Author David Grossman hopes his writing can help Israel for the better
David Grossman found out he had been fired while eating breakfast with his family on an ordinary morning in November 1988. A journalist for the Israeli national radio station, Kol Yisrael, Grossman had been broadcasting since the age of 10, first as part of a kid’s show, and latterly as news anchor for The World Today, only interrupted by his 4-year national service in the army Intelligence Division.
It was a significant date: The day before, November 15, the Palestinian leadership made a declaration intending to establish the state of Palestine. Grossman had disagreed with his boss at the radio station as to how to handle the news. Officials ordered the news be buried, fearing that it might inflame Palestinian sentiment. Grossman insisted on beginning that day’s program with the news, as he believed “it’s something important.”
As most young Israelis, Grossman was (and still is) a patriot and trusted his country. He completed his four years national service, but a turning point came when he served as a reservist during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Grossman stayed in a Lebanese village, and there he saw for the first time “the human face under Israeli occupation.”
After he was fired, Grossman devoted more time to writing novels and nonfiction, both genres dealing with the experiences of both Israelis and Palestinians, although not always addressing the political situation. He speaks of his “desire to imagine and create.” His earlier works included The Smile of the Lamb, published in 1982, focusing on a soldier stationed in a village in the occupied territories, and The Yellow Wind is a factual account of a journey he made in the West Bank in 1987.
“The arbitrariness of an external force that violently invades the life of one person, one soul, preoccupies me in all my books,” wrote Grossman in his book of essays Writing in the Dark, published in 2008.
Family ties
Family is a core part of Grossman’s world. “Being Jewish means being part of my family and culture.” Although in his 50s, Grossman still lives next door to his parents. Grossman likes to prepare lunch for his family every day, no matter how much he may feel like writing at the time. He never closes his door, and is eager for input and comments from his family about his writing.
Grossman met his future wife, Michal Eshel, a psychologist at a national matchmaking event organized by the army in 1975. Eshel’s personality and professionalism was to have a great influence on Grossman. The couple went on to have three children, two sons and a daughter.
“When we got married, she [Eshel] thought she married a normal person, and all of a sudden, I got obsessed with writing and spent most of my time at the table. The most profound drama of humanity doesn’t happen inside theaters. It happens in families: kitchens, bedrooms, dining rooms, and children’s rooms,” says Grossman, who sees the family unit as more than an individual’s emotional bond.
“When we have dinner, we pray and talk, my daughter telling her new experience in school. Sometimes I feel our history. We use the same prayer book as David and Joshua. If their souls are still in this land and listen to us, they would understand 70 percent what my 17-year-old daughter says!” says Grossman. He sees it as a privilege to be in Israel at this time, two thousand years after Jewish people were exiled.
Tragic events
Grossman’s family life was to be fatally interrupted. In August 3, 2006, a violent tragedy fell on the Grossmans. Uri Grossman, their second son, serving as a tank commander fighting in Lebanon, was killed, aged only 20.
Days before the tragedy unfolded, Grossman had been writing a novel: A mother, after seeing her only son off to the frontline feared the coming of a message that announced her son’s death. She decided to leave. No message can be delivered if there is no recipient. She started walking across the country, to tell people her son’s stories.
Since Uri had been away, Grossman had kept his house lights shut off at night. He meant to hide his house in darkness, so as not to be found by an officer bearing bad news.
On August 10, 2006, Grossman and two other leftist writers, Amos Oz and Abraham Yehoshua held a press conference. The three writers publicly called for a cease-fire and the introduction of a peaceful solution to the on-going conflict in Lebanon.
Three days later, at 2:30 am, Grossman heard the knock he dreaded: His son Uri had been killed, along with 24 other young men, in a ground attack.
“I received many letters passing [on] condolences from Arabic friends and readers. They expressed their sorrow,” says Grossman. His books have been translated into Arabic. Grossman says:
“It’s always very important for me that my books be translated into Arabic. I wish my writings can be a mediator between [them]. Some [of them] like my work, and some think I am not as neutral as they thought. I am very Israeli. I am not neutral.”
Shaping society
Visiting Beijing for the literary festival, Grossman talks about the still unstable situation in his country.
“Because of our tragic history they’re paying the price of our inability to let go of our fears,” says Grossman, and he painfully sees that his people are “gradually losing their humanity from fear and violence. People (Israeli) lose their lives. Even those living, their beings are largely reduced to survive only.”
Despite this, when asked if he would like to influence politics more directly than in his writings and speeches, Grossman replies: “No I won’t join politics. I am a writer. It’s a privilege to be a part of shaping the Israeli society.”
Neither does he wish he had left Israel. “I received many offers and invitations from US and Europe, but I won’t leave Israel, whatever happens.”
“Most Israeli politicians are blocked mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Their philosophy is that because Palestinian terrorists brought us death and suffering, so we must repay them the pain and sorrow. Conflict is not a foot ball game. It’s not a zero-sum game. I want to reverse this philosophy of violence.”
Grossman sees it as very important that he helps Israel to become a better place. He has never considered leaving, in spite of his personal tragedy. He has a strong belief that at base, people wish to do good. “In Jewish bibles, we believe that man’s nature is bad, but I think that depends how you see it. I choose to see it from a positive point of view.”
This story is orginally published by Global Times in 2010. The PDF of this article can be downloaded here: