Black Box (8 page)

And if you have decided to be a second edition of your dear father, then you can go and burn in Hell. Forgive me for those words. I didn’t intend to write them. But a man should not be judged in his sorrow, as it is written. In fact I want to say exactly the opposite: that I am praying for you, that you will not burn in Hell. Because, it’s the truth, Boaz, I have a fondness for you.

So much for the preamble, and now for the main part of my letter. The following is written on behalf of myself and your mother. Both of us.

1. You will go at once to Abram and ask him to excuse and forgive you. That’s the first thing.

2. As long as the Fuchs family, Bruno and Janine, agree to have you stay in the shed in their backyard—why not, you can stay with them. But from now on I’m paying them rent. Out of your father’s reparation money. You shall not live there for nothing. You are not a beggar and I am not a welfare case.

3. It is a top priority with me that you should go now to learn the Torah and a trade at a college in the liberated territories (your spelling is worse than a seven-year-old’s). But this is something we definitely don’t want to impose on you. If you like, we’ll arrange it for you. If you don’t, we won’t. We have a saying about the Torah: “Its ways are ways of pleasantness.” Not ways of compulsion. As soon as your mother is well again I’ll come and see you for a chat and we’ll see? Maybe you’ll agree? But if what you want is to study optics, just tell me about the course or, better still, show me a prospectus, and I’ll pay. From the fund I mentioned earlier. And if by any chance you want to look for another job, come here to Jerusalem, live at home, and we’ll see what we can fix up for you. Only, no crates.

4. All this on the assumption that from now on you are going to mend your ways.

Yours sadly and anxiously,
Michel, Yifat, and Mother

P.S. Please note, on my word of honor: If there is so much as one more tiny act of violence on your part, Boaz, even your mother’s tears won’t help you with me any more. You will walk your evil way on your own and go to your fate without me.

***

The Sommo Family
7 Tarnaz Street
Jerusalem.

Hi. I got your long letter Michel and I foned sorry to Abram even tho Im not sure who should say sorry to who. Also I left a note to say thanks a lot to Bruno and Janin Fuks before I went out. When this letter reaches you Ill be at Sea already on board ship. As far as Im conserned forget me. Despite the fact I quite like Yifat from the two times I visited you and I quite admire you to Michel even if you nag sometimes. As for you Ilana Im sorry for you becos it would be much better for you if youd never had me.

With Thanks,
Boaz

***

To Ilana and Michel Sommo
7 Tarnaz St.
Jerusalem

8.5.76

Michel and Ilana: When Michel rang yesterday and asked if Boaz had turned up here I must have been too stunned to grasp what had happened. And the line was so poor I could hardly hear. I didn’t manage to understand the story of the to-do that Boaz was involved in. This morning I tried to call you at your school, Michel, but it was impossible to get through. That’s why I’m writing these lines, which I’ll send to you with the treasurer of the kibbutz, who’s going to Jerusalem tomorrow. It goes without saying that I’ll let you know at once if Boaz suddenly turns up here. But the fact is I don’t think he will. I’m optimistic and I believe that in the next few days you’ll get some sign of life from him. It seems to me that his need to disappear and break off contact does not spring from the particular incident in Tel Aviv. On the contrary, the latest complication, like its predecessors, perhaps springs from the urge to distance himself from the two of you. From all of us. Naturally I’m not writing this note just to calm you and to recommend that you sit back quietly and wait—it’s vital to go on looking for him in every way possible. But nevertheless I’d like to share with you my feeling—and perhaps it is only a feeling, an intuition—that Boaz will be all right and will eventually find his niche. Of course he is liable to get mixed up over and over again in little troubles here and there, but during the years he was living here in the kibbutz I could observe his other, more positive, side, a solid mental element of decency and clear logic. Even if it’s a different kind of logic from yours or mine.

Please, believe me: I’m not writing this just to encourage you at a difficult time, but because I’m convinced that Boaz is simply not capable of doing anything really bad, either to others or to himself. Let us know at once, via the treasurer who is bringing you this note, if you want Yoash or me or both of us to get a few days’ leave and come to be with you.

Rahel

***

To Professor Gideon
Via Mr. Zakheim, Lawyer
36 King George

By the Grace of G-d
Jerusalem
9th of Iyyar 5736 (9.5.76)

LOCAL

Dear Sir,

I the undersigned had sworn a solemn oath to have no further dealings with you, whether for good or ill, whether in this world or the next, on account of what is written in the Book of Psalms, Chapter 1, Verse 1. “Happy is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked nor stood in the way of sinners nor sat in the sitting of the scornful.” The reason for my hereby breaking my oath is that it is a matter of life or death. Perhaps even, Heaven forbid, two lives.

A. Your son Boaz. As you are aware from reading his mother’s letters, the boy has already gone slightly off the rails once or twice, and I have tried to get him back on the straight and narrow. Two days ago we received a phone call from the dear family Boaz was staying with: he has disappeared. I went there immediately with all the speed I could muster, but what could I do? And then this morning we had a sign of life from him, a short letter to say that this time he is running away to work on board a ship. And this after he was mixed up in more devilment.

For reasons that someone like you, sir, would be unable to understand, I decided not to remove my supervision from him and I instantly pulled some strings to make sure that he would be sought on every ship, whether Israeli or foreign, that was about to leave. To my regret there is no certainty that the searches will produce a positive result: it is possible that the boy is not at sea at all, but on dry land, wandering around somewhere in the country. That is why I have decided to turn to you, despite everything, to ask that you should also do something in the direction of offering help, on account of the great wrong you did him and his mother. For a scholar like yourself I imagine that a hint is sufficient, that you will understand that we are not asking for money, but that you should act urgently (perhaps by means of circles that are close to you). I mention this so as to avoid a repetition of the unpleasantness of the recent past, when my wife requested your help with the boy’s difficulties and you did not stir a finger to help but instead you perhaps tried to silence your conscience with money that you sent us without being asked. This is on the assumption that even someone like you has such a thing as a conscience. Perhaps I am still too naive.

B. My wife Ilana Sommo. She is now on her sickbed in consequence of Boaz’s pranks. Yesterday she admitted to me that she had sent you without my knowledge another personal letter, following your financial payment. As you might imagine I was very angry with her, but I immediately withdrew my anger and forgave her because she had owned up and especially because suffering atones for sins. And Mrs. Sommo is someone who has suffered exceedingly, thanks to you, Mr. Professor.

Naturally, for my part, it did not occur to me to investigate what she put into these letters (such a thing would be beneath my dignity), but she of her own accord told me that you had not replied to her. In my opinion, by your silence you are adding insult to injury. Don’t worry, I won’t read what you write to her, not only from religious scruples but because I consider you, sir, to be tainted. Maybe she will forget a fraction of the suffering you caused her if you write her a letter explaining why you treated her so badly and apologizing for all your sins. Without that, all your money was given in vain.

C. The money. You, sir, sent me from Geneva on the seventh day of March an arrogant and even insolent letter, telling me to take the money and stop my mouth and not say thank you. Well, take note that it never even occurred to me to say thank you! Thank you for what? Because you deigned to remember very belatedly to pay a small part of what fairness and justice demanded you should give to Boaz and Mrs. Sommo, and in fact also to our little daughter? It would seem that there is no limit to your impudence, sir. As it is written: a brazen brow.

From the size of the sum you saw fit to send (one hundred and seven thousand U.S. dollars in Israeli pounds in three unequal installments) I understood that the contribution to the redemption of Alkalai House in Hebron had been summarily abandoned. I shall nevertheless take advantage of this unfortunate occasion to urge you once again to contribute without delay the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand U.S. dollars to this sacred cause: here too there may be an element of life-saving, as in the previous two items, albeit in a broader sense. As stated above, were it not a matter of life and death, I would not be communicating with you for good or for ill. I shall explain this below. According to our faith there is a connection between your wrongdoings and Boaz’s troubles together with his mother’s sufferings. It is possible that your repentance and your contribution will arouse the divine compassion for the boy and he will return safely. There are rewards and punishments, there is divine justice, even if I am unworthy to presume to understand its workings, or why your sins should be visited on this woman and child. Who knows? Could it be that some day your own son may be privileged to dwell in Hebron beneath the very roof we intend to redeem from alien hands by means of your donation, and in this way justice will be redressed, and He Who sitteth in Heaven will laugh? As Scripture saith, “The wind goes round,” and it is written, “Cast your bread upon the waters for in the fullness of days you shall find it again.” And perhaps this donation will serve to counterbalance your sins when your day comes to stand before a Judge before Whom there is neither laughter nor levity. And remember, sir, that there you will have no lawyer and your plight will be parlous.

Which leads me to stress, in conclusion, that I am obliged to send this letter through your lawyer, Mr. Zakheim, for reasons not of my choosing, since Mr. Zakheim simply refuses to let me have your address, and I will not ask my wife because I do not want to tell her about this letter—her nerves are strained enough even without that.

I wish hereby to complain about Mr. Zakheim’s conduct. It would appear that he has in his head some cheap film about threats and blackmail, a thriller with Michael Sommo in the role of Don Corleone of the Mafia or something of the sort. If such a thing had come from someone else, I would not pass over it in silence. But from Mr. Zakheim’s name I presume that he or his family came to us from the Holocaust. To Jews who come from the Holocaust I forgive everything: Mr. Zakheim may have undergone experiences that have made him morbidly suspicious, especially against someone like myself with my national outlook and with my origins, not to mention my religious observances. As it is written, He sees the shadows of mountains as mountains.

I have therefore resolved to forgive your lawyer. But not you, sir. For you there is no forgiveness. Perhaps if you faithfully fulfill each of the three items of this letter, to wit, the search for the boy, the apology to the lady, and the donation for the Redemption of the Land, perhaps then the Almighty will exercise His compassion. At the very least they will see that you have something on the credit side.

With best wishes on the occasion of the Festival of our Independence,

Michael Sommo

ENCLOSURE

Dear Alex,

Just a couple of lines. I am passing you the enclosed sealed envelope from your diminutive successor. I’ll wager that he is asking you for money again. He probably thinks he’s managed to establish direct contact with the government printer. If by any chance you decide this time to have the Temple rebuilt at your expense or just to pay a bonus to the Messiah’s donkey, do it without me, if you don’t mind. I’ll convert to Islam and that will be an end to it.

I gather from Sommo that the juvenile colossus has run away again: not that I understand how they can manage to lose such an obelisk every time. But there’s nothing to worry about, they’re sure to find him in a day or two in the Central Bus Station selling goods spirited off a ship, as happened last time he disappeared.

By the way, I happened to catch sight of your old jalopy in Ben Yehuda Street the other day. It looks as though the gent is keeping her well serviced: she looks pretty good for her mileage, especially bearing in mind how many times she’s changed hands. Which is more than one can say about you, Alex: I was rather alarmed at the way you looked when we met last time in London. Take yourself in hand and stop trying to find trouble.

Your ever faithful
Manfred

SOMMO TARNAZ
7
JERUSALEM

ZAKHEIM HAS INSTRUCTIONS TO FIND BOY LETTER DISPATCHED SOON TO LADY AS REQUESTED YOULL HAVE ANOTHER FIFTY THOUSAND IF YOU AGREE TO ARRANGE TISSUE TEST FOR BOY ILL TAKE PARALLEL TEST SIMULTANEOUSLY HERE IN LONDON ALEXANDER GIDEON