It’s the Jewish New Year’s Eve today, so Happy New Year to all who celebrate. May the next year not be worse than the last one - that would already be a great accomplishment.
This blog post is not political. Nor do I want to lecture, explain, or need you to take sides. This is for me. To process and share a little of my thoughts.
The prolonged war and the fact that there is no end in sight make it impossible to look back and reflect. I wish I were post-traumatic, 'cuz that would mean the trauma has passed. But as I write this, I really don’t know what tomorrow will bring. There is a Brazilian song “Sadness has no limits, happiness surely has.” (Tristeza não tem fim, Felicidade sim). It was translated into Hebrew by Ehud Manor in 1978 (became a huge hit), and the Hebrew version keeps playing in my head. Sadness is a limitless sea.
Yet, still, I’ve been able to carve out islands of happiness, with the help of family and friends. Walking with a friend along North Tzuk beach, then taking a dip in the Mediterranean. Meeting with a beloved sister for beer and pizza. Traveling with my husband to Greece for a four-day vacation (unsure until the last minute if there was going to be a flight). Gathering the whole family for Shabbat dinner, where my father makes the effort and joins us.
I’ve fallen in love all over again with Tel Aviv. My city has always been a center of diversity and democracy, but this year that spirit has been even more present. Even so, it has profoundly affected my writing, and I find it very hard to pen a fourth book about contemporary Tel Aviv.
I continued to edit and revise my third book, which I released in March 2024. But I was okay with that since it was written before October 7, before the ground dropped beneath our collective feet. And so, I could do it, thinking back to a time when I was so secure and ignorant. While the fourth book is half-written, I haven’t been able to continue with it. With the daily support of my writer friends, via Zoom, and my broader circles, via WhatsApp, I’m changing direction. I’ll still be writing about strong women facing challenges head-on, there will be mysteries to solve, and some romance, but the setting will be different. Historical rather than contemporary. I’ll share more with you in the coming weeks.
I’ll end this post with an excerpt from beautiful poem, because everything has already been said before me, and far more eloquently:
so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible
“To the New Year” by W.S. Merwin (The poetry foundation)
Yours,
Mia
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