To America and Back
Page 18
One day there really appeared a good rumor, with some evidence: Photographs have begun to arrive in town.
One photo was large and the other small, one very dark and one quite bright, one distorted and one clear- and so on.
It was a bunch of photos, and what had characterized them, was – that on all you could see young men, Israeli youths that have fallen in captivity. In groups and in pairs they appeared on the pictures, which had been taken somewhere: The guys were standing or sitting, completely or partly dressed – and some having their bare hairy chests seen very clearly. Most of them were wearing Khaki trousers, and on their heads – funny hats, that have been supposedly supplied by their captors…
But we have to add, that the shoes were taken from all of them; everybody was photod barefooted. If they were walking there in this manner- in a desert camp- they suffered very much. But mainly it’s not their external physical condition, that we’ve to worry about: We have to be satisfied from the real fact that here they are alive in these photos. This makes me happy, you see? These pictures are not a ‘kleininkeit’ if I put it in the Yiddish language: It’s not a small thing: All men and women in our town and in others – can rush hungrily to the photos, and the flash of hope would rekindle in their eyes. Yes, it’s all right that people get incited and become hopeful…
Parents and friends began to analyse each photo very thoroughly. Some were writing a list of guys who had been known to them, and of the kinds of trousers with which they were dressed; and even the trees or bushes that were caught on the photos, around or in the background. Other relatives were writing their conviction about the quality of the light in the photo, and commented about the unprofessional hand of the photographer, to our disappointment…
But speaking realistically, the main problem with the photos was- that no one of those had been sharp nor clear nor big enough, so that a person could rise, stand erect and declare: ’Yes, I am absolutely sure that I identify my son or my brother in this picture, no doubt about that!’
Some people were saying that the hope and belief would bring about a cursed illlusion. But what is wrong with that? You have to expect for the best and pray for luck. God’s help will do the rest of the necessary effort to save all. Don’t become desparate so soon.
One day chased another, and the photos were changing hands. They moved from pocket to pocket, from house to house, till they had been seen everywhere in the little town. Mothers were embracing them, sweethearts were kisssing them, and some women were caressing them -even in their dreams. Who knows? Maybe many of them would have been stolen or lost, if no one had kept them well and somebody had made some copies, so that their turnover would be constantly kept…A nice question you ask: Who would take care of them- and be responsible for keeping their permanent good shape? I mean: in a manner that that they will not be torn or folded or stained… The treasury keeper is Solomon Kaplansky, the town’s photogrpher. These sacred pictures are a Public Property, aren’t they? “So, no one should confiscate a photo or deliver it further on – without letting Kaplansky make at least one copy for his special archive, as a security against thieves and losers,” Ramona told Nahumik.
But if you asked: how and wherefrom have these photos arrived ?-
No one would know exactly. Mr. Mekler, a father of one of the missing guys, had some connections with the High Windows in Ministry of Defence; it was said, that because his son was shown in almost every picture – he was called to a General of the Army, responsible for its Manpower Dept., and he received all those photos from that General.
Now Mekler said to Kaplansky: “Look, it seems like the pictures have been stolen or being brought legally- by the Red Cross or by the Red Crescent or by sombody from UN… But the main importance of this stuff would be – if you identify your beloved one here, and be happy… For the time being, no one talks about a release of anyone from a prison camp.”
“How much sadness and heart pounding and doubts,” said Ramona to her son, “can simple photos cause to relatives of the missing ones. And you can be sure, that the enemy had delivered these in purpose to harm us. To get us into the unknown sphere. However- every photo would render some hope to someone, that’s its good mission.”
“To add to our bewilderment,” said the photographer to Nahumik, when one day he came about the horse, “I question: how could it be, that our sons were smiling in those pictures? Is it possible to be in prison and laugh – even if somebody has just told a joke, and the photo had been shot by the enemy’s professional?”
“No, it shows that their situation in prison is well,” said Mr. Marmary, who was standing beside Solomon, and greeting the boy who was already mounting the horse. ”Thank God, this photo shows that the prisoners get everything according to Geneva Convention.”
One afternoon Kaplansky was fainting in the Towns’ Hall. It was while he attended the meeting of the missing ones’ relatives. He was lying unconscious- for two minutes- on the floor, and soon the Nurse Medic Tsipy was trying to treat him, by splashing some water on his face and measuring his quick pulse.
Poor Solomon was crying: ”Elkano, I don’t find you… I can’t! why have you gone?”
Nurse Tsipy counted twenty drops of brown liquid that she has put into a spoon, and ordered Solomon to drink it, which he did. Indeed he quickly ‘returned to himself’. Doctor Priver, who had attended the meeting from the beginning, knowing that such scene might take place, said that if he had not percieved any pains in his chest, he would be O’key.
Nahumik remembered that in his street, every second house dwellers had lost beloved ones. Parents and teenagers- or even children, brothers and sisters of the missing ones, were shedding tears when unseen. A l m o s t no one accused the Government or the Army for the disaster… Almost no one, except two, that Nahumik had surely heard them talk against the Jewish Leaders. These two were Kaplansky and Mr. Hofman, the Town’s Architect (who was a secret communist, and nobody have imagined it): Solomon told Hofman at the end of the meeting, that the Zionist Leadership of the Jews in Israel has made a mistke – declaring the Independence of State of Israel. Hofman agreed and said they’ll not withstand in this bloody war. And even if it is won- there will be another one, in which they’ll be defeated! What a coockoo nest this army is, hardly having a gun that can shoot, and old trucks shielded with 5 centimeter steel armour. With No tanks, with hardly two light ‘Piper’ Airplanes- and with that they had wished our dear young men to defend the Jewish towns and villages and Kibutsim – scattered all over the country and inside cursed Jerusalem. ‘It was a very uncalculated decision of the bloody Leaders,’ said Kaplansky. ‘And I suffer from it, not they. I suspect that none of them has any sons in the battlefield’.
But Ramona, who listened to her son telling her about all that, has told Nahumik: “The two are wrong, so I think. The Jewish people themselves have to be … blamed. Because it’s their fate. None of them is desired or required in this cruel world of nations. You see, no one defends us – from the attack of the Arab nations. It seems that all the other people in the world are against us, because they see we are so amall and lacking power. Maybe I’m wrong, but sometimes I feel like that; and you should also keep that feeling in your heart. You may not agree hundred percent in that, but fifty percents is also enough”…
“Yes,” she continued, ”there are some righteous people to be found in other nations; and it’s a fact – that the United Nations Assembly has decided that we should be delivered this State. But it was in a rare moment. Now they all repent it, and tell us it was wrongdoing to the Arab Palestinians, who are now drawing away to the mountains.”
Nahumik heard his mother’s theory- and his skin has become stingy and reddening. So, this war is awful, and may last very long. It will be impossible to get a final and ultimate victory. The Muslems are hundreds of millions. They will forever remain in our neighborhood, said mom, and even if we make them withdraw hundred times- there is a danger that on the coming war… who knows. We are not innocent Go
d Believers, my son. So, you remember my words- you’re living in the most dangerous country in the world; but this is our fate- and nothing else. The enemy will never be annihilated. Even peace agreement- if signed at all- will be temporary, breakable and partial. We can surrender and become Muslems and end with it, I say… But we are not fit for that. We Jews are too proud and boastful.Two thousands years, you know…
Next day Nahumik asked Rabbi Aaron’s opinion also about that. Yes, said the Rabbi. Principally it’s a war without miracles. The Almighty would not spend his powers on miracles nowadays, as there are also no prophets, since the day of the Temple’s destruction. And certainly He won’t make any big, well proven miracles to his Chosen People. Why?- because most of them have left the Torah commandments nowadays, of course. We don’t know why all this happens in our time, and as simple people we can’t guess and understand His actions. It seems that in recent generation God has decided to make a change in the world: He has caused that people would leave Him. Maybe all that is in order to re-organize the universe, like in Noah’s times. But we’ll not pass away by a Flood, that’s sure. He has other means, by fire or by draught or by the Atom Bomb. He has sworn – and the Rainbow witness it, that only a Deluging Flood won’t come on mankind, but anything else is possible!
CHAPTER 19