Jewish happiness in Israel - Mikhail Rosen

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is a real coffee – arabic!

      «What am I doing? I have to going of with an Arab in a taxi?» She remembered the terrible stories about the Arab murders and violence, and her forehead was covered with a cold sweat. However, the Arab restaurant looked decent. Painted walls, open windows overlooking the sea. In the beautiful hall there were round tables with low comfortable chairs. Dark men at tables and almost without women. From several tables, greetings immediately flashed:

      – Salam, Said! Salam!

      – Do you have so many acquaintances here? – Olga was surprised.

      Said smiled affably:

      – These are my friends! We went to school together.

      At the end of the hall a large, well-lit from inside aquarium stood. In the aquarium swam large fish, reminiscent of Russian carp. Near the aquarium stood a swarthy boy in a white coat with a net in his hands. Said sat Olga near the aquarium and immediately invited her to choose any of the fish swimming there.

      – Caution! In fish, sharp bones! – Said warned her and moved her a plate with water to wash her fingers.

      Coffee in small silvery glasses was unusual. From it emanated a stupefying smell. Olga felt slightly dizzy after a few sips. They were sitting in front of the open window, and the sea was in front of them. Outside the windows of the restaurant was an ancient pier, overgrown with moss and seashells. Above the dock, was the pedestal with the memorial plaque? At the top of the pedestal, stood the small mock-up of the ship?

      – I wonder what is written there, – Olga asked.

      Said was silent. His face suddenly changed. A polite smile disappeared.

      – This is a monument to the suffering of my people! – He began to say slowly, – A hundred years ago, Jews from Russia came to this shore. They said they only want to pray. We believed them. They deceived us! They stole our land and robbed my People! – Sayid's words were a surprise to Olga.

      – The Jews lived on this land before the Arabs…, – she hardly remembered the lessons of clever teachers who convinced her of the full right of the Jews to the land of Palestine.

      Olga’s mood spoiled. She asked Sayid to take her home. In a taxi, Olga forgot about political differences. She was worried about purely female questions: «What if Said wants to visit her? To refuse or not to refuse?».Said brought her out of a predicament. He helped her in a man’s way out of the taxi politely thanked for the evening’s. He kissed her on the cheek and left.

      Olga was disappointed with the cool parting. She remembered the smallest details of her short acquaintance. Olga received a lot of special briefings to communicate with the Arabs while serving in the border police. Based on these briefings, Said was a suspicious person. But how strange that such thoughts did not hit her head. She thought of him only as a man. In her short life. Olga saw many men. Some men harassed her, she despised others, but nothing like this happened before.

      Every morning she woke up hoping to see him. Hope vanished by evening. Next Friday, when she returned home in the evening, she suddenly had a hope. Olga lived on the first floor of an ancient building. The house was built on columns. She saw, in the moonlight, a tall male figure. Her heart pounded. She recognized him. Said stood leaning on the pillar. Olga, like a rabbit, mesmerized by a boa, silently walked up to him. He hugged her. His strong hands closed on her. She led him to her apartment, and all night she was in his power. She woke up in the middle of the night, and she admired his beautiful body for a long time, and stroked his hair, which was black as a resin, curiously. When she got up at the break of dawn, he was no longer in the apartment. In the bedroom, there was only an exciting smell of his body. She naked went to the old mirror and was surprised. On the delicate skin of her chest, bruises were visible. «It’s strange! I did not feel pain?» – she thought, stroking the bites.

      Said came usually at night, and left at dawn. All the night hours were filled with passion and only passion. This passion prevented Olga from thinking seriously: «Who is Sayid? Where does their connection go?» Olga was very afraid to destroy the fragile illusion of happiness. She decided finally and directly asked him: «Why do you come only at night? You afraid of pursuit? Are you an illegal?»

      Said took questions calmly. He looked at Olga with an enigmatic smile and hugged her tightly: «My Fatima! (The Beauty from Arab folklore) You give me love that I never knew in my life! I thank Allah for such love! Do not worry that you will be bad if the police learn about our connection! I am a normal Israeli citizen!»

      Olga wanted to create a habitual situation for Said. She went to the Arab market and bought food there. From these products, Olga prepared everything that she knew from the recipes of Arabic cuisine. Young lamb with vegetables, finely chopped bitter and sweet pepper, apples baked in the dough, salad from the hasy, sharp hummus, pita, sweet dates and juicy olives, all these dishes were on the table on Saturday. He, with an appetite, ate the cooked food and praised her progress in the field of Arabic cuisine. The morning was approaching, when Olga woke up from a love eclipse. Said was sitting opposite her. He folded his arms on his chest, and said:

      – I am an Israeli, but I was born in Khan Younes[4]. I remained an orphan at five. My uncle, took me in Nazeret[5] and made from me an Israeli. There, in Gaza my own sisters live.

      Olga thoughtful. She had to visit the Gaza Strip. Women – soldiers were usually not allowed there, but there were extraordinary circumstances. Not far from Khan Yunes, near one of the Jewish settlements, the soldiers of the border battalion found terrorists. The battle began. Terrorists were destroyed, but two soldiers of the battalion were wounded. Chief of Staff of the battalion, was to immediately draw up a report for the general about this incident. The sergeant, who was carrying out the documentation on the terrorist attacks, was absent. His grandmother died. He sat «shivu» (the law of Judaism about the fact that close relatives should stay for a few days in the house of the deceased, after the funeral). This law for Jews, immigrants from Morocco, is a sacred matter. Olga had to do the work of this sergeant. The Jewish settlement, located near the sea coast, was surrounded by a protective fence. The settlement consisted of several dozen two-storey villas. Around the villas there were blooming gardens and greenhouses, peacocks to walk along the green grass.

      They returned for the «green line» in the evening on armored jeeps. The road passed next to the camps of Palestinian refugees, existing here since the War of Independence.

      Narrow streets, small houses, a total lack of greenery, garbage heaps around these houses. Ditch with sewage in the middle of the street spread a strong stench in the hot air. The donkey, laden with bags, was walking along the dusty road.

      A dirty boy of about eight to ten drove a donkey. When the jeep was beside with the boy, the boy raised his hand with two fingers spread out and shouted: «Ipah el jehudi! Ipah el jehudi!»

      The soldier, the Moroccan Jew who was sitting in a car next to Olga, translated the boy’s words: «degenerate boy creams: Jew need to be cat!» This cry Olga remembered for a long time.

      Another week passed. Said again appeared in Olge’s apartment.

      Smiling, he handed Olga a small box, in which lay a gold bracelet with an artfully executed miniature image of «Fatima’s hand.»

      After dinner Said pulled out a cigarette from a leather cigarette case, with a strange, poisonous-green tobacco, and handed it to Olga: «Try it, my Fatima! This is a real kaif!»

      Olga often encountered drug addicts in the service. She was afraid of drugs, but seeing as happy Said when he smokes these cigarettes, she decided to try.

      She felt nausea at first, but then she felt cheerful and easy. Everything around was filled with a kind of fog. In the fog floated figure Said. He leaned over her, and she felt the sweetness of his kisses.

      Said often brought these strange cigarettes with him. Once he brought with him a small suitcase. In such suitcases, usually locksmiths and electricians carry their tools. Said and Olga began to smoke. Again, the mist floated in front of the girl’s eyes. Said disappeared, then appeared

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<p>4</p>

Khan Yunes – The city in the Gaza Strip.

<p>5</p>

Nazareth is an Arab town in the territory of Israel.