As Tikvah mixed the colors on the palette, she heard the muezzin’s call for prayer ringing through Hope Valley, filling her entire being like a divine breath. A breath of life. Her story, their continuing story, spilled forth now, finding form on the canvas. Ruby and Tikvah, two sisters floating in a river on their backs, hand-in-hand, as the current carried them, together, flowing into the vast ocean.
The sound of pebbles being thrown against the side of the building startled Tikvah from her trance. Had the neighbors already gotten wind of what Alon had done? Of what she was planning? She turned to the window. The glass was covered with raindrops. The yoreh. The first rain of the season had finally arrived. The Universe had not given up hope. In spite of it all.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the many people who accompanied and assisted me along this long path of writing my debut novel.
First, to the many readers who gave me the feedback that helped turn this into a publishable work of writing. I will try to list you all in the order in which you read, and I hope I will not forget anyone, as there were so many of you, and eight years is a long time:
Eve Horowitz; Sara Brandes; Judy Heiblum, Miriam Harris-Kaplan; Danya Ruttenberg; Robin Powers; Jen Maidenberg; Linda Berger; Ruth Almog; Debbie Jacobson-Maisels; Michal Ner-David; Tova Mirvis; Diane Kaplan; Belinda Miller; Mirabai Star; Elana Sztokman; Nurit Novis Deutch; Rebecca Krasner Friedman; Haim Watzman; Maya Wahrman; Jami Bernard; Dorothy Richman; Beth Steinberg; Jessica Steinberg; Lisa Kleinman; Andrew Tertes; Ilana Kurshan; Tina Pohlman; Jane Rosenman; Ruth Arkush; Sister Monica Powell; Victoria Cook; Hillary Menkowitz; Nadia Giol; Debbie Perla; Marco Greenberg; and Yoni Shapira. And thank you Ranin Kabia and Amal Khalde-Sawaed for your help with the Arabic.
A special thanks to my most committed reader of all, my agent, Michael Palgon, who believed in my writing and this novel, to see it through its various evolutions until we got it right. And to Sherre Hirsch, who connected me with Michael. I owe much gratitude to the crew at Bedazzled Ink (Claudia, Casey, and Liz) for bringing this book out into the world.
And thank you to Meira Ner-David, (from your proud mother), for the cover art. And to my parents, Ruth and Dan Krasner, for the birthday gift that helped pay for some of the initial editing of this novel—investing in the novel without even reading it beforehand, true unconditional support.
Thank you to all of my children—Michal, Adin, Meira, Hallel, Nachum, Mishael and Shefa—for your patience and enthusiasm while I obsessively worked on this novel. And the biggest thank you goes to my beloved life partner Jacob, who not only read various versions, but has, since we met, been my biggest source of love, support and encouragement.
About the Author
Haviva Ner-David is an ordained rabbi and interfaith-interspiritual minister, with a doctorate in philosophy and an M.F.A in Creative Writing. She runs Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body and Soul, where she officiates ritual immersion ceremonies and offers group workshops. A certified spiritual director with a specialty in dreamwork, she works with individuals and couples. Rabbi Ner-David is the author of two published spiritual journey memoirs (Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination; and Chanah’s Voice: A Rabbi Wrestles with Gender, Commandment and the Women’s Rituals of Baking, Bathing and Brightening) and has a third, Dreaming Against the Current: A Rabbi’s Soul Journey, on the way. She is also the author of a soon-to-be-published guidebook for engaged couples, Getting (and Staying) Married Jewishly: Preparing for Your Life Together with Ancient and Modern Wisdom. Hope Valley is her debut novel. Rabbi Ner-David is involved in peace work, promoting a shared society of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Galilee, where she lives with Jacob, her life partner of thirty years, their seven children and their dog and cat. She also lives with a genetic degenerative muscular disease called FSHD, which has been one of her greatest teachers.
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