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The Messiah of LaGuardia by
Elisha Porat "The six stories in this volume provide an excellent introduction to Elisha Porat's work". The Messiah of LaGuardia was written by one of Israel's foremost writers, but one little known to American readers. Since 1973, Elisha Porat, the winner of the 1996 Prime Minister's Literature Prize, has written more than a dozen works of fiction and poetry in Hebrew. The six stories in Messiah of LaGuardia provide an excellent introduction to his work for the American reading public, thanks to a fine translation by Alan Sacks, a Philadelphia assistant district attorney. The title story concerns an Israeli who believes Israel's war in Lebanon is a disastrous mistake. Called back to active duty, Ben Niflay decides to save the nation by proclaiming his messiahship. He sincerely believes that the country will rally behind his message. He expects that the reserves called up for active duty will refuse to board in trucks leaving for Lebanon. This does not occur, and Niflay realizes that "he had made a mistake; he had thought that the whole city would join with him. he had thought that the streets would turn black with a mass of humanity, that all the soldiers in the arena's giant parking lot...would scatter through the yards, cheering and singing, celebrating wildly, leaping for joy at their freedom". Having failed to gain the support of the people and the soldiers, Niflay readies himself for martyrdom, with the realization that his country is not yet ready for this particular messiah. "At the Little Bridge Below Ufana" is a triangular love story involving a woman, her husband and his friend, Goel. Goel is at his friend's side when he killed in Syrian ambush. The story revolves around Ayalla, the young widow, and her determination to learn whether everything was done to prevent the ambush, and around Goel's guilt about the opportunity his fiend's death has provided him in his pursuit of Ayalla, whom he has always loved. In "The Three Stages of Perfection", the anti-intellectual aspect of Kibbutz life is examined. The story centers around Kibbutznik, Zikhri Ben-Yehuda, who bears the same last name as the father of modern Hebrew, Eliezer ben-Yehuda. Yet the story's Ben-Yehuda finds only indifference among his fellow Kibbutzniks in regard to his love of the Hebrew language. Loss of Idealism Porat seems to lament the loss of Zionist idealism and the lack of ideology among the generation of kibbutzniks portrayed in the story. Ben-yehuda eventually becomes an outcast because no one will take his passion for the language seriously. The story's ill-fated ending symbolizes the passing of generation that combined nation-building with a love of authentic Hebrew culture. The saddest of all the short stories is "Guardian of the Fields". Yehuda Etrogi is a character who fled Europe on the eve of the Holocaust for Palestine in order to build a new life. He fought in Israel's War of Independence, which left him emotionally scarred, and his childhood memories of fire and pogroms in Eastern Europe will not leave him. Etrogi works as a guard on a kibbutz, but he is basically a loner. His companions are his dogs and his horse. One day, a foreign female volunteer comes to the Kibbutz and strikes up a friendship with him. For a time, he finds happiness in the relationship. but when the woman leaves the Kibbutz, Etrogi finds himself in even greater isolation and despair. The story's ending is as sad as it inevitable, given what we have learned about this man's life. In "The Farming Instructor", we meet Shabtai Hermony, a 50-year-old agricultural inspector and army veteran. He marries a young woman and has a child. When they both disappear, he sets out in search of them. Eventually, he has located someone who appears to be his wife. but at the moment of reconciliation, Hermony becomes a victim of a terrorist explosion. The first five of Porat's stories are devoid of humor. But there is a great humor in "The Aging Poet", the story of a middle-age poet, Yinon Yehudai, who has grown tired of his wife and falls on love with a young American. She has been sent to Israel by her parents because her mother "likes to keep informed about all the modern religious movements". The story works because many of us are familiar with the phenomenon of young American Jewish women going to Israel and winding up in serious relationships with Israelis. Although the young woman, Patricia, is portrayed as something of a twit, she nevertheless serves Porat's thesis that Israel requires the influx of fresh ideas from the Diaspora if it is to be invigorated in it's cultural life.
Dr. Jack Fischel, Chair of History Dept.
teaches at Millersville University, Philadelphia, PA.
Short Anthologies from the author's works: www.ariga.com/visions/poetry/porar001.htm and similar pages. www.flashnet.com/~unlikely/porat.html and similar pages. www.poetshaven.com/directory/index.shtml and similar pages. Elisha Porat is the Author of The Messiah of LaGuardia, a collection stories. |