.
What about your parents?
My father had already passed away. Yes. My mother came and asked: ”what
So you ran away and left all those people alone
about me?” I told her I had no answer
against the Germans while the ghetto was burning down?
for her.
And all the people leftin the ghetto – where did they go? while the ghetto was burning down?
239 Most of them were already gone.
And you? Grandpa, why did you run?
We didn’t run. We left according to an orderly plan. That was the end. There was no alternative.
Grandpa, why did you ran away?
240 We didn’t run away.
Why don’t you understand? Why???
We didn’t run away.
There is nothing to be found but an abyss, perishing.
Enough! Grandpa, enough!
241 3
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*It was decided to destroy the ghetto
242
The Ghetto is burning
*Yasha fired shots too soon. It seems that two or three Germans were killed. They blew up the house where Yasha was positioned. I think everyone there was killed.
*The Germans are leaving the ghetto. The Jewish police are replacing them. The BASTARDS. The hunt is on. From every hole they drag the Jews to boxcars.
*I’ve got them in sight.
*Deckler’s guys.
*Who?
*Nobody fires until I give the order! *Deckler was the chief officer of the Jewish police.
*What are we here for? *What are we wating for?
243
*Where are you hiding them? Think you’re some kind of Where is your family?
hero? We’ll soon turn you over to the Gestapo and then we’ll see what you’re made of.
What’s holding us up?
Are our people in position?
Everything’s falling apart. The whole plan is collapsing. Our struggle has failed. The situation has changed. There’s nothing we can do. We can’t kill our own people even if they’re in the devil’s service. They are victims like us. The Jews believe they’re heading for work camps, not for liquidation. For them it isn’t extermination, maybe it even seems like rescue. They won’t revolt... can they possibly be right??? I’ve made my decision.
244
*I’ve made my decision even though it’s tough. Tomorrow evening we’ll organize to leave the ghetto. WE’LL MEET THE PARTISANS IN THE FOREST. Yulik will meet us at the appointed spot. We’ll have ample opportunity to take revenge on the Germans and we will do so HEROICALLY. Don’t give in to despair.
*It would be senseless and suicidal to resist.
*I think our commander is right and we should obey his order. And anyway, maybe they are taking them to work camps.
*Let’s break through the gates. At least we’ll die while killing Germans. That’s the reason we stayed behind. Until the end. To fight for our people’s honor. Isn’t that what we told ourselves? “We won’t go like sheep to the slaughter.” Isn’t that right?
245
*Don’t fall apart.
Maybe they were right and we were wrong
When I asked my soul to die in sickness, isolation, in a hopeless war: when I asked my soul to die what did not stop flowing in my shrinkig veins was you and you. You In a thousand reflections, my love, I atone for you.
Please, answer me, please...
246
Good evening.
What is going on here?
Ezekiel! What happened? Noni, my dear, what happened? Don’t cry, everything will be all right. Come, let’s pull up the blanket. Grandpa went crazy. I’m afraid of Grandpa...
247 I’ll sing you a lullaby, Do you know the hyacinth song?
The full moon gazes night after night at the garden flowers all suddenly abloom; night after night it watches the hyacinth in our little garden and its white-tasseled swoon. In the morning we'll all go out to the garden to see the white bloom, lush and round; for the hyacinth there my son will sing until great joy in our garden abounds. Lea Goldberg Translated from the Hebrew by Rachel Tzvia Back
248
Now what am I to do with Ezekiel?
I don’t understand. I don’t understand.
Ezekiel – speak to me. It is me, C’ella.
What don’t you understand? Look at me, it’s me, C’ella.
Come let’s get you to bed. You will rest and I’ll make us both tea...
Lean on me That’s it... Good... Everything will be alright.
249
That’s enough! You’re overdoing it. I’m not an invalid yet.
250 Whatever you say. I’m going to make tea. How much sugar?
Three. Three?
Where does the pain came from? Like a worm into the heart? * H.N.Bialik
251
You’re retreating into your books again?
Why call it retreat? I find consolation in them.
Why can’t I see what’s in front of me?
C’ella... Why don’t you join me for tea? Don’t you see I brought two cups?
252
What are you reading? Medieval liturgical poems - piyyutim. C’ella, why don’t you take off your strange hat?
Don’t you like it? You look better without it.
Is that better?
So, what happened between you and Noni that he’s so frightened and upset?
253
You know how children are. They can unintentionally touch a raw nerve. How do you explain something to a 6-year-old when sometimes you can’t explain it to yourself? I really regret what happened. I lost control. Maybe you can explain it to me.
I’ll quote to you from a poem I wrote. That will help you understand.
254
On the River's Shore The shore clamored and roared, it seemed with thousands, then a thousand more. Shadows rose up on each wrestled wave that pulled then pushed away I'll cross over beside you, my daughter, by your side, I'll cross over the water. But how can we cross over, Mother, how, when you hair is white with age? I'll wear your shawl, my daughter, and this ribbon in my hair. But, Mother, your face is aged and graying too. Speak no weeping words, daughter. Dress me, beloved child, in my wedding gown and beside you, to redemption I'll cross over, daughter of mine. The others saw the daughter. They saw the mother too. Their hands were tight-fisted, their silent voices unmoved. Thus the assembled stood crowded. Their gaze long and dark. Look – they called out in a voice of thousands, an Old Woman! Come out, the crowd commanded. The face a washed boulder. Razor eyes to the shattered tribe. Between each rising and falling wave, a mother suspended in her daughter's wake: At a time like this, how can you cast me out (daughter, daughter) when just yesterday in my arms I held you (daughter, daughter) my breasts still full with milk – (daughter, daughter). People! We are all brothers, and she is my only one. And the shores filled up with people. Only their gaze long and dark. The mother retreated, the daughter as though rope-tied followed, though with faltering steps. If I follow you, Mother, (the mother stands a petrified-tree at water's edge) I walk not toward life. (the mother at water's edge) Do you wish us to die together, tell me. (a mother at water's edge) Mommy! See – the bridge is before me, the boys wait in the forest.
Is that about leaving your mother behind?
Yes. And I was the one who gave the order.
The mother spoke her eyes bereft: My curse is not upon you. Go. In my purse I keep a knife. Then the shore leveled. Each person afraid of the next. And a wall fell. Too late.
255
What are you doing?
What you see.
C’ella, please... Don’t..
256
Touch my heart.
There is pain which perhaps only the body can heal.
257
There is pain that has no relief.
258
Dear Mossi, How are you? It was very nice to get a phone cal l from you, but again, I felt the disappointment in your voice. I was also left with a bitter taste in my mouth. It's hard for me to say what I want, especial ly on the phone. I am returning to pen and paper, which I hand le better. I feel and understand your pressuring me to make a decision. I know how difficult it is to live with uncertainty. It's what I hate most. So, this is my decision. Noni and I are coming home. It might take two weeks to arrange some things and say good-bye to the family and some friends (especial ly girlfriends) I stil l have left. But most importantly, I am at peace with my decision. After the telephone cal l from you, I hard ly slept, and suddenly I felt relieved, and then happy at the thought that we would be together again. You and me. You, me and Noni. I don't want to say more; we'l l have enough time to discuss things when we meet. I now understand that the decision to live far away from you is mine, and that I didn't do it for you. So, everything is for the best (as they say). Times of difficulty are an opportunity for improvement. That's what happened to me. It's possible that meeting Na’ama (Ezekiel 's physiotherapist) helped me understand things about myself. I can't wait to hold you and to look into your intel ligent eyes. I always knew, and now more than ever, that your just being, gives me faith both in myself and in life. Yours, Yvonne