The Israeli writer and ex-soldier explored in his novels the Sephardic tradition of which he was a part and the Jewish identity
Abraham ‘Bulli’ Yehoshúa, one of Israel’s most influential writers internationally, along with David Grossman and the late Amos Oz, a brilliant chronicler of the Sephardic tradition to which he belonged, died yesterday at the age of 85 from cancer in a hospital in Tel Aviv. An explorer of Jewish and Israeli identity, he sought solutions to the Palestinian conflict of the pacifist left, either through the two-state formula or through a confederation.
Born in Jerusalem in 1936 into a Sephardic family where he was known as ‘Bulli’, he studied Hebrew literature and philosophy at university in his hometown. Novelist, essayist, and playwright, among his many titles the most notable are “Late Divorce,” “High Tide and Other Stories,” and “El Señor Mani.”
A paratrooper in his day, father of an Israeli soldier, Yehoshua was a peculiar pacifist who defended war when he saw fit. He aimed for the left of the Labor Party and founded ‘Peace Now’ in 1967, a minority movement at the time and a majority movement at the end of the 20th century.
A professor of literature at the University of Haifa and a regular contributor to the European press, he championed pacifist views in politics, although he was not comfortable with this label. “If I am attacked, I will defend myself, so I don’t know if I can be called a pacifist,” warned Yehoshua, who has always been optimistic about the Middle East peace process.
“My hopes are solid and positive in favor of peace,” he repeated. He believed that peace will prevail in the Middle East and that despite the Israeli army being the occupying force in Gaza and the West Bank, common sense will prevail and the two peoples will coexist.
“I don’t like the word pacifist. I don’t deny war when I think it’s necessary. I make a commitment to recognize the Palestinians as a people equal to the Israeli people, and with the right to self-determination. But for example, I did not reject the war against Saddam Hussein, who invaded a country and committed atrocities. Yes, I am for the recognition of the rights and self-determination of the Palestinian people. We have a common future. There is no other solution. Other options are dangerous and terrible, because there is Islamic and Jewish fanaticism,” he ventured years ago when one of his books was presented in Spain.
A long drive through Andalusia led him to delve into Jewish society from a millennium ago and the importance to the Jewish history of the communities of southern Spain. The result was the novel Journey to the End of the Millennium, a long-term travel and historical account that focused on the grave sociocultural differences between northern and southern Jews at the time and emphasized the crucial influence of wealth. in the history of Jewish culture.
Set in the year 999 – the year 4,758 for the Jews, and 338 years after Muhammad’s journey from Mecca to Medina – it tells the fascinating and extremely dangerous journey from Tangier to Paris, to a Europe tormented by the approach of the new millennium. , by Ben Attar, a Jewish merchant of Andalusian culture who will seriously affect his trading relationship with his cousin.
In his novel ‘El Señor Mani’ he dismantled two centuries of Jewish identity, traveling from the Lebanon War of 1982 to the mid-19th century through dialogues in which we listen to only one of the interlocutors. In his latest novel, ‘The Tunnel’, he delved into the darkness of Alzheimer’s disease, at the intersection of realism and symbolism. Devastated by the death of his wife Rivka, with whom he lived for 56 years, he went in search of his Jewish identity again.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
